Penmanship And The Art of Teaching Handwriting

Years ago learning good penmanship was considered an important part of a good education. Each day Mrs. Thompson showed us how to form a new letter. We practiced it carefully on green lined practice paper over and over until we could write it perfectly. Then we were finally allowed to write it on white lined paper.

How surprised I was to find that handwriting is no longer being taught in public schools! Who is now teaching our children handwriting? You may say that in a digital age that handwriting is not important but think about how often you actually jot something down. Even a grocery list generally is handwritten.

A teacher for many years, I have taught many children penmanship. When teaching cursive, for example, it does not make sense to teach starting with the letter a and finishing with the letter z. Instead, try starting with letters that use just simple strokes such as the letter e and then introduce the letter l. They are basically the same shape except that the letter l goes all the way to the top whereas the letter e only goes to the middle line.

Once you have introduced both e and l you can spell the Spanish word el or the French word le. I have found that it is important to immediately help children to form words with the letters they are learning in order to create meaning in the work they do.

The exciting part about learning handwriting is that it does not have to just be a paper and pencil activity. There are dozens of fun, creative, hands-on activities that promote learning letter formation. Have you tried writing letters in chocolate pudding spread across a cookie tray? How about writing letters in glue sprinkled with glitter. You can form long snakes of playdough and form them into letters. These are just a few of the activities I have set up for my students in learning centers around the room.

One of my children's favorite activities is to take the wooden train tracks and form them into the shape of the letter we are learning and then run the train along the track chanting the sound of that letter.

Would you like to discover more, fun, creative ways for children to practice their handwriting? Come join the fun at Penmanship: The Art of Teaching Handwriting.