26 Letters Means 26 Days

I think I missed last Thursday’s post about good ‘ol Mr. CC. And maybe the Thursday before that…can you tell I have no idea what day of the week it is at any given time or day in the summer? Well what else are summers for right?

 My summer has been going so quickly, and I TRY not to think about school, my classroom, Mr. CC, losing my summer (and tan), and my baby leaving, but it just isn’t working, as hard as I tryL.

So today good ‘ol Mr. CC popped into my head while I was working out doing sit ups sitting on the couch watching The Chew (LOVE that show).

I remembered something the lady at the workshop I went to in May said about Kindergarten teachers and how they teach. She told them gone are the days of teaching a letter a week (there air literally swooshed out of the room from the collective breath from the first grade teachers). She related that the letters should be reviewed ONLY the first 26 days and that’s it. They should then move them into reading and more sight word activities.  

Not only was I excited about this bit of news. It started me thinking about the amount of time I probably waste in first grade. It seems to take FOR_EVER to teach handwriting. It is agonizing for kids and teacher alike. 

This year I have decided we will spend the first few days on pencil grip, and paper slant, and then it’s going to be 26 days and DONE! I am going to do a letter a day, send home a practice sheet, and then that is it. Of course we will write every day, but time spent on mechanics is going to be drastically minimized.

I've got so much many more important things to teach those little kiddos!

Do you have anything you’re cutting back on this year?

I’d love to know!