National Handwriting Day!

Did you know that there is a National Handwriting Day to celebrate John Hancock's birthday?!  Oh yes, it's true and this year it will be on January 23rd!  Kids love to celebrate ALL special days so take this opportunity to encourage good handwriting skills.  Some ideas might include using special paper or  note cards to make a hand written note for a parent, grandparent or teacher.  Write a note to a soldier overseas or to an elderly person in a nursing home.  You can find more ideas and free downloads of paper on the Handwriting Without Tears web page at http://www.hwtears.com/handwritingday2012
and on the Zaner Bloser web page at http://www.zaner-bloser.com/write-newsletter-january-2012-feature-story-happy-national-handwriting-day

Happy Handwriting Day to you!

Jen Dermody, OTR/L

Mmmm...Mmmmmm....The Gingerbread Man

"Run, run, as fast as you can....you can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man!"  Kiddos LOVE that story and they love everything gingerbread at preschool!  The classroom never smelled so yummy as it did during this week's special activity making little gingerbread men on paper.  The children were given a paper with a gingerbread man shape and used a glue stick to fill the shape with glue.  Then it was time to shake, shake, shake some cinnamon on the paper and when they shake off all of the extra cinnamon, they were left with a cute little gingerbread man!  

Note the "visuals" on the red paper that provides my little friend with 3-step picture directions he can follow by himself. The picture posted doesn't provide you with a very clear view of the directions so I'll tell you that the directions are to (1) Write your name; (2) Glue stick; (3) Sprinkle cinnamon.  Everything "written" in pictures and easy to follow.  "Visuals" are an EXCELLENT way for children to learn and follow directions.  They work wonders! 

Mmmm, Mmm....when all of the masterpieces were hung in the hallway, it smelled like a Preschool Bakery!  Super simple and the kiddos loved it.



Another fun gingerbread man activity this week was building a giant "cookie" at the easel.  The giant cookie cutout was hanging on the easel and the children added velcro pieces to complete their designs. 

Mmm...Mmmm GOOD!

Jen Dermody, OTR/L

FREE Handwriting Without Tears Webinar!

Handwriting Without Tears is offering another FREE Webinar!  You can sign up for "Response to Intervention:  The Link to Handwriting Instruction and Intervention" by following the link to the registration page at http://www.hwtears.com/sites/default/lpform/webinarrti2012form.php?pc=emailinvite&utm_source=bronto&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Response+to+Intervention%3A+The+Link+to+Handwriting%C2%A0Instruction+%26+Intervention&utm_content=RtI+Webinar+Invite+Jan+31&utm_campaign=01%2F04%2F2012 .  The webinar will be on January 31, 2012 at 8PM.

                                                   

Objectives for this webinar include the following:

• Identify and help at-risk students early
• Implement strategies to provide differentiated classroom instruction
• Improve performance with a multi-tiered model for handwriting
• Discover tools for screening and tracking both student and class performance, and for providing targeted remediation

I love FREE and I've found the HWT webinars to be helpful....hope you enjoy!

Jen Dermody, OTR/L

50% OFF Zaner-Bloser DEAL!

Who doesn't love a great sale to ring in the New Year?!  You might have read my post about the Zaner-Bloser Handwriting program from December (http://jensotforkids.blogspot.com/2011/12/zaner-bloser-handwriting.html ) where I wrote that I had learned about some helpful additions to their curriculum including music, manipulatives, and online resources.  Well, a very nice representative from Zaner-Bloser happened to see the post and has offered an exclusive sale offer for readers of 'Jen's OT For Kids'!! 

Follow the link to the Zaner-Bloser Handwriting at http://www.zaner-bloser.com/zaner-bloser-handwriting/zaner-bloser-handwriting-overview where you'll see a link about ZB Fonts Online.   This feature allows you to make your own worksheets to be consistent with the Zaner-Bloser books you might be using in the classroom.  There is a free version with limited features or a premium version, ZB Fonts Online Plus, that provides more options and allows you to save and edit worksheets you create. The regular price of the premium version is $30.99/year HOWEVER you can now get ZB Fonts Online Plus for $14.99 if you enter the code ZBFOP.  This offer will be valid through December 31, 2012!
                                                
                                                                
I've found that it's helpful for students to have CONSISTENCY when learning and practicing handwriting.  If you are currently using the ZB curriculum, I do encourage you to take a peek and see if you can find something to enhance your lessons.  If your school does not have a handwriting curriculum, please take some time to look over various books such as ZB and Handwriting Without Tears to see which might be a good fit for your students.  A mere 5 minutes a day of direct instruction DOES make a difference for teaching and reinforcing good writing habits. 

Happy New Year and Happy Writing!

Jen Dermody, OTR/L

Deck The Halls...

Deck the halls with holiday lights....Fa-LaLaLaLa...LaLa-La-La!  Thankfully for you there's no volume button for this post so you'll have to sing it yourself :-)   When I arrived at school today, the halls WERE decked with these festive holiday lights that were adorable and oh so very OT-ish! The students had to CUT out the lights, COLOR the letters, and STRING the lights together by LACING in and out of the holes they made using a HOLE PUNCHER.  Whew!  Those little fingers were workin' for this one and the kiddos were proud of their efforts.  Younger students admired the fun colors and holiday "lights" in the halls.  A whole bunch of them hanging together on the wall simply "lit up" the halls!   Here's a little peek~~

This is a good one to try at home too where you can challenge your little elves to hang LOTS of lights!  For pre-readers, the lights can be cut and laced without letters or you could spell out names of the children.  I've never met a kiddo who doesn't love to decorate for the holidays so take advantage of that enthusiasm!

Jen Dermody, OTR/L



Zaner-Bloser Handwriting

While I'm a self-proclaimed fan of the Handwriting Without Tears program, I was invited to attend a Zaner-Bloser course last week and I took advantage of the offer!  Lots of schools use Zaner-Bloser handwriting books and I was interested to hear more about the curriculum they offer.  I was so happy to hear that Zaner-Bloser is now including music, movement, and a multi-sensory approach as Handwriting Without Tears has always done.  There are also digital resources to use with smart board applications that could be very helpful when teaching!   It was great to hear about the resources offered by ZB, however, it was a surprise to me and to the other OT's I  met at the course.  I'm hoping ZB will be getting the word out more to OT's and teachers/administrators who use the ZB program with their students so they can USE what's out there.  In the mean time, I'll do my part of sharing the link to their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/ZanerBloserHandwriting and to their website at http://www.zaner-bloser.com/ .  If you are currently using the Zaner Bloser handwriting books/curriculum, I encourage you to check out the resources offered and see if you might find something you like  :-)

Jen Dermody, OTR/L