Preschool pre-writing

So I realize I do not make many posts as far as preschool things that we do with Travis.  I should probably post some of the activities, huh?  He has been more and more interested when we do school with Madeline and got somewhat upset today that he couldn't write in her handwriting book.  You should have seen the smile on his face when I told him he could do writing also.  My friend, Anna, posted a writing activity on her blog and I thought it would be fun to do with Travis.  You write a letter on a chalkboard, then have the child trace the letter with a wet Q-tip. After that, they can go over the wet mark with a dry sponge or cotton ball, then trace over the dry mark with chalk.  This worked pretty well for Travis, but I think next time we do this we will use a wet cotton ball instead of Q-tip to make a more prominent mark on the chalkboard.  He did a few letters and you could tell that he felt pretty proud of himself!

In the above picture he had just traced over some dry marks that he made, but since the wet Q-tip didn't erase all of my marks, it's kind of hard to see what he wrote.

Maddie took it upon herself to finish the rest of her 'My Printing Book' workbook today.  That means she just completed pages 75-92!!  The only page that's left is the Final Check where I make sure her letters are still being formed correctly.  I'm glad I already have the next handwriting book here and will be looking through it this week to see if we're ready to start on it or just practice random copy work or poems or what not.

Handwriting

Last week, we went over to a friend's house to play and celebrate our year end co-op.  When it was time to leave, Madeline refused to help clean up.  I explained that it's very rude to not help pick up a mess that everyone has made, including herself, and especially since we were at someone else's house.  When we got home I suggested that she write Kasey an apology note.  Being naturally stubborn, she did not want to.  Later that night, I found out we were invited to another friend's house the next day.  When Madeline woke in the morning I told her the good news, and that we couldn't go until she wrote Kasey's note.  Maddie usually is concerned with spelling words correctly and regularly asks for help sounding out words.  She asked for my help and I told her this is her note to write all by herself and that I would help when she's all done if needed.  I'm not quite sure how I would have helped when she was finished, but that's all she needed to hear.  She huffed and puffed for about a minute, then wrote this:

There were no issues when I told her it was time to pick up at Reagan and Kennedy's house :)  Thanks to Kasey and Anna for having us over each day.  The kids always have a blast, and I have fun too!

We've been off and on again working in the Handwriting Without Tears book.  She'll usually go through a few pages at a time and then stop working in the book for a week or two.   Since her handwriting has noticeably improved lately and she does other writing in different subjects and for fun, I'm not too worried about it.  Here she is doing copy work of a poem that she loved.