Handwriting Without Tears®
ST L OV
Blackboard with Double Lines Activities
MO
ED
In addition to doing the Wet-Dry-Try activity with a single lower case letter, you can help A
CT Y
children with bumping the lines, word placement, cursive connections, and more. IVIT
Below are some easy, fun exercises to get started.
Don’t stop there. If you think of more exercises, feel free to try them and share them.
Bump the Lines
Help children to bump the lines with this simple dot and line exercise.
1. Use a piece of chalk to draw 4-5 dots across the board.
2. Do the activity just like you would do Wet-Dry-Try with a letter.
3. Children trace over the lines.
4. Be sure to say “bump” when you hit the bottom line.
Try diagonal lines and magic Cs too.
Names
There are two ways to teach names:
Demonstrate/Imitate: Capital (One Board)
1. Take a piece of white paper and tape it between the
double lines.
2. Draw a smiley face in the top and bottom space.
3. The top space is where you demonstrate the child’s
name, letter-by-letter.
4. The bottom space is where the child can imitate your model.
When you are done preparing the model, you repeat the
demonstrate/imitate activity using Wet-Dry-Try.
Demonstrate/Imitate: Title Case (Two Boards)
1. Prepare both boards with the child’s name.
2. Demonstrate on one board, while the child
imitates on the other.
This activity also helps children learn to write their names
on lines before transitioning to paper and pencil.
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Handwriting Without Tears®
Word Skills
You can help children learn word spacing (keeping their letters together)
and letter placement.
1. Point children to the top, middle, and bottom spaces on the board.
2. You can help with word placement by preparing the board
with words specific to each space. For example, the word
“cows” helps children learn the middle space. The word “tall”
helps children learn the top space. The word “jog” helps
children learn the bottom space.
3. You can challenge your students by thinking of words with letters
that are in all three spaces. The word “dog” is an example.
Note: The board works best with words of no more than five letters.
Cursive
All activities you can think of for print also apply to cursive. In addition,
Wet-Dry-Try using the Blackboard with Double Lines is a great way to
introduce the pre-cursive exercise and the c to c connection.
Board Care Recommendations
To make your board last longer and ensure you get the most benefit out of it,
we recommend the following:
• Use soft white chalk (avoid colored chalk).
• Wipe the board with a soft tissue (paper towels may be too abrasive).
• Don’t use cleaners other than clear water.
• Make sure the board is completely dry before beginning a new exercise.
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