Handwriting in March

Hello there!  This is Deedee from Mrs. Wills Kindergarten.  Wanna talk about handwriting?

So I am going to start this post by saying... I am not an expert and I am so far from perfect that I'm not even sure where they line the cars up for the race.
  

Here is what I do...I research it, try it, revise it, and then try it again.  I am a practitioner.

Handwriting... ugh!  It is not my favorite thing.  The Perfect Son has imperfect handwriting.  It was not my passion when he was 5 years old, it is not my passion now.  However, the purpose of writing is to make our meaning known, so we work a little on handwriting.  When I say a little... I mean a very little.

What we do actually do is write... ALL. DAY. LONG.

We start every morning with a version of these.  The kids love them, they make me smile and in this super simple warm up everyday, we can address so many skills in a creative way... Letter formation, spacing, capital letters, ending punctuation, illustrating, reading simple text... the list is long.  We do these as our "morning work."  I can quickly instruct them if there is a letter out of whack. 

Click on the picture to find these activities.

Click on the picture to find these activities.

Click on the picture to find these activities.

You can find the GROWING BUNDLE HERE.

Someone asked me if I address handwriting during writers workshop.  The answer is VERY RARELY.  Writers workshop (my belief) is about composing.  It is about getting our thoughts out and conveying meaning.  If their writing is confusing because their letters are not clear, then I might say something like.   "Wow!  I love the story you just told me". (Then offer a few more genuine compliments)  "I wondering if we could make this story a little easier for your reader to read?"  Then I would try to support them in that process.  No red pen!  

So... when else do I work on supporting handwriting?

During interactive writing!

During our Minute to Win it (literally 5 minutes worth of handwriting work in this activity!

I quick adjustment and he was on his way!

and during stations.

Our high-tech overhead station involves writing...

Our pocket chart (predictable sentences) station has LOTS of writing!

And when I set out to make my monthly Math and Literacy Stations unit I had a few goals in mind:
1.  Meaningful work
2. The task must take more than 3.2 seconds to complete... hello!  I have groups to meet with!
3. It needed to support my classroom goals (increase writing and illustrating).
4.  It HAD to be easy to prep... we are all busy!

Does the clown look abnormally scary... or is it just me?

My final thoughts on handwriting.  Some students are not ready for it.  That's okay.  I just take it where they are and nudge and guide them towards improvement.  I sing their praises and celebrate every step in the right direction.  I am not sure if that is right or wrong, but it is how I roll.

This is How Neat Printing Must Go!

Hey peeps!
I revamped a few of my focus wall posters and thought I'd share them with you all.

Sloppy printing makes me CUH-RAZY! We work on it a lot in class. A lot! My kiddos no my expectation and work hard to write neatly most of the time.

I created this poem to help my kiddos remember the basic rules of printing.

We recite this little ditty every day during the first few weeks of school. Then, refer to it often as the year progresses.

"Are your letters with tails dropping below?"

"Hey, doesn't g have a tail?"

"Whoah! Look at how perfectly Cammie's letters stop at the lines with the dots!"

Having the visual reminder on the focus wall for the kids to refer to is helpful, too!

This little poem sits on the board beside these little reminders.

After laminating my focus wall posters, I put self-sticking magnets on the back of them so I can move them around as needed.

My focus wall is on the side wall in my classroom, but I will move a poster to our main white board when we're focusing on a skill. This also makes these reminders part of the learning, and not simply decoration.

If you'd like a FREE copy of these posters for yourself, click the pic below to visit my Facebook page. The focus wall posters are FAN FREEBIES. Just click the fan freebies tab (viewable on a computer) on my FB page.

Have a fabulous week!