There are 5 common pencil grips that children will move through on their way to one of the two most common traditional grips. The pencil grips you see below your child will move through in their own time. Some may be skipped, and sometimes when you think they have moved past one they will return back to it, but do not fret, this is common and expected. The most important thing you can do for your child as they work through these grips over the years (yes, years), is give them time. Time to explore, time to try new writing utensils, time to feel confident and then try something new. Rushing or forcing a grip is going to result in the non traditional grips that I described previously, and these hinder a child’s writing fluency. It is also important to note that a child will switch hands when developing their pencil grip. Hand dominance is typically established from 3-6 years old, a wide spread of years, so allow your child to explore using both hands as they will also settle into their dominant hand in their own time.

Listen, I don’t know about you, but Halloween is the best day of the year if you are a 3-6 year old. And once the day is done, talks of “next Halloween” last for the next 364 days. So, for the month of October (I’m a firm believer of giving every month their time to shine and holding out until that month to celebrate) I lean into my students’ love for all things Halloween, and we read all the best Halloween books every day! So here's a list I have compiled of all our very favorites as voted on by me and the amount of engagement from my students.

School supply lists can get long. Pencils, crayons, glue, markers, the list goes on. But what are truly the unsung heroes in the early childhood classroom? Here are my top 10 favorite teaching tools that may or may not be on the traditional school supply list, but are used daily just like those pencils!