•  On Nov, 22, 2017
•  Mary Keating
•   Blog

How To Teach Hand-Printing

How to Teach Hand-Printing starts with “Why is it important?” Here is a good reason:

“There is a strong correlation between the learning of letter
formation and the building of knowledge
about letter-sound representation.”

Murray Evely (Psych4Schools Psychologist/Guidance Officer) wrote this in 2022 after attending a conference in the United States. His article is informative and easy to read. Here is the link: /www.psych4schools.com.au/we-need-to-talk-about-handwriting/

Ten Minutes per day — and be consistent.  The curriculum today is tight and many schools do not explicitly teach how to form letters. There is limited modelling in the classroom beyond Grade 2, that is the third year of school.

Writing tools to use: (1) Paper

~~We use writing books with two bold lines and two broken lines between them.
~~These come in various measurements.  Usually the greater the space the younger the child.
~~Check with your school as to what your child should be using.
~~Most children will recognise the spacing of their school writing books at the stationery shop.

(2)  A rubber grip is helpful for young children.

~~Even an older child who is having difficulty holding a pencil can benefit.
~~They come in various designs and sizes.
~~Children need to get used to the feel of a grip so be persistent.
~~Plain paper is available at stationery stores in rolls. This is suitable for younger children.

(3) Lead pencils:

~~The quality of graphite varies. Lower quality graphite is harder for children to push because of friction between paper and tip.
~~Try a half length grey lead pencil instead.
~~They also come in different thicknesses. Thicker coloured pencils are available. These suit younger children better.

How to teach hand-printing 

~~Young children write their letters to reproduce what the finished letters look like. For letters that are written in one stroke, children often write them in three separate strokes to make it ‘look right’. An example is the letter ‘k’.
~~Close observation reveals that they often don’t know where to start writing a letter.
Mark the starting point for each letter.
~~Children will find it easier to write using rounded tops and bottoms on the body of the letters.

Say to children, “Around, up and down, tick”. [eg. d, a]

The other line is, “Down, up and around, tick.” [eg. p]

By saying ‘tick’ you get a sharp little tick and not a ‘loop’.
Say these lines with an upward inflection in your voice on the word ‘up’ and I usually do it in the air with my finger.
The gestures and your spoken lines reinforce the child’s learning.

Other posts on hand-printing and handwriting: Teaching Handwriting, Post

Older children:

~~Aim for speed and ease of writing.
~~Elbow off the desk and write from under the line not from the side. Sitting up straight helps a Lot!
~~Tell the student that speed will increase if they write in script.
~~Many older students use too much pressure. Less pressure equals less tiredness.
~~Pick out one or two letters that the student writes poorly. Model each letter. Tell the student that there are two or three ways of writing those letters in script.
~~Let student practise at school when writing tasks are not demanding.
~~Each student will develop a different style and older children and teenagers need more latitude in how they write. 

For teaching older children another post is: Handwriting – Improve It, Post