Writing Our Name (and a freebie)

Friday, July 19, 2013

One of the first things we start drilling is writing our name. Whew wee! Most kiddos come writing their name in all caps. It is the worst habit ever to break. I will never forget one year a little girl was SO mad at me because I was making her write her name correct. She kept saying "My mama said to write it this way." I always say "Well, at (school name) you have to write it this way."
Here's the deal. You get some kiddos who come writing their name like this:

And some who come writing their name like this:

Yep. I find that for sweet Carter and others like him...they can just get a little extra practice writing on lines. They are ready for pencil to lined paper. Clearly. Same for Hayden who just needs a little work on the a.)

Okay...so for these sweet babies:

The lines won't work for them. Nope. We are gonna need WEEKS of practice. So what do I do for those kiddos? Boxes. We don't even worry about lines. They need to practice each letter in their name. Here is what I give for them:

Here is an example of my little one practicing her name. If their name looks anything like the 2 pictures above, I also highlight their name all the way down.

This may take weeks! I have a few students who I 30 copies of these ready. I'm gonna need them! Once they get better. I begin just giving them their name dotted (no highlighting).

Once we are looking like my sweet little 4 year old above, we begin writing on the lined paper. We are all saying a big Woo! Hoo! when they start looking like above!

Would you like these for yourself? Well, lucky you! They are a Facebook Freebie on my Facebook page now! Just click below to go to my facebook page and grab them!!! The first line is editable so you can type in your own kiddos names! I give suggestions in the unit for the font to use!