LHFHG’s Fine Motor Skills Box of Plans
This “Inside the Guide” series provides a quick snapshot of Little Hearts for His Glory (LHFHG)! It’s a handy “how-to” reference, just one box of plans at a time. Have you ordered Little Hearts for His Glory from Heart of Dakota? Thank you – so fun! Are you getting excited to start? Totally understandable! Well, here’s your quick-start “Inside the Guide” for…LHFHG’s Fine Motor Skills box of plans!
Quick Start Info
Time It Takes: 5 to 10 minutes
Days It’s On: Days 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
Description: LHFHG’s Fine Motor Skills box of plans can be found on the “Learning the Basics” right side of the plans. The skills taught in these boxes rotate. Days 1, 3, and 5 teach children to use thinking skills and follow directions to color, cut, and paste. Rod and Staff publishes the workbooks used on these days, and they are excellent! They are truly some of the very best workbooks we have ever used! Kindergarten children typically use Do It Carefully and Finding the Answers. First Grade children typically use Going on Eagerly and Just Thinking and Choosing. Days 2 and 4 teach children to practice the correct formation of large/small letters and words/sentences. Multiple handwriting books are scheduled in the plans, so you can customize by choosing the one that fits your child best. Kindergarten children typically use either A Reason for Handwriting K or Italic A. First Grade children typically use either A Reason for Handwriting A or Italic B.Â
A Handy How-To for LHFHG’s Do It Carefully and Finding the Answers
In Do It Carefully, children learn to work from top to bottom and from left to right. They use visual discrimination to progress from shapes to letters to words. Children follow directions of matching, crossing out, circling, underlining, cutting, pasting, coloring, simple drawing, and counting. Writing begins with tracing lines and designs, moves to printing letters, and progresses to printing the child’s name. A handy chart in the front of the book uses numbers and arrows to show the proper formation of letters and numbers. Children learn to recognize the shape of a square, circle, and triangle. Exercises in the last half of the book give children practice in hearing initial consonant sounds of /sh/, /m/, /t/, /f/, and /z/. Finally, children learn to make associations. They sequence items and make groups of things (i.e. things used together, parts of things, and similar things).
In Finding the Answers, children use their eyes, ears, hands, and mind to develop visual, auditory, motor, and oral language skills. They follow directions to cut, paste, color, trace, draw, write, circle, underline, cross out, match, and count. The senses of touch, taste, sight, and hearing are addressed as well. Children discriminate printed letters, words, and numbers. They identify rhyming words and learn to listen to and follow multiple directions. They learn to understand short stories and sentences using verbs, adverbs, and prepositions. Children identify the sequence of repeated pictures and the order for story pictures. Finally, they learn to understand simple analogies, comparisons, and group associations.
See Do It Carefully samples below and click the link below for readable actual size samples:
See Finding the Answers samples below and click the link below for readable actual size samples:
A Handy How-To for LHFHG’s Going on Eagerly and Just Thinking and Choosing
In Going on Eagerly, children develop skills in seeing, hearing, writing, speaking, and thinking. They trace shapes, numbers, designs, and pictures. Color words on eight crayons at the beginning of the book provide the color reference for how to properly color. Counting includes recognizing, using, and writing the numbers ‘0’ to ’10’. Number recognition through ’20’ is taught later in the book. Writing includes writing numbers and the child’s name. Drawing includes shapes, designs, missing parts, and simple pictures. Identifying sequence includes repeating patterns of sequence with shapes, designs, and pictures of polar animals. Informal discussion questions and review questions include facts about the habitat of the polar region.
In Just Thinking and Choosing, children exercise thinking and choosing skills with cutting, pasting, coloring, tracing, writing, matching, counting, and drawing. They review the simple five shapes and learn the “oval” shape as well. Children write numbers ‘0’ to ’12’, and they count and identify numbers ‘0’ to ’30’. Ordinal numbers from “first” to “sixth” are introduced as well. Children learn to identify opposites, such as in/out, on/off, large/small, etc. Exercises also include identifying sequence of repeated shapes and pictures, as well as chronological sequencing in story pictures. Other exercises include association of objects, such as group similarities, how objects are used, and analogies. Information about mountain wildlife stir the child’s interest in God’s wonderful creation. Review questions are provided for fun informal discussions as well.
See Going on Eagerly samples below and click the link below for readable actual size samples:
See Just Thinking and Choosing samples below and click the link below for readable actual size samples:
A Handy How-To for LHFHG’s Handwriting Choices
If your child needs to learn to write letters with proper formation, you can choose either A Reason for Handwriting K or Italic A. If your child already properly forms and writes all the letters and is ready to write words and a sentence, you can choose either A Reason for Handwriting A or Italic B. All four of these options are scheduled in your LHFHG guide. All options include easy-to-follow numbered steps and arrows to teach proper formation of letters and writing. Letters are grouped by similar strokes rather than in alphabetical order. This aids in retention of how to use strokes to properly form letters.
The A Reason for Handwriting series is Christian and includes top/middle-dotted/bottom lines to write upon. Each line in the “K” is about 1 and 1/8 inches tall, and each line in the “A” level is about 5/8 inches tall. The “K” level includes a simple black-line picture for each letter for children to color. The “A” level includes tear-out pages in the back for children to write the unit’s Bible verse on. Simple black-line pictures along the edge of the tear-out can be colored, and completed verses may be shared or sent to a family member or friend.
The Italic series is simpler and works equally well for left-handed children. The “A” level includes dotted/bottom lines to write upon, as well as start dots for each letter. The “B” level pages have children write letters at the top of the page, words in the middle, and a sentence at the bottom. Uncluttered pages and spacious writing that repeats and progressively builds upon itself keeps lessons flowing smoothly.
