presents casey the caterpillar handwriting · 2018-02-15 · casey the caterpillar – handwriting...

©Barbara Brann

PRESENTS

Casey the CaterpillarHandwritingA process to develop correct letter formation.

Casey the Caterpillar – Handwriting | www.literacyadventure.com.au 2

About Casey the Caterpillar Handwriting ProcessMore than 35 years ago, Barbara Brann was looking for a way to assist the young students in her class who were struggling to learn handwriting. She began to teach handwriting through a process of simple shapes – but she knew it needed to be more connected for the children to more easily access the content. “We were investigating caterpillars at the time and I brought in a handful of caterpillars I harvested from my fence in Alice Springs,” said Barbara.

“There was such wonderful engagement and I began to realise that perhaps the children’s understanding of the Caterpillar’s story might just be the ideal setting from which a character – ‘Casey’ could discover shapes in the story environment that would be instantly recognisable to children and would be easily transferrable to a knowledge of letter formation.” Barbara’s understanding of how children learn was spot on! Casey the Caterpillar was born and ‘Casey the

Caterpillar Handwriting Process’ took flight!


The Magic Caterpillar Handwriting

Process is used in schools all over

the world in countries as diverse as

Thailand and Singapore in Asia;

Qatar and UAE in the Middle East;

Switzerland, Sweden, UK, South Africa,

Brazil, USA and of course

New Zealand.

In Australia it is being used in

every state despite there being

different scripts recommended

for each of these regions.

Who is using ‘Casey the Caterpillar Handwriting Process’?

Casey the Caterpillar has travelled to all these places...

N

S

EW

Qatar & UAE

SouthAfrica

Brazil

USA

UK

Sweden

Switzerland

Thailand

Singapore

Australia

New Zealand


Is this another handwriting programme?No, and this is the fundamental difference! It is not a programme – it is a ‘process’ that outlines the steps to teach the component shapes that form letters. The process contextualizes the shapes in a delightful story that enables teachers and children to quickly acquire a shared language for talking about the basic shapes that constitute handwriting.

Children develop a familiarity with the story of ‘Casey the Caterpillar’ and are able to recognize and recall the names of shapes that are presented in a meaningful way throughout the text. The story provides children with a logical reason for the formation of shapes in a specific way, thus embedding from the outset, the knowledge of the correct formation of letters.

The approach provides significant scaffolding to children so that they can master the correct reproduction of the component shapes before joining them to form letters and before refining those letters to conform to the script being taught in their region.

When should children begin handwriting?Children actually begin “writing” from an early age (around 2 years) with vertical strokes, followed by horizontal strokes and then circles. Children under five years of age have difficulty in perceiving slope in a two–dimensional shape so the ability to draw shapes that require slope will not develop completely until around the age of six years.

Any approach to teach handwriting should not teach unnatural hand movements to form letters that children may or may not align with those they encounter in print. Rather, an approach to teach handwriting should follow the natural progress and movements that young children instinctively develop and link these to written formations.

What are some of the causes of handwriting difficulties?The research is clear that handwriting is a complex task that requires the coordination of visual and motor skills with higher order cognitive thinking.

Research also indicates clearly that handwriting problems arise when students have poor visual–motor coordination and are unable to visually match what they see in print with what they are taught to write. The closer handwriting script is to the print seen in early reading texts, the easier it is for children to make the connection. Some research suggests that when handwriting scripts are very different from scripts found in early readers, it can hinder progress in both areas of learning.


Should ‘Casey the Caterpillar Handwriting Process’ be taught as a handwriting subject?.

Handwriting should never be

taught as an isolated “subject”.

It must be integrated into all areas of

literacy right from the start.

Today’s Schedule8:30 - 9:00 circle time9:00 - 10:00 handwriting10:00 morning tea10:30 - 11:00 maths11: 00 - 12:00 artLunch


ConceptualiseChildren need to understand what written language is; what a letter represents and how letters are used before being taught to write specific letters.

ConnectChildren need to understand that just as authors use handwriting to write the letters in the words we read; so too, we USE handwriting . It is not something we DO in our handwriting books!

What is the rationale behind the development of ‘Casey the Caterpillar Handwriting Process’?


