Teaching Handwriting in All Settings

Lesson Overview

There is a lesson plan for every student edition page. Below is a sample of how a letter formation lesson is organized.

STARTING THE LESSON Letter, student edition page, and objectives are shown in the top corner. Start each lesson with the suggested multisensory activity.

TEACHING THE LESSON Lesson Plan The letter lesson follows these steps:

1. Direct Instruction (Demo) – Actively demonstrate the letter for children to finger trace and then copy.

2. Guided Practice –

Children finger trace and copy the letter.

3. Check Letter– Children check their letter and evaluate formation.

Read, Color & Draw You and your children read the sentence. Children color and draw.

EXTENDING THE LESSON Differentiated Instruction

a

Magic c up like a bump

back down bump

Start on the dot. Trace and copy a.

aaA a a a a a a

apple

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LESSON PLAN 1. Direction Instruction (Demo)

Demonstrate a on double lines.

Say the words for each step. Kick Start Kindergarten – p. 48

OBJECTIVE

To develop correct habits for writing lowercase a.

LESSON INTRODUCTION (Warm Up)

Voices (p. 177)

Additional digital resources are available in the Interactive Digital Teaching Tool (IDTT).

Magic c up like a helicopter bump back down, bump

2.Guided Practice

Children finger trace the large step-by-step a saying the words.

Children trace a.

Children copy a.

3.Check Letter

Monitor as children trace and copy letters for correct start, steps, and bump.

READ, COLOR & DRAW

Read apple. Say a and make the /a/ sound. Encourage free coloring and drawing. Add a tree, a pie, a basket, etc.

ENRICHMENT

Make a Magic C Bunny using a napkin.

SUPPORT/ELL

It’s tricky to make lowercase a without lifting the pencil. First, have children finger trace lowercase a on the Blackboard with Double Lines (p. 176).

CROSS-CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS

Science: Slice apples to share. Discuss taste and different textures.

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6_KSKTG_LOWERCASE_79-130_2022.indd 94 Enrichment Ways to extend learning by adding complexity or variety. Support/ELL Suggestions for adapting or simplifying the activity.

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Cross-Curricular Connections Connects the lesson to another subject.

Multisensory Activities

Many multisensory activities for handwriting practice are implemented repeatedly throughout the curriculum. Below is an example of the step-by-step directions we provide for each activity. These multisensory activity pages can be found starting on p. 147.

ABOUT THE ACTIVITY Introduction gives you background and guidance for the activity.

MATERIALS Materials list helps you organize and plan for the activity.

ACTIVITY PLAN Step-by-step directions along with illustrations to guide you through. Wet-Dry-Try for Lowercase Letters

Wet-Dry-Try is an innovative teaching strategy. We use a slate chalkboard for capitals and numbers. For lowercase letters and words we use the Blackboard with Double Lines. This is the physical version. The digital version is available on the Interactive Digital Teaching Tool and Digital Student App. The latest research on brain development supports this activity. This research calls for fewer elements (just two lines), modeling, sensory engagement, and immediate feedback (Sousa 2011).

Digital Version Interactive Digital Teaching Tool: Share via your interactive whiteboard or smartboard

Digital Student App: Integrated in lessons and on “My Tools” for additional practice

Materials

• Blackboard with Double

Lines* (1 per child) • Little Chalk Bits (1") • Little Sponge Cubes (1/2") • Little cups of water • Paper towel pieces

Activity

1. Prepare Blackboards

Write letter with chalk as a model to trace. 2. Teacher’s Part – Write f with Chalk

Use chalk to write a letter on double lines.

Say the step-by-step directions. 3. Child’s Part – Wet-Dry-Try

As the child does each part, say the step-by-step directions to guide the child. The child is encouraged to join in, saying the words.

Wet: The child uses a Little Sponge Cube to trace the letter.

Dry: The child uses a little piece of paper towel to trace the letter.

Try: The child uses a Little Chalk Bit to write the letter.

*If you don’t have a Blackboard with Double Lines, consider using our Double Line Writer on your whiteboard. This product is available at LWTears.com.

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The Interactive Digital Teaching Tool (IDTT) makes planning Handwriting Without Tears lessons effortless, and provides digital resources to engage students in any learning environment.

Teachers send lessons and activities to students. Students access lessons in their student app.

In IDTT, educators can:

1. Access digital student editions and teacher’s guides

2. Plan and assign handwriting instruction • Choose from dozens of pre-loaded lesson plans aligned with the Handwriting Without Tears developental order, or choose your own order • Create lesson plans lessons that include animation, music and model lessons taught by master teachers • Assign Lessons directly to students they can easily access via the Digital Student App 3. Track whether student assignment has been completed 4. Access digital formation tools • Wet-Dry-Try • Letter & Number Formations • Wood Pieces