Draw Write Now

by Janet
(Raleigh, NC, USA)

Product: Draw Write Now! Books 1-4
Subject: Co-op Class for Drawing/Handwriting
Levels Used: Grades K - 3
Dates Used: January 2009 to March 2009

Likes: 1) easy prep, 2) fun and inspirational for a wide grade level of children, 3) helps break down a complicated drawing into manageable pieces.

Dislikes: Assumed a certain level of handwriting exposure which was difficult to teach to a wide range of grade levels.

Overall Recommendation: YES!! 2 thumbs up, just know who is going to need extra help with the writing.

I used the first 4 of this series of books to teach a co-op class of Kindergarten through 3rd graders (a mix of both boys and girls). Most of the kids truly enjoyed the drawing portion of the class and inspired each other on to try new things to draw.

It was a very fun class to teach, and required very little prep time on my part. The children who already wrote well did well with the sentences to copy, but if they weren't already taught how to write, they were a little intimidated by that portion of the lesson.

We didn't focus on that so much in our class, but just had fun learning to draw new things. In that respect, many of the children who were not already "writers" were able to strengthen their fine motor skills. Each book had some more difficult drawings in it, so the more advanced students were challenged as well.

After this class, my daughter (grade K at the time) was further inspired to want to try more difficult drawings from the later books in this series. This series was very good at "dissecting" a complicated looking drawing, breaking it down into manageable pieces, and making the kids successful artists.