Help students improve their printing

First graders have lots of reasons for turning in messy work. Let's address those issues, use free resources, and get neater printing fast!

Get neater printing right away with these 6 tips, tricks, and freebies from Katie Knight at Teacher to the Core

Build Deeper Meaning:

Formation issues can happen because sometimes kids do not have enough practice or their practice has not been meaningful enough. To help build meaning, I do a few things. I read the kids the book Living Letters.

This book helps the kids understand that a “writing line” has 3 parts and certain letters LIVE on certain parts of the line. My students love this book and their printing rapidly improves when I add this extra layer/story meaning to their paper and pencil lives.

Build Connections:

When you teach the letters, teach them in connection with each other. Do not teach them in ABC order. Teach them in line formation order.

I teach them in this order:

1. Skyscrapers

2. Dirt letters

3. Grass letters

4. Vowel Review

I teach the skyscraper/ sky letters first when I have their full attention the 1st fay of school. Plus, I want to eradicate kids forming their letters from the bottom up RIGHT away.

Skyscraper Letters: b d f h k l t

Dirt Letters: g j p qu y (I teach qu together because they stick like glue)

Grass Letters: a c e i m n o r s u v w x z

Vowel Review: a e i o u and _y _____y like in my puppy

Meaningful Play:

This magnetic wand is so fun! The dot goes on the front and the wand goes behind. The child pulls the wand down from the back of the card and the dot appears to magically travel along the arrow path.

This pulling down movement on a large card makes this activity a large motor skill.
The mind, arm, and hand are working together to pull the magnetic dot along the letter's correct path. This builds a visual memory along with movement which means the learning will make more of an impression on the brain.
The large card brilliantly illustrates the arrow path. This something that is hard to see on paper even if you are using a font with the arrows on it.

Buy these cards and magnetic wand {here}

Grip Issues:

Let’s talk honestly about grip. Kids can come up with strange ways to hold a pencil. Some kids look like they are wielding a weapon, but all kids with grip issues resist fixing that grip. These pencils are AMAZING for several reasons:

The triangle shape instantly fixes grip issues. In the picture above, I just handed him the pencil. I didn’t say ANYTHING. He moved the pencil around in his fingers with a total expression of “wonder” and asked if he could use it the rest of the day.
They do not have the stigma of an “added” pencil grip
They are inexpensive!
Amazon, Target, and the dollar store all carry these pencils! Links for purchase {here} , I just got 8 pencils for less than $2.50 on Amazon as an "add-on" item!
The leads are thick so they don’t break easily.
Lead refills are on Amazon. Leads can be purchased {here}
Management with the leads is easy: My 1st graders know that if they play with the leads I take the pencil-they get a plain yellow one for a while- so that’s no problem at all.

Skill or Will?

Poor printing is sometimes a matter of skill and sometimes a matter of will. This journal paper addresses BOTH. It’s my gift to you.

Dotted “Road Lines” have a thick clear bottom line for all the letters to touch.
The alphabet is printed on the page for easy reference.
Lowercase vowels are printed in BOLD for very easy reference.
Kids can easily be corrected by you and fix their errors themselves. (see next picture)

Now you don’t have to waste your time writing the letter correctly for them- simply circle on their poorly written letter and the correct letter from the alphabet to the left. Boom, boom, done! You don’t even have to check to see if they fixed their errors! A kid-friend / shoulder partner can verify that the fixes have been made!!!!

Finger spacing:

Finger spacing is no joke. If they don’t have it, it’s a disaster!!!! Tape can help. It’s a teeny bit of a hassle, but it works. You can also have kids trace over orange highlighter.

Washi tape is the easiest because it’s thin and fits on a tape dispenser. However, washi tape isn’t cheap! I have asked parents to send some in to help their child. I have been very fortunate that they were more than willing to help.

I have also used colorful masking tape found at Target. That's what you see in the photo.

I have found that after a few days the kids don’t need the tape anymore.
It’s like a 2 day magic bullet that saves you an entire year of squinting to figure out what they wrote.
Boys like how tactile the tape is.
Boys with printing issues often see writing as a chore, and the tape just makes it more fun.
Parents see the tape on their child’s writing and it’s a very visible intervention. They will LOVE you for helping their child. Their child will love their new writing skills too!

Self-Editing:

This does not have a lot to do with printing, but it’s a component of my journal paper and an ESSENTIAL component in my writing program. So, I wanted to take a moment to show you how my first graders use a green and red/pink crayon to build self-editing skills.