Why Is Good Handwriting Important?
- So we can write better and faster
- So our finger muscles won’t get tired
- So everyone can read our writing
- So we can build our reading and
writing brain
"These lessons are a game changer for my kinders! So engaging and I’ve seen so much improvement. Wish I would have started these in the fall!"
-C.G. from TPT
No time for isolated handwriting lessons? Want to build stamina and fluency for writing workshop? This research-based handwriting model is NOT mindlessly tracing over one letter! You will ACTIVELY ENGAGE your students as they practice letters within real words and anchor sentences beginning with "I love you." Time-efficient! Brain-friendly! Inexpensive! Scroll down for videos, sample pages and lessons.
Start with 30 Essential Handwriting Lessons. (Includes 40 additional pages of bprintables, resources, parent letters and assessment.)
Created BY master kindergarten teachers FOR kindergarten teachers over 10
years of action-research in actual classrooms. These essential, integrated
handwriting-to-read lessons focus on practicing high-frequency "heart words" and
“heart word” sentences.
What are the 30 Essential Handwriting Lessons?
1. Teach pencil grip and build strong finger muscles with playful exercises: fingerspell a,b,c,d; duck talk with thumb and pointer; touch thumb to each finger; squeeze and release fist.
2. I Always Start My Letters at the Top
3. I Chant (Top to bottom, left to right)
4. I can draw lines: art lesson
5. O Dance (Curve up and around letters: c, o, a, d, g, q, f, s) plus practice page
6. L-o-v-e Spells Love song (Learn 4 basic handwriting movement patterns)
7. Draw a Twinkling Star! (lift-the-pen movement patterns)
8. Draw a Van Gogh-like Star! (continuous path of motion)
9. How to Draw a 5-point Star
10. Some Letters Are Tall/Small/Fall
11. I remember “d” and “b” (A Reading Recovery® lesson with streamers)
12. How to draw and write dog (white board, then paper)
13. How to draw and write cat (white board, then paper)
14. The Spelling Chant and T-h-e e-n-d: The-end! Chant
15. How to Write “y” and “you!” (learn two different language cues)
16. M-o-m Spells Mom and I love… sentences
17. Celebrate mastery of name writing: Use this Crown Pattern
18. What Does Quality Handwriting Look Like? (Anchor chart)
19. Capital Letters: Lift the Pen Movement Pattern
20. Capital Letters: Continuous Motion Handwriting Pattern
21. This is my house: h-o-u-s-e lesson, plus drawing page
22. There’s a King of “ing”: i-n-g
23. “Make a Book” Sentences: I see the … My Book, by (Also with Skinny Books)
24. I am a Master of Pink Heart Words: Sing, Sign, Spell, and Read! (Use CD every day for spelling lessons. Make copies of the CD for your families: permission granted!)
25. Fingerspell Everything: Expect Students to ALL become masters. Make an “I am a Fingerspelling Expert!” book. Celebrate mastery. (Book cover incl.)
26. Take the a, b, c, d Challenge: Fingerspell and write each letter fluently.
27. I Can Write CVC Words lessons with white boards/paper (especially words that begin with p, f, b, and r: less commonly used consonants).
28. I Can Write: r, n, m, and h
29. I Can Write All of the Capital Letters
30. Brain Exercises for Fluency
Save District Resources! This is not a handwriting program with practice books that you need to purchase again every year: Print student book and engaging activity pages year after year. New updates are always included. You are encouraged to make copies for family at home learning: good handwriting that builds writing stamina is our goal.
For Kindergarten and First Grade Summer Learning at Home: Essential Handwriting Lessons are appropriate throughout the year! Families appreciate simple, meaningful handwriting, drawing, and writing lessons—not boring workbook pages. Choose the pages appropriate for your students. Bind this distance learning booklet for home study!
If you have attended Nellie Edge live Kindergarten Workshops or Online
Seminars, you will recognize many of these 30 Essential Lessons. Our Handwriting Teacher’s Guide and MasterClass Intensive provide teacher support for this authentic approach to handwriting.
Kindergarten-Friendly Handwriting lessons are consistent with the principles of visual learning research and a writing-to-read approach to kindergarten
literacy. See how this looks in REAL CLASSROOMS!
New A-Z Practice Pages Have Placement Dots
The brain works harder and the child’s visual-motor development grows stronger when required to copy letters and words with minimal support. However, some younger students will benefit from the added dots showing where to start the letter. Notice: All students practice good handwriting while building fluency writing a consistent, high-frequency “heart word” sentence starter: I see the…
With the low price for the TpT Bundle ($19) schools can afford to have one set of each of these components bound at a local print shop for your professional study and planning purposes.
Did You Know? Kindergarten-Friendly Handwriting Integrates Phonemic Awareness, Word Work, and the Writing Process
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“These lessons are a game-changer for my kinders. So engaging and I’ve seen so much improvement. Wish I would have started these in the Fall!” – C.G. on TPT.
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