I always seem to forget about handwriting practice and how to squueze it into our day. I barely remembered it this year but did it at least (probably badly). As I look ahead to next year I'm trying to think of things they could write about or copy down for practice. We don't really begin cursive until winter break, so we practice manuscript until that time. I have them write their spelling words for practice, and vocab., but does anyone have anything "cute" they do for other days? Copy a poem maybe, or a famous quote, a poster on the wall, etc.... What do you do to have them practice writing yet also have it be meaningful? I like Evan-Moor's cursive practice book, but their other handwriting books seem a little young for 3rd. Thanks for any help as always.

[lis3569]

I integrated handwriting with science and language arts and have had my students copy a weather poem. They loved it! They didnt realize that were doing three things at once! ! We also do what we call "Thoughtful Thursday" where they draw names each Thursday morning and then write a short note in cursive to that person. This is all done independently and takes very little thought on my part! The supplies are out on a shelf and every Thursday they just do it without any reminders from me. Their notes go in a large box. I peek at them to check them out and to check the handwriting and then the star student of the week passes them out during snack time.

[SueHue]

In our district, we use Open Court for lang. arts, so we have "workshop" for about 20-30 minutes a day. My resident teacher always has one handwriting activity as part of her workshop time. Students love it!