Handwriting Without Tears

Photo Credit: Photos by Dash via Compfight cc

Yup, you heard it right, it’s called Handwriting Without Tears. The first time I heard of it, I thought of the shampoo commercial, you know, the one that promises washing your kids’ hair without tears. So far, there hasn’t been any tears in Kindergarten when kids are tasked with practicing their handwriting. In fact, far from it, our kids actually enjoy handwriting! A lot of the kids’ success in handwriting can be attributed to multiple approaches, four of which I would focus on my post.

First approach: Good ol’ fashion pen and paper

Kids copying the letters on the handbook and around this time, we’ve already practiced writing them in several ways. One of the fun ways to practice writing letters in Kindergarten is to sing about it. A sample would look like this…

Uppercase L: Big line down, little line across

Uppercase F: Big line down, jump to the top, little line across, little line on the middle

How do you make an uppercase B?
Big line down, jump back to the top, little curve, little curve.

You can check the blog Raising a Self Reliant Child for a collection of songs that can be used for Handwriting Without Tears (HWT). It’s got a couple of really good ones like Frog Jump Letters and Mat Man Rock.

Second Approach: the Chalkboard

Another way for our kids to practice their letters is by using a chalkboard. They are given some chalk and a sponge…and I daresay, it could be the novelty of the chalkboard, but our kids absolutely LOVE using this to write and re-write their letters.

Chalkboard fun!

Third Approach: Manipulatives

The HWT Program also uses wooden manipulatives that kids could piece together to make all the letters of the alphabet.

 

Let’s build letters!

Fourth Approach: Wet Dry Try App

This is the digital version of the chalkboard and is a great way to incorporate technology as another means to learn letters and practice handwriting. This app ties together the multi-sensory approach of the Handwriting Without Tears Program and students can choose to go through the letters by chronological order or the HWT order (letters with the same strokes go together like E-F and D-P-B).

Choose your own order (A-Z or HWT order) and unlock every letter before you move on to the next one.

If you’re interested to look at the app first before buying it, take a look at this excellent tutorial and review by Marianne Racioppi.

Watch on YouTube: Wet Dry & Try Tutorial