On 7/01/09, MH wrote:
> Actually, young children who have worked with materials to
> strengthen the hand, adjust pincer grasp, and learn the
> formation of the letters through sensorial means actually do
> become developmentally ready for cursive rather than print.
>
> I'm not familiar with "senior kindergarten." For it to work,
> these children would have needed to be in a Montessori
> environment tracing cursive sandpaper letters from age three.
>
> Best options for teaching the letters is to group them by
> beginning stroke and introduce the simplest of the group first,
> only one at a time, adding more as the first is mastered and
> flow seems good. Keep letters isolated until the child has
> quite a few letters under his belt and then begin to show how
> to connect them. Using blank paper allows the child to focus on
> formation rather than fitting the letters between lines as a
> first step.
My students have beautiful cursive handwriting, many before the
kindergarten year. The preparation of the hand is done well
before the actual handwriting,however. The three year old has
many tasks which serve to combine the looseness of the wrist with
the pincer grip. The progression is natural, but it is a
progression.

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