The Art of Handwriting

Students have been introduced to their handwriting dictionaries. Throughout the next few weeks we will be writing and hearing letters in teachers group. Students had a chance to practice in a rather messy way before the formal introduction to handwriting. This gave us confidence and excitement to begin a new phase in learning 

Students take turns being the teacher, singing the alphabet loudly and pointing to familiar letters. 

Each child enters Kindergarten forming letters differently, with a mixture of capital and lowercase letters. Students might hold their pencils with three, four, and five fingers. Some students feel comfortable writing letters, while others are more apprehensive. Experience and skill vary. Our goal in Kindergarten is for each student to feel confident and competent forming letters so that letter formation becomes an automatic process, requiring minimal mental effort. Once a child has mastered how to form a letter, his/her mind is free to consider what sound the letter makes, what word to write, and what ideas to convey. 

Handwriting is the central focus of teacher's group during work periods over the next few months, coupled with phonic instruction. Each day. the students will learn to write a new letter, either capital or lowercase. Currently, students are learning letters in the "c" family, that is, letters that begin with a common curved stroke, including a, c, d, g, o and q. 

The students watch and listen as the teacher models the stroke of a letter, with a repeating script. Then its their turn to practice in various ways. Here students use their whole arm in the air to form the letter. This helps by increasing their muscle memory when forming this letter.  For G, they curve backward to the top line, curve around and down to the bottom line, curve up and straight to the middle, and then make a sharp turn to the left. This language becomes common as they see how letter forms are related.

Next, students practice forming this letter on the carpet using their fingers. This provides tactile input and further supports the child's memory of the letter's shape. 

Each student finds the letter of the day in his/her handwriting book. Students begin tracing the letter all together, following the same language. Here for the letter 0 students, curve backwards to the top line, curve around and down to the bottom line, curve up and around to the top line. 

Throughout handwriting teachers use different ways to encourage and support the students. Students all hold the pencil differently, we as teachers encourage a three-finger pincer grasp. Some students utilize a grip to help.  

Perceiving a top, middle and bottom handwriting line can be developmentally difficult for a five or six year old. Some students benefit from a red line to help them recognize where to "stop" when forming a letter. 

Once they have practiced four letters all together, they trace the final letter with their fingers before  forming it independently with their pencils. The students point to their strongest letter and discuss what made it strong.

In addition to learning the form of the letter, the students learn the sound or sounds the letter makes. In their handwriting books, they draw words that begin with the associated sound. 

You may notice your child writing letters at home and wonder how to help them in this process. Guidelines to keep in mind:

• The school day is full of work that requires great mental energy. Any writing after the school day should be child-initiated and low-pressure.
• You child can try to use a three-finger pincer grasp when holding a pen, pencil, or crayon.
• You child can aim to begin at the top to form most capital letters, including letters in their names.
• Letter reversal is developmentally appropriate and not a cause for concern at this age. If your child writes a letter in reverse, this is just fine. You can encourage him/her to look for that letter in a book or other print in your home to see if the letters are going in the same direction. 

I encourage you to ask your child what letter he/she wrote today!