Handwriting???

[rni'smommy]

How do you correct/teach handwriting in Kindergarten? Ds is able to form all of his letters not beautifully but he can form them. We just started official Kinder this week. Today was our first day actually using a handwriting sheet with lines and he had a really hard time with starting at the top and going to the bottom. How do you deal with this? Do you erase and do over? Do you just mention it? Ds got super frustrated and I know not to expect perfection, but I need some pointers. Also if anyone has a picture of beginning kinder handwriting so I can get a better idea of what to expect. TIA

[MamaBear23Cubs]

I would have posted a pic but don't know how to do it. My 5 yo can write but still goes out of the main lines. As long as they get in between the main lines I am okay with that. Writing takes practice. My 9 yo doesn't print pretty but her cursive is very nice. I use the line papers from walmart and now my 5 yo is working out a lined journal and it says grades K-2nd grade on it.

[ahngele]

my kids all have fine motor issues, we do a lot of practicing on the whiteboard (this is unlined) and writing with the fingers in sand. Those little handwriting strips at the teacher store can help, that way it is there for him to look at. Just keep doing a little every day and giving the correct model. Keeping it lighthearted can help with the frustration, I tell my son "uh oh that d looks like he's trying to fly away" and he will laugh and fix it.

[my3sons]

My ds looked at the lines like they were all just one big jumble of lines. I helped him by hi-lighting the top and bottom of the lines and saying those were like "stop signs", and he had to put on the brakes when he got to them. I'd sit by him and make putting on the brake noises as he neared the line, "Errrrrrrrr - stop!" He'd laugh and stop. We talked about the dotted line being a stopping place as well. He had trouble remembering spaces too, so we colored those in with pink hi-lighting too, and I told him he had to put a finger's width between letters (when copying single letters), and words when he started writing sentences. Here's some pictures of the hi-lighting that helped Riley so much:

Eventually, he just needed the pink spacing:


As far as having them correct individual letters, I put big stars by the ones that were the best, and erased a only a few to have him redo. I found it easier to sit by his side and help him as he did it then to erase a whole bunch and have him correct them - that was depressing for him. He's a very neat writer now, so keep with it - it's worth the time!

In Christ,
Julie