TV Teacher Alphabeats Handwriting DVDs

[Kerileanne99]

Has anyone tried the TV Teacher Alpha Beats handwriting DVDs from Rainbow Resources?

http://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?id=045295

Now that Alex turned three last month, one of our major focal points this year will be to improve her penmanship! She gets SO incredibly frustrated because she cannot write quickly and cannot form all of her letters
She loves the IPad, and can write on it well (with her finger ), then has no idea why she cannot get it to come out properly on paper! Today when I was loading the dishwasher I heard frantic screaming and went tearing into her room thinking she must certainly be in mortal peril, only to find out she was having a meltdown because her letter 'e' uh, absolutely did not resemble a letter 'e'!

I am thinking she would love to watch a DVD with the two of us practicing, especially with the "catchy" tunes. (Except, why when companies market videos as having 'catchy' tunes do my ears threaten to bleed after five minutes of aural assault )

I ordered the Uppercase and Lowercase DVDs and workbooks and am really hoping someone can assure me it will be money well spent. For her, handwriting is just one subject mommy is apparently not allowed to teach her

[arvi]

Keri, you will not regret spending money on TV teacher DVDs. I bought those about a year ago after reading TmT's reviews in this forum. It is well worth the money as I have very less time to teach him. My son has learnt to write all the lowercase letters and numbers. I am yet to open the uppercase DVD. Recently, he started writing his own name. I just wish there was one for cursive as well.

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Yep, we re big fans of Miss Marnie. I wish I had done the numbers one first maybe? Because there just 10 to learn and learning them has a very practical application (written math work) in a very short amount of time. So with my son we will be working on numbers first, but from being exposed to so much print and Miss Marnie, he learned how to write his name on his own. It is no where near nice or between two lines, etc, but I was shocked to see him for a lower case e and n correctly without instruction from me.

There is a software program out there called Pencil Pete that is MUCH cheaper but Miss Marnie does all kinds of extra general knowledge and counting, etc. I think Pencil Pete would be super helpful for practice though and they have a handwriting version. It's very no frills from what I can tell.

http://www.pencilpete.com/

[Kerileanne99]

Thanks Arvi and TmT!
I actually went ahead and bought the entire set in the hopes that my young nephews will use the portions we don't!

I am really hoping it will help! She can write her full name (no small feat as we strapped the poor kid with a five-syllable first name and two middle names ). She is just SUCH a little perfectionist when it comes to trying to form letters that most attempts end in tears  
I think if she gets a bit of motivation and help with her seriously-deformed and hugely-oversized lowercase letters:) things will progress much more smoothly!

TmT- I totally agree with starting with the numbers! I always assumed she learned to write her numbers quickly because she needed them to do math...but they are much simpler, and RS math taught her number formation very quickly...now, if only I could convince her that they don't need to be 6 inches tall!
We still use number stamps when she wants to do arithmetic worksheets...

I am also pretty excited about the DVD that teaches shapes, scenery, etc...like five-pointed stars and incorporating basic shapes into drawings. We shall see, as she REALLY wants to spend more time on the DWN curriculum

[Korrale4kq]

These DVDs sound exciting! I was looking at them today. I think James would love the shapes and drawing one. We spend countless hours drawing on his blackboard. I am a horrible drawer but we just break things down line by line and James is quite talented when he wants to be.

James drew the house on the left.

[Mandabplus3]

James you draw beautifully ( think you better teach mummy ) 
I am not much of a drawer myself but I realised pretty quickly I needed to have enough skills to enhance my classes ability so I can now TEACH a few drawing techniques and skills. And yes we do shape drawing once a week or so and it has made a HUGE difference to their free drawing attempts. Keep it up!
I like the sound of these DVDs but I am bound by my states handwriting style. I am not sure how many of the letters I could use. 's there a sample of style somewhere? I think this idea of demonstrating repeatedly with a catch phrase with each letter is the quickest way to teach. That's how I taught Jaykobs and that's how most teachers teach handwriting. The catch phrase is particularly useful when you are cooking dinner and you kid says " hey mum how do I do a U" and you don't have to stop and demonstrate but can verbalise the answer. 

[Korrale4kq]

Ahh yes Queensland cursive. How I miss you... Such a legible handwriting style. I have been told in the US that my extremely messy handwriting is in fact quite neat. It is just neat compared to American font.