ContextualiseLetters need to be contextualised – they belong in words, in writing and in the written material we read.

They should not be taught as individual entities learned one at a time as part of handwriting or as part of a phonics programme.

ChallengeStudents should be able to name and recognise letters from their component shapes within the context of printed material, even before they can write them.

They need to be challenged to do this as quickly as possible.


What are the components of handwriting that have been identified by researchers?

Ability To Write Within Boundaries directionality and orientation, sensory awareness

of the fingers and sustained attention

Bilateral Integration crossing the midline

Visual–Motor Integration ability to coordinate the eye and the hand

Visual Memory to recall the shapes and order of production

Fine Motor Control adequate pencil grasp, hand and finger

manipulation

Motor Planning a higher level cognitive task

Visual Closure the ability to see what is missing or incorrect,

and to see the sameness in letters even though they are written differently

Proprioception the ability to discriminate position of body parts

as well as force and direction of their movements without visual or auditory cues


How does ‘Casey the Caterpillar Handwriting Process’ address the handwriting components that have been identified by researchers?

The Magic Caterpillar Handwriting Process uses the beautifully illustrated story of Casey the Caterpillar as the basis for the visual recognition, discrimination and naming of the shapes that form letters irrespective of how they appear, either in handwriting or in printed texts and other information which may be mandated in the classroom.

Children are taught to draw the shapes on small chalkboards using a large arm movement so that they establish visual-motor co-ordination for letter shapes before they are asked to use fine motor movements within specific boundaries.

Fine Motor Control Visual Discrimination


Finger and Hand Strength, Agility and Adequate Pencil Grasp

While children are practising this through other activities that involve cutting, threading, drawing and colouring – children are also developing this skill further when using the small chalk to produce ‘Casey shapes’ in the initial stages of the ‘Casey the Caterpillar Handwriting Process’.

Bi–lateral integration, Crossing the Midline and Motor Planning

These are taught in other areas of the curriculum such as PE and music. Working with shapes and the ability to recognise slope, direction, size and orientation is also taught in mathematics, but is taught specifically when related to the shapes in handwriting.


Visual Closure

This is a crucial aspect of the handwriting process and is taught when children are combining shapes to form letters and to discriminate letters in print.

Memory and Language The language used in this process is related to the pictures in the story and it is familiar and meaningful to the children.

It lessens the amount of information that needs to be held in memory and reduces letter formations to a maximum of three elements.

Research indicates that the average memory space of a five year old is around three. This means that all instructions need to be kept with this limit so that children can recall what is required.


Simply having the story of ‘Casey the

Caterpillar’ or a copy of the letter

shapes is insufficient and will not give

you everything you need to know. It

is important to attend Professional

Development and to read the manual

to learn how to use the process

correctly. If attending Professional

Development is not possible, watching

the training DVD is recommended.

There are a number of steps in the

process to develop correct letter

formation using ‘Casey the Caterpillar

Handwriting Process’.

How do you teach handwriting using the ‘Casey the Caterpillar Handwriting Process?


Oral Story

A story is told orally while pictures are drawn on a board. The story builds as the children watch and listen. Several key aspects are established: left to right progression across the line, down to the next line and back to the starting point and the specific direction of an open mouth shape which cannot be drawn to face in the opposite direction.

Labelling the Shapes

The story of Casey the Caterpillar is read and the children are taught the names of the shapes.

Children need to be able to recognise and label the shapes without having to think about them. In other words, the skills are brought to automaticity.

1

2


Drawing the ShapesThe children are taught to draw a ‘tree trunk, branch and an egg” and then taught to draw the shapes from the story in relation to the branch and other shapes. It is more important at this stage for children to develop correct letter formation, direction and consistency of the size of letters. The focus is not on how it will look when it becomes a letter.

Patterns of shapes are taught that will later be joined to form letters. These are called ‘open patterns’. They are not letters, but rather patterns that will later be joined to form letters.

3 4

Pre–school

3 weeks at school

5 weeks at school

Identifying Shapes in Print

The children are taught to recognise the shapes in their own names and in words in print.

