Guidelines for Teaching Handwriting in Kindergarten Thoughts on What Works Best An ongoing action-research project with Nellie Edge and kindergarten colleagues Believe that efficient letter formation is an important gift that you can gently, yet firmly, help young children acquire in kindergarten. Have high expectations, be very intentional, and systematically assess progress. Handwriting matters because it directly supports the writing-to-read process. Children first practice carefully handwriting their name at home and at school. The Susie Haas Name Ticket Strategy (with many variations) works amazingly well. Parents post the Name Writing Guide on their refrigerator. This is how your child writes their name at school from now on. (See parent letter.) Children practice writing their name three times every night at home and first thing every morning at school, using the Susie Haas name ticket strategy (see link). Our teaching colleagues agree that initial handwriting instruction should focus on the childs name. We thank Susie Haas, author of Cornerstones of Kindergarten Literacy, for sharing this. (She adapted it from Bobbi Fishers clipboard name check-in described in Bobbi’s book, Joyful Learning in Kindergarten.) Each child begins by learning to correctly form the letters in his or her name. Celebrate when the child can form all the letters in his or her name correctly. You can make all those letters correctly. Arent you proud of your work! Now let’s learn your last name. It is developmentally appropriate to have high expectations. Children do take pride in printing their name correctly so that everyone can easily read it. This is their first important literacy goal. Expect daily improvement. Teaching drawing and art supports handwriting from the first day of school. See Laura Flockers work on The Art and Handwriting Connection. Do the O dance to initially develop the muscle memory for a counter- clockwise circle. Use the outstretched dominant arm (or both arms together if the child is left handed) with writing fingers extended. Make large circles and dance around and around and around… to the tune of Dance Around recorded by Bev Bos. Research from the ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English and Communicationindicated that vertical letter forms are more easily printed and read. They recommend that children should learn to read and write using the same visual alphabet model. This is logical — and it works according to a compilation of research findings. Give parents a copy of your handwriting guide along with the exact verbal directions for forming each letter (i.e., a – around in a circle and up and down). When a parent and child do writing activities at home, ask the parent to gently (and with high expectations) remind the child that we use lower- case letters unless its the first letter of a name or the beginning of a sentence — now that we’re in kindergarten. Our Capital Letter Chant: Capital letter starts my name. Then lower case — The rest are the same. Capital letter starts a sentence. Then lower case — Unless it’s a name. Do not let inefficient handwriting habits get established. Incorrect muscle memories are hard to unlearn later. Start with the word and letter I. I is the word young writers will read and write most frequently. I teaches the downward stroke and left-to-right (cross the midline) motion needed for other efficient letter forms. Children take pride in learning to write “I” and proudly wear “I” home on a memory necklace. Teach high-frequency words with careful attention to correct letter formation — I, love, you, the, see, to, from, this, is, a… Once these words become automatic and efficient, it facilitates daily kid writing. (Our first 24 by heart words teach all letters except z, j, q, w, x. These are the high-frequency words children will need fluency with to accelerate the reading/ writing process. Handwriting practice facilitates the child’s visual recognition of these important words.) Celebrate when children can write love with correct handwriting form. Practice for fluency. Write it over and over again. Go outside and print it on the sidewalk with chalk. How fun is that? Children love to practice words using big letters on the black blackboard or sidewalk (BOO! BOO! BOO! is frequently seen in October!). Children can say the letter name and its sound before sky writing new letter forms. They usetheir whole arm (elbow straight) with two fingers extended while repeatedly verbalizing the motion (a/“a” around up and down). This is a research-proven technique that develops muscle memory. After sky writing a letter shape, children write the letter (using two fingers) several times on the floor to make the tactile connections. (Thank you, Kathie Bridges.) Julie Lay asks children to write using two fingers on their leg so they can feel this sensation. Children can also do back writing on a buddy or write the letter on the palm of their hand. Provide elaborative rehearsal by inviting the children to write the same letter or word over and over using many different colors of crayons or paints as a directed art project. Fluency is always our expectation. Students participate in ongoing assessment and goal setting. Encourage self-evaluation and feedback. “Find the very best ‘e’ that you made. Draw a circle around it with your favorite color of crayon.” Laura Flocker involves children in self-assessment — Put a star by the letter you think you did best — tell me why. Look carefully and circle your very best ‘o.’ Then teacher marks her preference and explains why. Give encouraging feedback — emphasizing effort, improvement, and what the child did best. – You worked hard. – Look at how clearly you formed that letter. – Every day your letters get clearer and easier to read. – How did you make such a great looking “R”? – It is obvious you care about doing your best name printing. Doesn’t that look sharp and professional? – You are becoming a real expert at printing your name! – What a beautiful round O you made. The most effective teachers we have observed integrate handwriting into meaningful and multisensory activities for strong memory connections and motivation. Best Practices emphasize daily experiences with art, movement, fluency practice, and kid writing. Use literacy centers for active, meaningful practice: at Becky Leber’s message center, the child is expected to write to and from on all cards, letters and envelopes they create. Name/photo word cards, stamps, assorted papers, and special pens entice children to write. They are expected to print efficiently. At the bookmaking center, children can practice writing My Book, by Jason. Sometimes it’s necessary to repeatedly guide a child’s arm in large motor patterns and then the hand as they are developing a muscle memory of the letter formation. Much of our handwriting instruction is reinforced individually. We help each child set goals and take ownership of their developing skills. Teach correct pencil grip. Special pencil grips or golf pencil grips are helpful. Occupational therapists have recommended that a child having difficulty with efficient pencil grip can practice gripping a cotton ball or penny. Sing this handwriting reminder song (to the tune of If You’re Happy and You Know It). I always start my letters at the top. (The top!) I always start my letters at the top. (The top!) When I write another letter, I get better, better, better, When I always start my letters at the top. (The top!) Another playful reminder to children — Letters come down from the stars… Verbalize one consistent letter direction: i.e., a is around in a circle and up and down… It is vital to individualize and differentiate instruction so all children can be successful. Children enter kindergarten with varied handwriting experiences. Some children will be ready to write first and last name on their morning name ticket while others may need weeks to perfect their first name. Some learners will benefit from extra practice forming letters in cornmeal trays, shoebox lids with salt, and on finger-painting paper, with teacher guidance. Some of our colleagues use commercial handwriting programs, most do not. Our focus is to provide an active, positive and meaningful initial handwriting experience for each child, beginning with their name and by heart (high- frequency) words. Most of our instruction is individualized and practiced within the context of authentic writing. Concerns with commercial handwriting programs are the emphasis on upper-case letters and isolated practice that does not require the brain to visually retrieve the letters from long-term memory. Joanie Cutler uses special crayons and pencils that are thicker and have ridges. These are easier to grasp correctly. If you have a variety of writing utensils, children can select what works best for them. Her children dance letter forms to classical music while verbalizing the direction. How fun is that? What about lined/unlined paper? Wise teachers know when each child has enough handwriting control to enjoy the challenge of writing within a line. (Not on three lines!) The concept of writing within the lines (not necessarily right on the line) or within the 2 x 4 name ticket space provides a structure that supports a horizontal and linear progression for writing words. It is necessary to keep a simple ongoing ABC handwriting assessment that is shared with child and family. Keep a color-coded class grid showing capital and lower-case letter forms that each child has mastered. Yellow shows where each child was in September. Expect weekly improvement. Be sensitive, respectful, and patient with the young learner who does not yet have the fine motor skills necessary to form lower-case letters efficiently. Keep their joy of learning alive. Our colleagues are in close dialog with the first-grade teachers. They usually save the more formal approach to handwriting — copying a page of one letter on hand-writing paper, proper writing posture with feet on floor, back touching the chair, arms angled to paper, etc. — for later in the year to give children a taste of the more traditional penmanship instruction they may receive in first grade. (Our first-grade teacher colleagues are delighted to have such confident, happy kid writers coming in —children who form all letters and many words fluently.) The goal is to support our kindergartners’ efforts to begin writing easily and legibly. It appears that many of the things that work best are based on the original research and multisensory Orton- Gillingham handwriting approach. (See article by Susan Handzel.) During kid writing time in journals, consider having large self- adhesive handwriting pads available. If a child is consistently forming a letter awkwardly, it may be an appropriate teaching moment to stop and do a little practice on the pad (not on their kid writing journal) forming just one letter over and over. Later during free choice activities, spend a minute (perhaps using a special purple handwriting clipboard) and ask the child to demonstrate their new handwriting skill. Then high-five — You learned another letter! I bet you’ll remember that tomorrow. Check again tomorrow. Have high expectations. For some children practicing a single letter repeatedly on a piece of paper or wipe-off board while saying the letter and sound may produce the needed automatic letter/sound recognition to support handwriting. By practicing the same letter form over and over several times in a safe environment learners will seal it in their visual and kinesthetic memory. Invite children to make letters on the sidewalk using colorful chalk. What a fun way to practice the ABCs — or to celebrate kindergarten mastery of lovely letter formations. Give children play dough, coloring projects, finger plays and small muscle games using tweezers or clothespins. One more reason for easels in the classroom is that children naturally use a top to bottom motion with paintbrushes. Sand/salt box writing from ABC samples is good for tactile learners. Use of lap-size wipe-off white boards and chalkboards are great for whole class letter and word practice: Write ‘love’ five times using your best handwriting. Circle the best one. Provide hand-eye coordination games and activities such as puzzles and playdough. Daily abc fingerspelling practice develops the small muscles needed for writing. Create an active learning environment – dancing, handjiving, pushing and pulling are activities that develop the neurological and muscle coordination for handwriting. Caution: Please do not destroy children’s enthusiasm for kid writing and drawing by overemphasizing handwriting. Build on success. Differentiate instruction. Build internal motivation so each child wants to do better each day.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 06:53:38 +0000
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