What is the Best Handwriting Curriculum?
Many teachers, parents, and school leaders ask me the same important question: “What is the best handwriting curriculum for young children?” As a handwriting instruction specialist, former classroom teacher, curriculum director, kindergarten coach, and creator of Squiggle Squad Handwriting, I’ve spent more than a decade supporting early writers in both public and private schools. And […]
Swimming in Language
I grew up on the coast in San Diego. I knew the ocean. I knew the beach. I swam in the waters, body surfed, and boogie boarded. I caught crabs on the shore and dragged kelp to my sandcastles. I tasted salt water on my lips, felt the stickiness on my skin, and experienced days […]
Coloring Pictures Aids Handwriting Skill
When I was a young mom in the 90s, there was a cultural discussion around the topic of coloring “in the lines.” People were arguing whether children should be taught to color inside the lines of a picture in a coloring book or whether the child should be encouraged to simply “freestyle” to their heart’s […]
Wisdom-Bound Series: A Peek into Script & Scribble by Kitty Burns Florey
By Holly Britton HOH Rating: 5/5 I first “met” Kitty Burns Florey when I discovered her book, Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences. I was drawn immediately to her wit and charm and fascinated by the way she presented this much-forgotten skill. Script and Scribble: The Rise and […]
Wisdom-Bound: A New Book Review Series for Educators
Wisdom-Bound! On this National Day of Handwriting, I’m thrilled to announce a new book review series I am calling Wisdom-Bound. I want to share the wisdom bound between the covers of books I am reading with other teachers, parents, brain researchers, and education professionals, each of us on our own life-long journey bound for wisdom. […]
Six Critical Ways Handwriting Improves Language Literacy
By: Holly Britton When I began learning the cello as an adult, I started with variations of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. The cello instructor wisely pointed out, “You are not learning Twinkle, Twinkle; you are learning how to play the cello.” His point was that at this early stage in learning to play an instrument, […]
Happy National Handwriting Day 2023
By: Holly Britton National Handwriting Day is celebrated January 23rd in honor of John Hancock, whose large, elaborate signature at the bottom center of the U.S. Constitution testifies to the importance placed on penmanship many years ago. The beautiful swooping letters presented a perfect finish to the world-changing document. His birthday, then, seems an appropriate […]
Handwriting: Back to the Future
By: Holly Britton Over the last two decades – affecting at least two generations of school kids – explicit instruction of handwriting (both cursive and manuscript) has been pushed aside in the name of progress. Technologies like the personal laptops and cell phones replaced the typewriter and, well, everything smartphones replace. In 2010, as this seismic […]
Writing By Hand is Like Music to the Ears
By: Holly Britton When I started educating my kids, I wanted very much for them to have an opportunity to make music. I didn’t have grandiose aspirations of them going to some famous conservatory, but I did want to give them a solid foundation in case they wanted to. I noticed that the kids I […]
Failure to Teach Handwriting Fails our Kids
By: Holly Britton In a casual conversation with someone who happened to be an occupational therapist, I described my reasoning for designing the Squiggle Squad resources for handwriting instruction. She looked at me wide-eyed and said, “You know, so many of the kids that teachers send to me for remedial intervention, are not developmentally incompetent; […]