I have a confession....I can't read American cursive well. As a kid I always called it "old people's" writing because it was what my mum wrote. It is just so tricky for me to read because it was not what I was taught to write. Not good for a history major :s or a tutor that has to read children's work written in cursive.
For what it's worth Manda I think the print font is universal.

I am still up in the air about which cursive style  I want to teach James to write. We write a little but  it doesn't hold his interest as much as drawing and I haven't forced the issue yet. I am swaying towards teaching him Qld cursive. But I will need him to learn to at least read american cursive.  Eventually he will learn both I guess.

Something else, the lined paper is different in the US than it is Australia. I liked having the solid top red line  as easy reference. Here red lines are random or non existant. I have seen them as bottom lines and I have seen them as the centre dotted line.

Manda we also do stories. J is a hook with a line across the top, a is around and down, m is mountains for mummy. Etc. James has always called it Mmm for mummy, even to the point that he thinks McDonald's is mummy's place. Silly boy.

[Korrale4kq]

It is a good link Manda.
D'nealian or Zaner-Bloser are the styles I know of most commonly used in the US.

http://www.drawyourworld.com/blog/examples-of-handwriting-styles.html

[Mandabplus3]

I learnt with the NSW foundation one in that link then had to relearn to teach kindy in QLD. Denelian is close enough I can get away with it in kindy but not prep. My handwriting is closer to denelian than anything else anyway. Poor kids! 
That's a solid option for creating worksheets. Pretty uncommon to find Qld fonts in anything!

[early learning17]

Yep, we re big fans of Miss Marnie. I wish I had done the numbers one first maybe? Because there just 10 to learn and learning them has a very practical application (written math work) in a very short amount of time. So with my son we will be working on numbers first, but from being exposed to so much print and Miss Marnie, he learned how to write his name on his own. It is no where near nice or between two lines, etc, but I was shocked to see him for a lower case e and n correctly without instruction from me.

There is a software program out there called Pencil Pete that is MUCH cheaper but Miss Marnie does all kinds of extra general knowledge and counting, etc. I think Pencil Pete would be super helpful for practice though and they have a handwriting version. It's very no frills from what I can tell.

http://www.pencilpete.com/

TmT & others who use the pencil pete software - does it work on an ipad? If not, how can it teach you handwriting on a normal computer screen (not a touchscreen?) US$ 16 is really a good price for a programme recommended by you but I would really need to use it on the ipad as we are out and about a lot. Thanks.

[teachingmykids]

Ack coming here ends up costing me money. I got this dvd. I played it for the first time today and my oldest helped my middle son write the letters we watched. while I made dinner which was nice. He didn't write in the correct place but he did pretty good. Maybe this can be a good introduction then I can work with him to make them the correct size.

[TeachingMyToddlers]

There is a software program out there called Pencil Pete that is MUCH cheaper but Miss Marnie does all kinds of extra general knowledge and counting, etc. I think Pencil Pete would be super helpful for practice though and they have a handwriting version. It's very no frills from what I can tell.

http://www.pencilpete.com/

TmT & others who use the pencil pete software - does it work on an ipad? If not, how can it teach you handwriting on a normal computer screen (not a touchscreen?) US$ 16 is really a good price for a programme recommended by you but I would really need to use it on the ipad as we are out and about a lot. Thanks.

Sorry, I have no idea! I don't own Pencil Pete, just stumbled on it after I already spent $90 on Miss Marnie DVDs (lower case, upper case, and numbers) so I have not bought the software. I suggest emailing them to ask! Sorry I couldn't be of more help to you.

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Now that I think about it, they have handwriting apps where you can use your finger or a stylus. If you have an ipad, that may be a better way to go. I have one on my iphone but it doesn't get used to much because the screen is so small for this sort of thing. The one I have is called "write the alphabet" and letters a-g are a free download. I wish Miss Marnie would come out with an app that combines her chants with a touch/stylus responsive app.

[Korrale4kq]

We  love letter school on the ipad.

[lzp11]

We love letter school in the iPad too, we also really like Little Writer

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/little-writer-tracing-letters/id515890480?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

This is free and good for quick practice as it moves between letters a bit quicker than Letter School so they work well together.

We were using a finger to practice writing on the iPad but I have now adapted a cheap stylus as she did not seem to be transferring her learning with a finger to actually writing letters with a pen or pencil.  I was worried that the screen might get scratched by the metal stylus if she pressed too hard or turned it too far sideways, so I put on a rubber pencil grip, which not only makes it much easier to hold, the rubber also covers any metal and protects the screen.  This is working really well for us.

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