For Mother’s Day I sat with my grandson and together we made a present for mom. Knowing mom loves his art, I taught Brayden how to draw a pot of flowers. After drawing we talked about colors and coloring until ‘all the white parts of the paper were covered’. Four-year-old Brayden sat still, used his fine motor skills, was quiet, intentional and focused for at least forty minutes. His satisfaction and finished drawing was a reminder of how much impact forty minutes of focused activity means to a developing preschooler.

Imagine being a kindergarten teacher, tasked with teaching 25 sweet young students how to write. It’s a pretty daunting task and not for the faint of heart. Now imagine how much harder it is if these young ones can’t sit still, use a pencil, follow directions or spend much time in any focused task. Now imagine the enormity of the task for your kindergartener. There’s a lot riding on being able to write – and write legibly. From now on school is going to be about writing. The physical act of writing, even the speed of one’s writing,