What do you need to buy for HWT?

[mo2]

There are so many extras, the little chalkboard, mats, letter pieces. What is the bare minimum to purchase in order to make the program effective?

 

Thanks.

[ProudGrandma]

we bought a cheap chalkboard and put a sticker in the corner. We used play-doh to make our letters. We also used short-stubby crayons (you know...the 1000's of broken ones in everyone's home) instead of their little pencils. A friend of mine had the wooden pieces, so I traced them onto fun foam...and those were our pieces. I did buy the CD...it was fun and my son liked it. I bought, but didn't use the teacher's book...and my son used the workbook. We are doing just fine with his handwriting. i would think if you are dealing with special issues, more would be helpful. Hope that helps some.

[Aoife]

the books? Seriously though I think most of the rest you can make or buy cheaper elsewhere and I hate the feel of chalkboards so we use mini dry erase boards with no problems.

[Celia]

My kids have really enjoyed the stamp and see screen.

I've used 1 teachers manuel (K) for pre-K, K, and 1, and only used it for maybe a week just to get the feel for the program.

I like the chalkboard. The wooden border is handy for making straight lines, and the repetition of the exercise with the write, wipe, and writing over the wiped area has been a really nice non-boring way to get in the repitition. I just cut up a sponge into little bits rather than buying their foam pieces, and used short pencils and crayons rather than buying theirs.

The writing slate with the lines I'd skip as we've barely used it.

The wooden pieces are fun, but kind of redundant after having the stamp and see screen. But, we've had fun with games with them.

My kids have enjoyed the CD's as well, and mat-man has been fun to build for my preschooler (but I wouldn't spend the money on the mat-man books)

[give_me_a_latte]

We're only about five or six weeks into the Pre-K level, but I use the TM every day. Obviously you need the student book. We originally didn't buy the wood pieces, planning to make our own. But we ended up ordering them and I'm so glad we did. My son can be a little rough when he's tapping them to the songs, and homemade pieces wouldn't stand a chance! We also bought the cards to go with the wood pieces, and they're really useful. I didn't buy the CD because you can download all the lyrics on the website once you get the code inside the TM. So I just sing/chant to my own beat and it's worked so far!! HWT is so fun at this level! We really enjoy it!

[MsAlimar]

There are so many extras, the little chalkboard, mats, letter pieces. What is the bare minimum to purchase in order to make the program effective?

 

Thanks.

 

 

The student books would be the minimum. I had the TM and they were helpful but not necessary. I also bought the chalkboard, the wood pieces and the cd. My dd liked the cd, never used the wood pieces and the chalkboard confused her on curvy letters (she kept trying to make every letter go into a corner) so we dumped the chalkboard. She did much better with just plain paper or blank lines from Startwrite.

 

I believe that the books also have the templates for the wood pieces so that you can make your own.

 

HTH!

[FairProspects]

The slate/chalk is actually an integral part of the HWOT philosophy. It creates a defined space that develops fine motor skills & spacing in a way unlike any other medium. I would not skip it if you want to maintain the HWOT method.

 

I don't think the TM is absolutely necessary, but I would not have wanted to teach without it as it gave so many fantastic ideas for improving grip and fine motor skills. The wood pieces are great for kids who are pencil allergic/have fine motor skills issues. They can build the letters even as they struggle to write them. The system really works together as a whole and honestly I wouldn't teach it without the wood pieces (you don't need the mats), slate and workbooks. They reinforce each other, and as someone whose ds has gone through OT for fine motor issues, I've seen how effective they are when used together.

[Mommy22alyns]

I've only used the student books for my girls, but they already knew their letters and how to form them too. I never started from "scratch."

[Elfinlady]

I'm using HWOT for cursive. I bought the teacher manuals, the chalkboard, etc. All we've ended up using is the student workbook.

[nd293]

I would use any chalkboard, or even buy paint and make my own. Easy enough to place in a small frame if you want the defined edges.

 

For the letter pieces I made my own out of craft board / foam stuff - it's white polystyrene on one side with some sort of fabric on the other. I think I enlarged a picture of the letters and used that as a Guide.

