Learning to Write Numbers and a Free Printable

I've got two early learners here. One is great, albeit somewhat shaky-handed, with numbers -- just seemed to learn to write them naturally. The other has struggled with them for a while. Even after a couple of years of math there are still reversals in many of the numbers.

Since this learner is pretty auditory I went looking for a way to help with the problem. Enter my friend Donna, who always has a few tricks up her sleeve. She loaned me some number tracers with poems she used in her classroom years ago -- back before she left teaching other kids to teach her own. I loved the little poems and the green and red dots to help a student know where to begin and end the stroke of the number.

I decided to make a set of these for my own guys and asked Donna if I could share them here as well. She said yes, so I made up a set on the computer for you to download and print.

This set is on regular letter-size paper.
This set is "four-up" with four numbers to a sheet.
If you are having trouble downloading from those links, try this one from Google Docs.

* Note - If a dialog box pops up asking you to log into Box in order to download the file, you can simply skip that step and continue with the download. You do not need a Box account.

This guy does pretty well with number formation -- I just need to watch that grip!

I printed the second set, cut them apart, and laminated the set. Then I put them on a jump ring and we use a dry erase marker to practice the tracing. You could also slip the full-sized numbers into page protectors and keep them in a binder.

In the photo above John is working with a dry erase marker. We quickly determined that it smeared much to easily on the lamination -- especially for a lefty. Wet-erase markers to the rescue! You can use the ones for overhead projectors (brings back memories of high school math) or you can choose something chunkier for little hands like the Wet Erase Chisel Tip Chalk Marker. Crayola also makes a larger size dry erase crayon.

I hope you enjoy!

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