Spaghetti and Meatball Spaces

I teach kindergarten, therefore, I teach brand new writers.  We work on penmanship as well as writing the sounds that we hear.  Kids have to learn to read and write common sight words as well as all the conventions of writing.  When you think about it, there is a lot for them to remember as they are learning to write.

As I have guided children through the writing process over the years, one of the hardest things for them to remember is to add spaces between their words.  They are so focused on getting their thoughts on the paper, and figuring out what sounds they hear, and what letters they need to write, spaces are the last thing they are thinking about.

I know we all have our tricks... "space men", "fingers", "thumb", but the one trick that seems to resonate with my kids is the good old "Spaghetti and Meatball" spaces.  We talk about spaghetti spaces being the small space between the letters in a word, and the meatballs being the big space between the words.  Works like a charm I tell you.

To make the meatball space sticks, I just glued a brown pom pom on the end of a craft stick.  Kids can use the skinny side of the craft stick for the spaghetti space and the round meatball for the spacing between the words.  They love it!  Everyone used the meatball sticks at the beginning of the year, and now only my slower writers still ask for them.

Click on the picture below to get your own copy of Spaghetti and Meatball spaces.

Happy writing!

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