This week we’re learning about the letter [m]. We started off rainbow writing the letter [m] using our texta silk crayons.

We then moved our rainbow writing onto more unconventional mediums.

We scooped some sweetened condensed milk onto baking trays and practised writing the letter shape of [m]. It’s a tricky letter shape to learn as it involves hops, not just simple lines and circles. We’re still working on it.

N & M have never tasted sweetened condensed milk before. They were blown away.

MMMMMMM

More Milk? Yes. More. Milk.

More m’s.

Mmmmmmm

Then I gave them some melted chocolate to add to their trays.

Last but not least came the bowl of warm custard.

They delighted in mixing all three wonderfully sweet ingredients as they practised their rainbow writing of [m].

(There may have been more tasting than rainbow writing.)

Simple ideas for introducing [m]

Show children a written lower case [m]

• Model the mouth movement and sound [m]
• Visually connect the picture/word “mix” with the letter sound [m]
• Kinaesthetically simulate a mixing action. Close fist and move it in a circular action.

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The post [m] is for mixing the wonderfully sweet by Pauline appeared first on Lessons Learnt Journal.

This week, we’re learning about the letter [a]. We started off rainbow writing the letter [a].

We used Texta Silk Crayons. They’re really fun. They are of similar consistency as window crayons – think rich oil pastels but washable.

These silk crayons could be also be changed to water colours with a wet brush. Going over the letter shape of [a] with a wet brush provided more chances for N & M to practise the shape of the letter [a].

 We then made some chocolate fairy apples as part of our introduction to the sound [a].

We used delicious fuji apples.

N & M placed chocolate melts into a microwaveable bowl. They practised counting orally to ten and learnt about matching each number word to one, and only one object when counting – (a most tricky lesson to master).

A quick minute or two in the microwave and we had yummy melted chocolate. I placed a skewer in the middle of the apple to help them move the apple around more easily. Using a teaspoon, they spread the melted chocolate over the apples. So far, the mess was very manageable.

Enter the hundreds and thousands. They poured it over the melted chocolate and those little things bounce everywhere!

Do the pretty colours of the hundreds and thousands make the mess worth while? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. N&M are convinced that the sugary goodness of the hundreds and thousands are worth while.

Presenting our chocolate fairy apples.

We sliced them up (most of the chocolate bits fell off the apple at this stage), and N&M gobbled them up.

Simple ideas for introducing [a]

Show children a written lower case [a]

• Model the mouth movement and sound[a]
• Visually connect the picture/word “apple” with the letter sound [a].
• Kinaesthetically simulate biting an apple. Open mouth and place open hand close to mouth as if biting an apple.

The post [a] is for chocolate fairy apple by Pauline appeared first on Lessons Learnt Journal.

 
The process of handwriting has to be almost effortless for the writer or the writing task will be too arduous. However, the written work still has to be legible, or no matter how brilliant the written work, the reader will not be able to comprehend and appreciate it. (Apparently Beethoven’s original musical manuscripts were incredibly messy, dots and scribble all over the place- but thank goodness it was still legible.)

 
My definition of good handwriting is not beautiful calligraphy. Beautiful calligraphy is beautiful calligraphy. Using ideas about handwriting, kinesthetic awareness and kinesthetic memory from Meeks, L & Easson, V (1997, p.iii) I think of good handwriting as one that is legible and fluid, “…where the physical process is so automatic to the writer that very little attention needs to be paid to the finer details of letter formation and spacing”.

 
I grew up with handwriting programs filled with dot-to-dot tracing techniques. Dot-to-dot tracing is still used in much of the digital media available today, (whether they be itouch/iphone/ipad apps or toys that teach kids how to write). The problem with dot-to-dot tracing is that it does not encourage the learner to see the writing of each letter as one complete movement. This limits kinesthetic awareness and memory over time. Good kinesthetic awareness and memory is needed for good handwriting. “Good kinesthetic awareness and memory allow a child to make smooth and automatic gross and fine motor movements in a defined space”, Meeks, L & Easson, V (1997, p.iii).

 
In providing N & M with pre-writing activities, I was keen to introduce them to rainbow writing. Rainbow writing is basically where children practise whole movements of letter writing many times over. Depending on the medium used, they may repeat the movements using different colours or just simply repeat the movements over and over again (e.g. in a tray filled with sand or salt or over sandpaper letters).

 
In our first week of rainbow writing, N & M focused on straight lines. Using activities by Meeks, L & Easson, V (1997) the pre-writing exercise encouraged them to look where they were going. Their aim was to draw a straight line from the bird to the worm (or cat to the mouse), paying particular attention to:

• Not lift their crayon/texta/pencil;
• Go quickly
• Start right on the cross (next to the bird)
• Stop right on the dot (next to the worm)

 
As this was their first rainbow writing experience, I focused on their movement. Was it continuous and smooth?

 
Window crayons were their preferred writing implement. It’s oil-pastel like texture helped them easily glide across the paper and the bold colours were irresistible. It does tend to get easily onto their hands, (possibly because they coloured in their own hands as part of the experience), but thankfully it’s easily washable.

 
In true N&M tradition, an experience is incomplete without some sort of game involved. They soon turned their attention away from straight lines to ‘hiding’ the bird and worm under a mass of crayon.

Reference List:

Meeks, L & Easson, V 1997, ‘Rainbow writing Book 1: Pre-writing and Lower Case Letters’, Ants in the Apple, Exeter, New South Wales.

 N & M: 3 years, 3 months
August 2011

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