Rhythm & Writing Review

Over the years I have used several handwriting programs! Probably more than I’d like to admit! I have a daughter with special needs and handwriting was an area that we struggled with and even today she forgets how to format certain letters at times.

I like to review handwriting with my 16 year old daughter often. For the last several weeks we have been doing so with Rhythm & Writing with the Get Write Crew from Rhythm & Writing.

I received a physical copy of the workbook, transparency, and access to the online videos.

The workbook is a spiral bound workbook with a good quality paper. You will have no problems using crayons or even markers on these pages. Of course a pencil also works! This is going to teach your child manuscript handwriting. It can be used for a student who is just learning how to write or for a child who needs some more help and is struggling with handwriting.

Rhythm & Writing with the Get Write Crew is the creation of a school-based occupational therapist, Nikki Wilson. She wanted to help parents, teachers, and other professionals using a unique approach to teaching the skills needed to be successful in learning to write properly.

What makes Rhythm & Writing with the Get Write Crew unique?

First off I’m going to recommend that you read the Introduction and the Steps to Success page. It will give you an overview of how the program works and how to implement it. I’ve done enough programs to know that they can vary in how to implement them. The back of the book also has information you can look over too.

The characters of the Get Write Crew

Rhythm & Writing uses music that has different instruments from guitars, drums, and piano. The genre differs with fun characters: Big Country Bear, Hip Hop frog, and Jazzy Faith bunny, and Mo Rock monkey and the music and lyrics or “catchy phrases” that rhyme are easy to remember the words while writing your letters. The music is also a big plus that helps bind it all together and makes remembering how to write your letters easier.

Those “catchy phrases” really stand out in the songs. Don’t fret as you don’t have to teach the tunes yourself or scramble to find a disc player to get the music on. No worrying about misplacing a disc either! Once you have access to the program you can log in to watch the videos on Vimeo. The videos are set up in letter groups for formation.

 The first letters are the easiest ones that are taught.  I like as it builds up confidence right away and then you get into the more complex letters.

The videos are available on the webpage and you have access to them once you sign in. You can see how they are broken up from the pictures above

There are twenty videos that are put together in similar formation example: L,t,i/Vv Ww and are mixed with upper and lower case while other letters are alone like Kk. 

My daughter watching videos. She likes to keep her workbook page open to complete it afterwards and will listen to the video several times

In the workbook there is a pre-assessment page and you can even request it to be emailed or downloaded to you. The pre-assessment is in both lower and upper case letters. It’s basically just one page that will help you identify problems. There are two sentences that your student writes. One sentence is done in all in lower case and the other is all upper case letters. I also noticed that both sentences contain all the letters of the alphabet. That enables you to look at every letter your student does.

My daughter's completed Pre-Assessment page

After the pre-assessment you can decide to jump around to help with certain letters or to start from the beginning of the book.

The letters in the videos corresponds with the workbook. The pages have several coloring activities, and some a little story about the characters which correlate to the songs on the videos which has your rhyming “catchy phrase.” The book says it’s divided by “episodes.” You read it out loud with your child. You can have them demonstrate by doing air, finger-writing, or get more hands on with something like shaving cream. Which I always preferred using a sand box instead of shaving cream which, is less messy. 

A completed workbook page, you can see the different line colors

The letters are on lines: Solid green on top, yellow broken lines in the middle and a solid red line is on the bottom. The line colors are used like a color of a stop-light to give them a visual point to help with placement of where to start or stop the letters.

Your first exercise with each letter is the Learn exercise

The letter pages have the “catchy phrase” in the “Learn “section and uses a grayscale to trace your way through the steps of the formation. It’s also has the steps numbered and has arrows to guide you with the direction of the formation.

 Your turn to practice what you just learned in the workbook

The next exercise is the “Practice” which has three lines. It starts with a few of the grayscale letters to trace and then dotted letter that you connect the dots together. The next line is a single dot in which you start your letter at. There is also a mixture of the grayscale and connect the dots together for writing your letters. The last line is for on your own with the letters. That is the format throughout the program with each letter.

