Handwriting in Kindergarten

Once upon a time, I met a Kindergarten teacher who did not believe in spending much time on handwriting. She wanted her kids writing words and sentence, not letters. She believed that kids would eventually learn how to form letters by writing them in words.

Umm….I hope you see the problem with this.

Have you seen a kid “form” a letter their own way?

This is my 4 year old, Jonas. he hates writing. Right now, he does not form his letters and numbers correctly (he has another year before Kindergarten, I’m not worried). He is essentially drawing letters, not writing them. he doesn’t understand that letters are always formed the same way, yet.

So what is wrong with forming letters this way? Well, it’s hard. It takes longer. When you lift you pencil up and form the lines separately like he is, you’re failing to form muscle memory. Again, that makes it hard. If I am a Kindergarten student who struggles to write letters, am I going to write a short simple sentence or a long complex sentence?

I’m going to write the short sentence because it’s too hard physically to write a sentence.

To help students with their handwriting, they need to learn how to make a continuous movement. You can get these FREE cards HERE. Learning how to write various continuous lines will help students to write their letters more efficiently. By writing letters more efficiently, students will be able to write MORE with LESS effort.

Random tip – kids should have their feet touching the ground when writing. If your little one has their feet swinging in their chair, you may want to give them a foot rest. This allows them to have more pressure when they write, making it easier.

Once a student understands how to do a continuous movement, they are ready to move on to letter formation. Just by teaching children to start at the top when they form letters, will help them to understand letter formation. I know some districts use a classic print or ball and stick letter formation, while others use d’nealian. I have taught both. The number one advantage to d’nealian is that all the letters are continuous. Students never have to pick up their hands, which actually creates stronger muscle memory. It also make sit easier to move into cursive later on. The number one advantage to writing letters this way is that the letters are clearer, more distinct. (Have your ever seen a d’nealian k?) I have taught both ways and create products with both. My Handwriting and Tracing Activities include both for all activities.

What about students who do not know how to hold a pencil?
Here are a few ideas- but ultimately, it comes down to modeling, and time.

Have kids hold a cotton ball or pom-pom in their palm with their pinky and ring finger holding (this is my favorite)
Break pencils or use smaller pencils
Use play-dough or a writing tool on the bottom of the pencil

Don’t forget to integrate additional fine motor skills in your classroom. You can find some ideas here.

I created my Handwriting and Tracing Activities several years ago, but it recently got a HUGE update. If you previously purchased it, you can get the update free. There are tracing pages, handwriting pages, shape tracing, color words, and numbers.

I hope you all have a better idea on the importance of handwriting and have a few new tricks to try in your classroom.