Elk River, MN – September 12, 2012 – ez Write, the researched and engaging handwriting program for young children, is the handwriting curriculum used throughout the Elk River School District and the district’s Early Childhood Family Education; and Early Childhood Special Education programs. It is also used at many Elk River area child development centers, preschools and day-care sites, including Reach-up Head Start. Now, the positive effects from ez Write are being noticed in the Elk River Kindergarten classrooms. Kindergarten teachers have found that their incoming students who have used ez Write arrive with a good basic handwriting foundation, allowing these teachers to begin their literacy curriculum earlier.
Elk River Principal Donna Williams, said, “Our Kindergarten teachers at Lincoln have found that students who have been taught handwriting with ez Write in preschool arrive in the classroom equipped with the basic writing skills, such as top down and left to right progression as well as a functional pencil grip. It has allowed us to work more on reading readiness which is so important in Kindergarten. Not only is ez Write effective, but it makes learning handwriting fun.”
ez Write is a research-based, developmental-appropriate handwriting program that engages all learning styles. Easy to use and easy to implement, ez Write helps to develop “automaticity” or the ability of students to retrieve and produce letters automatically. It is based on research showing that handwriting competency can have dramatic effects on academic achievement and self-esteem. Multi-sensory and multi-disciplinary activities as well as a strong home/school connection are also key ingredients to ez Write.
Mary Beckman, an early childhood special education teacher and co-creator of ez Write used three words to describe ez Write: “easy; effective and affordable.” She added, “ez Write is also developmental-appropriate for young learners. It is a fun, engaging, and yet effective handwriting curriculum.”
Research has shown that the more children (and adults) have to focus on the process of handwriting the less capacity they have for higher-level processes such as idea generation, vocabulary and creativity. ez Write seeks to make handwriting as automatic as possible to allow the child to reach their potential in written language as well as higher levels in other areas.
Pilot program adopters of ez Write have seen dramatic and lasting results. After just 3 months of using ez Write, one 1st grade class experienced an 80% increase in letters per minute (LPM), and 2nd graders using ez Write were tested as a higher LPM than 5th graders who had not been part of the program. Legibility also improved dramatically with ez Write.