This book is 70 pages and for ages 7 and up. It is designed for second grade, when you begin to teach cursive, and retails for $8.99.
This book is similar to any classic handwriting book, but different in that it is designed by occupational therapists and educators with the idea of developing motor skills in a very intentional way.
The first few pages are introductory information, followed by some pre-writing exercises. Starting on the 7th page, it begins going through the lowercase alphabet, in order of difficulty (easy to hard), one page for each letter. It begins by having the child write the letter by tracing, and then writing it on their own, followed by simple cursive word using that letter.
Each page has a phrase at the top verbally describing how to write the letter. For example, on the letter "i" it says: "Zoom up. Zoom down. Swing out. Dot the top." Also on each page is a "Did you know" little bit of trivia, somewhat related to the letter. For instance, with the letter "m" it says: "Did you know? A moth has feathery or thick antennae."
The lowercase section finishes out around page 33, where it reviews letters with "swoops." Page 34 is an introduction to uppercase, and it goes through each uppercase letter (again, in order of easy letters to hard) through page 61. The next three pages have the student writing the names of the days of the week, the months of the year, and the names of the planets. As a side note: I love that they included "Dwarf Planet" Pluto on the list. ;) The following three pages include writing prompts, and the last two pages are just lined for extra practice.
How we used it:
Mayda used this daily with her other school work. She was apprehensive at first about writing cursive, but the movement exercises at the beginning of the book helped her build confidence. She really enjoyed the pages, and would do one a day, easily. The lines were just the right size for her to have room to learn, but not too large either. As she worked through the book her cursive handwriting improved quite a bit. We found the little cartoon illustrations to be entertaining and the writing prompts to be just enough. At age 7, I didn't think it was too hard for her to start cursive, and she picked up the motions very quickly.
Mayda's thoughts on Fundanoodle, I Can Write Cursive! : "My favorite part is that the pictures go well with the letter that I'm learning. It's really cool. It has fun facts."
Bottom Line:
I have purchased other handwriting books for similar prices, but none were as colorful and delightful as this. Mayda loved the book, and was happy to use it daily. We really liked the spiral binding at the top and the perforated pages if we wanted to tear them out. At $8.99, I found this to be a decent value and a good supplemental handwriting book for second grade.
Be sure to read all the other Fundanoodle reviews (several of each product) by clicking the banner below:
- Orange (Age 3+/Preschool): I Can Pound Activity Block
- Orange (Age 3+/Preschool): I Can Bead, Lace, Rip and Trace
- Orange (Age 3+/Preschool): I Can Doodle, AND I Can Do Fun Activities (Floor Pads),
- Orange (Age 3+/Preschool): I Can Cut, AND I Can Do Math Level 1AND Max & Alphie's Adventure Level 1
- Blue (Pre K to K): I Can Build Uppercase Letter Kit
- Blue (Pre K to K): Muscle Movers: Uppercase Gross Motor Cards
- Blue (Pre K to K): I Can Write Uppercase Letters AND Magnetic Dry Erase Lettering Practice Board
- Blue (Pre K to K):I Can Do Math Level 2, AND Max & Alphie's Adventures Level 2
- Green (K to 1st): I Can Build Lowercase Letters
- Green (K to 1st):Muscle Movers: Lowercase Motor Cards
- Green (K to 1st):I Can Write Lowercase Letters, AND I Can Write My Own Stories
- Green (K to 1st):I Can Do Math Level 3, AND Max & Alphie's Adventures Level 3
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*Prices and links are accurate at the time this is published, and are subject to change
Thank you for this wonderful review! We're so glad Mayda loved practicing every day with Fundanoodle and that you loved our workbooks as well. Thank you for sharing our products with your readers!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the wonderful workbook! And for coming by and reading!
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