Tuesday, June 24, 2008

D'Nealian: The Choice for Marie Montessori

D'Nealian Handwriting would have been the choice of Marie Montessori had she been alive today. Her comments back in the early 1900's were, "Yet it does not seem natural that to write the letters of the alphabet, which are all rounded, it should begin with straight lines and acute angles." "Is it necessary to begin writing with the making of vertical strokes? A moment of clear and logical thinking is enough to enable us to answer, no. The child makes too painful an effort in following such an exercise."

Only lower case letter "x" has an angler line

5 comments:

Gabby Faye said...

Imagine my surprise finding your blog this morning. I was looking for a website that would show the d'nealian style to some friends in another country. Over 40 years ago you hired me as a kindergarten teacher half-days in Gibraltar. Rockwood school, I believe. Now I have two granddaughters in the Montessori school in Southgate and I SOOO agree that she would have embraced d'nealian.

Loraine said...

Hi,

Could you please tell me where I could purchase a D'Nealian Handwriting chart?

Thank you.
loraine
http://www.gracieandnate.com
lwalters15@cox.net

Don Thurber said...

You can call a local Montessori school to find out if D'Nealian is used there. Not every Montessori school uses it.

Sara T. said...

I have to add to this discussion a left-hander's perspective---

This form of handwriting is near IMPOSSIBLE for a left-handed person to achieve! If I had been required to reproduce these letters as a child, I would have come home from school in tears every day. I am so glad that my son's Montessori school does NOT use this form!

Unknown said...

I am a Montessori teacher and I have a left handed student that does great with d'nealian. My son is also a Montessori student at our school and he does fine with d'nealian also.