﻿Hi, I'm really looking forward to our lesson today. I hope you are too. Before we get started, this is just a little reminder. We're here to support any approaches you might already be using, and any work you might have already been sent. We know that this lesson is going to be going out to so many different children and families, so if you're not sure about anything or have any questions, then please do contact your usual therapy team. I want you to try the following hand warm-ups before each handwriting session. This is really important for getting your hands ready for writing. Try and do each activity or each little warmup, say 10 times. If you're finding that it's tricky to do one warm-up with both hands together at the same time, then just do one hand at a time. Hands open and closed. Nice fist and open. Stretch those fingers. Now were going to interlock our fingers, and squeeze our hands. You can see how white my fingertips are going because I'm squeezing. I'm getting all of that feedback into my hands and my fingers. Okay? Squeeze. Now I want you to clasp your fingers and just pull. Pull, pull, pull, pull, pull. Excellent. Next let's do some finger taps on the table. If you struggle doing both hands at once, then just do one hand at a time. You can also try finger taps on the tips of your thumbs. Okay, so take each finger, and just gently touch that finger's tip to your thumb. Now do some finger pulls and squeezes. Squeeze your fingers as you pull them up and away from your body. This is really good activity for getting your fingers ready for writing, and don't forget your thumbs. And if you wanted an extra challenge, you could try some finger separations. Okay, so those were your hand warm-ups. Please remember to do them before each handwriting session. Hi, we've looked at a number of the letter groups, and today we're going to look at some letters which don't belong in any of the specific groups. I like to call these the odd one out letters. Let's learn how to write these. So what are the odd one out letters? Well, this is a group of letters that don't quite fit neatly into any of the other categories. So they may be small, but you can't necessarily call them, say for example, a magic C letter, and they all have their own unique way of being written. These letters are E or eh, S or s, X or zed, z. Pause the video now to get the items you will need. So remember, you'll need paper or something else that you choose to write on, and then a pen or pencil, or the most appropriate thing for whatever you've chosen to write with. Also remember that you can start by simply writing the letters in the air, or drawing them in sand or soapy foam or shaving cream. Restart once you're done. The same way that we practise all our letters, when we're practising writing the odd one out letters, I want you to practise each one several times until you feel really confident and happy with the way you're forming the letter and the way your letters will look at the end. Remember to take your time. Don't rush. Work very carefully. Okay? Once you think you're ready for a challenge, you can try writing them as quickly but neatly as you can in a given amount of time, and you can also have an adult call out a letter, and you can then quickly do say five of those letters. One adult might say, "Six zeds," and then you have to quickly do six zeds, or they might say, "Three Es." Okay, when we're doing our odd one out letters, they all start a little bit differently. So the letter E or eh is a small letter which starts in the middle, then it goes across, and then it forms a letter C. Okay? And S is a small letter that starts at the midpoint near the top, and then snakes its way down, so it's almost like you're forming the number eight, and X is a small letter that's made by crossing two diagonal lines, and the zed is a small letter that starts in the midpoint, goes across, down diagonally, and then across again. So the letters are E, S, X and zed, and this is how we form them. Let's look at how we form our odd one out letters. So the letter E, we said starts in the middle. I'm going to draw a little starting dot for all of these, 'cause they're all slightly different. Okay? So the letter E is going to start there. It goes across, and then you do a C or curlicue. Let's look at that again. Across and then a curlicue or the letter C. Okay? Now I don't want you to do the letter C, and then join the line. It's much better to do it in one go. Right. Excellent work. Now our next letter is S, and that one is going to start over there. So for our S, we start at the top, we go across, we snake down. Let's try that again. Start at the top, and we snake down. Now, do you remember? I said it's almost like you're starting the number eight, because then you just go across. Okay? Let's look at that again, and S. So you can imagine sliding down that S. Okay? For our next letter, let's get our starting dot, and we are going to do our X, actually has two starting dots. Yeah. And for our X, we're going to go down and down. Do you remember? I said it's got two diagonal lines which crossover. And our last odd one out letter will start there, and let's make this one light blue, and it's the zed, so it goes across, diagonally down, and across again. Let's have a look. And you see that? Across, diagonally, down, across, and you're just going to repeat that. Okay? Fantastic work. Pause the video to practise the odd one out letters. Restart once you're ready. For a challenge, you can try cursive writing, or if your teacher has said that you're ready to be doing cursive writing, then you can give this a go as well. Remember, all your letters need to start at the bottom on the baseline and work their way up. So these are really quite tricky, but remember, take your time and just practise. Also remember that every school has a different way of doing joined-up writing, so ask your teachers how they would prefer for you to do your letters. Now remember, when we're doing our cursive writing, they're all going to start on the baseline, so let's do our starting dots for each of these. Okay? And... For these letters, it's really important that you ask your teachers how they'd like you to form them because every school is different. Right, so let's start with our first letter, which was our E. Start on the baseline, up and down. There we go. Okay? And again, so that's up, and round, and down. When we're doing our letter X, we also start at the bottom, but watch this. You go up, and down, and then you lift your hand up, and you go to the opposite side. Okay? Sometimes they're done like that, and sometimes they're done like that, so it's really important that you find out from... Let me just rub this one out. It's really important that you find out from your school, how they would like you to do your joined-up writing. Yeah? Our next letter is going to be the S, and again this one can be quite tricky depending on how you are expected to do it. So you start at the bottom, go up and back around to do your S, and then you join it there. Sometimes you might be asked to do it like that. So it's really important again, find out how your teachers would like you to do it. And then our last letter is our zed, up and across. So this one should be fairly simple. I have seen sometimes though, ones that look like that. That is fancy. Make sure you find out from your school, what they'd prefer you to use. Pause the video now to practise cursive writing. Restart once you're finished. Like we said before, take your time when you're practising . Don't rush. If you're finding things a bit tricky, you can start off by just practising writing letters up in the air, or you can find some sand, and you can write your letters in the sand. Find a load of different materials to practise on 'cause that will give you a different sensory experience each time, and help your brain learn how to form these letters. If you're struggling to form your letters on a line, then use plain paper. And if you want to use lined paper, but you're also struggling, then maybe start off with lines that are slightly bigger, and then gradually you can make them smaller. Remember do the best for you. Take your time, practise, practise, practise. And if you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak. Bye.

In this lesson, we will learn about odd-one-out letters - these do a dance of their own!

In this lesson, we will learn about odd-one-out letters - these do a dance of their own! Resources provided by University of Gloucestershire (CC BY-NC-SA: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0)

Lesson overview:Odd one out letters

Core Content

Handwriting: