Writing in Preschool

Both of the previous posters are correct. Another factor has to do with motor development. Many of the lowercase letters look and "feel" the same when you are writing them. When little ones are developing their hand-eye coordination you teach them to differentiate by pointing out "what's different" about two letters rather than teaching two things that look and feel the same.

a,b,c,d,e,g... to a little hand with limited fine motor capacity... these feel the same!

The post below seems very knowledgeable, but as a kinder teacher I would rather see them not get in the habit of writing in all caps. I also think preschool is a great time to build letter knowledge, but that some kids may not be ready for proper printing until K and that's okay. In preschool they could be working on fine motor skills in other ways while also building reading and writing skills. But, it does sound like at least they've thought this through. I'm sure it's fine.

Developmentally it is easier to learn Capital letters first and then teach Lower case.

Developmental teaching order is planned to help children learn handwriting skills in the easiest, most efficient way. As a result, children can transition quickly from learning the mechanics of handwriting to focusing on content and meaning—in all subjects. We teach printing first. After printing is mastered, we add the cursive connections.

Capitals to Lowercase

Developmentally, capitals are easier so we teach them first. The capital teaching order helps teach correct formation and orientation while eliminating reversals.

Learning capitals first makes learning lowercase letters easy. We teach lowercase c o s v w first because they are exactly the same as their capital partners, only smaller. By teaching capitals first, we have prepared children for nearly half of the lowercase letters that are similar in formation.

As a Certified Handwriting development specialist This is what I practice.

Hope this explanation helps.

S. P.

Certified Handwriting development specialist
www.writetoshine.com

I agree with KW. In preschool, they cannot possible teach everything and as long as they are working on the formation of letters, one way or another, they are learning. They will likely continue to work on it well into kindergarten.

My daughter is in private K. I believe everyone in her class went to preschool. For her birthday everyone made her a birthday card and they were all sent home. I was interested to see where she stood with the others with her handwriting and drawing. Everyone's work looked pretty similar with the exception of one little girl who made a near perfect drawing.

For the subjects my daughter struggles in, she makes up for in other areas. We continue to work on her weak areas at home.

Support their curriculum and she will be fine.

My daughter is in her second year of preschool. First year was a program for 3 year olds, this year is the 4 year olds program. She learned all capitals the first year and this year she has learned to write her name using a caoital for the first letter and lower case for the rest of it. She had no problems transitioning. Now her teacher has been sending home "homework" for the kids where they have to write simple words using both styles. I love the program, I just hope she isn't bored when she gets to kindergarten

My son is in HeadStart Pre-K and they are learning both capitals and lowercase letter. They work on one letter a week & send home homework for them to complete. I also try to back it up with other stuff if homework doesn't come home.

Not sure why they are only teaching capitals... might want to ask why they changed.

My daughter learned uppercase in preschool and both in kindergarten. It was presented to the children as letter of the week - "Bb" and then they had activities and worksheets that focused on writing and using both upper and lowercase versions of that letter.

Most children can write uppercase better at this age as it's what the more easily identify with. I'd ask your child's teacher when lowercase will be taught (kindergarten or 1st grade) and maybe you could work at home with your daughter if you feel they are not teaching what will be expected by the time she's ready for kindergarten.

Good luck!

My daughter, now in kindergarten also learned all capitals first and now is using both caps and lower case correctly... I don't feel it has had any determental impact on her writing skills, and actually I think it made it easier for her because the lower case is confusing with the upper case initally because so many letters look quite different in the different cases, while others are quite similar.