From staff reports
Students at St. Joseph School, Kaitlyn Guth and Lily Bell, have been named Pennsylvania’s grade-level winners in the 2018 Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest.
Now in its 27th year, the Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest gives students in kindergarten through eighth-grade the chance to showcase and receive recognition for their handwriting skills in manuscript or cursive.
Contest judges use the Zaner-Bloser “Keys to Legibility: Size, Shape, Spacing and Slant” to evaluate the entries.
Students in kindergarten through second-grade compete in the manuscript handwriting category, while students in third through eighth-grade compete in the cursive handwriting category.
Participating schools, which all use Zaner-Bloser handwriting materials, held their own handwriting contests and chose a winning student from each grade to compete at the state level in the Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest.
A student in each grade, one from a public school and one from a private school, is chosen as the state grade-level winner.
Kaitlyn and Lily, like other state-level winners, will compete in the national competition, vying with other state winners in the same grade at both public and private schools to earn the title of national grade-level semifinalist or grand national champion.
Zaner-Bloser awarded a medallion to Kaitlyn and Lily, an etched glass diamond award to Kaitlyn and Lily’s teacher, Mr. Steudler, and a $200 Zaner-Bloser gift certificate to St. Joseph School.
St. Joseph School has entered its students in the Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest over the past several years.
With over 280,000 students participating nationwide, we have had 13 Pennsylvania state level winners, 2 national level winners, and a student being named grand national champion for two consecutive years.
These accomplishments are a result of the hard work and dedication of our students and Mr. Steudler’s hard work and dedication to his students.
“We applaud the winning students for the dedication it took to demonstrate such outstanding manuscript and cursive handwriting skills, and we applaud their schools, which continue to recognize the importance of handwriting instruction,” said Lisa Carmona, president of Zaner-Bloser.
“Research on handwriting shows that it not only helps children develop finger dexterity, fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination, but it also creates a foundation for literacy that strengthens reading and writing skills.”
Educators are rediscovering the important role handwriting plays in developing literacy skills.
Many states are revising their standards and curricula to include explicit handwriting instruction in elementary and middle school classrooms, much to the delight of teachers, students and families.
For more information about the Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest, visit www.zaner-bloser.com/hwcontest.
About Zaner-Bloser
Zaner-Bloser provides proven, research-based literacy instruction that builds comprehensive skills through critical thinking and active participation.
As part of the Highlights Family of Companies, we are dedicated to helping children become their best selves: creative, curious, caring and confident.
Alongside educators, communities and schools, we are helping to set the stage for joyful, successful learning in every classroom today, so that all students are empowered with the skills to become informed communicators, citizens and leaders tomorrow.
Visit zaner-bloser.com for more information.