Prewriting - Getting ready to Write!

Adeline's motor skills are weak, so we are working hard to improve that.  I would like to start teaching her how to write letters soon but I feel that we need to strengthen the muscles in her hands a bit more.

What we are doing:

1.   Crawling every day.  Crawling strengthens the hands as weight is put on them.

2    Hanging from a monkey bar.

3.   Playing with play dough

4.   Lacing beads

5.   Peg board
 
6.   Scooping with a small scoop is very good because it forces you to use your pincher grasp.

7.  Drawing lines - we have been doing lots of matching pages.  I laminate them and use them over and over.
   
8.  Prewriting  pages-  I love these pages from:  3 Dinosaurs  

The number matching page is also from  3Dinosaurs 

We love these dry erase makers they are thin like a pencil and Adeline can erase when she is finished.

More Prewriting Activities

We have been working on more prewriting activities.  I created an alphabet book that I am hoping we can use for awhile for many different activities.  I printed that pages from First School  and then laminated them.  I printed one page for each letter.  I am able to used this book as flashcards, coloring pages, and later we will follow the space between each letter to learn formation.

I found the dry erase makers by crayola and love them.  Since this book is laminated Adeline is able to color on the pages and I can just wipe them clean, it works great.  I plan to make a numbers book soon.

  
Another thing we have been doing is using our doodle board.  These boards are great not only to have your child write and scribble on but I use it a lot to.  Many times I will write a word from Adeline's flashcards to see if she is able to recognize it on something different.  We also write the numbers and talk about them.  These boards are great for prewriting skills.

      

Prewriting Activities

I have been working with Adeline on making lines.  When teaching children to make lines it is important to teach from the beginning, to start at the top and move down.  So when we make lines we always say "down, down, down".

Right now I am working towards Adeline making a cross shape.  This is a developmental skill when children are able to cross over lines.  She is making vertical and horizontal lines so I think we are on our way.

We also work on circles and our favorite song to sing the is "The wheels on the bus go round and round".

I am using three different things to practice our writing; a chalkboard, a dry erase board. and corn meal.
I keep my corn meal in the freezer to give an extra sensory experience when touching it.

When using the corn meal I use two pans, one for me and one for Adeline.  I will draw a line in mine and say "down, down, down"  she will imitate.  We also make horizontal lines and I usually say "side, side, side".
She will do with me for a few times and then she wants to play with it and that is OK.  Corn meal has a great texture and is great for fine motor skills.

We are also working on the chalkboard.  I will draw some vertical lines and Adeline will trace over them with water and a paint brush.   We did need to start with by doing hand over hand, but she is starting to do this on her own now.

Here we made some lines down and now Adeline is working on going "round and round".  I love using a large chalk board on the wall because she is able to use her whole body in this activity.  I found our chalkboard at a thrift store.

 Prewriting is important it helps to create a foundation for good writers later in life.

Our Homemade Iceland!

Well, we love in a warm place, and never see any ice so today we played with our penguins in pretend ice.  I have been wanting to make a salt box for Adeline to start making lines and shapes, so while she took a nap we got it done.

I started with about four containers of salt and a Ziploc bag, added a few drops of food coloring, shake it together and we are ready to go. Adeline was surprised and excited  when she woke up.  We will keep this box for awhile to do some writing, sensory play, and pouring and scooping activities.

 Doing some scooping,

   

Tot School --- Circles!

     Adeline has mastered sorting and matching colors.  Yeah, go Adeline!  So we are moving onto shapes.  We are going to start with circles.

     I found this big chalkboard at a thrift store and love it.  So many possibilities!  I think I need three more.  I started by doing some hand over hand with Adeline and making circles on the board.  She thinks this is not necessary and draws her lines.  On a happy note, I did get her to say "down" as she drew "down".  This was a new word.  We started on the floor but I then moved her to her stool to challenge her core a little more.

 

    I have been saving milk caps for over a year.  There are many neat uses for them.  We used them in some of our activities today.  Since milk caps are circles we did some core work crossing midline with our circles.

   

    Ian did a spelling activity while we where doing this.

     We played with a sensory bag, that had circles in it.  I made this with some cheap hair gel and some circle chips added inside.

 
   Last, I traced some circles on a file folder and had Adeline put a cap on the circles.  I was not sure how this would go but she did it.

   
That ends day one with circles.  More to come.




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