Penmanship 101

Transfering an afterschool club meeting to an online format has been a challenge. The kinds of fun that can be had with learning handwriting needs an adult present and needs some prep to be done. Most times children who do not want to engage this activity find it hard and the muslces that are needed for the tasks, are not working well. So we are hoping to provide the resources here for an adult to interact with a child and faciltiate the movements that they need to succeed at this.

It is totally not meant to be painful, or a chore. The idea is to transfer our understanding to an adult about how to get the movement of writing embedded into the child repetoire, so they don't have to work so hard at tasks that are inescapable.

This is not just another download the worksheet, copy the letters and be done class. We are aiming at changing the way the child accesses the memory patterns for writing. For those children who have a hard time, this is crucial. Accessing visual memory vs accessing movement memory can be the difference between finishing or not, saying what you really think or saying what is easier to write. For some children it is the difference between passing and failing as legibilty and speed can play a huge part in final grades.

The best age to do this particular class is 7 years and up.

Letter shapes are basically formed with the same movement pattern repeated in varying combinations. Many have approached teaching letter formation using all sorts of cueing systems. Most rely on vision.

We are approaching from a movement perspective. If you can learn to move your fingers in the patterns, and know when to connect with the paper and when lift up, you can begin to do this without thinking about the flow and start to concentrate on what you are wanting to say. Like riding a car – eventually you know by feel where the gears and brakes are….so you can be freed up to do other things like have a conversation.

To do this method of teaching we have to teach letters out of alphabetical order, and rather in movement order.

We start by teaching the pattern out of which all letters can be made, then forming this pattern in smaller and more controlled ways. We add the additional lines and practice conforming them to the appropriate size. This approach teaches line control, spacing and size consistency before even knowing the letters.

After learning several letters, we will combine them into words and practice writing the learned letters as part of words. Sounds and shapes often go together, so using spelling words is great for this.

For instance :

• man
• can
• ran
• tan

all give the writer practice of “an” over and over.

The lower case letters will be taught in the following order

• Lower case: oc / aui / r n m / dl / ft / bhk / qgyj / p / xvw / es / z

Capitals and numbers are taught in a 102 and103

There will be games to practice the shape movements. These help create fun out of the drudgery of penmanship practice.

You may work at your own pace. The advancement through the course is dependent on developing form constancy – a perceptual skill needed for successful handwriting. Each section will have a small quiz evaluating this progress.Transfering an afterschool club meeting to an online format has been a challenge. The kinds of fun that can be had with learning handwriting needs an adult present and needs some prep to be done. Most times children who do not want to engage this activity find it hard and the muslces that are needed for the tasks, are not working well. So we are hoping to provide the resources here for an adult to interact with a child and faciltiate the movements that they need to succeed at this.

It is totally not meant to be painful, or a chore. The idea is to transfer our understanding to an adult about how to get the movement of writing embedded into the child repetoire, so they don't have to work so hard at tasks that are inescapable.

This is not just another download the worksheet, copy the letters and be done class. We are aiming at changing the way the child accesses the memory patterns for writing. For those children who have a hard time, this is crucial. Accessing visual memory vs accessing movement memory can be the difference between finishing or not, saying what you really think or saying what is easier to write. For some children it is the difference between passing and failing as legibilty and speed can play a huge part in final grades.

The best age to do this particular class is 7 years and up.

Letter shapes are basically formed with the same movement pattern repeated in varying combinations. Many have approached teaching letter formation using all sorts of cueing systems. Most rely on vision.

We are approaching from a movement perspective. If you can learn to move your fingers in the patterns, and know when to connect with the paper and when lift up, you can begin to do this without thinking about the flow and start to concentrate on what you are wanting to say. Like riding a car – eventually you know by feel where the gears and brakes are….so you can be freed up to do other things like have a conversation.

To do this method of teaching we have to teach letters out of alphabetical order, and rather in movement order.

We start by teaching the pattern out of which all letters can be made, then forming this pattern in smaller and more controlled ways. We add the additional lines and practice conforming them to the appropriate size. This approach teaches line control, spacing and size consistency before even knowing the letters.

After learning several letters, we will combine them into words and practice writing the learned letters as part of words. Sounds and shapes often go together, so using spelling words is great for this.

For instance :

• man
• can
• ran
• tan

all give the writer practice of “an” over and over.

The lower case letters will be taught in the following order

• Lower case: oc / aui / r n m / dl / ft / bhk / qgyj / p / xvw / es / z

Capitals and numbers are taught in a 102 and103

There will be games to practice the shape movements. These help create fun out of the drudgery of penmanship practice.