5


Joining Shapes and Naming Letters

6

Forming Letters by Joining Shapes

The students are now taught to combine the letter shapes to form letters. The students name the letter and link it to sounds. IT IS AT THIS POINT THAT THE SPECIFIC LETTER SCRIPT IS INTRODUCED.

However, the language remains the same.

All of the following examples are from students who had been in school for less the 6 months.

Students learn to connect the shapes (closed shapes) as patterns initially and to draw the shape–patterns automatically as directed. At this point in the process, children are drawing patterns, not letters.

However, they are recognising the completed pattern as a particular letter, naming it and finding it in words written by the teacher and also in printed material.

7 8


Writing Names and High Frequency WordsStudents learn to write their names with perfect formation. They practise writing commonly used words and move into short sentences while still using the chalkboards.

Moving to PaperWhen children can write every letter automatically and with perfect formation, they transition to pencil and paper. It is at this point that the mandated handwriting books can be introduced and handwriting can be practised according to the curriculum.

However, IT IS IMPORTANT – THAT THE LANGUAGE USED REMAINS THE SAME for all handwriting instruction. First attempt on paper 6 months

at school

2 months at school

5 weeks in school

6 months in school

3 months in school

9


Let the children write …

6 months at school (Prep)

7 months at school (Prep) 1 year at school

18 months at school

2 years at school


Feder, Kayla M., Majnemer, Annette. Handwriting Development, Competency and Intervention in Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology 2007, 49: 312-217

“NO other school task requires so much synchronisation as handwriting. It is clear writing difficulties can overshadow a child’s capabilities in other areas, making success at school less easily attainable… The development of handwriting begins with scribbling which becomes more intentional with time… A child begins to print letters first by imitating geometrical shapes beginning with vertical strokes (age 2) followed by horizontal strokes (age 2 years 6 months) and circles, (age 3). Imitation and then copying a square occurs at 5 and a triangle at 5 years, 6 months. The ability to copy geometrical forms, particularly the oblique cross is seen as an indication of writing readiness in young children as it requires crossing the midline and has been implicated as the root of many reversal problems.

The two most important elements in handwriting performance are legibility and speed. Difficulties with letter formation, spacing, size, slant and/or alignment may affect handwriting legibility. “

Mei Hiu Tseng and Chow Susanna M.K. Perceptual Motor Function of School Age Children with Slow Handwriting Speed in The American Journal of Occupational Therapy January/February 2000 Volume 54 No 1

“Handwriting requires finely graded manipulation of pencils to produce letter forms in a fluent, holistic manner, with a specific orientation and size, in a specific order and in specific positions on a writing surface… fluent writing is produced by an integrated pattern of coordinated movement subject to visual monitoring and sensory motor feedback..

Visual-motor feedback was found to be the best predictor of legibility… visual perception skills including spatial perception, visual size discrimination, visual retrieval and left-right orientation enable children to distinguish visually among orthographic forms and to judge their correctness. Fine motor skills are essential because accurately formed letters can only be produced by proper timing and force control of co-ordinated arm, hand and finger movements. “

Volman, M JM., van Schendel, Brecht M., Jongmans, Marian. Handwriting Difficulties in Primary School Children in The American Journal of Occupational Therapy – July August 2006 Vol 60 No 4

“Proficient handwriting is one of the scholastic skills that children need to acquire to meet the common demands in classroom work at primary school… 30% to 60% of the child’s time is spent in fine motor activities with writing as the predominant task. Proficient handwriting has also been considered a pre-requisite for later academic achievement.

Handwriting is a complex activity in which lower-level perceptual motor processes and higher level cognitive processes continuously interact… Perceptual Motor processes in handwriting consist of perception of.. visual information, fine motor co-ordination and visual motor integration (eg. Eye-hand co-ordination). Cognitive processes involved in handwriting can be divided in more generic processes such as cognitive planning or working memory processes and more specific processes such as phonological and orthographic coding…. Empirical evidence exists that problems with handwriting relate to a deficit in perceptual-motor function… and fine motor control.”

What do some of the researchers say about handwriting?

presents casey the caterpillar handwriting · 2018-02-15 · casey the caterpillar – handwriting...

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