The Write Start (12 page)

Watch for signs of fatigue:
Some common signs of fatigue are a slouched posture, holding their heads in their hands, switching the writing tool from one hand to another, or complaining of hand pain. If you see any of these, it’s definitely time to take a break.

Remember to seat for success:
Don’t forget to sit your children where they fit, and get them in the right position by reinforcing stomp, slide, slant, and slap.

Organized materials encourage organized work:
Kids have a natural tendency to place their paper on top of a big pile of clutter and start working with complete disregard for the disorder. Help them get into the habit of clearing the decks (or their desks) before they get to work.

Remember you’re here to help:
When you nurture your children’s writing skills at home, consider them to be your apprentices. Have patience when demonstrating an activity, and whenever possible, teach by modeling.

Keep expectations realistic:
Newbie writers need plenty of time to practice the process before they can perfect the product. Look for progress, not perfection.

Make it playful:
At the heart of all these activities is the idea that children who play with writing, in a variety of ways, will not only learn to write, but will learn to love writing.

And, just like that, they’re ready to write.

Learn

 

Whether children are Scribblers ready for the next step, Spellers forming letters, Storytellers honing their craft, or Scholars learning cursive, the activities in this next section will help you to help them.

These hands-on, multisensory learning experiences go way beyond tracing, copying, or worksheet-type tasks. Each one is designed with development in mind. They support writing success by involving all the senses, incorporating big movements and small movements, and combining cognitive and motor components. Most important, they facilitate foundational skills by focusing on the building blocks of fluent, automatic, stress-free writing. And did I mention that they’re fabulously fun and kid-friendly too? And that’s no small thing. Because when kids learn to love writing from the start, well, that’s something that lasts a lifetime.

 

1

Skywriting

L
OOK UP IN THE SKY!
It’s a bird. . . it’s a plane . . . no, it’s a plane that knows how to write!

When you see skywriting, it really grabs your attention. The novelty of those puffy white letters against a backdrop of endless blue sky heightens your awareness and makes you stop and take notice.

Your children can try their own hands at “skywriting” as they’re learning to write, by pretending their hands are airplanes that are writing giant letters in the air. Introduce them to this idea by standing alongside them and demonstrating a letter movement in the air, using big motions of your entire arm. Encourage them to do the same. A funny thing happens when they “write” using large, whole-body movements: their brain really stops and takes notice. How so? Big movements activate more areas of the brain, thus reinforcing the information at hand. By practicing letter formation with super-sized movements first, learning virtually takes flight.

Oh, and don’t forget to make some good airplane noises, too, to enhance the high-flying fun. Enjoy doing this one together, knowing that once children feel comfortable enough to fly solo, the sky’s the limit.

 

M
ATERIALS

 

∗
None! Just you and your young writer.

 

H
OW-TO

 

Stand side-by-side with your child and trace the movements of various letters of the alphabet in the air using the largest motions you can. Say the directions out loud at first (“Zoom straight down, fly back to the top, and make a great big curve” for capital
D,
for example), and then fade them out as your child masters the movements.

 

Variations

For Scribblers:
Start with letter strokes (lines and curves) and basic shapes (circles, squares, and triangles), rather than entire letters. Getting your children used to controlling the movement of specific shapes will help them develop the control needed to form letters.

For Spellers:
Demonstrate the ABCs as described; Spellers are ready for this. When demonstrating the letters, be sure to form them using the proper stroke order (see “
Alphabet Chart
” in the templates section).

For Storytellers:
As children progress, they’re ready to tackle some simple words. Encourage your Storyteller to test out their newly learned words in the sky.

For Scholars:
This is a super multisensory way for Scholars to practice spelling words or writing letters in cursive. To help Scholars focus on the feel of words even more, try having them close their eyes while they skywrite (it helps them to really home in on the direction of their movements).

2

What’s in the Bag?

H
AVE YOU EVER HEARD
anyone say, “You’re so good at that, I bet you could do it with your eyes closed”? They would be referring to the fact that once you have learned something in a multisensory way, your inner awareness of how to do it is so strong you could easily do it with your vision occluded. That’s exactly how we want to teach children to write letters. We want their hands to be guided by their internal sense of each letter’s movement so that their writing flows automatically.

The best way for children to get a feel for letters is by actually
feeling
them. Picking them up in their hands, manipulating them, running their fingers along their lines and curves. When they do this, they are able to see them in their “mind’s eye.” Then, they are better able to visualize how to make the letters themselves.

This game reinforces that concept. And you’ll be surprised at how much concentration it takes; it’s not as easy as it looks!

 

M
ATERIALS

 

∗
a full set of three-dimensional alphabet manipulatives (such as alphabet puzzle pieces, or magnetic alphabet letters)

∗
medium-sized opaque drawstring bag

∗
blindfold or handkerchief (optional)

 

H
OW-TO

 

1.  Put the alphabet letters in the bag and pull the drawstring snug.

2.  Show your kids how to loosen the drawstring, then shut their eyes and slip one hand into the bag. (No peeking! You might have to use a blindfold for persistent peekers.)

3.  Tell them to identify something in the bag using only their sense of touch. Have them say what they think it is out loud
before
they pull it out of the bag.

4.  Kids can double-check themselves by pulling out the letter and seeing whether they got it right (if they did, keep the letter out of the bag and try some others). If they didn’t get it right, they can put the letter back in and try it again on another turn.

 

Variations

For Scribblers:
Even Scribblers who don’t know their letters yet can start learning to tune in to their sense of touch. Start by putting a few simple objects (like a key, a ball, a crayon, a shell, or a spoon) into the bag and see if they can identify the items without looking at them.

For Spellers:
Kids who are just learning their letters will love this game, provided you take their novice status into account. Start out by placing only two letters in the bag at a time. Choose letters that they know well and that have dissimilar shapes (
A
and
O,
for example). Follow the instructions as described above. As a variation, make a specific request, such as, “Find the
A.
”

For Storytellers:
Hide letters in the bag that, when combined, spell a simple word your Storyteller knows well. Have them reach in, feel, and guess each letter. When they have figured out all the letters and taken them out of the bag, encourage them to arrange and rearrange them until they discover the secret word.