People ask me semi-often about learning “letter formation”, or, to put it in other terms, what would be the “right” way to teach children letters? (assuming that they WANT to learn to write letters…none of this information will be nearly as relevant if they are being FORCED to learn to write letters.) There is technically … Read more
With the big kids in my action room who still have handwriting or letter formation goals, one of the activities I set out is a big huge grid on the floor drawn on butcher paper, with my gigantic Sharpies, and offer to make a word search themed about whatever they’re interested in. The sheer size … Read more
It is extremely common and normal for children to reverse or invert letters when they are learning to write, or confuse those letters when they are learning to read. It makes perfect sense when you think about it. Take any other image or object in the world, and flip it horizontally, or look at it … Read more
Since people were into my “spy code” activity in its extremely simplified form, I thought I’d share a few printable ones along with the whole “code” that I usually use. (Eagle-eyed readers may notice that this code is not identical to the one I shared yesterday. It’s something that I use as an activity because … Read more
I have a “secret spy code” activity that I do with lots of kids at different times. I love it for lots and lots of reasons: it’s a fun writing and reasoning activity that doesn’t feel like “handwriting practice”. I make the “code” something with lots of foundational pre-writing shapes, so that kids who struggle … Read more