Jacob did a little name writing practice today. He was asked to trace the dotted lines to write letters for his name. This is good practice with spelling as well. I had him say each letter as he wrote the letter.
As you can see he is very choppy and not exactly on the dotted lines. His motor skills are not quite sharp enough yet to be able to hold the crayon and he especially loses control as he works on towards the end.
We also did a Missing Letter Name Practice. Both of these ideas came from Cherrios and Lattes' Play to Write, Write to Read. These are good ways to practice names and writing.
He gets very angry if he thinks he made a mistake. See the scribbling. I have to reinforce that it is ok to make a mistake and that everyone makes mistakes but we just keep trying. Practice is the only way to get better. When this happens I cannot help but think of my former students that did the very same thing and proceeded to throw fits and give up. I hope to help Jacob get over this frustration and anger at himself before he starts elementary school. This will help to alleviate trouble in school.
I had a sweet surprise later this evening. Jake was coloring while I was making dinner. He called me over because he, "made a J!" I looked on his paper and he sure did make a J! I encouraged him to make his whole name and he did! As you can see from the picture above, he made a J A (little line next to the circle) C (backwards) O (very big) and B (backwards). This is the first time his has written his name by himself! I was so shocked and so proud! I think for a- just turned 3 year old that is not in love with writing or any kind of academic "work," he did great!!
Jess, Great work! I loved reading what you are doing with Jacob! He's lucky to have such a great, patient mom!
ReplyDeleteMackenzie :)