Thank you for the video. I found it very helpful. I’ve been reading your book and plan to start the drawings tomorrow. I was wondering what your thoughts are on handwriting lines. Also, do you have them do any coloring with the drawings? If so, how do you add that part. If not, why? Thank you so much! I find your work so inspiring.
Jacque, thank you for your comment. I am so glad to hear that the blogs and videos have been helpful to you. I have all of my students write on plain white paper (copier paper) unless we are practicing name writing. With name writing, I give them one line so they can practice setting their letters on the line. We are always talking about tall letters, short letters, and hang-down letters and they can do these without any lines. The reason I avoid lines is because they are too visually overwhelming, especially when kids don't have much strength and write lightly. We will start journal writing in October. The pages will be blank and when kids are ready I will give them pages with lines one inch apart. I NEVER use a dotted middle line, even when I taught first grade. If you think about it, kids don't need to know how to deal with a dotted middle line; by first grade, second for sure, they are usually writing in composition books or on notebook paper. You can have your students add more to their drawings or color them, but just make sure you're doing it for a REASON and not to kill time. My writing block is 30 minutes; that is long enough to do a guided drawing and write a word or two. There is no time for coloring. I'm not saying I don't let me kids color, just not during writing time.
These videos are such a great resource! Thank you so much for sharing!
I started out the year in our writing journals having the students write their names, write the letter we learned about for the day, and then teaching them how to draw the keyword (your suggestion in earlier posts) and I can't wait to get here! It's awesome to see how far they have come in our 11 days of school thus far with their writing!
So good to hear that you are getting your students going with writing right away! Do they love it already? Glad to hear the videos are helpful; it encourages me to keep making them.
Yes! They ask for it everyday which is a new experience for me as I usually struggle to begin writing instruction at the beginning of the year as typically none of my students can write their names or form letters at the start.
A million thanks for these videos- it not only allows me to see the "what" you are doing, but "how" you implement it with your kids and how you interact with each student as you teach them.
I think you hit the nail on the head--I agree, too, that it is beneficial to see how other teachers interact with students. I always learn much that way, even watching myself. You are so very welcome!
Thank you for sharing your lesson. Can you tell me if you have gotten through all of the uppercase and lowercase letter identifications, letter sounds and formations by day 20 OR if you follow the CATNIP etc. or ?? I enjoy learning your letter formation cues and wonder if you are referring the students back to the way they were taught for every one or just some...since it's only day 20. I use Fundations and follow it ... also teaching and expecting much more for letter ID since Fundations goes a little slow. My writing is officially TCRWP UOS and from week 1, we expect them to draw and write corresponding letters...labeling etc. I have added a guided drawing component years ago and believe it helps. However, when we prompt them to label with letters so early, we obviously haven't taught the formations so we allow "whatever" which can be problematic since they then have to unlearn later when the formations have been taught...AAAHHHH! So much to think about. I have a lot of experience am still learning. I have taken a lot from you and i THANK YOU!
You are welcome; thanks for your questions! I introduce a new letter every other school day, so we have learned about ten (capital and lowercase, so 20). When I introduce the letter, it includes name, sound, letter formation cues, and phonemic awareness work with that sound. We review all the one we've learned every day during whole group phonics and work with them during small group instruction every day. I have nine "red" kids who get extra instruction and practice with the letters in their name and the ones we've learned during intervention time. I am trying a version of CATNIP. I started with O and M because they are so easy to blend ("big circle mouth, now lips together"), then z, i, b, u, s (bus), c, a, t (cat), etc. It's all about the letter formation from day one in my class. It's a lot of work but not as much work as undoing the wrong kind of writing. We work on name writing with the correct letter formation and talls and shorts every single day for six weeks. Because of this, the students pay very close attention to correct formation. We are officially TCRWP, too, but I cannot follow it because it is not explicit or systematic.
Thank you for the video. I found it very helpful. I’ve been reading your book and plan to start the drawings tomorrow. I was wondering what your thoughts are on handwriting lines. Also, do you have them do any coloring with the drawings? If so, how do you add that part. If not, why? Thank you so much! I find your work so inspiring.
Jacque, thank you for your comment. I am so glad to hear that the blogs and videos have been helpful to you. I have all of my students write on plain white paper (copier paper) unless we are practicing name writing. With name writing, I give them one line so they can practice setting their letters on the line. We are always talking about tall letters, short letters, and hang-down letters and they can do these without any lines. The reason I avoid lines is because they are too visually overwhelming, especially when kids don't have much strength and write lightly. We will start journal writing in October. The pages will be blank and when kids are ready I will give them pages with lines one inch apart. I NEVER use a dotted middle line, even when I taught first grade. If you think about it, kids don't need to know how to deal with a dotted middle line; by first grade, second for sure, they are usually writing in composition books or on notebook paper. You can have your students add more to their drawings or color them, but just make sure you're doing it for a REASON and not to kill time. My writing block is 30 minutes; that is long enough to do a guided drawing and write a word or two. There is no time for coloring. I'm not saying I don't let me kids color, just not during writing time.
These videos are such a great resource! Thank you so much for sharing!
I started out the year in our writing journals having the students write their names, write the letter we learned about for the day, and then teaching them how to draw the keyword (your suggestion in earlier posts) and I can't wait to get here! It's awesome to see how far they have come in our 11 days of school thus far with their writing!
So good to hear that you are getting your students going with writing right away! Do they love it already? Glad to hear the videos are helpful; it encourages me to keep making them.
Yes! They ask for it everyday which is a new experience for me as I usually struggle to begin writing instruction at the beginning of the year as typically none of my students can write their names or form letters at the start.
Very few of mine can write their names and even fewer have correct letter formation. But they get there quickly!
A million thanks for these videos- it not only allows me to see the "what" you are doing, but "how" you implement it with your kids and how you interact with each student as you teach them.
I think you hit the nail on the head--I agree, too, that it is beneficial to see how other teachers interact with students. I always learn much that way, even watching myself. You are so very welcome!
Thank you for sharing your lesson. Can you tell me if you have gotten through all of the uppercase and lowercase letter identifications, letter sounds and formations by day 20 OR if you follow the CATNIP etc. or ?? I enjoy learning your letter formation cues and wonder if you are referring the students back to the way they were taught for every one or just some...since it's only day 20. I use Fundations and follow it ... also teaching and expecting much more for letter ID since Fundations goes a little slow. My writing is officially TCRWP UOS and from week 1, we expect them to draw and write corresponding letters...labeling etc. I have added a guided drawing component years ago and believe it helps. However, when we prompt them to label with letters so early, we obviously haven't taught the formations so we allow "whatever" which can be problematic since they then have to unlearn later when the formations have been taught...AAAHHHH! So much to think about. I have a lot of experience am still learning. I have taken a lot from you and i THANK YOU!
You are welcome; thanks for your questions! I introduce a new letter every other school day, so we have learned about ten (capital and lowercase, so 20). When I introduce the letter, it includes name, sound, letter formation cues, and phonemic awareness work with that sound. We review all the one we've learned every day during whole group phonics and work with them during small group instruction every day. I have nine "red" kids who get extra instruction and practice with the letters in their name and the ones we've learned during intervention time. I am trying a version of CATNIP. I started with O and M because they are so easy to blend ("big circle mouth, now lips together"), then z, i, b, u, s (bus), c, a, t (cat), etc. It's all about the letter formation from day one in my class. It's a lot of work but not as much work as undoing the wrong kind of writing. We work on name writing with the correct letter formation and talls and shorts every single day for six weeks. Because of this, the students pay very close attention to correct formation. We are officially TCRWP, too, but I cannot follow it because it is not explicit or systematic.