I posted the original link, but having tried the fonts from dafont.com, I find creating my own worksheet with the fonts to be much easier to control. TABS, thanks for posting this and explaining in detail. Karma to you! The D’Nealian style from the Writing Wizard site is pretty much the same as the SchoolScript, with the awful Q and G, but the letters are not joined and you don’t get the lines.
BTW, how do you start with “Hand Garden” font, then use the “Hand Garden Mutlu” to join the letters? I tried but was unsuccessful. My preference is still SchoolScript, I just change the Q and G to “Hand Garden”. I don’t like the M in Hand Garden, the arrows show M in 3 strokes, which feels quite unnatural for me.
re you concerned because of the chalk dust? I think that that is mainly a problem when you are erasing or if there is a lot of chalk on the board. If you are thinking about implementing the use of a chalkboard there is an interesting developmental program. It is designed to teach writing starting at the young pre-k age group. It is called “Handwriting without tears” (http://www.hwtears.com/about/historymission). They have lots of tactile activities and teach in a developmentally appropriate fashion for teaching writing including a chalkboard activity. Here is the pre-k link http://shopping.hwtears.com/category/prek. Let me know what you think.
Sorry I’ve not got back to you, our link has not been working so well!!!
Thanks for those links, I did really like the little writing black board idea. And the mat man was quite novel!!! I thought the cursive quite interesting as it isn’t slanted at all… Another link that you may be interested in that has worksheet with upright cursive can be found here: -
This is really interesting. At what age can you start doing handwriting with your child? My daughter is almost 18 months, can I start with her and where do we start? She likes to color with crayons and markers but I never thought we could go past that yet!
Thanks TABS, I’ll check out those sites. I have heard of pencil grips but I guess I always thought they were for comfort. Do they actually help you maintain correct pencil holding position?
the ones that are ergonomic and kinda shaped like a triangle do b/c your fingers have to stay in that position or it is terribly uncomfortable and near impossible to write.
I found this: Many children develop claw-like and/or tight, cramped gripping habits during early experimentation. In the beginning, lagging pencil-holding skills don’t seem to cause much trouble. But, poor pencil gripping skill can actually prevent the training and use of the best group of muscles by blocking gross-motor involvement and fluent movement. The development of relaxed fluency is desirable for many more reasons than most people realize. The movement training of directed handwriting lessons, allows the brain to record dynamic information which affects fluency of reading and composition later on. It is a shame to see a bright child miss the benefit of good movement training because he or she resists the learning of good pencil-holding skills.
Pencil grippers can be helpful reminders but they seldom teach on their own. A new grip position will always feel strange. It usually opens the process for participation by different muscle groups. Children may resist using the gripper because of the new grip it stimulates. You will have to explain the goals for good position and motivate children to use the aid correctly - until they get used to the way it feels and develop some control with the new position and muscle groups.
Thanks, as I mentioned before I am one of those people with a very crazy pencil grip and infact have only ever had a foggy idea of what the appropriate grip would be. I have very neat handwriting but it is exhausting to write. So for teaching my son who has an interest in writing I have been looking at pictures, but any other ideas are helpful. For me once I developed this incorrect grip I have never been able to change it and I don’t want to set my son on the same track.
Thanks, Nikki! I think I might get some of those!! Felicity’s grip is ok except that her third finger often wanders to the front. I think this would be very helpful.
As i told you . he was given a \blackboard for his Christmas present.I asked about the chalk it is not all that fus .The chalk has a good grip he is scribling and likes to dust it off .
We seem to have the same trouble as you KL with the third finger - Will have to try to get a finger grip. Thanks nhockaday for the picture and site about this. Initially I corrected him everytime, but as you can imagine that just took all the fun out of the lesson. So then we compromised, he did a line his way and then the next mine. That sort of works…
Since my last post in this thread we have been busy with writing. I had thought to perhaps leave for a bit so as not to curb his creativity - but having looked in to it I saw ways to make it creative too.
We printed the donnayoung prewriting lessons. Found here - http://donnayoung.org/penmanship/redines.htm and got started in the January. When I printed them off, I got them all confused as to which was first etc. so just got them altogether and put the pictures at the back, did a front page “handwriting book” in the font he will eventually write in - punched holes in the side and tied it up with string. The challenge at the beginning and still is the writing medium. We have used chalk, crayons, magic markers, wax crayons, highlighers, and the latest is a thick black marker. The first book is really messy and is what one would expect with just starting out. The second book I kept to the proper order of the lessons the only differnce I made was to put a picture in between each weeks lesson. I again punched holes in the side and included the front page with ‘handwriting 2’. This time though instead of string I used clothes 5mm elastic. The difference this made is amazing, with the string I had to fold the pages over and this interfered with the writing on the edge, with the elastic I pull it slighty and flaten it out. The first few weeks we followed everything no problem - then I had a week break, things were kind of hectic and I knew I’d just be rushing if we did the lessons. Starting again was so hard. He resisted any encouragement and after doing two days with no joy, decided not to push him. We were on the circles and in the first book the circles were scattered through out the book, now suddenly he had three pages in a row! So I suggested that he do the circle and then put a face on it. This kind of lead to the zigzags being changed in to tents and the slants in to A’s ect. The next lesson was hills and we did the same and now he doesn’t mind his writing lessons. I think for book three I’ll mix the lesson all up again and keep a picture after a weeks lesson - he enjoyed colouring and being creative with this page too. I do think though that the key is consistancy, a little every day. Even on other paper, I have tried doing an exercise where you have to close your eyes and draw a shape. This improves concerntration and is fun! Have included a picture of my sons faces… lol
Re the third finger problem, we bought some of those grips, and gave it a go, but not sure it helped much. Problem is that it makes the pencil grip area VERY VERY thick. It holds very well for an ADULT, but for a child so little (Felicity’s fingers are tiny!), it was slightly awkward…
But the good news is that she can write with her third finger back now. Just needs a reminder or two now and again!
In the past when I assisted the children to write I used the grips as well but I think they are a little awkward too, so here is how you can make your own using model magic. First i lightly run oil on the pencil down and up, NOT ON THE ERASER PART. Then i would make a ball with the model magic and run the pencil all the way through down to where you would grip it, then i would place the ball and pencil into the child’s hand and allowed him/her to position their fingers into the model magic holding the pencil in the correct manner. This forms a comfort and customized fit so the child can hold the pencil better. Allow to form hard on the pencil or crayon. it usual takes 2 days to dry completely. DO NOT TAKE THE BALL OFF OF THE PENCIL. HANG the pencil and ball up by the eraser ends, do not bother the model magic. After the model magic dries you can remove it from the pencil. The model magic is light, there is no extra weight by using this method, and it is customized to fit into the child fingers.
Also in my case having a toddler i place the model magic around a crayon.
The oil keeps the model magic from sticking to the pencil or crayon so you can sharpen it. I have even tried using plastic wrap in between the model magic and the pencil or crayon that works too.
Her KG teaches her. She started out with join-the-dots exercises, and then drawing within the tram lines for the letters of the alphabet, then tracing out the letters and words. You really must have activity sheets to do them.
Actually, we have made some here ourselves - must find the time to finalize them and upload them for everyone!
Am looking forward to them!