CAN-DO PRINT: Common Nouns and Uncommon Sketches

Here is a photo of today's page (#32) from Can-Do Print that explored COMMON NOUNS.  The page has three rectangles at the top and it asks the student to draw a person (and suggests maybe a teacher); a place (maybe a beach); and to draw a thing (maybe an easy chair).  I was amused to discover Alisdair had drawn:

1) A Saskatchewan Roughrider football player;
2) Big Ben (he found a photograph on the internet to sketch); and
3) A mug of green tea.

Definitely creative and varied interests!

The bottom half of the page provided practice in changing cursive writing into printing.

Alisdair has completed the initial Printing portion and is moving into the Grammar section. (He is approximately a third of the way through this workbook and then we will begin the Cursive Handwriting workbook.)  The last two sections are Latin & Greek (to build reading and vocabulary skills) and a Writer's Notebook (to teach a variety of writing styles).   Both books are published by "Handwriting Without Tears" (http://www.hwtears.com/) which is a program originally developed by Jan Z. Olsen, an occupational therapist, to help her own son.  For the Can-Do Print workbook, Olsen teamed up with Edith H. Fine (http://www.edithfine.com/) for the grammar portions and Jef Mallett contributed amusing cartoons.  The four cartoon characters are:

1)  'Codago the Magician' who changes the magic letter 'c' into the letters 'a,' 'o,' 'd,' 'g,' and 'q;'
2)  'Racing Robin' - a track star who coaches children on how to keep printing fast and neat;
3)  'Dr. Less' - Maura Less writes spine-tingling mysteries.  She is a stickler for grammar.
4)  'Diver Dave' - He loves the water.  He likes to dive perfectly straight down.  He'll take you deep into the alphabet with the diver letters 'p,' 'r,' 'n,' 'm,' 'h,' and 'b.'

And - as you may be able to see in the top right-hand corner of the photograph, once a page is completed and corrected, Alisdair is able to pick a sticker to affix to it.  Right now he's using Spongebob Squarepants stickers.  An exciting incentive to finish your work!

In the introductory pages, it states that "Can-Do Print is designed for 5th graders or older students who want to improve their printing."  I am very pleased with this workbook.  It is easy to follow, and I am able to see Alisdair's progress as he works through each exercise.  I would highly recommend it to other parents with children who may be struggling with printing legibly.