Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hi, I'm Laura from youngwritersworkshops.com, and I'm going to talk about how to teach longhand.
So long hand or handwriting is a process where kids needs to use their fine motor skills,
and getting ready to write letters and words is the result of series of developmental steps
where they begin to be able to do smaller tasks, finer tasks, using their hands in a
more controlled way. They may do things such as stringing beads, or picking things up with
tweezers, different task to prepare their fine motor for being able to write. Begin
using the paper which has two solid lines and then a dash line in between, which is
a good format for children to learn to place their letters on a page, because they have
a guide for the whole distance and then a mid point. They also are going to be able
to learn to write better if they know how to position their pencil, so teach them to
balance their pencil on their ring finger and also with the eraser pointing back towards
their shoulder. So if they're right handed, the eraser will point towards their right
shoulder, this will give them some help in holding the pencil correctly, which will be
a big support in learning to write. As they learn to make the different strokes, for example
a diagonal line, a straight line across, and a straight line down, these strokes will help
them be able to form letters. The next step is for them to put it together and to write
letters. You can support them in this by writing the letters with dashed lines, and then they
can trace over it, they can do a line of letters, or two lines of letters by tracing these dashed
lines. And these are all supports and steps that will help them get towards writing, doing
hand writing on their own. So these are some ways to teach longhand.