Pencil Grips and a Give Away!

What is squishy, * "feels like a booger without being slimy" * and comes in some pretty cool colors?  If you guessed a pencil grip you may win a set of your own! When asked by The Pencil Grip Inc. to review their pencil grips, I had just been given two of these same grips by our occupational therapist. She has been at her job for a long time and I feel she is one of the best in the business. She gave them to me saying she had tried many over the years but these are by far the best...So would I be willing to review them? Yes, please!    *Directly quoted from a first grader!*

Look at that concentration! 

I had an eager batch of students ready to try them. Their excitement did wear off when they realized that they would not be able to hold their pencils the wrong way. Over the years I've noticed more and more students struggling with correct pencil grip. I can only guess that it could be that children are asked to do more and more writing at an earlier age than they once were. Perhaps their fingers are not developmentally ready for such small motor skill tasks causing them to form pencil holding habits that are quite difficult to break. I can see that these pencil grips may be a great tool to helping break some of these bad habits.

I would recommend several practices when implementing them into your handwriting instruction. Make sure they are placed low on the pencil. Keep your initial times using the grips short and keep it fun. Sit with your students and show them the right way to grip the grip! I used pens to introduce them making it even more fun! Monitor their grip as they begin using them. The grips won't do what we want them to do if they are not used properly. Our goal of course is to get students to be able to grip the pencil correctly and not fatigue too quickly. I would highly recommend these grips and found them to be an effective tool in handwriting instruction.

 Which grip is right for you?  From the left is the  Crossover Grip  provides support while keeping fingers from crossing over each other. The middle Pinch Grip is possibly my favorite for my students. It guides fingers to the right position without being too rigid.  The far right is The Pencil Grip that worked great for my over grippers! I liked using this one the best myself. I was able to hold the pencil comfortably and had good control all while feeling that my pencil was riding on a pillow!!
And look at all the cool colors...
 The most amazing part is you could win a set of  the three grip training kit for yourself. I'm able to give away three kits. I hope you are one of the lucky winners! To enter, just comment below. Please leave your e-mail address so I can contact you if you are a winner.
Can't wait to get some of your own? You can buy your own right HERE!  Winners have been notified!

Monster Baby! Handwriting Freebie

What happens when Mr. and Mrs. Deer finally get the "baby" they've always wanted? They get more than they thought a baby was for! They want a baby to "read and cuddle and read stories to." This baby needs a lot of care and it turns out that the baby isn't a baby at all! Plenty of opportunity for predicting, wondering and laughing can be found in this book. There are plenty of opportunities to make inferences, too. I liked this book much better when I read it aloud to my class. I wasn't sure my first graders would get the subtle humor, but they did and begged for me to read it again. I checked this book out of my local library, but may need to add it to my permanent collection.

I had an epiphany today. It happened quite on accident. I was hooking my laptop up to my classroom computer and had a document open on word. As it was projected onto the whiteboard I saw handwriting lines. I could model good handwriting on the board to my students. I can make my lines super huge and super small.

 I love helping children with  handwriting because in second grade my teacher told my class that we were too dumb to teach cursive to. In third grade I got yelled at and told I was dumb because I didn't know how to write in cursive. I wasn't off to a very good start! I don't hold any hard feelings toward these teachers. I would maybe thank them for helping me to become a teacher that will NEVER put down a child or say something that would make them feel less than loved, respected and cherished. I tell my students regularly that I love them. Love is a commitment. It is a promise. I am committed to caring for, not just their brains, but also their hearts. I promise to build up and not tear down. I promise to find ways to reach them that teach them the way that they learn best.

This is a picture of my white board with handwriting lines!

Here is a copy of the file I created to use tomorrow with my owlets. I hope I can sleep tonight. Help yourself to this paper that will look just as nice printed out!

In Word I can zoom way in to make giant paper lines!

Has Anyone Seen My Voice?

Has anyone seen my voice?  I lost it half way through yesterday, and though my first graders searched high and low for it, it is nowhere to be found.  We cleaned out our desks, checked all around the coffee pot and even looked on the playground.  No voice anywhere.  ARRRRGGggg!  I can't even make that pirate sound.  What's a person to do who loves to talk?  Write!


Today was a great day to put a focus on neat handwriting and the power of the neatly written word.  It's been a while since we've had a review of what neat handwriting looks like.  I recently saw a blog that had a great chart to anchor kids to good handwriting practices.  For the life of me I can't find that blog now.  I'd like to thank that person for their inspiration.  If you are my inspiration and you are reading this, I'd like to say thank you, but I lost my voice.  Perhaps I left it at your blog?  If I did please comment below so I can come get my voice!  


My kids loved this chart.  Notice that I was able to sneak a bird into my scheme!  Today my students really tried hard to write their letters with form, spacing, alignment and size.  Perhaps a visit from the Handwriting Fairy is due! Check out the Fairy and Dragon at http://goodmorningmrsrubie.blogspot.com

Be a writing Super-Hero!