Learning to write....?

Question

Do you teach a child to write in uppercase or lowercase first? Or should we be working on them at the same time? I don't want to confuse my son, but would like him to begin writing, any advice would be helpful, thanks!

Answer 1

you work on both letters at the same time.

have him write them like this

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg...etc

Answer 2

have him work on both...unless he finds them to be too hard start with lower case...but both is your best option,

do like this __Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee

and then have him practice his name

Answer 3

You teach them together, but the children usually chose to write the uppercase letter, so don't correct them.  Also be sure to teach the names of the letters before you even think to teach the sounds.  Sounds are more confusing because they are dynamic changing with each words.  The names are static, meaning they never change.  And he should be getting tons of practice scribbling and drawing so that his fine motor skills are developed enough not to find the process frustrating.  A print rich environment also helps.  Keep lots of books magazines, cards, newspaper, ads, anything you or other people have written around so he gets interested.  Also, you can write notes to him or others and read them to him so that he understands how powerful and meaningful written word can be in expressing ones self.  And of course READ to him!  It's loads of fun for everyone!!

Answer 4

Each child is different. I usually only use capitals with three and under. When they get to be four I use both lower and upper case letters. They will learn as they go and will imitate what you teach. My almost three year old grandson can tell you all the upper case letters even when shown out of the ABC order. It is a continual process. For preschoolers I suggest only teach through play, do not drill the letters into their head.In fact scribbling is beginning writing. It will emerge into real letters as the child grasps the concept.

Answer 5

I will give you a clue:  read through your question and count the amount of upper case vs. the amount of lower case letters you see.

Start with what he will be working with and seeing the most:  lower case.  Teach him the sounds, but be very careful to be exact in the sounds you teach.  Do not teach him that "d" says "du."  This will lead to confusion later.

Something else to consider - I  wrote an answer that dealt with writing recently. It has more to do with writing numbers than letters, but I hope it helps.

_______________________________

What we use to get students to write numbers is actually quite different. The problem with writing is that many students do not have the fine motor skills developed to write. They also may not have the concentration.

With that in mind, the question becomes "how do we build that up so that writing becomes a natural thing for children?" I think it is important that we help the child develop these skills early. Once they are older, their hands are already used to working in a certain way. It is harder later to teach them than it is now, but to simply teach them is not appropriate without a solid foundation.

Begin with the earlier years. Focus on several aspects:

1) Fine motor skills. We talk a lot on these boards about exercises in fine motor skills and we do have a lot of great ideas that get presented. I strongly encourage you to develop find motor skills that also promote the pencil grip.

Puzzels that have pegs in them that you naturally use your 2 fingers and thumb are fantastic for this. Transferring beads from one container to the next with your fingers is also an activity that children enjoy and that helps build up control of these muscles. Using small tongs and picking up objects also help with this. Be sure to demonstrate to the children how to do these activities properly.

When I am selecting which bead I want next and presenting this material, I look at my fingers making the motion, then hold it up (not raised...just naturally) as I select my next bead, continually making that motion. Simply demonstrating this way gets most children actively involved in this.

2) Concentration. The activities in the classroom are set up to build up a child's level of concentration. There are things within the materials that tell the student if they messed up. It becomes evident because they cannot complete the task of the material. They have to concentrate and find out the solution to the problem. It is also important to isolate the idea you are teaching. If you are teaching colors, it may confuse the child to have a blue sky matched up with a blue elephant. Why shouldn't the blue elephant be matched up with the red cat? They're both animals. Isolate the materials so that the only difference between them is the blue or the red. This helps the child to focus strictly on the one task he is working on.

3) Order - teach students to work with materials from left to right and top to bottom. This will develop as an instinct over time and will make writing and reading easier, since they're used to starting so many other things this way.

4) Pre-writing writing materials. We have a set of metal shapes that the child can use. They come in a square, red frame and the shape is cut out and inlayed inside that frame in blue. There are 10 frames: Circle, square, rectangle, quatrofoil, ellipse, oval, pentagon, parallelogram, trapezoid, and curvilinear triangle. The k**b on the shape to pull it out is exactly like the k***s I described in #1...it allows the student to grab ahold of it naturally with a pencil grip to move it. (There's no easier way to pick it up)

The child takes this, along with some colored pencils, to a table and begins working with it. The first thing they do is place the red frame over the paper (no blue shape in there now) and trace the shape. The main issue when a child first starts writing by now does not seem to be the pencil grip, as they have practiced that since day 1 of school, although indirectly. If this is an issue, it is easily corrected since they already have their muscles trained to the feel of the grip. The main issue tends to be that they press too hard.

They may tear the paper. They may break the pencil. The nice thing about this is that they immediate know something was wrong and can correct it the next time. There is no need for teacher interference at this point. The child just sees it and tries to make it lighter the next time. Tracing the inside of the shape has the control of error that the child cannot go outside the shape itself. This is the first step in control of where the pencil goes.

The second step involves the child being able to trace the ouside of the blue shape. This is much harder because the child must control the pencil to a much higher degree.

