Child's Play by the Bay offers Handwriting Without Tears

Child’s Play by the Bay, an early childhood development and resource center in Lewes, announces that owners Sarah Feist and Alisha Melesky have recently become Certified Level 1 Handwriting Without Tears handwriting specialists. Feist and Melesky are the only two certified handwriting instructors in Sussex County.

Since opening in 2004, Child’s Play by the Bay has used the HWT program as its pre-handwriting and handwriting curriculum. HWT uses handwriting-teaching strategies that are multisensory and developmentally appropriate for young children.

HWT helps children develop motor skills, language skills, and positioning skills by using music and movement. It helps children gain an understanding of sizes and shapes. The curriculum uses step-by-step images that show children exactly how to make each part of every letter in the alphabet by using short, simple words to describe each step.

The program groups letters together and teaches them in a specific order, as this is essential to handwriting success. The HWT teaching order is based on children’s development, where letters start, and how letters are made.  “We pride ourselves on teaching in developmentally appropriate ways. Handwriting Without Tears is an easy, happy way to effectively teach pre-handwriting skills to young children,” said Melesky.

As Handwriting Without Tears Level 1 Certified handwriting specialists, Feist and Melesky have specialized skills and experience using HWT's award-winning curriculum. They have successfully completed an extensive process to achieve this level of certification.

They are trained to use the Handwriting Without Tears program and The Print Tool assessment, a one-on-one assessment used to evaluate and remediate capital letters, lower case letters, and numbers. “We are very excited to be the first to offer this type of handwriting assessment to school-age children in Sussex County,” said Feist.

Shields Elementary has adopted the HWT curriculum, providing great continuity from preschool to kindergarten. “I was ecstatic to find out that Child’s Play By the Bay is not only implementing HWT, but also has two certified handwriting specialists! Shields adopted the HWT program this year in kindergarten, and I feel that it is a truly beneficial program for successfully teaching handwriting. I am so excited to reap the benefits of students from Child’s Play learning handwriting the way they will be taught in kindergarten!” said Jenny Nauman, principal of Shields Elementary School.

For more information about the HWT program, go to www.hwtears.com/hwt. Feist and Melesky can be reached at Child’s Play by the Bay: www.childsplayde.com or 302-645-2153.