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Casey the Caterpillar

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19.01.2022 Hot ng vui nhn ti trng

17.01.2022 I have been asked to explain why I recommend that children are taught to draw the shapes on small chalkboards rather than on paper or whiteboards. There are several reasons: 1. You don't cut down a forest of trees to teach handwriting. Shapes and letters are immediately erased from the boards if they are formed incorrectly so that there is no lasting visual image of an incorrect formation. 2. Children learn the shapes and formation of letters using a large arm movement rathe...r than a small finger movement which many are not ready for when they first come to school. Many children who are not ready for paper and pencil learn to form letters incorrectly which hampers their speed and efficiency when writing sentences and stories and when learning to spell. Writing using a larger movement on a single line also enables them to establish visual-motor co-ordination for letter shapes before they are asked to use fine motor movements within specific boundaries. 3. Using a small piece of chalk helps to develop correct pencil grip - you cannot hold a small piece of chalk in more than 3 fingers. Using large whiteboard markers encourages poor pencil grip and keeps children using immature grips longer than necessary. 4. Chalk on a chalkboard causes friction and drag and the movement is easier to control than a marker on a slippery whiteboard - particularly for left-handers. This provides kinesthetic feedback to the brain and assists in embedding the movement to motor memory. The children learn to form the letters correctly using a large movement which transfers easily to pencil and paper when fine motor skills are in place. Children move to paper when the can write every letter with correct formation automatically, when they have a bank of high-frequency words in their writing memory and can produce them automatically, when they can write a simple sentence using the high-frequency words in conjunction with reasonable letter choices for sounds they hear in words they want to write. Here are some photos to show the progression from 3 weeks at school to 6 months at school.

14.01.2022 Casey has just made her way to Germany, USA and Scotland. Thanks to all of you who share her with others.

12.01.2022 Casey the Caterpillar handwriting has just arrived in Scotland.

03.01.2022 Yesterday I ran a PD for a school using Skype. It was the first of several sessions to train their Early Years staff in the use of Building Blocks to Literacy. If your school is interested in PD during this time of travel restrictions, please contact me through facebook or email me at [email protected] Here is a comment from one of the teachers who attended yesterday. "I know it’s going to be such a different approach but it’s definitely what our kids need. And as a passionate early childhood teacher, I am so so sooo excited for this next journey. I had goosebumps listening to Barbara last night"