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Ms. Daponte's Classroom Edit display name

  • PS 307 Daniel Hale Williams
  • Brooklyn, NY
  • More than three‑quarters of students from low‑income households Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more

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Handwriting is a foundational skill that impacts reading, writing, language use, and critical thinking. The first step in handwriting are pre-writing and foundational skills such as holding a writing utensil, drawing shapes and letter formation. Students need to be able to draw horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines as the basis for drawing pictures and letter formation. I am an occupational therapist and I use a developmental and multi-sensory approach to building foundational skills for handwriting success. We meet students where they are developmentally and work on strategies to help build fine motor strength to hold a pencil or crayon, form shapes and then form letters. We use small pencils to help with pencil grip. We use small pieces of chalk and work on chalkboards to help students with finding the right pressure to form shapes and letters. We use Play-Doh as part of our multisensory approach to build fine motor skills. Students can increase hand strength by squeezing, pulling, and rolling Play-Doh into shapes and letters. As part of our developmental approach we also use Learning Without Tears program which includes digital, print, and other tools to reinforce learning. Research tells us that handwriting practice will lead to handwriting mastery and writing fluency and a structured and consistent handwriting program benefits students at every grade level from 3K to fifth grade. Additionally, learning how to write by hand is a necessary early motor exercise for other cognitive and physical skills.

About my class

Handwriting is a foundational skill that impacts reading, writing, language use, and critical thinking. The first step in handwriting are pre-writing and foundational skills such as holding a writing utensil, drawing shapes and letter formation. Students need to be able to draw horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines as the basis for drawing pictures and letter formation. I am an occupational therapist and I use a developmental and multi-sensory approach to building foundational skills for handwriting success. We meet students where they are developmentally and work on strategies to help build fine motor strength to hold a pencil or crayon, form shapes and then form letters. We use small pencils to help with pencil grip. We use small pieces of chalk and work on chalkboards to help students with finding the right pressure to form shapes and letters. We use Play-Doh as part of our multisensory approach to build fine motor skills. Students can increase hand strength by squeezing, pulling, and rolling Play-Doh into shapes and letters. As part of our developmental approach we also use Learning Without Tears program which includes digital, print, and other tools to reinforce learning. Research tells us that handwriting practice will lead to handwriting mastery and writing fluency and a structured and consistent handwriting program benefits students at every grade level from 3K to fifth grade. Additionally, learning how to write by hand is a necessary early motor exercise for other cognitive and physical skills.

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About my class

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