"Intellectual distinction is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for election to a Rhodes Scholarship. Selection committees are charged to seek excellence in qualities of mind and in qualities of person which, in combination, offer the promise of effective service to the world in the decades ahead. The Rhodes Scholarships, in short, are investments in individuals rather than in project proposals..."

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Beginning Fine Motor Skills

As I was writing about Kindergarten, I mentioned working on fine motor skills.  One wonderful resource I have found is the Ed Emberley books.  My kids, including my preschoolers, love Ed Emberley books.    These wonderful books are a great introduction to drawing and following instruction.  

Ed starts out with the premise that if you can draw a few very basic shapes, you can draw anything!  And he is right.  My four year old was kissing this book last night, our most recent library resource.  Don't tell him, but I just purchased his own copy for school next year. 

Starting out with these drawings, we will be working on the fine motor skills necessary to write and retell stories.  Next year will be filled with read aloud stories.  He will need to retell them to me orally and also to draw pictures of them.    

One more note...my son that has had  fine motor delays is also finding pleasure in drawing with these books because they so clearly illustrate what to add step-by-step.

Another approach to take with this is using finger prints.  Ed Emberley has several books on "funprints".  We used this idea to make Mother's day cards this year.  We'll be using it in our school work, too.  

Both of these books are available in our county library system.  However, I am opting to purchase them as Amazon is running a 4 for 3 sale right now.  Lots of books I will use the whole year are in the sale.  While I tend to buy a lot of books, many that we'll use are available from the library.  But, some I can't pass up when they are so handy the whole year round.

Art will be playing a larger part of our school year next year as we draw in our Nature Journals and as we work on our drawing, painting and Art appreciation skils.

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