English learners need Fine Motor Skills for Writing
Create Opportunities to Develop Fine Motor Skills
After your ELL students have developed gross-motor skills they are ready to work on fine motor skills. They need lots of opportunities to use their hands and fingers. The more often they grip a marker, pencil, or scissors, the better. Merging these activities into school activities is best. This helps develop the muscle control they need for early writing.
Use Play to Develop Fine Motor Skills
It is natural to keep all this merged with play to make it fun. Try making illustrations on writing paper. Let them cut out pictures to illustrate stories. You can help and guide ,your students but the way they get better at it is to do it themselves. Make sure you make a big fuss about what a great job they did. Even if the lines are not even and the cutting is jagged! It encourages them to try again! Remember to try creative and practical ways to build fine-motor skills.
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Students love to get ready for recess Glue things onto paper
- Clap hands to music
- Touch fingers when singing nursery rhymes
- Button and unbutton their jackets
- Work a zipper on a jacket
- Put on a hat
- Build forts with blocks
- Complete puzzles with five or more pieces
- Manipulate pencils and crayons well enough to color and draw
- Copy a circle or cross onto a piece of paper
- Cut out simple shapes with safety scissors
http://www.parents.com/toddlers-preschoolers/development/physical/child-developing-motor-skills/
Connect fine motor skills with gross motor skills…….read more
Activities
It’s Your Turn:
Opportunities for fine motor skills
- Color and draw
- Cut with safety scissors
- Button shirts and zip jackets
- Develop muscle control
Play for fine motor skills
- Play with puzzles and blocks
- Use imagination for creative play
- Clap to nursery rhymes and songs
- Establish fine-motor control
