The write start - Jennifer Hallissy 2010

Learn - Skywriting
Guidelines for the Activities

THE FIFTY-TWO “Just Write” activities in the next section are writing activities that provide the just-right challenge for kids—they are motivating for children, requiring them to slightly stretch their skills, yet without being too difficult. You know you’re on the right track when kids get that “I can do it!” look on their faces. When children master something, everything changes. You can see it in their posture (they sit up a little taller), in their attention (they stick with it and want to do more, more, more!), and in their self-esteem (you know those “Hey! Look at me!” moments).

Each activity features four variations to help you achieve the just-right fit for your child. In addition, a few simple guidelines will set your kids up for success:

Mind the grasp: If a child is using an inefficient grasp, you want to modify the tool (a smaller writing tool, such as a broken crayon, may help), modify the grasp (demonstrate an efficient grasp or provide a pencil picture, for example), or modify the activity (they may need to back up to a more basic variation). What you don’t want to do is reinforce an inefficient grasp by encouraging your child to keep writing. Remember the rule: don’t write until it’s right.

Pay attention to their attention: If children rush through an activity or quickly lose interest, it may be too easy. If their attention wanders and they need constant refocusing, it may be too hard.

Fend off frustration: Frustration is another sign that an activity is too difficult. Step in to help if you see signs of struggle.

Watch for signs of fatigue: Some common signs of fatigue are a slouched posture, holding their heads in their hands, switching the writing tool from one hand to another, or complaining of hand pain. If you see any of these, it’s definitely time to take a break.

Remember to seat for success: Don’t forget to sit your children where they fit, and get them in the right position by reinforcing stomp, slide, slant, and slap.

Organized materials encourage organized work: Kids have a natural tendency to place their paper on top of a big pile of clutter and start working with complete disregard for the disorder. Help them get into the habit of clearing the decks (or their desks) before they get to work.

Remember you’re here to help: When you nurture your children’s writing skills at home, consider them to be your apprentices. Have patience when demonstrating an activity, and whenever possible, teach by modeling.

Keep expectations realistic: Newbie writers need plenty of time to practice the process before they can perfect the product. Look for progress, not perfection.

Make it playful: At the heart of all these activities is the idea that children who play with writing, in a variety of ways, will not only learn to write, but will learn to love writing.

And, just like that, they’re ready to write.

Learn

Whether children are Scribblers ready for the next step, Spellers forming letters, Storytellers honing their craft, or Scholars learning cursive, the activities in this next section will help you to help them.

These hands-on, multisensory learning experiences go way beyond tracing, copying, or worksheet-type tasks. Each one is designed with development in mind. They support writing success by involving all the senses, incorporating big movements and small movements, and combining cognitive and motor components. Most important, they facilitate foundational skills by focusing on the building blocks of fluent, automatic, stress-free writing. And did I mention that they’re fabulously fun and kid-friendly too? And that’s no small thing. Because when kids learn to love writing from the start, well, that’s something that lasts a lifetime.

1

Skywriting

LOOK UP IN THE SKY! It’s a bird. . . it’s a plane . . . no, it’s a plane that knows how to write!

When you see skywriting, it really grabs your attention. The novelty of those puffy white letters against a backdrop of endless blue sky heightens your awareness and makes you stop and take notice.

Your children can try their own hands at “skywriting” as they’re learning to write, by pretending their hands are airplanes that are writing giant letters in the air. Introduce them to this idea by standing alongside them and demonstrating a letter movement in the air, using big motions of your entire arm. Encourage them to do the same. A funny thing happens when they “write” using large, whole-body movements: their brain really stops and takes notice. How so? Big movements activate more areas of the brain, thus reinforcing the information at hand. By practicing letter formation with super-sized movements first, learning virtually takes flight.

Oh, and don’t forget to make some good airplane noises, too, to enhance the high-flying fun. Enjoy doing this one together, knowing that once children feel comfortable enough to fly solo, the sky’s the limit.

MATERIALS

∗ None! Just you and your young writer.

HOW-TO

Stand side-by-side with your child and trace the movements of various letters of the alphabet in the air using the largest motions you can. Say the directions out loud at first (“Zoom straight down, fly back to the top, and make a great big curve” for capital D, for example), and then fade them out as your child masters the movements.

Variations

For Scribblers: Start with letter strokes (lines and curves) and basic shapes (circles, squares, and triangles), rather than entire letters. Getting your children used to controlling the movement of specific shapes will help them develop the control needed to form letters.

For Spellers: Demonstrate the ABCs as described; Spellers are ready for this. When demonstrating the letters, be sure to form them using the proper stroke order (see “Alphabet Chart” in the templates section).

For Storytellers: As children progress, they’re ready to tackle some simple words. Encourage your Storyteller to test out their newly learned words in the sky.

For Scholars: This is a super multisensory way for Scholars to practice spelling words or writing letters in cursive. To help Scholars focus on the feel of words even more, try having them close their eyes while they skywrite (it helps them to really home in on the direction of their movements).