rachelpants Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 We are doing "Kindergarten" with my 6 year old this year (to keep him at the same level he would be with the P.S.). He has a September birthday. Anyway, he now knows how to form all of his letters (we used WRTR instructions). I was just going to have him use WRTR spelling lessons for handwriting....but I'm thinking we will take a short break and focus on getting him to read fluently first. I don't think I'll start the WRTR spelling list yet. I'm a little at a loss for what to do for handwriting at this point. I have just been dictating phonograms to him and having him write the first 26 (the letters of the alphabet) every day, in addition to numbers 1-10. Would it be better to start some sort of copywork or something else at this point??? Any other ideas??? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay3fer Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 We've used Handwriting Without Tears all along and I'd recommend it highly even for kids who already write. There is zero lesson planning and strong reinforcement of the basics, designed (among other things) to prevent reversals while creating a good, natural progression. If you feel he's already writing well enough and his upper- and lowercase letters are nice and clear (surprising but not unheard-of at 6), you could start with short copywork selections: you pick a sentence from one of your other subjects' reading and write it out very neatly on a lined page. Then ask him to copy it. Start short, like "the cat sat" kind of basic and work your way up. That's the Grade 1 recommendation from SWB, but it would work for a K'er who writes well already. If he's NOT writing well, focus on the basics first using a strong program like HWOT. ETA: Just to make it a bit more specific, say you're reading about King Tut in history, so you pull out a very simple sentence - "Tut was a rich king." Or from science - "Mammals have hair." Or whatever: if you're doing Bible stuff, Biblical selections are great, even if the language is above him a bit. Just get him reading and writing these things and seeing that he can use handwriting to create print sentences that are legible and meaningful. Dictating phonograms and the alphabet is a good start, but it's not the end-point, so you need to keep moving towards that goal. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelli Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 Simple copywork sentences just like the pp described above. Pull from his phonics work, read alouds, science, history, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theYoungerMrsWarde Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 Ds6 (just turned 6 in November) does a page in the Zaner-Bloser handwriting book (1st grade level) a day for two days, then on the third day does a "draw and write," writing 3 short or 2 long sentences. When we finish the book we'll start WWE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holly Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 We use ETC for handwriting and phonics review. I like that it covers both areas with one book and it gives them something to work on independently. I've generally done the primers in K and ETC 1-2 for 1st. I add a bit more copywork for 2nd grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachelpants Posted December 27, 2012 Author Share Posted December 27, 2012 Great advice here....thank you everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachelpants Posted December 28, 2012 Author Share Posted December 28, 2012 I think there were more replies to this thread (including my own, LOL) yesterday that seem to be missing....hmmmmmm :tongue_smilie: I do have another question, the more I think about this, however. Would this work? .... What if I have DS write an entire row of the same letter (we haven't done that yet), following the row of letters he could do a simple sentence or two (probably from a phonics reader at first. I'd like him to be able to read what he has written. When we have dictated phonograms with Spalding (WRTR), we have done one letter at a time. I wondering if he would benefit from writing the same letter repeatedly. The Spalding (WRTR) manual mentions a "handwriting focus of the day" (we haven't really focused on that yet as I have just been trying to get him to form the letters properly. The handwriting focus of the day are things like letter spacing, letters sitting on the baseline, etc. Although he does form his letters properly now, he could use help with spacing, keeping letters on the line...etc. Anything else I am forgetting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 At school ds5.5 does a row each of the capital letter and the lower case letter then a short made up sentence using as many of the letter as the teacher can manage. His handwriting has improved but it would have anyway probably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reign Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 My 6yr is also in K. We do copy work. Starting with her name. After she got that down we moved to funny sentences. She now does copy work from wwe or her own narrations from her reading. She uses a jurnal that is half lined and leaves room for a drawing. She loves to show off her book! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuovonne Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Anyway, he now knows how to form all of his letters (we used WRTR instructions). I was just going to have him use WRTR spelling lessons for handwriting....but I'm thinking we will take a short break and focus on getting him to read fluently first. I don't think I'll start the WRTR spelling list yet. I'm a little at a loss for what to do for handwriting at this point. I have just been dictating phonograms to him and having him write the first 26 (the letters of the alphabet) every day, in addition to numbers 1-10. Why don't you want to continue with WRTR? It would cover handwriting, spelling, and learning to read all in one. If you want to use a different learn-to-read program, you could still use WRTR for spelling and handwriting. If he cannot read yet, I actually recommend that you hold off on copywork until he can read what he will be copying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachelpants Posted December 29, 2012 Author Share Posted December 29, 2012 Why don't you want to continue with WRTR? It would cover handwriting, spelling, and learning to read all in one. If you want to use a different learn-to-read program, you could still use WRTR for spelling and handwriting. If he cannot read yet, I actually recommend that you hold off on copywork until he can read what he will be copying. I'm so glad you asked this!! It's helped me work through where we are and where we need to go from here. I really need some advice. I feel a little stuck with WRTR and I'm not sure how to move on with it. DS knows the first 30 phonograms well (and writes them well from dictation). I kind of feel like even after he knows the first 45 phonograms that he is not going to be ready to encode or decode fluently. We have been orally segmenting and blending words from the WRTR Teacher's Guide...and he does okay with it but is far from fluent. He can sound out simple CVC words, but he takes him a bit to work though sounding out the 3 sounds and then blending them together. He is bummed that he doesn't know how to read yet (many of his friends who went to Kindergarten last year are reading now). I tried to get him to spell (segment) some simple CVC words with phonograms that he knows and it was frustrating for us both. I've been debating what to do from this point on. I need more hand-holding on steps to either spelling or reading that I'm getting from WRTR. I was thinking I'd take a break from WRTR and work on reading with All About Reading and then pick back up with spelling when I feel like he is ready. Which leaves me not knowing what to do with handwriting. ANY advice is helpful at this point :) Thanks!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuovonne Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Ah, I can understand wanting more practice with blending and segmenting sounds before starting the WRTR spelling list. If you go with AAR, you could have him do copywork from his AAR lessons. That way he could read what he writes and get more practice with the words. Copying individual words instead of a whole sentence is fine at this stage. If he can form all of his letters with ease, that will probably be enough practice. You can gradually work with him on things like spacing and position throught the copywork. Go over his copywork with him and point out what he has done well. Then pick one aspect of handwriting that seems to give him trouble and show him the difference. Then next time remind him to pay especial attention to that thing. When he does, praise him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachelpants Posted December 31, 2012 Author Share Posted December 31, 2012 Ah, I can understand wanting more practice with blending and segmenting sounds before starting the WRTR spelling list. If you go with AAR, you could have him do copywork from his AAR lessons. That way he could read what he writes and get more practice with the words. Copying individual words instead of a whole sentence is fine at this stage. If he can form all of his letters with ease, that will probably be enough practice. You can gradually work with him on things like spacing and position throught the copywork. Go over his copywork with him and point out what he has done well. Then pick one aspect of handwriting that seems to give him trouble and show him the difference. Then next time remind him to pay especial attention to that thing. When he does, praise him. Thank you for all of these ideas :) This is really helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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