How's My Handwriting?

    Handwriting is one of the most important things that teachers can teach!  I actually love teaching handwriting and I often put a major emphasis on it in my assignments.

    One of my favorite ways to teach writing is using my "How Should I Write?"chart. I teach this near the beginning of the year so that I can refer back to it at any time.

    For each line in the chart we talk about all the wrong ways to write.  I then use the actions and a silly voice that we practice and we read each line with. Below is a list of the writing sentences and the actions.

• I am too thin and too light.  
• We pretend to be really skinny and say the "too light" in a whisper voice.
• I am too fat. 
• We say it in a low voice and put our arms out wide.
• I am tooclosetogether. 
• I teach the students to say it really fast with no spaces.
• I am too          far       apart.
•   They love this one because I teach them by speaking the sentence and pausing for a long period of time between each word.
• I am not on the line.
•  Using our pointer finger we draw a squiggly line in the air and say in high and low voice tones the sentence. 
• I am not neat. 
• I teach the students to say in a stern, angry voice while pointing like an angry parent.
• I am ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.  
• The student love this one too. They stand up strait and tall like soldiers and say it in a loud soldier voice finishing with "No sir."
• I am spa cedki nd    off un ny. 
• This one the students say in a robot voice and we make sure the words sound more like nonsense words. 
• I am traced over. 
• Almost done! The kids laugh so hard when you first teach this one. I read it and repeat it over and over until I am out of breath. 

Last the best of all the game:

• I am good writing! 
• We say in the nicest, most polite voice possible. 

   When teaching handwriting I love to use whiteboards.  It saves not only paper but the student's love being able to write on whiteboards.  It also provides a way for a quick self-check and whiteboard writing is easily erased and fixed. My first year of teaching, I applied and received a grant for whiteboards from my school district. I ordered them through Discount School Supply.  They have lasted me 5 years and are still in great shape.  The erasers are slowly falling apart, but I have just cut off the back and made mini erasers that work perfect. 

   After teaching the writing chart for the first few writing assignments, I review it by using all of the actions and remind the students to use their best writing. As I walk around the room and look at student's assignments I may notice that a student is using one of  the incorrect writing patterns and I will usually ask the student what their hand writing looks like. I then ask them to rewrite it in their best writing. You only have to do this a couple of times and then they begin to remember to use their best writing. Throughout the year I will  occasionally review it again.  Usually not the whole chart but a few of the lines, especially if I notice a student is struggling with his/her writing.

ADAPTIONS FOR HOME:

I know that teaching handwriting at home to your children before they attend school or even after they have started can be difficult.  It is especially hard to teach if they have already established bad habits.  You do not need to make a whole chart like the one I use in my classroom but you can still use the sentences.  If you notice that your child uses one of the wrong writing patterns in particular you can just teach that one.  Using your best writing, you can write a sentence on paper with a yellow highlighter for them to practice.  You can then have your child trace your writing.  This provides great practice for your child.

   I hope that this helps you in your classroom or at home when you are teaching handwriting!

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Please feel free to leave a question, comment, or an outburst of emotion! :)