What writing readiness skills should my child have when entering Kindergarten?

Children entering kindergarten should be able to:

• Write the letters in his/her name
• Write some letters in the alphabet
• Recognize there are capital and lowercase letters
• Write some letters to represent sounds in a word
• Dictate a sentence to match a drawing
• Draw a picture to represent a dictated sentence

Writing is thinking on paper…

                        -William Zinsser 

How can I teach my child proper posture, pencil grip and paper position for writing?

Encourage your child to sit with the tummy touching front of the table and back touching the back of the chair. Give your child opportunities  to write at a table or desk that allows them to have their feet on the floor. Stress both hands have a job- one to hold pencil and the other to hold the paper.

Pencil Grip

Take time to teach how to hold a pencil. Early on, children may successfully change a poor pencil grip. Poor pencil position can cause fatigue and discomfort. Model and reinforce a good pencil grip. Children begin holding a pencil or crayon at an early age. Proper grasp helps your child write more effectively. Proper grasp helps eliminate a tired hand and improves handwriting.

Paper Position

Children who are right handed should have their paper slanting to the left. Left handed children should position their paper slanting to the right. Encourage your child to have the non writing hand hold down the paper so it doesn’t slip when writing.

Writing Do’s and Don’ts

• Do encourage your child to write by providing paper, crayons, and pencils
• Do encourage your child to hold his or her pencil by pinching with the thumb and pointer finger and resting the pencil on the tall finger
• Do encourage your child to write all letters starting from the top. When seeing your child starting from the bottom, model the correct way to write the letter
• Don’t say to your child “ that is the wrong way”
• Do say to your child “ Can I show you a way to hold your pencil so your hand won’t get tired?”
• Do say “ Can I show you how I learned to make that letter?”
  
• Don’t expect young children to make letters uniform by touching lined paper
• Don’t say “ I don’t know what that letter is”
• Do say “ Can you tell me about this letter?” as you point to it
• Do encourage your child to write his/her name using a capital at the beginning followed with lowercase letters