Handwriting Practice Tips for Kindergarten
You may have noticed that your little one struggles to form letters in his/her name correctly, the SpaldingMethod way. That is because it is hard to try something new or to change habits. Your child’s hand and brain must learn these things through repeated practice with guided supervision. That means you must take time to sit beside your little one and talk them through the process until it’s understood and you see that he/she can see and follow the guidelines provided as a model. Here are some very important reminders that your child should be hearing from you as you supervise at home practice:
”Use your pinchers.”Use the thumb and 1st finger to grasp slightly back from where the yellow paint meets the wooden tip. Use the third and other fingers to help rest the pencil in the hand. Do not grip so far down on the pencil that you cannot see what you are writing or so far up that you have no pressure control.
“Begin at the top.”For round letters that start at “2 o’clock,” place the pencil tip on the
paper at the “2” location on the clock face and rotate left following the path of a
circle to make the rounded part of a letter (e.g. o, c,ord.) Childrenoften want to
begin at the top or bottom to make the curved part of a lowercase letter. (This is a
habit that we’re trying to modify.) Other SpaldingMethod letters may have vertical,
horizontal,or diagonal elements. The SpaldingMethodis similar towhat many folks
call “ball & stick” letters.)
“Hold the pencil firmly, but not too tightly.”If you use a hand-over-hand technique to guide your child through the process, be sure that your child is holding the pencil and moving his/her hand with you. YOU don’t want to be doing all of the work!
“There’s no ‘can’t’ in kindergarten”Even though your child may be more comfortable writing his/her letters and numbers another way, it is important that efforts be made to write using the SpaldingMethod, ”kindergarten and KTA way” for names and during any handwriting practice. Letters that are formed correctly (using the clock as a guide and moving the pencil in the correct direction) are far more desirable and help letters look very tidy. Of course, we’d love to have both eventually!
I know that we are asking for your consistent help and home support on handwriting development. (Sometimes it really “does take a village” to get things on the right track!) I hope that you find these tips helpful.Please remember that your child is 4 1/2 to 6 years old and this is a mature thing that we are asking of him/her. It will take time; we don’t expect perfection any time soon. However, applied effort is expected. We just want to move forward in that direction and the home-school efforts really do make the transition easier because of the continuity of instruction. In the future, more practice papers will come home for homework and you are welcome to make extra copies. Thanks!