Practicing Handwriting

• “Practicing Handwriting” provides students with hints for improving their handwriting, as well as models for manuscript and continuous stroke letters. Students are told to follow the models when forming their letters, practice letters often, leave spaces between words, and slant all letters the same way. It is important for children to realize the link between how they write their words and what another person understands from reading those words.

Lesson Plan

• Prepare some samples of writing that show classic mistakes that new writers make. For example, choose an entertaining sentence, and write it three ways: letters slanting all over the place, words with no spaces between them, and words neatly written. Discuss the differences between the samples, and what makes the neat one easier to read than the others.

Classroom Applications

Large Group

• Have some “foaming fun” with handwriting. This lesson serves two purposes: It helps children feel how the letters are formed, and it cleans off your desktops! Spray a mound of inexpensive shaving cream on each desk. Have your students roll up their sleeves, and then carefully spread out the foam to make a thin layer over their desktops. Let them explore the marks they can make on their own, and then guide them in forming the letters of the day.
• This can also be used as a way to “fill in the blanks.” Write a sentence on the board, leaving out a key word. Invite your students to write the missing word in the foam on their desks. Then walk around the room, reading answers and helping correct letter formation while everyone is working.

Small Group

• Invite your students to create small signs for the classroom. Divide the class into small groups and assign each group a part of the room to label. Give each group some writing paper and a stack of small labels cut out of lined writing paper. Let them decide what items in their section should be labeled. Then have them work together to figure out the correct spelling of each item, and check their list with you. Finally, they can make the labels and post them in the room. This activity offers good handwriting practice and also provides more environmental print to encourage reading!

Individual

• Ask the children to change one letter to make a new word. You might suggest “can,” and then the students go on from there, changing the word again and again. Or work on consonant blends by writing the word “flower,” pointing out the fl blend, and challenging your students to write other words that begin the same way. Also have the children practice writing the names of all the class members. Knowing how to write their classmates’ names facilitates note writing—and gets everyone ready for Valentine’s Day.