Hands On Activities Help Students Learn, Hone Handwriting Skills

The Arizona Republic (6/7, Javier) reports that some Arizona schools "are getting their students to develop proper handwriting skills early using unique techniques to help them succeed later in school." Some techniques include "using Play-Doh to shape letters and learning to form a letter always starting from the top." They "are part of the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum, designed for students in kindergarten through fifth grade." Handwriting Without Tears "incorporates songs and hands-on activities to help children learn how to form and identify letters and to remember the correct way to write them." For instance, students use "straight and curved wood pieces" to "form letters."

Note: I found this really fascinating. In my opinion, cursive isn't as important as it once was. However, learning to correctly print and form letters seems SO paramount. I've noticed that the majority of my students print in a way contrary to how I was taught (they almost never start to form the letter from the top) with varying degrees of success.