Stop! Do This Before Introducing Handwriting Skills in Preschool

So you are a Preschool teacher attempting to get all those little people prepared for kindergarten. Not only do you need to help them walk in a line, sit in a chair, and hold a crayon, but you also want to start preparing them for the academic side of things! They should start learning their numbers, some of their letters, and maybe even writing their name. It is an overwhelming task. How do you go from scribbling to writing real, readable letters?? 

Too many curriculums, districts, and teachers (I was one of them!) jump straight into letter formation expecting young students to grasp the concept and take off with perfect lines and excellent penmanship right away. I am here to tell you to STOP! 

And do this instead… 

Introduce your students to prewriting skills! 

What are prewriting skills?

Prewriting skills are the very basic skills needed to write letters and numbers, draw shapes, and do almost anything related to writing! Prewriting skills break letters, numbers, and shapes down into basic strokes. For example, the letter Hh isn’t written all at once. You draw two horizontal lines followed by a vertical line. By practicing and mastering these types of lines before ever trying to create a letter Hh, your students will be better prepared to begin their writing journeys. 

How can I help my students master these skills? 

My Prewriting Bundle breaks down handwriting into the most basic strokes possible and prepares young students to begin writing letters and numbers with a strong foundation under their belts! 

When you grab the bundle, you will gain access to 3 different prewriting products. The first is my Prewriting Strokes product, which includes 64 pages of print-and-go worksheets where students can trace and write basic strokes such as vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines. As well as practice tracing and drawing basic shapes. 

Once your student has mastered their strokes, move on to the Alphabet Prewriting product. This breaks down each letter by stroke. Next, you will find the Prewriting Numbers unit which follows the same concept as the alphabet product but, you guessed it, with numbers instead! 

If you want to go a little further with this prewriting practice, grab my Preschool Prewriting and Drawing Bundle. This includes the three products listed above as well as my Preschool Drawing Unit, Scribble Scrabble. You can read all about this unit in my blog post! 

This seems like it would take up a lot of time. Is it worth it? 

These prewriting activities are simple, developmentally appropriate, and easy to use! Once you introduce students to the activity once or twice, they will be able to complete nearly every activity and practice page independently. Of course, I still suggest watching to be sure they are taking their time and doing their best, but for the most part, these can be independent! 

Print off each page and place them in a dry-erase pocket menu. Give your student (or students) a dry erase marker, and they are good to go! These can be reused until mastery, when you can simply print and slide in a new skill! 

I recommend using this activity as morning work or an independent center at some point in your day. Be sure students are taking about 10 minutes daily to practice (all at once or broken into chunks!) and that is all you need! 

When you stay consistent with it, you will begin to see progress in just a few days! Going back to the basics, or starting with them, makes a HUGE difference! 

This sounds like the PERFECT way to introduce handwriting! Where can I get them?

You will get the most bang for your buck by purchasing the Preschool Prewriting and Drawing Bundle which includes 4 different products that can be used in both preschool and kindergarten! 

If you already have my Scribble Scrabble Preschool Drawing Unit, then this Prewriting Bundle is the one for you! 

If you are looking for more ways to practice and strengthen your student’s fine motor skills BEFORE starting handwriting and letter formation, check out my TpT page! I have so many developmentally appropriate, simple, prewriting activities!