"Have I been failing my kids?"The thought bombarded every space in my brain last December while I was sitting next to a student, we will call "C." We were working on narrative writing and this particular student was struggling with a sentence. As "C" was writing, I noticed that they had formed the lowercase letter a incorrectly. Not only was it incorrect, but it actually looked more difficult than the right way! I watched as they wrote another word, again forming the letters incorrectly. It looked like "C" had been given a picture of the letter 'a' and had been told to figure it out. Being a first year teacher, I followed my curriculum as perfectly as I could. However, my curriculum did not explicitly teach handwriting in first grade. I knew something had to change and quickly.
Hello! My name is Kenzie French and I teach first grade in Kansas. This past year, I realized that my curriculum was just not cutting it for handwriting practice. My students were coming into first grade unable to form letters correctly and fluently.
I tore myself apart, like all teachers do, that I hadn't been explicitly teaching handwriting. But here's the thing, little first year me, had NO idea that it was something I needed to supplement. So after giving myself a little grace, I sat down at my computer and knew I needed to supplement. Time after time, I ran into supplemental materials just not being exactly what I was looking for. Finally, I came to the conclusion that I needed to create my perfect handwriting practice book myself.
So here it is. After about a month of trying to figure out what it should look like, what I should include, what I shouldn't, etc. I have finished!
This handwriting journal follows a "We do, you do" pattern with emphasis on CORRECT letter formation. There is plenty of single letter practice, but it also includes full sentence practice at the end.
Check out my Handwriting Journal in my TPT store today. You will absolutely not regret it.
Keep shining bright ones!
Ms. French
Comments