I have a confession to make, I am not good with paperwork and clutter. This is one area I know I need help with, how to get organized. When I had just the one girl, I was already getting a lot of notes from her different classes, and that was before she . . . → Continue Reading: Aboutone.com #Review & #Giveaway (US Only)

I know some people hate the thought that in just a little over a month, school will be starting again. For me, there’s some anticipation added. My 3 year old is starting pre-school, or we’re planning to. So for now, we just practice her writing skills, which means a steady supply of pens and paper handy. We do have toys to help visualize letters and shapes, but by writing she learns and retains the information better.

** On April 15, 2011, Canadian Omnibus conducted an online survey among 1,011 randomly selected Canadians. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region Census data to ensure samples are representative of the Canadian adult population.

Dr. Steve Graham

A recent national study of adults by BIC, conducted by Canadian Omnibus, confirms that when Canadians write down notes in a meeting, class or somewhere else, they tend to remember the information better with handwritten notes (83%). The survey also revealed that 62% of Canadians actually prefer to handwrite with pen and paper when studying for school, preparing notes for a presentation at work or just jotting down thoughts or making lists.

According to Dr. Steve Graham, a published author and the Currey Ingram Professor of education at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Handwriting is Good For the Brain

“Writing by hand engages the brain and is a building block to learning that can actually help improve idea composition, expression and aids fine motor-skill development.

“Keyboards are not the most logical tools for memory-oriented communication, whereas handwriting is the second way we learn to communicate at a young age after we learn how to talk. From helping children to learn letters and shapes to baby boomers working to keep their minds sharp as they age, handwriting is food for the brain.”

Presentation Matters — Make it Count!

“Several studies indicate that good handwriting can take a generic classroom test score from the 50th percentile to the 84th percentile, while bad penmanship could tank it to the 16th. You never get a second chance to make a first impression and the same is true for your ideas. People judge the quality of your ideas based on your handwriting, and when it comes to writing in the workplace, presentation matters.”

To help Canadians make a smooth transition back to school and work after a lazy, warm summer season, BIC — a global leader and manufacturer of ballpoint pens — offers the Smoothest Pen in the Universe!™ the Velocity Bold ball pen. Velocity Bold ball pens are available at major retailers. Manufacturer’s suggested retail price is $4.49, for a package of four.

I received a package of the Velocity Bold ballpoint pen in blue to try out, and it is smooth. The moulded rubber grip makes it more comfortable and easier to control. The 1.6 mm bold point, although bigger than what I’m used to, makes your writing stand out and pop on the paper. I also didn’t need  to put a lot of pressure on the paper to write.

One reason I switched a long time ago from ballpoint to rollerball pens was that as soon as I accidentally drop a ballpoint pen there would be blurry lines when writing, making it unpresentable. And when you get graded on penmanship (from what I remember it was preschool to highschool or maybe just 6th grade that our teachers graded our notebooks depending on how neat we write), everything had to be perfect. So I decided to test the Velocity Bold ball pen. I threw it on the floor a few times, and checked the writing after. It still wrote perfectly, I realize there may have been changes to technology in the years that have gone by.

Continue reading School’s Almost Here (#Giveaway #Canada Only)