An easy way to teach your child to write the abcs
Teaching your child to write properly can seem extremely overwhelming, especially when there are tears and resistance.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
When we are doing handwriting practice with our child, we have the freedom to have them start with writing tasks that are not so daunting. This may mean spending time forming pre-writing strokes or starting right off writing letters a to z.
When teaching handwriting or other subjects, I agree with the Charlotte Mason’s way, ‘full attention and best effort.’ Additionally, quality over quantity is very important to remember. It is better to do a few problems the proper way than to hurry few just to complete a worksheet.
Also, let’s build good habits now so your future self will not have to help your child break bad habits. Slow and steady wins the race.
So, if you start having your child write letters and he or she is resistant, or it is too difficult. You may want to check out my Beginner Handwriting Guide about teaching the prewriting strokes. Spending time teaching the prewriting strokes, will help your child build endurance, confidence, and a knowledge of forming the individual handwriting strokes. As a result, it will make letter formation easier.
When teaching your child to write the abcs remember to
- Encourage your child to start in the proper spot.
- Use the letter ‘sayings’ to help child learn the proper way to form each letter.
- Keep the sessions short.
- Figure out the baseline of your child and then adjust expectations.
- Give proper feedback.
- Teach lower case letters first.
If you have any questions about these thoughts, comment below and I will be happy to elaborate.
Remember that to develop proper handwriting skills it is going to take practice, explicit instruction, feedback, and an expectation of what is required.
Starting out you will be doing a lot of coaching and giving good feedback.
Soon, they will start noticing their own mistakes and/or asking questions about formation.
This is what we want. To help our children think critically and be observant about the skills they are developing and learning.
Let’s not underestimate what a child can do.
It will vary, but I believe every kid can do more than we typically give them credit for.
How to teach our child to write each letter of the alphabet
I have created a handwriting saying sheet that states how to form each letter of the alphabet. It combines the prewriting strokes to form the letters.
For example,
a, curly c, up and short line down.
b, tall line down, up a bit hook around
n, short line down, up and rainbow
y, down the slide, up the slide, down the long slide backwards.
I have created saying with the basic prewriting strokes to help support my learners to make their letters properly. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter, so that you will be notified when my handwriting packet is posted on TpT. It will have the sayings for each letter of the alphabet.
How to make learning to write letters fun!
A simple Handwriting Lesson
Children should enjoy the process of learning to write. For this reason, I teach my kids and students to write their letters by writing our ‘mystery word’.
I start out by deciding which word we are going to write for the day.
It is important to always consider the knowledge and ability of your child.
With new writers I use cvc words like top, tip, lot, cot, pit, ect.
For more advanced kids, I will do more challenging words like flag, flash, kite, grow.
The ‘mystery’ word determines what letters we will practice for the lesson. (Oh, a little side note, as I observe the child’s writing I take note of the letter(s) they are struggling with and then select words that have those particular letters.
If the child has little knowledge of writing, we will start the lesson by practicing the prewriting strokes.
Example Handwriting Lesson
So, say our word is cat.
We would practice forming the prewriting strokes, tall line down, short line across, and curly c.
We then would put the prewriting strokes together to form the targeted letters.
First, we will model how to write the letters.
So, for c, we would say okay let’s make c and write and say curly c.
If a child struggles to form the letter properly, you can do a hand-over-hand to help your child get sensory input on how to form the letter.
To do hand-over-hand you will want to have your child hold the marker or pencil and then you place your hand on top of theirs and guide it in the right position. The goal is to let them do most of the work :).
Then we practice forming each letter six times.
So, I then would model how to make a and have the kids practice forming a.
Saying the sayings to your child can guide them to form the letters properly and help with muscle memory.
{I always love it when my students start making the dots to help them make the letters properly.}
Finally, we would make the letter t.
Tall line down, chop the top.
I would model how to make the a. If they struggle, I can make two dots above each other inside a handwriting box. I then would tell the child to start on the top dot and make curly c and then go up and short line down.
After we practice each letter and giving proper feedback, I will reveal the ‘mystery’ word.
Time to write the ‘mystery’ Word
I have the kids make a word line. This is just a line across the top of the page.
At this time, I will reveal the mystery word. Sometimes I will slowly reveal a picture of the word. Or sometimes I will segment the word and ask the kids to guess the word. (This is a way to practice phonemic awareness.)
After revealing the word, I then write the word on the word line by modeling how to write each letter.
We will also talk about the sounds in the word, and I will mark the sounds with dots and lines and have the kids watch.
I do not expect them to completely understand what it all means. But I am modeling that the letters are used to represent the sounds in the words and that some sounds have more than one letter.
One thing you will learn about me is that I love to teach by integrating multiple skills and helping kids make connections.
It is amazing how just exposing kids to the right way can help build good habits and help connect to real life :).
Draw a picture using the mystery word
Now after we write the word. I encourage the child to draw a picture of the word.
I model how to use the different lines to make a picture.
I also explain to the kids to be brave and try. That scribbles are okay. I just want them to try.
I am amazed how their drawing skills can develop with just little feedback here and there.
Finally, at the end we share our drawings and talk about the different details we add. I always praise effort on this part.
As we continue to practice, we will see improvement in their writing, and we will continue to assess and practice letters that are difficult to form.
Remember if you find that writing letters is too cumbersome or hard to make properly, practice making the individual lines.
If your child is ready for a challenge, you can have him or her write the word in a sentence.
Summary of how to teach your child to write the abcs
A simple handwriting lesson consists of
- Practice forming letters in a targeted word.
- Reveal ‘mystery’ word and write the word on the word line
- Drawing a picture of the targeted word
- Share the drawings with family member or classmates
Most importantly keep the lessons lighthearted and just the right enough challenge. The goal is to form good habits and fine-motor strengths. When our kids are needing to write longer, more meaningful text, they can with ease, because they have built their writing endurance. This will allow them to focus on growing in other areas.
We want to develop lifelong learners by modeling how learning something takes time, attention, and a teachable attitude.
We can help our kids see how their efforts and hard work pays off.
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