Writing Beach

“We love Nessy Writing Beach. It builds up the student’s confidence step by step and gives the teacher great
planning ideas for games when developing more interesting sentences for story or poetry writing.”
– Deborah Redding, Head of Learning and Curriculum Support, Badminton School

About the Program

Writing Beach offers a unique and engaging way to help children aged 7-14 understand the building blocks of written language while having fun. Learn about sentence structure, grammar, punctuation and strategies that give children a structure they can follow when writing.

Students with dyslexia have difficulty writing and often find it hard to put an idea into words. But once they are shown a few simple planning techniques, suddenly writing becomes manageable. Writing Beach breaks the writing process down into small, manageable stages.

Children with dyslexia often find it difficult to grasp grammatical ideas. They struggle to remember concepts like nouns, verbs and adjectives because they are not concrete. Those with dyslexia need a different approach. Nessy uses video strategies, games and worksheets to make concepts memorable.

How it works:

Lesson 1: Sentence Construction

• What makes a complete sentence?
• Capital letters and full stops
• How to construct a sentence
• Writing motivation

Lesson 2: Joining Words (Conjunctions)

• Understanding conjunctions and when to use them
• Using the right conjunction
• How conjunctions join clauses

Lesson 3: Punctuation

• Understanding commas, exclamation marks, question marks, apostrophes
• When to use punctuation, how it helps form sentences

Lesson 4: Bullet Point Plans

• Planning a sentence or writing a description
• Identifying the key subject of the sentence
• Writing clearly

Lesson 5: Parts of Speech (Nouns, Adjectives and Verbs)

• Understanding the different types of words and their definitions
• Building sentences using different parts of speech

Lesson 6: Past Tense and Irregular Verbs

• What they are
• How they change a word
• When to use them

Lesson 7: Descriptive Writing

• Use a simple plan to help write a poem or description
• Utilizing visual thinking and creativity

Lesson 8: Planning a Paragraph

• How to link ideas into a paragraph
• How to use a topic sentence

Lesson 9: Story Plans and Writing

• Use a simple plan to help organize and develop ideas

Lesson 10: Advanced Skills

• Use different types of clauses to vary sentence construction
• Develop visualization to aid memory
• Activities to develop listening skills

Writing Difficulties Associated with Dyslexia

Writing difficulties associated with dyslexia generally fall into the two groups identified below. Writing Beach addresses both, helping children understand the key concepts of writing and sentence structure.

Group 1 – Slow Going

• Hesitation and feelings of inadequacy.
• Not knowing how to start.
• Difficulty ordering thoughts.
• Slow to think up sentences.
• Difficulty thinking of the right words to use (vocabulary and word finding difficulties).

Group 2 – Impulsive Rush

• Bursting with ideas and too eager to get them down onto paper.
• No planning.
• Writing incomplete sentences.
• Lack of punctuation.
• Untidy handwriting.
• Confused information.
• Indecipherable spelling.
• Poor spacing and pen control.
• Starting away from the margin and wandering haphazardly over the page.

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