Developing a relaxed and firm grasp of a pencil is a major milestone for the primary aged student. It begins with the strengthening of the hand and finger muscles and then training the thumb and first finger to grasp objects effectively. This is also known as the pincer grip, and is one of the keys for fine motor skill development.
It is the foundation for learning how to write comfortably, for using scissors, buttoning buttons, and eventually for tying a shoelace.
In the Montessori classroom, we emphasize the development of the pincer grip by having a wide variety of grasping and tweezing jobs. There is also ample opportunity for early writers to practice their skills by tracing their name, and other work like tracing letters and numbers.
It is easy to spot a student who is early in this process, as they tend to “fist” the pencil instead of holding the pencil using the pincer grip. Often it is the repetition of helping the student realign their grasp that begins to build the muscle memory of holding the pencil correctly.
Using scissors effectively can also take time and practice. Starting with the correct grasp of the thumb is the first step. Then coordinating the three fingers to hold the bottom part of the scissors is the key to cutting.
Once it has clicked in the student’s mind how to use the pincer grip,
than other activities requiring fine motor skills come a little easier such as holding utensils, buttoning a sweater, and even learning how to zip a zipper.
We were delighted to have Victoria Bloyd (Kendall’s mom) and Stephanie Vause (Vanessa’s mom) share some North American traditions with us.
Victoria, Kendall and her sister (Teighlor) shared a summer vacation trip to a Native American settlement in the south, and they brought ample pictures and artifacts for the students to observe.
Stephanie set up a tortilla making project in the kitchen and each student enjoyed sampling the fruits of their labor. Thank you very much for your thoughtful and interesting demonstrations.
Reminders
Kindergartners are visiting Sunrise Senior Living Center of Henderson on Wednesday, December 7th to share their holiday singing cheer. Please have your child wear their green FMS field trip shirt.
Our winter performance is on Tuesday, December 13th at 9:30 am.
Winter break begins on Friday, December 16th with half day dismissal at 11:15am and school resumes Wednesday, January 4th.
Completing the “100 chain.”
A big thanks to Cora and McCoy, and their families, for providing delicious snacks and beautiful flowers for our classroom.
