The little boys are on a transcription frenzy this week. After several rounds of "how do you ‘pell….." I suggested to Kieran that he might like to take the pink and blue series control cards (the uncut set with the pics and labels) and copy down his favorites. There was dead silence while he worked only broken by his final sigh of satisfaction when he finished all the words he set out to write. It reminded me of Julia Fogassy’s article describing her girls as preschoolers deep in thought while working on different tasks. That "Montessori sigh" is a beautiful thing!

Aidan was similarly inspired though he decided to ‘write some books’. He took his Bob books and began carefully copying the text word for word. This was an all-consuming task as evidenced by the protruding tongue. ; ) Please ignore the syrup spill on his shirt – it was right after breakfast. <g>

   On the Games4Learning yahoo list Heidi shared an idea she heard from a special ed teacher. Save the broken crayons, the tiny ones you would normally throw away, to be used for writing practice. The small size forces the child to use the correct grip (thumb/finger).  They also reminded readers of the various pincer grip activities we have talked about over the yrs like pushpin work, tweezer games, bead sorting. Kristen had a nice idea on her blog.  Her son was busy putting the colored head straight pins into the holes of a sugar shaker lid. All this pre-writing work is so much more fun than teary agonizing over workbooks in the early elementary years.