Ms. Mary Terrass, NHA Vice President, said, “Handwriting is proven to be one of the hands-on ways that children develop pre-reading skills, and we wanted to add a quality handwriting program to our curriculum for preschoolers. We searched for the best handwriting program available. We found ez Write and it has proven to be a wonderful match with all of the learning components we already have in place in our centers. ez Write fits with our goals of innovation and ensuring children are best prepared for school. We have been so impressed with the ez Write system that the program is now offered in all of our child care centers.”
ez Write is a research-based, developmentally appropriate handwriting program that engages all learning styles. Easy to use and easy to implement, the program encourages “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 school/home connection are also key ingredients to ez Write.
“Children in preschool are beginning to express an interest in learning to write and we want to have the right tools in place for them,” added Ms. Terrass. “ez Write is easy to implement and includes many components that can also be done at home. At NHA, we strive to link what children learn in our centers with their home life. ez Write exercises are also lots of fun and very engaging for preschoolers. For example, one exercise has the children make the letter ‘C’ in sand. Our centers were very eager for the kits to be delivered and put into use!”
“I am so excited to have a quality learning center like New Horizon Academy add ez Write to their curriculum system wide,” said Ms. Mary Beckman, an early childhood special education teacher and co-creator of ez Write. “We have seen how the writing and literacy skills young students learn through ez Write translate into more successful school age students in coming years.”
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 at a higher LPM than 5th graders who had not been part of the program. Legibility also improved dramatically with ez Write.
About ez Write
ez Write is a research-based, developmentally appropriate handwriting program that engages all learning styles. ez Write was developed by Mary Beckman, an early childhood special education teacher, and Tami Thoreson, an occupational therapist to improve handwriting in the early years. Research has shown that improved handwriting skills translate to improved learning in other subject areas. ez Write consists of easy to use grade specific kits that can be purchased for individual classrooms or for entire schools. In addition, Special Education/ELL, Occupational Therapy and Home Kits are available for purchase.
About New Horizon Academy
New Horizon Academy, based in Minnesota, has been serving families since 1971. New Horizon Academy now has 52 centers and serves over 6000 children. Because of our continuing love, belief, and dedication to children, we have flourished and become one of the nation’s most successful and respected child care providers. The commitment to excellence our founder, Sue Dunkley strived for in New Horizon’s early beginning is the foundation that our company is built on, and is the cornerstone of all our New Horizon Academy centers. Today, New Horizon is operated by many dedicated people. Although we are growing and serving more families each year, we will always have family roots, a warm atmosphere, an open door, and a commitment to excellence.