Showing posts with label handwriting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label handwriting. Show all posts

Writing Our Name (and a freebie)

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!



3's and S's...whew

Well, this week was a challenge to say the least! Our reading series introduces S and our math series introduces 3....wow! I'm mean..come on!!!! It was killing me! (Well, my assistant...she does handwriting!) We've been wearing out a highlighter....until another assistant thought of a great idea. Put 2 dots and tell them to go around them and do not touch them! Brillant. They think it is a game! Let me tell you! Love that woman! 



Like those handwriting paper? Get yours here. What do you do to help kiddos with handwriting?

PS....those are 2 kiddos who had never had preschool and hadn't used a pencil until 2 weeks ago when school started!

Did It Dots

Do you know what these are?


Smiley stickers you say? Nope. No they aren't. They are "DID IT DOTS". What? Yep. DID IT DOTS

Let me explain. Last year I posted about my "GIVE ME 5" rule. They have to do the following when writing sentences.


Here is where I have it posted in my classroom:


At times (not all of the time), I tell students they can earn "DID IT DOTS". They know that I am specifically looking for those 5 things. If they do all 5, they can earn a DID IT DOT for that sentence because...well...they did it! At times I will reward students who have the most did it dots for the day. Look at this example:

You can see the last sentence is the only one that earned a did it dot. Here is how I would correct it:

The only spelling errors I correct are words that are on the word wall. I do not correctly any best guess spelling until much later in the year and that is ONLY if we have learned a rule to help us spell it. (ch, silent e, etc). I used to have to pay $4.99 for these "DID IT DOTS" at the teacher store but now you can find them in the dollar spot at Target and Wal-mart all the time. So hurry, go get yours!

Handwriting Practice

I just jazzied up the handwriting pages I've been using in my classroom for a couple of years using most of KPMDoodles clipart and placed it in my TPT store for $1.50! I love that it gives my kiddos practice in handwriting, letter recognition, and beginning sounds. **They do have a to draw a picture different than the one on the page! :) Just click on the picture below if you want to check them out! I working on some sorting cards as well and a freebie!