What type of writing instruments are best?
Some children find holding the larger pencils and crayons easier, others do better with thin pencils. You just have to see with which type your child feels most comfortable, and with which she/he is best able to use a strong pincer grip. For this, there is no "one size fits all" approach.
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If your child is holding fatter crayons and markers with a strong pincer grip, then it is ok to try thinner, regular sized pencils, crayons, or markers. If your child is able to maintain a good pincer grip on the thinner utensils, then she/he can use whatever she/he would like best. If your child is unable to maintain a pincer grip on the thin utensils, switch back to the fatter utensils. There are some children that find the thinner utensils are much easier to use properly. There are also plastic grip supports you can purchase to help children maintain the proper grasp on thin utensils:
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Why do you use lowercase letters first?
With both reading and writing, we teach lowercase letters first in Montessori. There are many reasons for this, but the most important are that most of the letters that children actually see in print on a regular basis are lowercase, and many lowercase letters are actually easier to form than uppercase. We use only lowercase letters at school until the children are writing sentences with the movable alphabet, which for most children starts in the mid-late fall of their kindergarten year.
Should I make dotted lines for my child to trace for letter writing?
We rarely make letters by "dotting" them or by drawing them with dashes for the children to trace over. There are several reasons for this, but the main is that for some children, tracing over this type of letter can encourage a jagged "dot to dot" action with the writing instrument, rather than a fluid motion. If a child gets into that habit, it is very difficult to break. Instead we have the children trace over a solid line, and then trace the letter within a letter outline. We design it so the pencil fits right inside the letter outline. We will also draw the letters with a yellow marker or highlighter and have the child trace over the yellow letters.
When do we start making sure that letters are written properly on lines?
Everything in Montessori is about isolating one skill at a time. First worry about forming the letters, then think about placing them on lines. First handwriting worksheets will work on forming letters in order of letters that are easiest to form and will have grids to fit letters in one rectangle of the grid. Placing the letters on lines with the movable alphabet, then writing them on lines are separate lessons that come a bit later.
While there are lots of ways to approach this issue, the main goal is to support the development of clear, legible handwriting. Our job is to support the development of the most efficient use of writing instruments to allow the child to write comfortably and clearly. Ultimately, that might look slightly different for each child.
