The calligraphic art in a digital era could appear to be a part of the past. But to young students, the conscious, intentional training of beautiful writing is a rare and vibrant route to the acquisition of the necessary fine motor and mental skills. Even in the simplest forms, calligraphy demands some degree of accuracy, control, and concentration that directly undergirds the underlying skills that are required to succeed academically. Elizabeth Fraley Kinder Ready’s educational philosophy acknowledges the tremendous relationship between bodily facility and cognitive growth. Although this is not explicitly taught, the principles of calligraphy correspond to the fine motor and executive function objectives of the Kinder Ready Tutoring program approach to school preparedness.
The best short-term outcome of the introduction of calligraphy-motivated activities is the unmatched level of fine motor skills. The process of holding a special pen and controlling the flow of ink and making accurate, skillful strokes requires a certain degree of hand-eye coordination and finger strength that is beyond normal writing. This rigorous practice tightens the tiny muscles of the hand and enhances the control of the pencil grip, which is a significant requirement for endurance and legibility needed during the classroom writing activities. The Elizabeth Fraley Kinder Ready approach is based on this emphasis on developing physical preparedness to write. The Kinder Ready Tutoring program includes activities that produce the same fine motor control, which makes the hand of a child physically ready to meet the requirements of penmanship.
In addition to motor skills, calligraphy is an extensive exercise of executive functioning and cognitive control. Every stroke needs huge concentration, strategizing, and patience. A young learner should slow down and have a mental representation of the letter form, and perform the movement carefully. This practice develops endurance and persistence of the task, as haste creates errors. The visual-spatial reasoning and attention to the finer details of letter construction are solidified by the fact that the process of creating letters with great care and attentiveness can be transferred to a higher level of understanding and perception of normal print. This development of concentration and intentional practice is very important in the Kinder Ready Elizabeth Fraley methodology, which seeks to develop the mental endurance required in all academic learning.
Moreover, calligraphy as an art form will have a beneficial effect on anxiety about writing and create a positive attitude to learning. It can be less about the content and more about the process and exploration of the creative process, as well as the emphasis on the beauty, which can make it less tedious when writing. The physical, aesthetic outcome of their work will enhance the self-esteem and achievement of the child. This is in line with the objective of the Kinder Ready Tutoring program of providing a positive, conducive learning environment where children are allowed to be risk takers and apply new skills without fear that they may make mistakes.
Conclusively, although formal calligraphy might be a high-level task, its principles can be learnt to provide a lot of information on how young students can be well prepared to achieve success in their academic life. The fine motor control, the attention concentration, and the consciously practiced are all conducive to the creation of the physical and mental scaffolds of writing. The whole body approach advocated by Elizabeth Fraley Kinder Ready, and applied by the specifics of the Kinder Ready Tutoring, is the ability of the children to acquire the required coordination, attention, and confidence to face the subject of writing with mastery and expertise. It is through admiring the art and craft of writing beautifully that we have an opportunity to bring up patience and accuracy, which will be of good service to young students in all their further studies.
For further details on Kinder Ready’s programs, visit their website: https://www.kinderready.com/.
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