I lovingly (and jokingly) will ask my husband when paperwork needs to be filled out if he’d like me to fill it out for him. It’s not that his handwriting is bad, it’s just different than my handwriting and the detail that I put into making sure what I’m writing is legible, especially when it comes to important documents.
My oldest is still working on his penmanship, and I know that he’s probably slightly behind his peers on his handwriting skills, mainly because of his vision impairment during his Preschool years. Some things simply got left out of our day to day routine, as we spent more time focusing on distracting him to keep his patch over his good eye to build up his weaker eye. My daughter loves to write, draw, doodle, color…you name it and she’s doing it! I know that I’ve mentioned before Theo’s hesitation in writing, and I’m so please with how he’s been doing lately! Thank you, Mother Goose Time!
It’s been so easy to see the progress that my younger two have made in just a few short weeks by naturally observing their skills when working on our lessons together, and also through a casual observation when they’re playing together or independently. It’s called Authentic Assessment for a reason, and I’ve taken some steps back this week in observing their lessons, focusing primarily on Theo’s recognition of the letters in his name and his first name, and in how Charlotte chooses to use her writing materials, especially when printing her name.
I grabbed these wipe-clean pocket folders from Target in the Dollar Spot mid-summer. They’ve come in so handy! This month I slipped their writing plate that corresponds with this month’s theme. For Theo, I drew on two of the name plates: once using all capital letters, and the second time using the right way to print his name with both upper and lower case letters.
Cross-referencing the Developmental Continuum, I’m able to keep track of this Authentic Assessment to add to Theo’s portfolio.
Charlie’s working hard on remembering to hold her writing tool the correct way each time!
We did some traveling this week too to Atlanta for a wedding. I love these Wipe-Clean cards from Usborne Books & More to engage the kids and entertain them while I can quietly sip coffee in restaurants.
Authentic Assessment in action! Observing how my children handle their materials when drawing, doodling, and drawing. It’s great to see their creativity at work!
What did you observe this week? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
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Beth
As a Mother Goose Time Blog Ambassador, I receive Mother Goose Time curriculum in exchange for my honest and authentic stories resulting from personal experiences in implementing this curriculum with my children. All opinions and thoughts are my own and are in no way influenced by others.
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