Handwriting and Writing

What do you do with your class to help improve their handwriting? 

 I know I know, I battle with myself sometimes if learning the correct way to write is still important.  But then I remember that my students need to be able to write notes and lists.  People need to be able to read those.  They may not have to write long essays but the will definitely have to write notes and lists for themselves. Therefore, teaching my students the correct way to form their letters is important to me.  With all this curriculum, it is difficult to fit in handwriting.  Here is one of the ways I incorporate handwriting practice into my day.

One of the centers in my classroom is Handwriting Practice.  When it is the students turn to go to this center, they find their Handwriting folder and get started.  They know what to do and they are working on numerous skills.

Cover of the Handwriting Practice folder.

At the beginning of the year I have their first name in the book.

Second quarter I add their whole name to the book.

These pages we use for different things.  I could give them a sound and they write it.  I could give them a letter and they write it.  I could give them a number and they write the number and a picture to match.  Basically, for these two pages there are numerous things.

More name practice and phonogram practice.

Phonograms and Numbers.

 

 

 Letter and Sight Word practice.

Sight Word practice.

Sight Word practice.

This Handwriting Practice folder is so beneficial for the students.  I have seen such an improvement on my student's handwriting.

For Winter, we made adorable Eskimos for our classroom door.

I love how bright the students made their Eskimos.

The past few weeks I have really been working on writing.  Since we have been talking about Dental Health this week, we did a writing about the Dentist.  First we brainstormed what we wanted to talk about.

We used this map to help us.



 

Then we filled out the map together.  Next, we wrote the sentence together using our sounds to help us write words.

The sentence we came up with was...

The Dentist told us to brush twice a day, brush for 2 minutes, and floss.

Then, later in the week I gave the students some pictures.  Then I told them they had to write something about the pictures.

I have a toothbrush and toothpaste.

Brush for 2 minutes a day.

I brush my teeth so I don't get cavities.

I was trilled with their sentences.  They did a Wolfelicious job on these!

Did you read my blog post from last week?  I found out that a lot of us feel the same way!  It is always great to know that you aren't alone with your feelings.  If only we could go back and let our kids be little!

If you missed the post, here is the link to it.

   

I hope you had a great week!