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11/22/00
Question 48
Dear Preschool
Teacher,
I have a four-year old son and I want to teach him
how to write. He is reluctant to learn outside of school and his
teacher says that he is lagging behind. My problem is that I don't
have a clue as to how to teach someone
to write. Could you please help me? He also has trouble with scissors,
are their any ideas to help me teach him how to use scissors.
Thanks,
How to teach to write?
Dear
How to teach to write?,
It sounds like he may need more
development of his small muscles. Much of this will just take
"time," but some activities help.
Tearing small pieces of paper is a first step to
using scissors. Show him how. Then snipping paper,
fringing (like turkey feathers), and cutting on a line. I
recommend good quality scissors. Cutting play dough with
extra scissors is also good practice. Playing with the play
dough also is good for fingers. Puzzles, Legos, etc also help develop
the muscles.
Kris
"Ask The Preschool Teacher Staff"
Dear
How to teach to write?,
It may just be that your son is not
ready to write. I'm concerned with the fact that your son's
teacher is making you feel like you need to pressure him into
writing. I wouldn't consider one of my students lagging behind
just because they couldn't write. When he's ready, he'll take
right off. You can give him the opportunities to write but
there shouldn't be any pressure for him to do it. I have made
Doodle Books for my nieces and have Doodle Pages at school.
What I did was buy a workbook that had fun things in there like
mazes, matching, dot to dot, etc. and then you tear the pages out of
the book and place them in those clear paper protectors and then put
them in a three ring binder. Then get some dry erase markers
and let him doodle around in his book. You could also put him
name on a piece of paper in the protectors and have him trace his
name or letters. Then he can just erase it and start all over.
As for cutting, I tell my parents to
start off drawing straight lines on a piece of paper and having the
child cut on the line. When he's mastered that, I tell them to
draw a curvy line and have him cut on that line. Next I tell
them to draw a zig zag line. Remember to watch when he's
cutting that he always holds his thumb up and not turned under.
Peg
"Ask The Preschool Teacher Staff"
Dear
How to teach to write?,
Just like with reading, writing has
prerequisites. He should first "write" circles (all
sizes), lines, swirls. Start big and work down to small.
I've taught kindergarten and 4-year-olds for several years. It
always seems that boys have a more difficult time with writing than
girls. Just give him time to experiment.
As for the scissors, we ALWAYS do
"finger exercises" - play dough is wonderful. Let him
squeeze, and squeeze, and squeeze the dough. Then I begin with
making fringe on paper.
I hope this is what you were looking
for as an answer.
Annie
"Ask The Preschool Teacher Staff"
Dear
How to teach to write?,
It sounds like his fine motor
skills need to be worked on first. One way to do this is to play
with play dough. If he is not in kindergarten he can't be
falling behind on writing. He isn't developmentally ready yet.
Writing letters is a skill many
children can't accomplish until they are 5 or 6. Let him work on
puzzles, string beads, scribble on paper, and other fine
motor activities. As his muscles become stronger, he will be able to
cut with scissors too. These skills use the3 same muscles.
His teacher should already understand this if she is trained in child
development.
Jacqueline
"Ask The Preschool Teacher Staff"
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