Font Activities - Fonts and Activities go hand in hand

Written by TS co-founder & educator, Danielle

Let’s face it, teachers LOVE fonts! Fonts are important to teachers. And, teachers don’t just use fonts for the cutesy factor, or to make their materials come alive with an added bit of flair. In fact, fonts and activities go hand in hand. Also, teachers use certain fonts because there’s actual rhyme and reason behind it. Of course, if you’re a teacher, you already know this. All things considered, when it comes to creating activities for your beginner learners, you will definitely want to keep this in mind. Fonts activities

Fonts for handwriting & their role in activities

Fonts for handwriting activities play an important role, especially with beginner writers. For example, larger sized fonts in the tracing activities you create help develop fine motor skills and visual perceptual skills.

Jan Richardson, author of The Next Step in Guided Reading, shares how important it is to trace the alphabet. Her research concluded that tracing is the fastest and easiest way for children to learn their letters.

This week, I want to share the Dotted Tracing Fonts. Coupled with dotted tracing fonts, I created a lacing card letter activity to go along with it (see below). I had fun creating these activities for you to use in your classrooms. Some resources I created were inspired by activities I made this past year. By the way, I’ve broken them down by name and into specific types. This will help you locate them easily in the fun, new tool for teachers on TeacherSherpa.

Fonts for early learning

When creating writing activities for beginner writers, it’s important to use fonts that are handwriting-friendly. Check out these 4 teacher fonts below that are great for your little people learning to write.

1. Dotted TS – For your students who have begun representing the sounds they hear in spoken language, the Dotted TS font may be what you use to create your letter card activities.

2. Dotted_Lines_TS – This teacher favorite is perfect for when you want to create your own activities that help guide your beginner writers when learning to write their names.

3. Dotted_Arrows_Lines_TS – Use arrow cues to help children remember how to form letters correctly and be able to self-monitor, especially when you are working with groups, making it more challenging for you to monitor each student.

4. Dotted_Trace_TS – Just like Dotted_Trace_Guide, this font allows children support with arrows for correct letter formation, but without the limitations of guideline boundaries.

As I mentioned, I have some fun FREEBIES for you to enjoy using these new Dotted Tracing Fonts found in the fun, new teacher tool on www.teachersherpa.com. Download and print these activities, or *edit it to meet your own students’ needs.

Activity Freebies:

Pre-K Student Daily Sign-In Log gives your students a place to sign in each day of the school year. This printable is a great way to see student handwriting progress throughout the year. Parents love seeing how their child’s writing has developed throughout the year, too. Edit pages to include your own students’ names. A writing checklist is also included for you to record your students’ progress.

Download the FREE PDF or Edit & Differentiate

English & Spanish Alphabet Lacing Cards – These alphabet lacing cards provide a multi-sensory approach to early learning. The cards are great for centers, home practice, and practicing letters on the go. Print on card stock and laminate for longer use. Each letter is printed on its own page. You can resize the letters (using the editor in www.teachersherpa.com) if they aren’t quite what you would like.