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Handwriting in preschool

  • 1.  Handwriting in preschool

    Posted 04-30-2019 09:44 AM

    Hi all,
    I know this topic has been discussed on this forum in the past.  My colleagues are meeting about handwriting in general in kindergarten and first grade and have mentioned "pushing" this down to preschool as well.  Any help/articles would be appreciated.
    Thank you,
    Emily



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    Emily Brown
    Hailey Elementary Preschool
    Hailey ID
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  • 2.  RE: Handwriting in preschool

    Posted 05-01-2019 07:45 AM
    Hello,
    I teach Young fives in a public school. I use the Handwriting Without Tears program. I would HIGHLY recommend it. I use the My First School Book. It is for 4-5 year olds and it develops coloring, drawing, counting and beginning writing skills. It has songs that the kids love and it also covers alphabet knowledge, color and shape recognition. There are several different books within this program, some early books, some for more of the kindergarten level.

    Good luck

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    Katy Forcillo
    Young Fives Teacher
    Grosse Pointe Public Schools.
    Grosse Pointe, MI
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  • 3.  RE: Handwriting in preschool

    Posted 05-01-2019 01:01 PM
    We also use Handwriting Without Tears program to supplement our preschool program that is for 4-5 year olds and have loved it!

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    Jennifer Robinett
    Youth Programs Manager
    Multnomah Athletic Club
    Portland OR
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  • 4.  RE: Handwriting in preschool

    Posted 05-02-2019 05:11 AM
    I also used handwriting W/O Tears when I was in the classroom. The preschool version is great, the children love it. I even did "Mat Man" activities with the 2's. What a great way to help children develop a love of learning/school.

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    Karin King
    Education Consultant
    Trumbull CT
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  • 5.  RE: Handwriting in preschool

    Posted 05-02-2019 06:38 AM
    I am very much against hand writing without tears. I've been to all the workshops because I was curious about why it has become so popular and has been marketed so heavily. I believe it is conceived from a place of deficit and practice of isolated skills  rather than emergent writing and curiosity and whole body whole child learning. It might be okay for older kids but I keep it out of preschool. Work books,. Coloring sheets. Whole group didactic lessons. It's sad how it has taken Arnold Gesell research and used the stages of writing and drawing as a rationale to teach isolated skills. I have never seen preschoolers in tears over handwriting- they love to draw, write, paint, dig, cut, use their hands.  I know it is popular and widely used and that my perspective is not common. I am also a special ed teacher and have worked with many children with OT needs. I don't think hand writing without tears is the way we should be going as early childhood specialists.

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    Carol Murray
    Bard Nursery School
    Red Hook NY
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  • 6.  RE: Handwriting in preschool

    Posted 05-06-2019 12:23 PM
    Carol -
    Thank you so much for your perspective. I am of the belief we develop the entire body before introducing formal handwriting alongside providing open-ended scribbling and drawing experiences for emergent writing. Many schools use Handwriting without Tears, but I really don't know much about it. Being created by an occupational therapist, you want to trust that it would approach handwriting in a developmentally appropriate manner; however, when teachers start to mention using the program's worksheets and coloring sheets, I start to question the mechanics of it. (And, in all fairness, whether the school is using the program appropriately or not.) I know it is hard to go against the grain sometimes, but you have shed some light on the subject for me and I appreciate it!

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    Stacy Benge, M.S.
    Early Childhood Speaker
    Texas
    www.StacyBenge.com
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  • 7.  RE: Handwriting in preschool

    Posted 05-07-2019 06:48 AM
    ​I do not know about 'Handwriting without Tears", I am not sure if that is anything that is available in Canada, but as a educator I do know that when children are offered authentic experiences, those which are meaningful to them they will develop all of the skills that we as educators know are important for them as they grow and develop. Yes it is important for a child to develop the skill of holding a pencil, but this skill does not need to be 'taught'.  when offered experiences to develop fine motor skills, such as through manipulating playdough or clay, and other opportunities to engage with mark making tools, such as paintbrushes, chalk, charcoals and pastels, they will find their way to holding a pencil.  As educator we need to remember their are many stages to handwriting and it does not just begin when a child prints their first letter or their name.  They are building this skill on a continuum, from the first time they grasp an object to their first scribbles and paintings to representing pictures and print which are meaningful to them.  Too often we want to 'skip a step', but it all of the engaging experiences of exploration leading up to that final 'holding the pencil' milestone that are important.  We need to not forget the journey, it is what gets us to the destination.

