roanna Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 My 5 1/2 yr old son made big leaps in handwriting by using the ZB app on iPad. He now forms the letters correctly so in the last few weeks I switched to Hold that Thought tracing and he did well with that. So attempting to do more of a CM approach I wanted him to copy some characters in the form of a very short sentence. Only problem is he is unsure of himself (wants perfection) so he looks at what is written above while he is writing so that his letters end up going all over the place. How can I introduce small bits of copywork if he does this? He is a pretty good speller so I dictated to him the same sentence and he did much better but i know they are 2 different disciplines so what do I do? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roanna Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 Bump Can anyone help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nansk Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 (edited) If you are asking for a copywork app on the iPad, I would suggest you search for the tag "ipad" on the forums. There are sure to be some handwriting apps for the iPad. If you are asking about doing simple copywork on a paper or whiteboard, you can write single letters, consonant blends, phonograms and then small sentences on the paper/whiteboard yourself and have him copy it. Take it slow and he will get better at copying from the model above. If looking above is not working, you can try writing on the left-hand side of the page and having him copy on the right. There are many free copywork sources on the net. You can search for "copywork" on lulu.com or currclick.com and print what they have, or you can write out simple sentences from your read-aloud books for him to copy. Here is one link with sample copywork, although it may not all be suitable for K age. There is also a Yahoo group called "AOCopywork" where people have posted suitable sentences and passages for copywork. Please post back if you have more questions. Edited January 10, 2012 by nansk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 We used Beatrix Potter for Beginners copywork by Downunder Literature (from Currclick), which has the child start out tracing within an outline and then moves to copying so it's an easier transition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roanna Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 I appreciate the posts but I don't think it will change what he's doing. I did like one of the links though for later when he is doing more copywork. I guess I was hoping someone that had this experience might be able to tell me what they did. ..and no I was not looking for another app, I don't want to go back to the iPad for handwriting I was hoping to move forward with paper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuovonne Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 He is a pretty good speller so I dictated to him the same sentence and he did much better but i know they are 2 different disciplines so what do I do? You don't have to do copywork. You could just stick with dictation for a while. I don't do copywork with my kids. I give my kids dictation as soon as they can form all their letters and sound out words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roanna Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 Ok, thank you. I'll just try that for a bit and see how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nansk Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I appreciate the posts but I don't think it will change what he's doing. To be honest, I don't think I completely understood your question. If your main concern is that when your son copies a letter from a model, his own letter becomes sloppy (but when you dictate, he is writing it correctly) then that means he is unable to focus on both things (copying AND writing) at the same time. You can try to keep doing dictation as Kuovonne suggested. She is right - if your son is able to form the letters correctly and is able to use the correct spacing, spelling and punctuation while dictating, there may not be a need for copywork at all. Another idea you could try is to use letter-formation scripts - say it out loud while he forms the letter. This will provide an auditory input (in addition to the visual input of the model letter). I made up my own script for the Italic letters (for the letter 'a' I would say - "move to the left, curve down, curve sharply up the right, go up, come straight down and stop.") Some handwriting programs provide this sort of script - Writing Road To Reading, Cursive First, Handwriting Without Tears - which you can check out. Once he is able to copy a single letter correctly, then (as I suggested above) you can move to writing consonant blends, multi-letter phonograms and then small sentences. Hope that helps in some way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roanna Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 Yes, that does help! Thank you. The app we used from ZB explains each formation with a short video (helped me as his teacher too) which is why he improved so much. So I can just use what they say to form the script you spoke of. Every child is different but HWOT did not work well for him, possibly because of him staring at the previous letters. It also seems much more fluid and easier for him not to pick up his pencil the way ZB teaches it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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