How to Teach Handwriting in Kindergarten and First Grade // Handwriting tips and strategies

Wondering how to teach handwriting in your classroom?! In this video, I share 3 easy tips for teaching handwriting effectively in kindergarten and first grade!

If you happen to use any of these ideas at home or in your classroom, leave a comment below and let me know how they go! :) Also, if you share any of the games from Susan's Sunday Spotlight, please tag me on Instagram @susanjonesteaching so I can see!! You can also use the hashtag: #susanssundayspotlight​

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Happy teaching,
Susan Jones

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[basiaw.]

Yes, there are many areas that teachers need to work on: behavior, sitting properly, holding a pencil, forming letters, keeping spaces between letters, words.. that’s the after- effects pandemic… a lots of it
But, it’s doable! Thank you Susan for bringing up some great ideas to help us🌹

[nehakumari]

My son’s teacher told them to use a finger space between words. That’s another great way for word spacing especially as tools may not always be around but finger is always conveniently right there.

[michelleforbes]

I always share your videos with my fellow colleagues here in Jamaica.

[sogno_]

omg the letter formation getting worse as they go along after they've traced is so true --- I love the trace/try on own method. I'll bring that up in our next director's meeting. I also bought those tracing sheets on your TPT! Thank you so much!!

[tammyramey]

LOVE that you have lined paper available for your 2nd grade students! I also love the clear glue idea.

[michelleforbes]

I loved what you said about having students trace the letter and then make one of their own then teace again. When I have them forming the letters they go down out of order, lol so applying this method makes makes sense.

[trinascanapico]

I’ve wanted to refocus on handwriting for a long time, but didn’t know the research to back it up. Your tips were great, and I can’t wait to listen to the SOR podcast. Thank you.

[rebekahduncan]

I've used the highlighters as a tracing step before, but I LOVE the glue idea as a physical bump they can feel with their pencil! I plan to try that! I have a couple of Firsties who want to not touch the bottom line so their words are always floating up off the line. I'm wondering about putting a line of glue at the bottom line so they have to come down to that bump before stopping. That might work for them. Thanks!
Something our resource teacher told me about for spacing is skipping 2-3 dashes of the dotted line and starting the next letter after that skip. It works!

[najwahasan]

Thanks for this video. Great ideas! For line spacing I would let my students use their pointer finger.

[michelleforbes]

How did you know I needed this!! I am now at k3 and my student's are nowhere near writing. Some not holding their pencil well.

[teachingismyministry]

This is wonderful!!! I tried it yesterday and it WORKS!!! Thank you!

[ProfPephiasMwiinga]

I have enjoyed your tips i will teach my kids but im a tracher in training Bachelor of science with education maths and physics . Im a Zambian ❤

[AnnMarieBranca]

really helpful for teaching handwriting for k through 2. Thank you so much

[merlevink]

Where to find any ‘trace - write - trace - write’ worksheets for the UK Jolly Phonics style kind of letters?

[matiquegooden-tomlinson]

Excellent tips, thank you for creating these videos for us as teachers ❤ 😀. I will definitely utilize them in my class.

[desireeshaw-stephens]

Love this video !! I purchased the Handwriting pages, do you have anymore that are similar to this set ?

[s.thurman]

Question about when and how to incorporate handwriting into daily lessons. Would you recommend going through the order of the letters as you mentioned, but do a letter a day? I have grade 1s and many can copy letters when seeing them but are unable to make them on their own without looking at a word. I will be starting to teach the sound wall this week after doing assessments on PA. Trying to manage a new grade and organize the best ways to cover everything. I appreciate any guidance!

[Moonlvr]

Thanks for this video Susan. My second graders last year and this year definitely need the practice. They were on a computer screen for almost 18 months, and honestly writing was one of the areas most impacted.

[ahsankhan]

Hi
Your work is awesome 👍
Can you mentioned the age of 1st grade and the whole syllabus

[saraarmitage]

I too would love to get my hands on the handwriting sheets you mentioned. I can't find them in TPT and am not part of your SJT clubs.