See A Reason for Handwriting K samples below and click the link below for readable actual size samples:
See A Reason for Handwriting A samples below and click the link below for readable actual size samples:
See Italic A samples below and click the link below for readable actual size samples:
See Italic BÂ samples below and click the link below for readable actual size samples:
Fine Motor Skills Box Notes for Days 1, 3, and 5 for the Rod and Staff Workbooks
These workbooks teach so many thinking skills along with teaching excellent fine motor skills! They are short to do, and they are clever! Be sure to read the notes inside the front cover and in the back of each workbook too. The “Instructions for Parents” and “Instructions for Using” in the first two workbooks include teaching aims and page-specific directions. They also include “How to Use a Pencil Correctly” and “How to Color Correctly”. I missed these notes with my first son, and they would have been so helpful!
Most workbook pages include directions at the bottom, though some will refer you to the back of the book. Many two-page spreads have a heavy dotted line along the right edge. The pictures and blocks on this edge strip may be colored before cutting on the solid lines. The cut-outs are usually pasted on the left pages, as writing goes better on the flat, unused pages on the right. This was such a clever way to incorporate coloring/cutting/thinking skills without ruining the other side of the workbook!
These little workbooks include a lot of heart and soul too! Godly character traits and Christian values remind me of Little House on the Prairie books. Little stories teach lessons in a Christian way that is precious.
A Note About Supplies for the Rod and Staff Workbooks
You can experiment with crayons – start with jumbo if that works better and then move to smaller, regular-sized crayons. If your child is left-handed, be sure to get a left-handed scissors. Blunt-tipped “paper-cutting-only” scissors really don’t even cut paper. Frustrating! I’d advise getting child-sized scissors with pointed tips, making sure to oversee the cutting. Children’s hand sizes are different, so having several sizes of scissors may be a good idea. Likewise, glue sticks and liquid glue each work well for different lessons. So, it’s good to have both! I also liked to have a laminated place mat for gluing – kept my table glue-free!
Fine Motor Skills Box Notes for Days 2 and 4 for the A Reason for Handwriting Series
Be sure to read the introductory notes before beginning to teach your child to write! In A Reason for Handwriting K, the “treehouse” notes on pages two and three help children visualize correct placement on the lines. The treehouse appears on many workbook pages, so this is helpful to know! The “Learning to Write” section on page four addresses the correct way to hold a pencil, proper posture, and slanting the paper correctly. The “Dear Parent or Guardian” letter on page five provides good advice and tips. You can reference the “Correct Formation of Letters” section to quickly see how to properly form each letter for the entire alphabet.
In A Reason for Handwriting A, be sure to read “Just for Kids” and “How to Become a Five Star Student” on pages four through six. It is not necessary to purchase the teacher guidebook noted on page 3. Be sure to follow the directions in the LHFHG Fine Motor Skills box. For example, Day 2 of A Reason for Handwriting A says to “Do a few of each letter for practice.” Very important! This is your child’s first impression of this book. No need to overwhelm them at the start!
Pages should be torn out as they are assigned each day. This allows children to write on a flat piece of paper and makes it easier to slant the page properly. Both “K” and “A” provide pages to color, though in “K” they are throughout and in “A” they are in the back tear-outs. Try to encourage children to properly hold crayons when coloring, just as you’d help them properly hold pencils when writing.
Fine Motor Skills Box Notes for Days 2 and 4 for the Italic Series
Be sure to read the introductory notes before beginning to teach your child to write! Both Italic A and Italic B have “Introduction” pages. It is not necessary to purchase the instruction manual noted in the introductions. Be sure to follow the directions in the LHFHG Fine Motor Skills box.
Both Italic A and Italic B have “Handwriting Reminders” pages. These pages address the correct way to hold a pencil, proper posture, slanting the paper correctly, and spacing. The supplementary items listed in the “Materials” section are not necessary to purchase for the homeschool setting. Italic A’s p. v and Italic B‘s page iv both provide a handy reference chart for how to properly form each letter for the entire alphabet.
Both Italic A and Italic B include numbered pages that have students work through one side of the book for the first half and then flip the book over to work through the other side of the book for the second half. This looks a little odd when you first open the workbook. Just follow LHFHG’s schedule each day to move through the workbook pages in the proper order.
Final Helpful Notes
Be encouraging! Set your kids up for success by preparing a good work place. Make sure kiddos sit in a chair that supports good posture and at a table or desk that provides the proper height for little ones writing. Offer multiple pencil choices – the “My First Ticonderoga” pencil was a hit at our house! I wouldn’t recommend using clicky pencils, as little ones press hard, and they break easily. A pencil sharpener and an eraser are also nice to have. Stickers can motivate children! I put monster truck stickers on the tops of completed handwriting papers that were neat and hung them on the fridge in a strong magnetic clip. Another son liked star stickers, and yet another enjoyed positive comment stickers (i.e. Great job! Excellent!). Completed coloring pages can be given or sent to family or friends as well.
Finally, though it’s tempting, do not walk away while your child is writing. You really do need to be there for that 5 to 10 minutes! If they’re holding the pencil wrong, gently put it back in their hand the right way. Reposition the slant of the paper if it gets off. Help them learn to color in one direction or in small circles, looing at the outer black lines as “stop signs” not to color past. Remind them to use proper spacing between words. If kiddos practice holding their pencils wrong or keep forming their letters wrong, it will be hard to correct later! It’s soooo worth your time – believe me! Stick with it – just as weight lifters gradually build strength to be able to lift heavier weights, little ones will gradually build strength to have better fine motor skills!!!
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