Kindergarten Handwriting Practice

When I started teaching Kindergarten, I knew I wanted to  have my student's track growth like my 5th graders did in their data binders.

This became a fun and fast year long activity with our monthly 100's chart book. Each month they complete a new 100's chart to track how far they are able to record their numbers. Tracking handwriting was a bit harder for me and to be honest, not a huge focus of mine in the beginning.

This year, improving handwriting is one of my goals. I decided the easiest way to do this would be with daily practice!

Everyday we focus on a new letter and they complete this activity in the form of an exit slip. At the end of morning meeting, we discuss the letter they will be practicing that day. We talk about the sounds it makes and brainstorm a list of words that start with that letter.

Then I model the correct way to form the uppercase and lowercase letters on the board. I have the class practice sky writing it several times to ensure that they are going from top to bottom, and only lifting when necessary. We also talk a lot about floating letters - we are working on having no anti-gravity letters this trimester!

Then they head to their seats to complete the days exit slip. They know they have to do at least 5 uppercase and lowercase, but I challenge them to do more. Most rise to the occasion!

In addition to the exit tickets, I have also been tracking their progress with a Monthly Handwriting Book. We have been using these sheets all year, and it is going very well!

My class loves filling these in each month. In fact, it is the only time when you could hear a pin drop in our room!

I let them use pen for these sheets, for two different reasons. One, is that they cannot go back and change their writing later. In the past, I have had Kindergarten students erase their 100's charts from the early months at the end of the year and try to fix them. 

The pen will help to keep them a bit more honest - plus it is a nice motivator!

Looking for a less stressful way to assess your students handwriting? Check out this blog post!