Go ahead, try and read it. I'll give you a hint, it says his name Parker and a date. Did that help? I absolutely love trying to decipher beginning writer's writing. It gives such a wonderful window into what they are thinking and reminds us of what we take for granted. The fact that the P and a look the same is a mute point. Clearly they are two different letters because one is larger than the other. But to a beginning writer, they do look the same. You and I might make a 2 ( I know you thought it was a z) in one continuous stroke, but not Parker. You can see he made the middle line first and then added the top and bottom. I love that he demonstrated the idea that if there is no more room on the paper, just come back around and go the opposite direction. Makes perfect sense to a beginning writer.
Now, there are sadly some teachers that will be very concerned, yes even on the first day of school about Parkers' writing. In case you didn't figure it out, he wrote, Parker, July 28, 2014. Many parents are concerned too. But please, don't be. First of all it's handwriting!! How many of us still print in the beautiful manuscript that we learned in Kindergarten? Better yet, after all those hours of cursive writing, how many of us still write that way? I can't think of anyone.
Before my teacher friends "unfriend" me let me say, yes handwriting is important. I believe in teaching children how to write. Parker will learn to make a 2 correctly. It's important because he needs to have automaticity in writing. As he grows as a writer he needs to be able to write letters quickly to be able to allow more brain space for his writing thoughts. He needs to be able to write letters so others can read it. That right there is the reason we teach writing, it is so an audience (or others) can read it. Pure and simple.
Believe me I am not saying handwriting isn't important. I believe, though, that we spend way too many of our precious minutes on it. If a child can write letters quickly and if you hadn't been watching, they look great...let it go!
Do me one favor please. If your child brings home a handwriting homework sheet, send it back. Handwriting needs to be practiced in front of the teacher, not at home while nobody is watching. Case in point, my son, many, many years ago had handwriting homework. He was to make a page of H's. At the beginning of the page they were great and written correctly. As he continued, his writing deteriorated (which is common). He, being the ever so clever one, began to 'draw' the letters. First on the row, he did this: - - - - -. Then he went back and added this: -l -l -l. Catching on? Then he finished off by adding this: l l l. I can't replicate it on a computer, but basically he made each stroke separately. By the time he was finished he had a beautiful page of H's but only the first row had been made correctly. For him it was a lesson in art.
Parker's writing will improve. It will improve as his little fine motor muscles in his fingers and hands develop. It will improve as his teacher models writing and making the letters in front of him. It will improve just by giving him a little more time and not stressing over it. The very last thing we want to happen is for a beginning writer to be so stressed about how the letters are made that they shut down and don't write at all. To me, that is criminal. That's just me and I am weird that way.
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