Our kura (school) is working on ways to utilise technology to enhance student learning in areas such as Structured Literacy (SL). Handwriting and writing will continue to be key focus areas next term for our Year 1 students. We have put quite a bit of groundwork into teaching handwriting with pencil and paper using Casey Caterpillar and simple sentences utilising Colourful Semantics and William Van Cleave's work.
I've started to develop some Keynote resources for my Year 1 team to be used, initially as whole class modelling for handwriting using Apple Pencils and simple sentence writing with a 'who/what' and a 'do.' They can then be utilised for independent ākonga (student) use for a variety of abilities and Stages within SL. We will then meet with a Apple facilitator and modify or change the resources in August to create what works best for out kaiako (teachers) and students.
Below I have attached the cvc word and simple sentence handwriting and writing activities. Please feel free adapt them to suit your year level or needs. We will be using them for SL students ranging from Stage 1 to Stage 7.
Just finishing on a side note, as a SL specialist, the tools available (Apple Pencils) to support these areas with iPad use for writing and handwriting continues to get a 'bad rap' due in the wider teaching community. This may be due to most students in recent years forming their letters incorrectly from the bottom up, like they would swipe on a device. These habits are causing problems for teachers and students to move letter sound knowledge to long term memory and effecting their reading, spelling and writing. What have other Apple educators noticed in this area with their students? How have you addressed this problem through technology use?
Attach up to 5 files which will be available for other members to download.