Here M. is practicing her pen grip and control of the pen around geometric figures. M. then is colouring in the geometric shapes on the paper, trying to fill in the different shapes with different colours.
Here M. is refining her eye-hand coordination to the smallest detail to create the figure on the tablet by putting the right piece in its exact place without moving all the other pieces.
All the above exercises are preparation to writing.
We started with touching the sandpaper letters in the sense of writing, in this way the child memorizes the letter through seeing, touching, hearing the sound and saying the sound (three part lesson: this is "C", give me "C", what is this letter?"). Then we started doing some signs on the flour, trying to imitate the some signs the finger does on the sandpaper letters. Now we use a stick like a pen and we pass with it on top of the sandpaper letters.
M. is already prepared to use the stick as a pen because her sense of touch has been refined through the exercises of the smooth and raugh gradiation tablets, touching the different fabrics and of course the sandpaper letters and numbers; her coordination of fine movements has been pefected through the practical life exercises, her pen grip is excellent because she has exercited herself with stencils and colouring shapes without going out of the borders.
Every exercise she has been doing all this time was a preparation for writing.
