Preschooler wants to write, have suggestions?

[spaceman]

She badly wants to write and actually gets frustrated at not being able to write down letters and small words (she can read a little).

 

I tried Kumon books (my first book of tracing, as well as leftover bits from her brother's abondanded letter and number books).

 

The thing is, her writing is very small and controlled. Writing in the big, page-wide format frustrates her and she'll just start writing small "letters" in the big open space where she's supposed to be learning a diagonal line or whatever.

 

The gist there is, this type of workbook doesn't really suit her.

 

She spends an enormous amount of time "writing" on regular lined paper, in the lines and stays out of the margins. But, she writes from right to left. Generally she'll tell you what word she's attempting to write (usually just a few different ones). She'll sometimes ask for someone to write the word she's trying to write and attempts to trace and/or copy it. Or she'll "write" a big jumble and go back and point out letters that accidentally formed--again, within the lines and margins.

 

Are there any workbooks that'd be useful for a kid like this? Or should we continue with letting her write on regular lined paper and assume her drive will eventually produce well-formed letters? But perhaps, some gentle correction of left to right writing.

 

"writing" is her favorite activity and she will do it all day long if you let her. She actually runs her pens out of ink in a few days!

[Ellie]

ITA--most handwriting materials do require children to draw their letters instead of writing them. :glare:

 

She's doing fine writing on regular lined paper. I'd correct her, though, on writing right to left. You could remind her that we write in the direction that we read, from left to right, and show her what that means. Also, it's never too early to teach correct pencil grip. And it wouldn't hurt to begin teaching her to write circles from top to bottom-you could even teach her to begin writing them at 2 on the clock (ala Spalding and its spin-offs); vertical lines from top to bottom; horizontal lines in the direction that we read and write (left to right). You'd do this during special class-time, of course. :-)

 

Have you seen ReadyWriter? It's good preparation for handwriting.

[spaceman]

Thank you! I will go check out ready writer.

 

She does hold a pencil (or whatever) correctly and has from an absurdly young age (12 months or so). I have tried to help her do circles counter-clockwise as suggested in WTM. But have really not interfered other than that.

 

But I can pay more attention to the directions of her vertical and horizontal lines, and correct her right to left writing.

 

Thanks! You have given me something to chew on. :)

[go_go_gadget]

I agree with the previous suggestions for cementing proper orientation. Also, since she prefers to write on paper and is interested in copying, I would buy a handwriting curriculum (I favor Getty-Dubay Italics), and copy the workbook onto lined paper. It would be tedious, but she would get the instruction on how to properly form the letters. I don't discourage, but neither I do encourage writing from my kids before they've been through a penmanship book and don't write with their own invented script. Invented scripts sometimes work out fine, even beautifully, but I err on the side of caution because I'd rather instruct than remediate.

[LynnG in Arizona]

I would strongly recommend the Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) Pre-K curriculum.

 

It is developmentally appropriate for a 4 year old and really focuses on the fundamentals, such as proper pencil grip, starting your letter at the top, etc.

 

I'm using it for the second time now with my 4 year old boy. It's an excellent program! :)

[Alte Veste Academy]

In your situation, I would get a copy of The Write Start and start with some of her ideas. :)

[spaceman]

but I err on the side of caution because I'd rather instruct than remediate.

 

Yes, this has been my main concerns for doing *something* as well. She is still very young. I hadn't intended on any type of formal (or informal even) writing instruction for a few years. But, she isn't waiting on me :tongue_smilie: In the meantime, I don't want her to develop obstacles to proper writing.

 

I would strongly recommend the Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) Pre-K curriculum.

 

It is developmentally appropriate for a 4 year old and really focuses on the fundamentals, such as proper pencil grip, starting your letter at the top, etc.

 

I'm using it for the second time now with my 4 year old boy. It's an excellent program! :)

 

I used the Pre-k workbook with my son, when he was 4. We both really liked it, and I had planned to use it some day with my daughter. I still don't know that she's ready for it though. I don't really have any of their accessories, do you? Wood pieces, cd, etc. Did you find them useful?

 

In your situation, I would get a copy of The Write Start and start with some of her ideas. :)

 

Thank you! This looks very interesting as well. I wish I could see inside the book.

 

Has anyone used the ready writer book here? I want to see a few more pages. That might be a good start for us. ....or it could be a huge bomb because she desperately wants to write letters and words. She won't even color in a coloring book! She just finds a spot to write her "words", and then maybe blacks in the eyes. :tongue_smilie:

 

I think I'm leaning toward just supervising her writing a bit more to correct her right to left writing, ready writer, and/or getting the Write Start book for ideas.

 

Thanks everyone!

[Alte Veste Academy]

Thank you! This looks very interesting as well. I wish I could see inside the book.

 

Does Amazon's "Look Inside" feature not work for you? I can view a good portion of the book at their site. The author has a blog and I seem to recall seeing either some views of the book or that she put some of the activities/ideas on her blog. Either way, it's worth perusing.

[spaceman]

Does Amazon's "Look Inside" feature not work for you? I can view a good portion of the book at their site. The author has a blog and I seem to recall seeing either some views of the book or that she put some of the activities/ideas on her blog. Either way, it's worth perusing.

 

Thanks, I swear I couldn't see it before. :confused: It's working, off to look at it in more detail. :)

[PeterPan]

http://www.amazon.com/Kido-A-to-Z-Magnatab/dp/B0039X51NG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321823114&sr=8-1 Have you seen the magnatabs? They come in upper case, lowercase, and numbers. Might be a different way to approach it. Or if you happen to have an iPad (or want an excuse to get one, hehe), you could use a stylus and app to write on it. My ds enjoys the magnatabs. :)

[MeganW]

At newly-turned 3, my youngest decided she wanted to learn to write. Everyone told me it was developmentally inappropriate, and told me just to let her play with it, and so I did.

 

She figured out on her own how to make all her letters. Unfortunately, though, they were approximations. A capital R looked like a bird - a circle with legs, and so on. *I* knew what they were, but no one else did.

 

Then, once she knew how to do them her way, she saw no need to learn them the correct way and has bucked me every step of the way. This child is now 5, and I am STILL fighting to get her to make her letters correctly.

 

Doing it again, I would get the Handwriting without Tears preschool stuff, and teach her from that starting as soon as she asked. It would have saved both of us a LOT of heartache!

[spaceman]

At newly-turned 3, my youngest decided she wanted to learn to write. Everyone told me it was developmentally inappropriate, and told me just to let her play with it, and so I did.

 

She figured out on her own how to make all her letters. Unfortunately, though, they were approximations. A capital R looked like a bird - a circle with legs, and so on. *I* knew what they were, but no one else did.

 

Then, once she knew how to do them her way, she saw no need to learn them the correct way and has bucked me every step of the way. This child is now 5, and I am STILL fighting to get her to make her letters correctly.

 

Doing it again, I would get the Handwriting without Tears preschool stuff, and teach her from that starting as soon as she asked. It would have saved both of us a LOT of heartache!

 

Thank you for sharing your story!

 

 

And that magnatab looks awesome!!! Both kids may be getting those for Christmas now.... Thank you for sharing that.

 

I already have an iPad (I'm on it now). I'll start a new thread on apps though...

[PeterPan]

Yes, the magnatab really is great. Make sure you notice there are three. If you get one of each, they can just rotate. The beads snap up with such a satisfying POP, and then they can push them down with their fingers. Lots of good sensory. My ds is really crazy for connect the dots apps. His favorite (by a mile) is this one. http://www.touchscreenpreschoolgames.com/games/connect-the-dots Ok, we've only tried the ones that were free on the android market. The iPad market may have ones that are better. But he prefers it to the other ones I downloaded, even though to me they look identical.

[LynnG in Arizona]

At newly-turned 3, my youngest decided she wanted to learn to write. Everyone told me it was developmentally inappropriate, and told me just to let her play with it, and so I did.

 

She figured out on her own how to make all her letters. Unfortunately, though, they were approximations. A capital R looked like a bird - a circle with legs, and so on. *I* knew what they were, but no one else did.

 

Then, once she knew how to do them her way, she saw no need to learn them the correct way and has bucked me every step of the way. This child is now 5, and I am STILL fighting to get her to make her letters correctly.

 

Doing it again, I would get the Handwriting without Tears preschool stuff, and teach her from that starting as soon as she asked. It would have saved both of us a LOT of heartache!

 

Exactly. This happened to me with my two older daughters . . . they taught themselves how to hold a pencil, how to form letters . . . and I could never, ever break them of bad habits. Nor could their teachers at school.

 

This is why we're doing HWT Pre-K. ;)

[LittleIzumi]

Exactly. This happened to me with my two older daughters . . . they taught themselves how to hold a pencil, how to form letters . . . and I could never, ever break them of bad habits. Nor could their teachers at school.

 

This is why we're doing HWT Pre-K. ;)

 

Ugh, we remediated with HWoT for the same reason. Self-taught bad habits, and "I ALREADY know how to do that!" I actually made the best progress by teaching the oldest cursive. No bad habits to break and no reversals! I use the HWoT free worksheet generator for third grade to get the narrower lines, and the 2nd grade level gives you print with the narrow lines.

[Kim in SouthGa]

When my now 12dd was in a Montessori preschool, they had them use stencils every day. The half page size with the whole alphabet. Use a clipboard to hold it to a piece of paper. I also started this with my now 4dd when she was 3, and it has helped her a lot. She also loves to write and make lists, but hates using handwriting workbooks.

[Caribbean Queen]

Handwriting workbooks didn't work for us either.

I teach my little ones to write on regular lined paper. I use the HWT printing teacher's maunual as my guide. I teacher upper case letters after my child knows all the lower case letters. My children have been ready to start writing at 4 or 5 years old.

[Plink]

My tiny tot sounds similar to yours. She simply insists on learning to write like the big kids. I have found that the simplest solution is the best one in this case. I write whatever she is requesting in yellow marker and she happily traces over it while I watch to ensure proper pencil grip, starting from the top, etc. There is no major program to keep up with, and because she is able to write whatever interests her she has stayed motivated.

[JudoMom]

My middle son was like this. He used to spend hours filling notebooks with words, letters, and numbers. He's 9 now, and still loves to write down his notes and ideas. It's lovely :001_smile:.

 

The only thing I would say is to watch the formation and correct as much as you can now. I had to remediate with ds9, and he still forms some letters not how I would like.