WWE - how big are the lines? Tiny model sentence an issue?

[diaperjoys]

Is it 1/2" or 1" or?, does anyone have a copy handy to measure for me? Also, is it difficult for students to have the model sentence written a different size than they are writing? I'm wondering if maybe we should just use our own paper and I should write out the sentence first in the correct font/size...but oy! what a bother!

Edited May 2, 2009 by diaperjoys

[TN Mama]

I got two different measurements. ?? Strange. Perhaps my ruler is warped? :) I believe the lines are 5/8".

Edited May 2, 2009 by TN Mama

[Mallory]

I agree, the lines the kid writes on are 5/8. The model sentance is just over 1/8, about 3/16.

 

Since it was probably my post that sparked this one ;), I'll say again that when we started copywork with my 7yo, it was so much easier for him if the word he was copying was directly above where he was supposed to copy it.

 

So if the copywork was longer than 1 line, I skipped lines. He would ge all confused if he had to look past too many letters to find what he was copying. It also really helped him get the spacing right.

 

And using our own paper means we complete the page. The worksheets would leave half undone each copywork day.

 

Making your own pages is really not hard. In level one it means writing a copywork sentance 2x a week and in level 2 one time a week.

[arcara]

I copied the sentences on separate handwriting paper so that I didn't have to deal with photocopying the workbook. It's cheaper. Also, by the end of the year, my 1st grader was learning cursive, so I could give her a cursive model to copy for additional practice.

[Tree House Academy]

I let my 9 year old write his copywork just from the dotted middle line to the bottom line and we ignore the top half of the big lines. He has been writing well for sometime and this does not confuse or bother him (and it saves me the extra effort).

[LunaLee]

Since my ds is older, 4th grade, the lines were just way to big. I just use a reguluar wide line notebook and do the copywork in cursive. It's worked out well so far and really only takes less than five minutes a week on my part.

[hsmom27]

:lurk5:

[Penelope]

I wrote them out on separate hw paper for my first grader. I think the lines are standard size for first grade, depending on which hw program you use. But I read elsewhere that some children develop better handwriting if you use smaller lines from the beginning, and I tried it and using slightly smaller lines was helpful.

 

Since I also used copywork for the purpose of handwriting, rather than using a separate hw program most of the year, I wanted him to see what the letters would look like on the lines, with proper spacing. That was my other reason for writing it out. By the end of the year, though, I can give him pretty much anything to copy from, so it hasn't seemed to hurt anything by doing it this way.