You may work at your own pace. The advancement through the course is dependent on developing form constancy – a perceptual skill needed for successful handwriting. Each section will have a small quiz evaluating this progress.Transfering an afterschool club meeting to an online format has been a challenge. The kinds of fun that can be had with learning handwriting needs an adult present and needs some prep to be done. Most times children who do not want to engage this activity find it hard and the muslces that are needed for the tasks, are not working well. So we are hoping to provide the resources here for an adult to interact with a child and faciltiate the movements that they need to succeed at this.

It is totally not meant to be painful, or a chore. The idea is to transfer our understanding to an adult about how to get the movement of writing embedded into the child repetoire, so they don't have to work so hard at tasks that are inescapable.

This is not just another download the worksheet, copy the letters and be done class. We are aiming at changing the way the child accesses the memory patterns for writing. For those children who have a hard time, this is crucial. Accessing visual memory vs accessing movement memory can be the difference between finishing or not, saying what you really think or saying what is easier to write. For some children it is the difference between passing and failing as legibilty and speed can play a huge part in final grades.

The best age to do this particular class is 7 years and up.

Letter shapes are basically formed with the same movement pattern repeated in varying combinations. Many have approached teaching letter formation using all sorts of cueing systems. Most rely on vision.

We are approaching from a movement perspective. If you can learn to move your fingers in the patterns, and know when to connect with the paper and when lift up, you can begin to do this without thinking about the flow and start to concentrate on what you are wanting to say. Like riding a car – eventually you know by feel where the gears and brakes are….so you can be freed up to do other things like have a conversation.

To do this method of teaching we have to teach letters out of alphabetical order, and rather in movement order.

We start by teaching the pattern out of which all letters can be made, then forming this pattern in smaller and more controlled ways. We add the additional lines and practice conforming them to the appropriate size. This approach teaches line control, spacing and size consistency before even knowing the letters.

After learning several letters, we will combine them into words and practice writing the learned letters as part of words. Sounds and shapes often go together, so using spelling words is great for this.

For instance :

• man
• can
• ran
• tan

all give the writer practice of “an” over and over.

The lower case letters will be taught in the following order

• Lower case: oc / aui / r n m / dl / ft / bhk / qgyj / p / xvw / es / z

Capitals and numbers are taught in a 102 and103

There will be games to practice the shape movements. These help create fun out of the drudgery of penmanship practice.

You may work at your own pace. The advancement through the course is dependent on developing form constancy – a perceptual skill needed for successful handwriting. Each section will have a small quiz evaluating this progress.Transfering an afterschool club meeting to an online format has been a challenge. The kinds of fun that can be had with learning handwriting needs an adult present and needs some prep to be done. Most times children who do not want to engage this activity find it hard and the muslces that are needed for the tasks, are not working well. So we are hoping to provide the resources here for an adult to interact with a child and faciltiate the movements that they need to succeed at this.

It is totally not meant to be painful, or a chore. The idea is to transfer our understanding to an adult about how to get the movement of writing embedded into the child repetoire, so they don't have to work so hard at tasks that are inescapable.

This is not just another download the worksheet, copy the letters and be done class. We are aiming at changing the way the child accesses the memory patterns for writing. For those children who have a hard time, this is crucial. Accessing visual memory vs accessing movement memory can be the difference between finishing or not, saying what you really think or saying what is easier to write. For some children it is the difference between passing and failing as legibilty and speed can play a huge part in final grades.

The best age to do this particular class is 7 years and up.

Letter shapes are basically formed with the same movement pattern repeated in varying combinations. Many have approached teaching letter formation using all sorts of cueing systems. Most rely on vision.

We are approaching from a movement perspective. If you can learn to move your fingers in the patterns, and know when to connect with the paper and when lift up, you can begin to do this without thinking about the flow and start to concentrate on what you are wanting to say. Like riding a car – eventually you know by feel where the gears and brakes are….so you can be freed up to do other things like have a conversation.

To do this method of teaching we have to teach letters out of alphabetical order, and rather in movement order.

We start by teaching the pattern out of which all letters can be made, then forming this pattern in smaller and more controlled ways. We add the additional lines and practice conforming them to the appropriate size. This approach teaches line control, spacing and size consistency before even knowing the letters.

After learning several letters, we will combine them into words and practice writing the learned letters as part of words. Sounds and shapes often go together, so using spelling words is great for this.

For instance :

• man
• can
• ran
• tan

all give the writer practice of “an” over and over.

The lower case letters will be taught in the following order

• Lower case: oc / aui / r n m / dl / ft / bhk / qgyj / p / xvw / es / z

Capitals and numbers are taught in a 102 and103

There will be games to practice the shape movements. These help create fun out of the drudgery of penmanship practice.

You may work at your own pace. The advancement through the course is dependent on developing form constancy – a perceptual skill needed for successful handwriting. Each section will have a small quiz evaluating this progress.