Other activities involve drawing lines inside the shapes, different shading within the shape, and various thing that help control the pencil control. It is quite a sight to see a child who can trace the red one, then the blue, then color the inside of various shades from lightest to darkest.

All of those help the child be prepared for writing, even if it does not seem like it at first. (Who would think picking up beads actually helps them write?)

As far as the direct writing of numbers is concerned, many of our number activities use sandpaper numbers. These are numerals cut out of sandpaper and glued onto a wooden board.

The child takes their index and middle finger and traces the shape. If they go outside the shape, they automatically sense the difference. Children, after practice, can even do this blindfolded. This helps them both with feeling how the number is written and learning the name of the number. They have a sensorial experience with what the shape of the number is that leaves a better image in their mind of how to write it.

I also think it is important to educate parents as far as the development of writing is concerned. Many do not realize that when a child is drawing random shapes and calling it writing, that is a crucial early step. They have yet to see the exactness of all the letter/number characters we have. That comes with time and practice. They often then move into shapes in the right spots (left to right) or lines drawn on the paper (straight or squiggly lines). Then they begin to just form letters that they know and then begin to see a process happening. Few parents realize this and are quick to just rush their child into writing things correctly. That's just NOT how it works.

Answer 6

Most teach uppercase first because it is what children are exposed to most.  I would reccommend teaching uppercase first and when they master those teach lowercase.

Answer 7

You want to make sure that your son knows that uppercase and lowercase are not disconnected from each other, so you may want to chunk them together by teaching him Aa, Bb, Cc...etc.  You could make flashcards for each letter (uppercase and lowercase) and then make a game of it and ask him what the opposites are.  Kids love stuff like that.  If you're using the flashcards, you could make a game where he has to draw a card and write the opposite letter down.  It's a little bit of thinking, but I played this with a child that I tutored and it was fun for her!

Answer 8

hi,its really easy for the kids to start with uppercase letters first.

and that too to start with i did'nt go in order for my son .allow them to try easy ones first like A,E,F L ,K,M,N,O,P,T,H ,V,Z,X,ARE EASY TO START WITH,then if they are familiar with .it'll be really easy for them.but ofcourse it's quite normal for some kids to confuse with both upper and lower case when they are familiar to write with words.

Answer 9

I'm a firm believer of teaching lowercase letters first or both together.  Like Matt already mentioned... the majority of letters we see in print are lower case.  So many toys/manipulatives are all in uppercase it is so dissappointing...but that is how many people teach...because they seem to think the straight lines are easier on the child.  But I find they pick up both relatively quickly.

My first suggestion is to work with line and simple shapes.  When I'm teaching letter formation I break the letter down into lines.  I teach sticks and curves... letters are made out of sticks and curves.  The sticks... / \ - make up the capital letter A. o and a short vertical line makes up a lower case a.  I also have the children practice tracing and writing lines.  www.childcareland.com had free daily "learning sheets"/printables and she usually has theme related line tracing.  You can find these many places. The Kumon Tracing Workbook is very colorful and kid friendly (and progressive!)  You can get this at Target, Barnes and Noble...and many other places I'm sure.

I would suggest you start teaching the letters in the child's name.  Make the letters that you  are teaching meaningful.  If you are working on letter formation already...the child is probably reading to begin "reading" as well.  Here is the most recent order I've been using.  It's uses common letters/sounds first and they can be combined into words.  This is from the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann...there is a "sound"/letter writing section of each lesson.  I recommend this book as a guideline.  My son is 5, attending Kindergarten this Fall...he's reading at end of Kindergarten beginning of first grade level and I give this book credit.  m s a e t r d i th c o n f u l w g I sh a h k o v p ar ch e b ing i y er oo j wh y  qu x z ea ai ou

I find having a tactile letter card...you can purchase sand paper letters...but I just traced a letter with glitter glue for my cards.  This way you can teach them the correct letter formation.   Habits are hard to break so teach them correctly the first time and make it a good habit!

Remember to make it fun!  It is not necessary to make these "lessons" just with pencil and lined paper.  Please don't..actually.  :-)  This is not developmentally appropiate for beginner writers!  Here are some other ideas... large area writing...lay down big pieces of paper for writing exploration.  Washable markers on windows or sliding glass doors (it will sponge right off), magnadoodles, chunky crayons, fat crayon, write on different size papers and even textured paper, gel pens on black paper, rubberband together several crayons or pencils for rainbow writing, water color paints, regular paints, write in sand trays or in shaving cream of fingerpaints, after a rain go out and write in mud with sticks, etc.  Use your imagination!

Another idea for you... have the child create the letter...provide materials that can be used to glue onto a large block letter (ideally something that starts with the same sound).  Have them start gluing from the top of the letter.  Provide pipe cleaners and have them make the parts of the letters...sticks and curves, you can make or purchase playdough letter mats or you can just provide a letter card for the child to look at as they roll the playdough into "snakes" and create the letter.  Oh, the list can go on and on :-)  Have fun!