February 11, 2010
The Whole Child e-zine brings you free preschool activities each week to maximize your child's potential, build skills and parent-child relationships in just a few minutes per day. Useful tips, quotes, resources, opportunities and articles will be added for extra value!
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February 2010, Issue #067
1. Hello from Shirley
This newsletter focuses on Writing. Because the ability to write is one of the criteria that parents and teachers use to show that a child is making progress in their learning, it is a skill that is often encouraged way too early – before a child is developmentally and emotionally ready for this demanding task.
Many children in the early grades suffer with letter and number reversals. The activities for gross motor skills on my site and in this newsletter each month will help develop skills such as laterality and body awareness, crossing the midline and other skills that are important to develop to promote good reading and writing later on. Visual skills must also be sufficiently developed to avoid writing problems.
When your child is READY, here are some
Tips for Teaching Handwriting
1. Oversee Handwriting
It is crucial to oversee handwriting practice to prevent bad habits. Praise your child for letters or words that are written well but correct any problems before they take root.
2. One Objective at a Time
Focus on correcting or improving one objective at a time – be it a particular letter, spacing, size, alignment, etc. Keep praising your child and encouraging her efforts. Then move onto the next objective. Show excellent work to your child’s father or anyone who will offer encouragement and praise.
3. Practice Daily
Handwriting should be scheduled every day but keep lessons short for best results. Three well-formed letters are better than a page of scrawled letters!
4. DON'T START TOO YOUNG
Read the article Don't Start Too Early to ensure that you don't do harm while intending to do good.
5. Correct Pencil Grip
Correct pencil grip allows a writer to write quickly and smoothly, while a tight or awkward grip can hinder writing. The correct grip also prevents physical problems with the hand and arm later in life such as carpal tunnel syndrome.
When a pencil is held correctly, the thumb and forefinger form an oval when a child holds the pencil. There should be equal pressure between the thumb, the side of the middle finger and the tip of the index finger. All fingers are bent slightly.
This is called a "tripod grip". The fingers should be relaxed, in a somewhat straight, rather than bunched position.
Tension in the hand or fingers indicates weak fine motor skills, which can be improved with exercises.
The whole hand and arm should be employed in writing, gliding freely across the paper and tabletop, while the other hand holds the paper securely. This gliding motion allows nice smooth letters and straight lines, it also prevents cramping.
Watch your child check whether or not she wiggles her fingers to form letters on the paper or whether she used the whole hand and arm to move across the page. Remember, it takes time to establish new habits.
If a child struggles with the correct pencil grip, her hand strength and development may be too immature for writing. Practice basic writing strokes with chalk on a vertical surface and begin writing on paper again with a triangular shaped pencil later on.
6. Proper Posture
Be sure that your child is sitting properly at a surface that is not too high. Her arms should rest comfortably and her feet should be supported (by the floor or a box), rather than hanging loosely. This is to avoid fatigue and bad habits which may develop as a result of improper posture. Monitor your child’s posture regularly.
7. BE PATIENT
Improvement in handwriting requires a combination of skills and developmental maturity. Each child will progress at her own rate. Remember that fine motor skills develop more slowly in boys, than gross motor skills.
In a nutshell, focus on one objective at a time, praise your child for her progress and supervise regular practice sessions.
Anything Left Handed offers a huge range of Left Handed products, lots of information and FREE newsletters, the original left-handed shop since 1968.
Correct Procedure for Writing with the Left Hand
Printable Letter Formation Guide for Left-handed Children
Preschool Printable Alphabet Worksheets
2. Check my website
NEW! -28 February is the Jewish Festival, Purim also known as the Feast of Esther. Read about how and why we celebrate it, even though we are not Jewish. Ideas for activities are given too!
Other hot topics:
This month its Chinese New Year, starting 14 February, so try this Chinese Theme and try this story-based lapbook project, set in China: All About Ping which you can download online.
Its also Valentine's Day on 14 February. Try this EASY Valentine's Day Craft Activity.
Coming up:
Passover 29 March 2010
Easter 2 April 2010
Click here to plan your Easter/Passover Activities
3. Quote
Always kiss your children goodnight - even if they're already asleep.
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
4. Tips & Advice
To encourage your child to write, let him sign his name on birthday cards or at the bottom of letters (yes, the good old fashioned kind) to his grandparents.
Let him write on the steamed up tiles or mirrors in the bathroom or on a baking tray sprinkled with flour or castor sugar.
Tape large sheets of paper to a wall or let him write in an upright position on a blackboard or easel. This encourages development of the wrist muscles.
Let him write with pavement chalk on the concrete outside or on the floor of your garage.
5. Readiness Activities
The following activities are aimed at ages 3-5. For older or younger children, adapt the activity to their ability.
To download the activities in a printable pdf, click here.
You will need to have Adobe Reader installed. It’s a free download.
Repeat these activities often - with your own variations too!
1. Gross motor skills
Laterality: Play a game of soldiers and encourage your child to march swinging up the opposite arm to his leg as he steps forward.
2. Fine motor skills
Manual dexterity: Draw a simple dot-to-dot shape on a blackboard and encourage your child to draw a line to connect the dots. Start with only one or two dots at first until your child catches on to the obejctive. Encourage him not to lift the chalk while he is drawing and also encourage him to cross the midline if necessary.
3. Visual skills
Shape perception: Encourage your child to play with shape sets where she must match shapes with a card or an opening in a shape bucket. Encourage her to start learning the names of the various shapes too.
4. Auditory skills
Encourage your child to sing along with rhymes and children's song. Expose your child to a wide variety of music of different genres – classical, choir, musicals etc. Talk about which kind he likes most. Find recommendations here: Music Appreciation
5. Mathematical skills
Ask your child to perform a certain action a certain number of times. E.g.
Take turns. Let her tell you how many times you performed a certain action.
6. Language and thinking skills
Read story books about farm animals to your child and help him develop his knowledge and vocabulary about them. Help him discover:
7. Faith-building
Read from a Bible or explain to your children in your own words how our Father created the animals of the earth and gave man the task of caring for them. Talk about how one should treat animals kindly and care for them diligently. If you have pets, talk about their needs too.
Greetings until next month
Shirley
P.S. If you'd like to learn more about building an income-generating website like mine, click on the Valentine's banner!
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