[Dmmetler]

If you're using just the workbook in PK/K, it's kind of like buying magnetic letters and saying that you're doing Montessori. The only reason why there is a pre-K and K workbook at all is because (and this comes from the training workshop) schools would not buy a curriculum for handwriting that didn't have a workbook (and, I suspect, because the other materials are reusable, so they needed a steady income flow). It's the smallest part of the program, and it was actually encouraged to do the multisensory activities all year, but send the workbook home for the kids to do over the summer, after they'd already learned how to write, as a bridge activity.

 

It's worth it to read the activity ideas in the teachers manual (you won't need the break down of what to do each day-that's for a classroom setting).

 

As the kids get older, that's less important, although even in the 3rd grade book there are some good ideas on bridging to cursive.

 

If I were going to list materials as important (I did the 2 day workshop, and got ALL of them) I'd say

 

Pre-K/K

K teachers manual

Wood letter pieces

Something the right size to use as a mat (for Mat-man's body. A piece of construction paper or sheet of foam are fine).

Letter cards if your child does not yet know their letters well.

Stamp and see screen

Small chalkboard

Larger writing surface

2 line paper-I like the big paper with the drawing section at the top.

K-2 CD (the pre-K one is cute, but the K one is more engaging and fun for the kids, and has more songs that actually are the writing mnemonics)

The block paper is a very transitory thing, and having a few sheets of each kind is helpful, but one pad would outfit a LOT of kids. I've still got a ton of it.

Broken/short crayons and pencils (transitory)

 

1/2

Workbooks

Large writing surface

K CD

2 line paper (the kind that has lines all the way up and down), transitioning to regular notebook paper in 2nd grade.

Pencils

 

3/4

3rd grade teacher's manual

Workbook

Large writing surface

2 line paper for 3rd, then transition to regular notebook paper

Pencils

 

5

Can-Do cursive workbook

College rule notebook paper

Pencils

 

I also really like the flip crayons, not so much for HWoT activities as because they're great to carry in my purse and give to DD when we're stuck waiting somewhere. I got one pack at the workshop, and then ordered a box of them after I discovered how useful they were, and distributed them to my friends with young kids-or not so young kids! One pack ended up going to a high school student who had driven his little sister to music class and was working on his homework, only to discover that he had to do a map-so he ended up doing his high school geography using "get set for school" crayons-and asked if he could keep them, because they'd be great to keep in his backpack ;).

[NaturalFamiLEA]

Just the books :)

[mo2]

If you're using just the workbook in PK/K, it's kind of like buying magnetic letters and saying that you're doing Montessori. The only reason why there is a pre-K and K workbook at all is because (and this comes from the training workshop) schools would not buy a curriculum for handwriting that didn't have a workbook (and, I suspect, because the other materials are reusable, so they needed a steady income flow). It's the smallest part of the program, and it was actually encouraged to do the multisensory activities all year, but send the workbook home for the kids to do over the summer, after they'd already learned how to write, as a bridge activity.

 

It's worth it to read the activity ideas in the teachers manual (you won't need the break down of what to do each day-that's for a classroom setting).

 

As the kids get older, that's less important, although even in the 3rd grade book there are some good ideas on bridging to cursive.

 

If I were going to list materials as important (I did the 2 day workshop, and got ALL of them) I'd say

 

Pre-K/K

K teachers manual

Wood letter pieces

Something the right size to use as a mat (for Mat-man's body. A piece of construction paper or sheet of foam are fine).

Letter cards if your child does not yet know their letters well.

Stamp and see screen

Small chalkboard

Larger writing surface

2 line paper-I like the big paper with the drawing section at the top.

K-2 CD (the pre-K one is cute, but the K one is more engaging and fun for the kids, and has more songs that actually are the writing mnemonics)

The block paper is a very transitory thing, and having a few sheets of each kind is helpful, but one pad would outfit a LOT of kids. I've still got a ton of it.

Broken/short crayons and pencils (transitory)

 

1/2

Workbooks

Large writing surface

K CD

2 line paper (the kind that has lines all the way up and down), transitioning to regular notebook paper in 2nd grade.

