Have You Tried This Yet?

Think About It:

Have you ever tried to write with one of those giant 18" pencils?  It's kind of hard to control, right?

  

This is a giant pencil in an adult's hand.

Well, just think about the little hands in your classroom, especially the ones who are holding a pencil for the first time.  Trying to write with a regular-size pencil must feel awkward.

This is a regular size primary pencil and it looks
so big in a kindergarten student's hand.

At first, I started using little golf pencils in my class when I was teaching letter formation.  But sometimes they are just too small.

Then, I found tiny dry erase markers that were fatter than the golf pencils.  I used them on laminated printing practice cards.  They worked great because the students can easily glide the marker over the laminated letters and then they simply erase the card and it's ready for the next student.  I have been able to use these cards for years.  

I have alphabet and numeral cards like this one.
Once they are laminated, students can practice
tracing and writing the letters and numbers tons of times.

Click HERE to see the number tracing cards.

This year, we are able to get these cool triangle shaped pencils from Ticonderoga.  They are called the Laddie Tri-write pencils.  Their shape makes them easy to grip, but they are  just as long as a regular-sized pencil and children were still struggling with them.  :o(

The Solution:

Dave Garner to the rescue!!!  Dave is engaged to my team partner and he kindly came to our rescue.

Dave cut our cool triangle pencils in half so we now have cool little triangle pencils which are easy for my students to hold.  

Here is the full size "tri-write" pencil and one Dave cut in half.

They no longer struggle with holding their pencil and that allows them to concentrate on writing.

Here is a link to the pencils.  CLICK HERE.

Dave use a table saw to cut the pencils.  He was able to cut the pencils while keeping them in the box, so one cut and he was able to cut 12 pencils into 24 pencils.  Half of them have erasers and half don't. 

Thank you, Dave, for helping my students with these cool little pencils.

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Thanks for reading.

See you all tomorrow.

Palma :)

Keeping The FUN In The FUNdamentals & A FLASH SALE

Making Learning Fun:

On Wednesdays, we have a "letter study" session.  The children place a cube on each item that begin's with the letter we are studying.  This allows me to re-use our old (and expensive) Letter Books year after year.  

They also get to dot the focus letter with a bingo marker and copy the focus letter 3 times.

Then, they get to trace the laminated letter cards with a dry erase marker so I can check for correct starting points and correct letter formation.  I made tracing cards for number formation too.  You can find them by clicking right HERE.

I'm having a FLASH SALE on these Number Formation Cards, 

so grab them while you can.  

Here are the number formations cards.
Just print on card stock & laminate. 
Click the image to see the download.

Last, they get to use a pushpin and poke holes in the dotted letter.  This is great for their fine-motor development.  

They even get a color-coordinated pin.

They push the pin into the rug so they don't stick themselves.

Thanks for stopping by today.

See you all tomorrow.

Palma :)