http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvZUQ3ub-20

Sometimes it’s easy to tell that a child is ready to learn to write because theycan easily pick up Cheerios using their thumb and index fingers or they can build with things like Lego’s with ease. Or they might walk around with a note pad and pencil jotting down “notes” like they have seen their parents do.

Joslyn was interested in writing and she would sit with a pencil and paper and write down “notes”. One day she was watching her dad make a list of what he needed for a project outside. He was thinking through all the materials he had and what he still needed as she was, unobserved by him, watching him carefully and imitating him. As dad remembered something he needed, like peat moss for the garden, he would write it down on the list. Soon his list was completed and he left the room for a minute. Joslyn came over to the table with the list that she had written. She looked at her dad’s list and at her list and decided that dad forgot something so she added it to his list. When dad came back, he noticed an addition to his list and asked Joslyn what she wrote. Joslyn, looking at her list, replied, “We also need bubbles for outside dad.”

Joslyn has shown an interest in communicating her ideas and a desire to learn to write. It’s a great indication that she is ready to learn the process of writing.

Introduction to Conventional Handwriting

Learning to write isn’t a chronological skill, not everyone develops the needed fine motor skills at the same age – it is more a skill that each child develops at their own rate. So if your child needs to continue doing pre-writing activities like drawing or making circles for a little while, it is okay. When they have a desire to write, then they are ready to go on.

Here is a progression of activities to guide your child to learn to write with ease. It’s important for them to practice writing the letters but not for extended periods of time. Doing one or two pages of letters to practice a day is enough for them to master forming the letters and still not get bored with the activity.

Dotted Letters for Handwriting

1. We have had a lot of success using the dotted words and it’s easy for you to make for your child to trace.
2. Start with the most important word in your child’s world: their name.
3. Write their name in all capital letters to start. Later as your child’s fine motor skills develop, you will introduce lower case letters.
4. You can make your own dotted words using our lined paper.
5. Be sure to mention to your child that the dots are only temporary and will not be used in the future. Once we observed a young student that was very confident in writing their letters but after they were finished writing,  they would go back and add the dots thinking the dots were part of the letters.
6. When your child is first learning to write the individual letters it is helpful to make the beginning dot larger and to give a clue to the direction you want they to go, like with a small arrow.
7. Once your child has mastered writing their own name and has developed their fine motor skills, then they are ready to go on to learn the rest of the alphabet.NOTE: If your child is interested in writing before kindergarten, check to see what font your local school district uses. Using the same font as they use in school will make your child’s life a little easier. It’s never fun to have to relearn something you have learned another way.

The Alphabet

1. Start with the capital letters then progress to the lowercase letters. The larger letters are a little easier for small fingers to make.
2. You can introduce the letters in alphabetical order, if your child likes things in sequential order, it would be logical and they might be more comfortable with that approach.
3. Or you can introduce similar letters together, such as letters made with a circle, or the tall letters or all the letters that have a “tail”. Doing them in order of similar motions might make it easier for your child to complete.
4. We wouldn’t suggest introducing the following letters on the same day because some children do get confused. Some of these letters look similar or are mirror images.
   The letters are:

In time, your child will have no problem differentiating between the letters.

Fun Handwriting Paper

1. We created our special “house” paper” which has a small image to indicate where the letters should be in relation to the lines. Children have an understanding of the basic idea of a house – that some houses have an upstairs and a basement and all of them have floors. So we are building on that knowledge.
All of the letters rest on the first “floor”, some like the – y, p and q – go into the “basement” and others like the – l, t and b – reach into the “attic”.

2. Also try our fun “boat” paper, if your child loves the water or boats, they might enjoy using this paper. All letters sit on the bottom of the boat (so the boat doesn’t tip over),some letters reach down to the fish in the water – like a q or g and others reach up in the sail – like k or h.

Using our special “house” or “boat” paper will help your child quickly learn the proper placement for each letter in a fun way that will help them remember it – so in time the placement of the letters will become automatic.

Handwriting Assessment

1. Use the special “house” or “boat” paper for practice and until your child is fairly comfortable with each letter.
   

   Large boat paper PDF	Large house paper PDF
   Small boat paper PDF	Small house paper PDF

2. When they have learned how to make the letters of the alphabet, they can progress to regular lined paper.

Handwriting Jokes

• In school one day, a teacher asked a 6 year old why his handwriting wasn’t as neat as it usually was. “I’m trying out a new font,” he replied.
• Riddle: How is a pencil like a riddle?
  Answer:  It’s no good without a point.

This entry was posted on April 27, 2009 at 2:53 am and is filed under Activities, Beginning Writing, Handwriting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.