Pencils

 

3/4

3rd grade teacher's manual

Workbook

Large writing surface

2 line paper for 3rd, then transition to regular notebook paper

Pencils

 

5

Can-Do cursive workbook

College rule notebook paper

Pencils

 

I also really like the flip crayons, not so much for HWoT activities as because they're great to carry in my purse and give to DD when we're stuck waiting somewhere. I got one pack at the workshop, and then ordered a box of them after I discovered how useful they were, and distributed them to my friends with young kids-or not so young kids! One pack ended up going to a high school student who had driven his little sister to music class and was working on his homework, only to discover that he had to do a map-so he ended up doing his high school geography using "get set for school" crayons-and asked if he could keep them, because they'd be great to keep in his backpack ;).

 

 

Wow, thanks. So my 3rd grader doesn't need much, but I'll have to do some more looking and thinking about what to order for my preK-er. I'm sure I can make a lot of the components myself.

 

Thanks to everyone who responded!

[kesmom]

For Pre-K, I ordered....

 

Teacher's Manual - honestly the pages I use are all available on the HWT website

Wooden Piece's - haven't used these as much as I thought we would, but I like that they are toddler proof ;)

Stamp and See screen - probably our favorite and most used item, love this

Slate - not used as much - I find the "wet, dry, try" routine to be a little tedious and the Stamp and See screen gives them almost the same effect but much easier. We do "stamp, trace, erase and try" on the screen.

 

I didn't buy the Pre-K student workbook, based on some recommendations here. I actually wish I had gone straight to the K level book and gone at a slower pace because it also includes lowercase and numbers. We didn't end up spending that much time on handwriting this year anyway.

[cschnee]

The slate/chalk is actually an integral part of the HWOT philosophy. It creates a defined space that develops fine motor skills & spacing in a way unlike any other medium. I would not skip it if you want to maintain the HWOT method.

 

I don't think the TM is absolutely necessary, but I would not have wanted to teach without it as it gave so many fantastic ideas for improving grip and fine motor skills. The wood pieces are great for kids who are pencil allergic/have fine motor skills issues. They can build the letters even as they struggle to write them. The system really works together as a whole and honestly I wouldn't teach it without the wood pieces (you don't need the mats), slate and workbooks. They reinforce each other, and as someone whose ds has gone through OT for fine motor issues, I've seen how effective they are when used together.

:iagree:

[LynnG in Arizona]

The slate/chalk is actually an integral part of the HWOT philosophy. It creates a defined space that develops fine motor skills & spacing in a way unlike any other medium. I would not skip it if you want to maintain the HWOT method.

 

I don't think the TM is absolutely necessary, but I would not have wanted to teach without it as it gave so many fantastic ideas for improving grip and fine motor skills. The wood pieces are great for kids who are pencil allergic/have fine motor skills issues. They can build the letters even as they struggle to write them. The system really works together as a whole and honestly I wouldn't teach it without the wood pieces (you don't need the mats), slate and workbooks. They reinforce each other, and as someone whose ds has gone through OT for fine motor issues, I've seen how effective they are when used together.

 

 

:iagree:

 

I went to the other extreme last year of buying too much, but I absolutely agree that several of these manipulatives really are integral to the program.

 

If I had to do it over, I would buy the teacher's and student's manuals, the chalk bits, the chalk board, the golf pencils, the wood pieces, the laminated cards, and the preschool level CD. Several of those items are really inexpensive and well worth the money, imo.

[3peasinapod]

Well, there are already a lot of responses. I used the slate (big hit here), wooden pieces (this was okay, I really like the idea of cutting them out of foam material), and the workbook. I used the teacher's guide only at the PreK level, which is filled with many extra activities and ideas. We do have girls, so they have easily caught on, no problems. The guides for K and 1 seemed to just say the same things over and over again, and in the workbooks there were the same "wording" on how to make the letters such as "magic c, climb up to the top, fall back down, and bump the line." That isn't verbatim. :001_huh: