HWOT help

[MistyMountain]

Dd turned 5 in September and I am just starting to do kindergarten with her. I just got HWOT kindergarten and some dry erase stuff and added writing to what we are working on. She went to preschool but they only worked on tracng her name. She can copy letter but they are every which way. I done a few letters with her and she was doing ok and now can fnally write here name wthout reversing letters. I did the letters in her name E, F, P, B and R and she did ok but she isn't remembering what she dd last from day to day. I worked on N with her next and she just won't get it. she keeps curving like she making the P. I tell her not to curve and show her over and over what she supposed to do. I held he hand and showed her had her trace drew a dot. She can trace it but she can't write it. i am just starting wth her and fine motor skills are her weakness but I don't know what to do to help her. I always got and grades on wrting in school and nothing else so maybe ths is genetic. :tongue_smilie:I don't want to go back and get the preschool book because I want her to learn to write lower case letters too and she did good with the letters in her name.

[swainsonshawk]

Do you have the teacher book? I bought it many years ago and I only read it once, but from what I have learned about teaching handwriting, your child needs to learn to "slide" down hill. HWT doesn't encourage tracing, but do you have the chalk board? If you do: you write with chalk, then he follows the same writing pattern and he wipes with a damp sponge, he dries with a tiny towel, and then he tries with chalk. This may help teach the slide down hill. If teaching isn't helping, I would suggest something else for fine motor skills other than pencil work (dough, lacing, scissors, coloring, etc.) and try the workbook and writing later.

 

Becky

[MeganW]

Are you doing the whole program, or just the workbook? We have had much better luck when we did the whole thing - wooden pieces, slate, magnetic board, etc.

 

We are going through the preschool program for the FOURTH time. Yep, FOURTH. That's what it has taken. I can't imagine it would be that way for typical children, though, mine have some learning challenges. I truly feel like this is a fantastic program and we wouldn't be doing nearly as well if we had chosen anything else.

 

I did buy StartWrite recently, and have been adding to the workbook. We focus on one workbook letter each week, and then on the other days we review with worksheets I make in StartWrite using an HWOT font. We review all the letters previously taught. SW allows you to print the first letter of each line with numbered arrows showing strokes. This review of every single letter every single day seems to be finally helping my kids to retain.

Edited December 27, 2011 by MeganW

[spaceman]

I don't know if this makes me horrible...but if my ds was writing N's and kept curving them, I'd have him stop and erase until he got it correct. HWT doesn't have very much repetition, so I really focus on getting it exactly correct each time. We do lots of erasing...but we go slow. :). We did the pre-k book first and then the capitals section in K twice before moving on.

 

I agree with the slate being helpful, also.

[FairProspects]

She can trace it but she can't write it. i am just starting wth her and fine motor skills are her weakness but I don't know what to do to help her. I always got and grades on wrting in school and nothing else so maybe ths is genetic. :tongue_smilie:I don't want to go back and get the preschool book because I want her to learn to write lower case letters too and she did good with the letters in her name.

 

Ok, but if she isn't ready, you need to back up. Trust me, I know how hard that is, my ds 1 actually had to go to OT for delayed fine motor skills, but forcing him to do it by holding his hand or moving on would not have worked and would have just frustrated him more.

 

There is a reason that HWOT starts with capital letters, and that is because they are the easiest to form both by fine motor skills and by sensory motor planning in the brain. If your dd can't remember or form them, then she needs more work before moving onto lowercase. Its okay! No one will know what she did in K when she's older, nor will it matter.

 

As for strengthening the fine motor, working with playdough, or gak, or lacing beads, snaps and zippers on doll clothes, or squeezy balls from the Target $1 section should do the trick. Her hands may not be strong enough for writing yet. You can have her trace in glue or shaving cream in a bag or on a rice tray/salt dough box if you think she is ready to learn letter formation and strokes.

 

I'm also going to second (third?) the recommendation for the slate/chalkboard. Put away the white board, for kids with fine motor issues it undoes the work of HWOT (actually not recommended in the TM). There is a specific purpose to the chalkboard and that is to teach kids the different feel of lines, curves, and where to start and stop because they will actually feel the bump of the sides. If your dd is having a hard time with curves versus straight lines, I would definitely go to the chalkboard and let her "feel" them.

[raceNzanesmom]

I'm also going to second (third?) the recommendation for the slate/chalkboard. Put away the white board, for kids with fine motor issues it undoes the work of HWOT (actually not recommended in the TM). There is a specific purpose to the chalkboard and that is to teach kids the different feel of lines, curves, and where to start and stop because they will actually feel the bump of the sides. If your dd is having a hard time with curves versus straight lines, I would definitely go to the chalkboard and let her "feel" them.

 

I agree. Wet, dry, try is important. And stick with one capital letter at a time. I'd use the wb (for now) only for her/you to use as a guide. Guide her verbally too. Big line down, frog jump back up, etc on her chalk board. We used the wooden pieces, then chalk board for about 6 months each before moving to paper. We started a bit younger, but I still think going in steps helps. You can make the pieces from the patterns in the TM.

 

Use other mediums too- rice, shaving cream, Play-doh, etc using the same verbal cues.

 

And, be patient. She's very young.

[MistyMountain]

I did get the TM but I only glanced at it. I don't like how the work book is orginized with one letter at a time and no practice on that letter. I kind wish it was lesson plans rather than a bunch of advice and tips. I was having her do letter that are similar together like P, B and R. I will get a chalk board rather than the dry erase board and books. She is my oldest and this is the first time doing this and I am a little worried I am not doing it right.

[lovintolearn]

I would definitely read through the TM and look at the schedule in the back (helpful for planning). Extra practice is done on HWoT Block Paper.

 

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[Tawlas]

I did get the TM but I only glanced at it. I don't like how the work book is orginized with one letter at a time and no practice on that letter. I kind wish it was lesson plans rather than a bunch of advice and tips. I was having her do letter that are similar together like P, B and R. I will get a chalk board rather than the dry erase board and books. She is my oldest and this is the first time doing this and I am a little worried I am not doing it right.

 

I've been following the order HWOT suggests. For me I know learning a bunch of letters that are very similar would be very confusing for me. That might be part of it? I have the TM for K, and the K book. I have the slate and wooden peices. We go through a page or two each day, using wooden peices then wet,dry, try. Review a few letters with the above. We ahve't actually started writing in the book yet lol. My son is only 4.5 mind you, but I know writing on paper would be too much. If you're not ready, you're not ready and there are a ton of other things you can do in the meantime that are a lot of fun.

[meggie]

I didn't like the TM either. But I did use the pattern in the book to make foam pieces (heck no I'm not spending $30 on wooden ones!) and we used those to form letters and then traced them. Then I just had him do the letters. Once we finished a section (like the frog jump ones, the magic c ones, etc) we'd go back to the beginning of the section and start over. I'd erase them and he got to practice them again. I did start making him trace the letters that the book has; it helps him make them more uniform when he does it on his own. Also, he doesn't do that great at fitting the letters correctly in the gray boxes. For example, the first line of the "W" goes to the middle so then he makes the rest of it squish in too tight. He does a much better job if he's writing on lined paper.

 

Also, you might want to consider having her practice coloring everyday. I alternate with crayons and colored pencils. The crayons build the muscles better, the colored pencils teach control.

[mom2att]

It sounds like going back to the preschool book and possibly implementing the whole program (wood or foam pieces, chalkboard, etc) would be worthwhile in your child's case. My middle one was similar at that age. I bought the whole program when he was K age and started with preschool. Things like the coloring exercises in the preschool book (using tiny crayon pieces) and "wet, dry, try" on the chalkboard were invaluable as far as improving his motor skills. This was an area of delay for him, and focusing on it via HWT helped a lot.

[Mommie_Jen]

I have been going back and forth between using hwot and arfh for my almost 5 yr old. W haven't started any formal k schooling yet. He is delayed in fine motor and has sensory issues...I think the "wet, dry, try" joule freak him out because he hates to touch chalk. We do have a small whiteboard and dry erase crayons he will use, I wonder if that would have the same effect for learning the feel of the letters. Maybe investing in the entire program would be worth it for him.

[Jay3fer]

Two things that are decent alternatives to the (expensive) "real" materials. One mama mentioned making foam letters, but my sister bought us a set already made that includes everything you need to make capital letters: How to Build an A - it's only around $10 on Amazon and sometimes even cheaper.

 

Also, someone gave my dd a VERY inexpensive dollar-store chalkboard slate. It's made of plastic, but it seems to work. And it even came with chalk. It's just the write size for HWOT and perfect for wet-dry-try.

 

So if you're daunted by the cost of the real materials, look around - there are alternatives!

 

(In terms of wanting her to do lowercase letters, I'd back off for a bit. They are more complex, but also, the lines get smaller in the higher-level books. As tough as it may be to wait, you want big lines, easy letters and LOTS of success before you move on!!!