Little Stars  Preschool to entering Kindergarten 

This program  focuses on development of fine motor skills and school prewriting readiness by singing, playing, drawing and building.  Games are used to encourage both hand use, grasp development, crossing midline and visual perceptual skills.   Children develop letter and number identification and correct  formation while enjoying fine motor play and multi-sensory activities.  Students use multi-sensory play to develop a solid foundation for basic printing skills.

Print Stars 1 Kindergarten and Beginning Printers

Using multi-sensory media  children  learn to form letters and numbers  correctly and  how to place them on the writing line.  Different letter groups are  taught in developmental sequence and  reinforced first through large motor then through fine motor activities. Grasp development, correct letter formation and positioning are encouraged.  Students develop good letter formation by first tracing, imitating, then copying, then independently writing.

Print Stars 2  1st and 2nd grade level printers 

Consistent automatic letter formation, Improved writing speed  and neatness are emphasized.  Students are transitioned. to smaller size printing.   Strategies for spatial organization while copying or composing sentences and paragraphs are provided.  Problems such as reversals, sizing, and spacing are addressed using fun activities. 

Cursive Stars 1/ Print Stars 3 3rd grade and beginning cursive

Emphasis is on learning cursive letter forms, fluid letter connections and placement on the line.  Age appropriate multi-sensory media  are used to make cursive fun.  Functional writing tasks such as thank you notes and shopping lists are encouraged.   Fun age appropriate materials are also used to solidiy functional manuscript written expression. 

Cursive Stars 2 / Print Stars 4 4th grade and above

 Automaticity is developed with a personal  fast fluid, legible cursive or manuscript style.  Functional writing/typing tasks are used to solidify skills into daily life contexts such as homework assignments, or agendas .   Organizational skills with written expression are encouraged. 

Keyboarding Stars   

At each grade level keyboarding skills and use of written expression technology  are encouraged in conjunction with handwriting as appropriate for the individual student.  Keyboarding  is taught  through direct instruction,  multi-sensory media and developmentally based software such as "Keyboarding Without Tears".

 Contact  handwritingstars@hotmail.com