Every lesson begins with the students stating the rules. The motions that go with the rules help the students to learn them, and keep the students involved. Watch the video clip of the motions so you can teach them to your class.

You may be wondering about the rule that says “We learn from our mistakes, so don’t erase.” The researchers want to see each student’s original work and need to see what they do the first time they write it. That is why we ask students not to erase.

As you teach the rules in the beginning of the year, be sure to praise students for following them and redirect/reteach when they are not.

Once the students learn the rules, it is important that teachers continue to manage the class and make sure the rules are consistently followed. There may be times when you need to stop and review the rules by bringing attention to times when they are not followed. After a while, the students will not even need to look at the poster. Some teachers found ways to condense instructional time by having the students move to their PAWS seats as they said the rules.

Lesson Scripts

PAWS lessons look more like scripts than a regular teacher manual. On the script cover page, you will see the script file name. This helps you to find the correct script for each day’s lesson. Every lesson has a cover page with goals, helpful hints, objectives, and materials. Every lesson has a warm up, I Do, We Do, You Do sections, and a closing. All these parts — from warm up to closing — are important and should be done.

We have written these lessons in script form, but you should not stand in front of the class and read the script. Instead, read it over ahead of time so that you note the important parts of the lesson and understand its flow. You can present the lesson in your own words. Some teachers found it helpful to make sticky notes of things to say and write on the templates instead of holding the manual.

We also provide suggestions for extension activities that can be done at the ends of lessons. Take a few moments to look at the different sections of the teacher manual and read over a few scripts.

Worksheet Format

To identify the worksheets, there will be an icon for either the WE DO or YOU DO. These pages are usually printed back to back. This helps the student to be on the correct side of the page during the lesson.

You will also see at the bottom of the page we have the lesson code. This tells you the lesson type (in this case, LL, which is Letter Learning) and the number (for this lesson, #3). This will help you to find the correct worksheets for the lesson.

At the top, there are boxes for the writer’s number and the coach’s number. All students have their own papers and write at the same time. Then, they exchange papers with their designated coach and coach one another’s work. When writing, students use regular pencils that do not have erasers on them. During the coaching, students use blue coaching pencils. Notice that each task has two writing lines. The first line is for the first writing attempt. The second is the Fix It Line, where students get a chance to redo the writing after their coach has given feedback.

Student Cards

Each student will have a student card like this. Teachers will print each student’s name on the card. Because this is a research project, students are assigned a PAWS number and write this number on their papers instead of their names. The number goes in the box in the upper right corner of the student’s card.

These need to be ready for the first lesson, so that students can begin to learn their numbers and practice writing their numbers. It also provides each student with a close range model of each letter. Students can refer to the card when writing and/or coaching. Note that each letter has the directional arrows for writing strokes. The card also includes the main icons used during Letter Learning. This is a reminder to students to do their best handwriting and think about place, size, and shape when writing. This card is also used as the cover up sheet during Sight Word lessons.