Copywork and Dictation

~Primary Theme for January

Writing is something most of the kids just don't enjoy doing. The mechanics of putting pencil to paper is sometimes a challenge. I have attended workshops and seminars from a top handwriting curriculum developed by an occupational therapist, followed their protocol and alas, I didn't quite receive the results I was hoping for; handwriting that is neat and legible. This week I tried something from one of my Waldorf resource books. Background: Waldorf education strives to add an element of the arts into all lessons. When working with younger children it is important to speak "pictorially". So, for my word picture, I showed the boys my oversized paper (I tape it to the wall so they can look up and copy-an important eye excercise) with the colorful lines. The first line in the pattern is blue, then green, then brown. I used Stockmar beeswax block crayons to sweep the color across the paper. I told a little story about how most of the letters (a, e, c, m etc.) like to sit on the grass (the green line) but some letters like to stretch to the blue sky (I, h, l, d) and some even like to dig deep into the ground (in our sentence there is only one-the p). I am so pleased with this week's results! Today I took down my sheet and just dictated the sentence to them. They did a really great job! Capitialization, punctuation and spelling were spot on, and all those little letters were sitting right where they should be. Good job, boys!