Letter Leaders is an evidence-based, learn-to-handwrite program designed to teach children, as early as preschool age, the proper way to form letters. The program begins by teaching children foundational prewriting skills that many of us take for granted. Once prewriting skills are in place, the program progresses to teaching proper capital letter formation. Finally, students learn lowercase letter formation and beginning handwriting skills.
The Letter Leaders program provides parents and educators with the tools and knowledge they need to teach children how to properly form letters in an easy, fun, and engaging way. Letter Leaders is a sixteen-week program. Students should work on the Letter Leaders content five to fifteen minutes per day, three to five days per week.
Note: This is the average amount of time it takes to implement the full Letter Leaders curriculum in a kindergarten classroom. The Letter Leaders program can be adjusted at any point to be faster or slower based on the pace and needs of the students.
Essential elements of Letter Leaders include:
- Easy to follow step-by-step instructions provided throughout the program
- A multisensory approach that accommodates all types of learners
- Full-color pages that are engaging, motivating, and promote success
- Consistent use of terminology and structure throughout the program that are appropriate for young learners and elementary-aged children
- A unique format appropriate for one-on-one, small group, or whole-classroom instruction
Most early-learning classrooms already have a preliteracy or literacy curriculum in place. The primary focus of these programs is letter identification, letter sounds, and using letters to make words. Few spend time teaching letter formation. Many of these programs provide opportunities for students to trace or copy letters and words. But tracing and copying does not adequately prepare students for proper, automatic letter formation. Incorporating Letter Leaders into the classroom’s language arts curriculum ensures that students learn all four preliteracy skills: letter identification, letter sounds, using letters to build words, and letter formation. Since the focus of the Letter Leaders program is letter formation, it will not conflict with literacy programs currently in place. And making sure students learn the right way to form letters right from the start will positively affect their reading, writing, and overall school performance.
The Right Time to Start Using Letter Leaders
Before using Letter Leaders in your classroom, decide the right time to start the program. Since the regular school year is about forty weeks long and the Letter Leaders program from start to finish is only sixteen weeks, there is plenty of time to implement the program in a way that makes sense for your classroom. This also means there is plenty of time to readdress letters or whole sections of the program that are difficult for individual students or the class as a whole.
Allowing students a few weeks to adjust to their new environment and peers before starting Letter Leaders is recommended. Some teachers start using Letter Leaders a month into the school year. Others wait until the second half of the school year. Either way, there is plenty of time in the school year to start using Letter Leaders in your classroom when it makes the most sense to you.
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