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    Linda Gould
    New Brunswick Community Coll
    Miramichi NB
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  • 8.  RE: Handwriting in preschool

    Posted 05-07-2019 09:40 AM
    Hi all,
    Thank you for all of the replies and great discussion.  To clarify, I am not a big fan of direct instruction on handwriting in preschool.  I was looking for some appropriate articles to share with the primary teachers. I am trying to avoid the "push down" method.  
    Thanks so much for all of your thoughts.
    Emily

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    Emily Brown
    Hailey Elementary Preschool
    Hailey ID
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  • 9.  RE: Handwriting in preschool

    Posted 05-07-2019 10:54 AM


    PAINTING AND DRAWING AS LITERACY: we always talk to parents about the stages of painting and drawing as literacy.  I love watching children use their WHOLE ARM at the table top and easel painting.  When we carefully observe and comment by letting children know what we see, we help them make discoveries about lines and shapes and directions.  " I see a zig-zag line"  " I noticed a horizontal line with three little dots above it"  "I wonder how you made that big X in the middle of the page?"  It looks like one line is crossing the other line.  I see a big circle with three straight lines inside"  While painting and scribbling and drawing children discover lines and circles and they begin to design and control shapes.  They get all the skills they need to become writers later on, but for now the focus is on a whole body knowing of shapes, lines, prepositions, directions - for the sake of playing, inventing, making.

    I found some good information on a website called skillsforaction.com .  Look for the information here about WHY TRACING IS A BAD IDEA. Tracing and following dots is one of those very common activities that lacks respect for the child's emergent process of making a mark, scribbling, drawing, painting and experimenting with the early stages of symbols and mark making.  When we let writing emerge naturally it is beautiful. It takes my breath away. We are watching our 4 and 5 year olds blossom into writing for meaning now in a play based preschool with NO writing instruction beyond lots of time to play with tools and make art.  
     




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    Carol Murray
    Bard Nursery School
    Red Hook NY
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  • 10.  RE: Handwriting in preschool

    Posted 05-07-2019 06:52 PM
    This is such an important topic to discuss. I have been trained in Handwriting Without Tears. HWT and am a pre-K teacher. I have found it to be very effective to use bits and pieces of the HWT approach in small doses. Teaching kids about the lines and curves of uppercase letters through use of wooden manipulatives can be very effective. I also use the small chalkboards with kids. We move from free exploration to a bit more guided learning. I do model how to form the uppercase letters, especially working on one one with a child who is interested in learning how to write his/her name. The verbage that accompanies the modeling is very simple. The problem with not teaching any handwriting is that many kids develop a habitual way of forming a letter that is very inaccurate and difficult for kids to "unlearn". I wholeheartedly agree that the majority of emphasis should be on child directed, personally relevant drawing and writing experiences. However, used judiciously, the HWT materials can be a positive addition to curriculum. I NEVER use the worksheets because, as many have stated, that is a very inappropriate material for pre- K kids. It is also important to mention that HWT modeling helps me as a teacher learn who is ready for that kind of instruction and who is not.

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    Hilary Laing
    Teacher
    Orono Discovery Center
    Orono MN
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  • 11.  RE: Handwriting in preschool

    Posted 05-07-2019 08:11 PM
    I agree with Hillary- this is an important topic and I so admire everyone's thinking and care to do what's best for children. I value this forum. What a privilege to grow and learn with all of you- alongside our youngest citizens. Thank you hello. Thank you everyone.

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    Carol Murray
    Bard Nursery School
    Red Hook NY
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  • 12.  RE: Handwriting in preschool

    Posted 05-09-2019 09:53 AM
    Hilary,
    i so much appreciate your thoughtful response to this issue! Essentially, what I hear you saying is that we should know our students and let them lead us, providing experiences and activities that support their intentions and their current and future strengths and needs. I've never found any curriculum or program  that could do that right out of the box. Thanks for the reminder that we need to use our expertise and knowledge of our children to make instruction work for them. Curriculum/program creators don't know our children, we do.

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    Sherry Sanden
    Illinois State University
    Normal IL
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  • 13.  RE: Handwriting in preschool

    Posted 05-10-2019 10:27 AM
    I believe it is important to differentiate programs that are designed for remediation and delay from approaches that are intended for emergent skills. So many of the expectations that have been pushed down into kindergarten and preschool are resulting in frustration and feelings of failure for the children. Academic skill development can be a minefield for individuals in those age groups because their physical and cognitive "readiness" levels normally vary so widely. From a neurological perspective, the act of writing is far more complicated than we take into consideration. It depends upon much more neurological sophistication than other fine motor tasks or visual-perceptual skills. Some of the children who exhibit exemplary language and even reading skills may lag far behind in the motoric act of writing. If children who are four or five avoid writing, there is probably a reason.

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    Kittybelle Hosford, Ph.D.
    Retired
    Frederick MD
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