First Practice in Handwriting

Here is the first practice in handwriting letters:  the child traces the Sandpaper Sound, says the sound out loud, and then draws it in the cornmeal.  A simple shake of the box erases the letter so it can be practiced again and again or other letters can be formed.  This is a very cheap box with lid that I bought in a Dollar Store.  You can use cornmeal, sand, salt, rice.

Next, you introduce the chalkboard.  Keep your materials orderly; I put my chalk in a container, use felt for erasing, and tuck it all into a duck basket.  The child again traces the Sandpaper Sound and then draws it on the chalkboard.  The first lessons on the chalkboard are without lines for the letters.

When the child is ready to move ahead with writing the letters, add a ruler and draw your guide lines.  I love Cursive because every letter starts in the same place on the line whereas with Manuscript Print, letters begin in different places so you need to draw more guide lines as you can see in the next photo.

Now you are ready to start writing phonetic words!  The Cursive does not have to be connected at first.  That will come later.  You want the children to be able to stop and hear the sound that is in the word and to draw it; this causes natural pauses at this point in the Early Writing stage.  When the sounds become more fluid, they will be able to start connecting the Cursive letters together.

With your Manuscript Print you will need to continue with these guide lines and be very specific in showing how to form the letters since they begin at different places on the lines.

Finally, you will get to the point when the child is ready for pencil and paper.  This is the paper I use.  I am showing an examples using colored pencils; plain lead pencil is fine.  I have found that it is worth investing in very good colored pencils for your pink and blue inset design work, your handwriting lessons, and booklet making that will come along with handwriting.  This Prismacolor container has 24 colored pencils of high quality and they lasted an entire school year and will last another for sure!  The container keeps them in order and the children never lost one because there is a slot for each pencil making it obvious if one has hidden itself on the floor!