Writing Strips

For pre-writers

Cut a sheet of paper into smaller 3" x 8 1/2" strips. Give your child the strips along with a crayon or marker and let the scribbling begin. By encouraging your child to mark on the smaller sized papers, she'll be praticing smaller hand movements. Since we read and write from left to right, make a dot in the upper left corner and tell her it is the starting point.

Cues to use when talking about her writing:
"These looks like big loops, and these look like smaller loops."
"You have some long lines here and some short ones here."
"I notice you connected these loops."
"These marks are side by side."
"This is really close to the letter ( )."