Grade R/0 (5–6 yrs)

The reception year is the year of refinement of fine motor skills and also the year for letter formation. It is a critical year in terms of laying foundations that your child is going to take with them through their schooling career. Grade R/0 (5–6 yrs) is our chance to do it the right way the first time.

By the time your child enters this phase, they will hopefully have developed a preferred or dominant hand. If this is not the case, I would really recommend you get an opinion from an occupational therapist. Your Grade R/0 (5–6 yrs) child is not going to be able to develop their pencil control to the level they require for handwriting if they have not chosen their dominant hand. In addition, if they are still switching hands when they write, you are going to find their letter formation is poor. They will in all likelihood start forming letters and numbers in the wrong place and may experiencing difficulties with letter reversals. This is not the way we want our children to be experiencing early handwriting skills in Grade R/0 (5–6 yrs).

You child will be exposed to fine motor challenges that will enable them to develop and refine their skills. This fine motor and handwriting blog covers the skills your child will need in depth. We look at the development of a functional and efficient pencil grip so your child can start to practise using the isolated discrete refined finger movements they need for handwriting when they start formal schooling. Grade R/0 (5–6 yrs) is the time for us to be addressing these issues so your child does not have to worry about them when they start school.

We start working on letter and number formation using a multi-sensory approach. We focus on the starting positions for letters and have posts on the improtatnce of the teaching order for letters and numbers. This posts on this blog will empower you to help prepare your Grade R/0 (5–6 yrs) for big school.