The story and lots of coloring opportunities 

You will need a dry-erase marker to use with the transparency to practice writing the letters over the worksheets. This can be used while you are reviewing the episodes again and working on writing your letters, your goal is to have them master handwriting.

 The upper case Letter Review page, you can see the catchy phrase underneath each letter line

The last section of the book is “Letter Review” with upper and lower case. The “catchy phrase is underneath each letter. There is a Post-Assessment which is the exact same as the Pre-Assessment page and a blank lined handwriting page also for extra practice.

You can also order the colored lined blank paper through the site.

The workbook is intended for one student. You will need one for each student.

How did I use Rhythm & Writing with the Get Write Crew in my homeschool?

The first thing I did was read over the Introduction and the Steps to Success in the workbook.

What intrigued me with this program is that it uses “catchy phrases” my daughter has an incredible memory recall in songs and things being spoken out loud that catch her attention. I thought this might be the one thing that helps her overcome her issues with handwriting!

I had her do the pre-assessment, which she did great with writing her letters. Right now she is in a good place with her handwriting. The one area that we struggle in is that my daughter regresses in her skill (and just forgets some letters formations) and we are constantly going forward and backwards. Granted she can usually regain her skills quickly. 

A few pictures from the K, k video

We both know what letters she can tend to struggle with and decided to jump around. We watched the K, k video which is called, “Yes, There Really Is A Kalamazoo.” We read the summary page for K, k out loud to her. I have her read the “catchy phrase” with me. 

My daughter's completed K worksheet

Basically with each lesson I introduced the workbook page first and would have her repeat the “catchy phrase” We would locate the video and watch it. She would keep her workbook page open while viewing the video. Afterwards while she is writing her letters I would have her say the "catchy phrase" again. Usually my daughter would watch the video several times.

My daughter is 16 and isn’t interested in coloring the pictures and that is okay. She was adamant about not using the transparency paper and declared she can write on the paper. Yep, I have a teenager with her own opinions! My daughter usually would do more than one page in a sitting.

My daughter has done the majority of the workbook fairly quick as she is doing well with her handwriting now. Even though her grip isn’t the greatest, her pressure is light, and she’s shaking while she’s doing good. Her arthritis is flared up badly in her hands so I expected to see her letters looking a bit messier.

 If she was in one of her times that she regresses this would have been more challenging for her and taken a lot of time. 

My daughter is grinning while watching the video

My daughter said, “Look mommy I can tell you several of the rhymes!” I grabbed the book so I can check her and she repeats them out loud without any assistance. She has already remembered some of the songs.

I asked my daughter what she thought, “I thought the videos were silly but, kind of fun. I like that I can remember some of the rhymes and I hope that I will be able to recall them in the future when I get stuck again.”

My 13 year old son chimed in and said, “I wish they had something like that when I was learning how to write.” “Those are pretty eye catching videos and songs.” Yea, my son he would have really liked this curriculum when he was learning. In fact he even watched the videos with his sister several times and would ask her into listening to another video too! He has a bit of a silly personality and had fun himself with them for his sister’s sake. Which made her feel good, I mean she is 16.

I have to agree with my son I wish Rhythm & Writing with the Get Write Crew from Rhythm & Writing was around many years ago. I really think it’s a solid program. It’s simple to use and no nonsense handwriting program. The songs and the rhyming are a great addition to learning how to write.

I think the learning approach really makes this stand out as a handwriting program. It just works and I think most kids will find this appealing.

I would love to see a cursive program from Rhythm & Writing. My daughter does prefer for the most part to write in cursive now and she does struggle with several letters and we keep a cheat sheet of manuscript and cursive in her schedule book for her to look at.

Social Media Links:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/learntowritewithmusic/
                www.facebook.com/rhythmandwriting/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dreammakersyf
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNzZpKs0dOJDLXpYHRIGnsA

I am one of 38 members of the Homeschool Review Crew using Rhythm & Writing with the Get Write Crew from Rhythm & Writing. Click over from the graphic below and see what others are saying about this program.