Top Tips For Teaching Cursive Handwriting
I have just spent the last term teaching cursive handwriting to Stage Three Classes. I repeated the same lesson six times over in the one day. It was brain-numbing, going over and over it again, however, I am very passionate about handwriting and encouraging students to take pride in their book work particularly showing care with their handwriting. It is a high expectation I have and something that everyone can strive for.
Our handwriting program relates to the poetry unit as well, meaning you can teach it in context and have a more meaningful lesson. Spelling may be another good example of where handwriting can be taught throughout the week.
Every handwriting lesson I start with hand warmups. It doesn’t matter the age of the students. The older students love it just as much.
Hand Warm-Ups include; rolling wrists, finger walks, hand bends, koosh balls, stress balls, twinkle fingers, finger push-ups, even the open shut them song. Finger plays, write on carpet with magic finger, use sandpaper cutouts, use playdough, trace in bed of flour, sand, jelly crystals. Use shaving cream for them to write in or use paint, textas, crayons or using water and paint brushes outside
Next, explicitly show your students how to hold their pen correctly - every time. Wrist fatigue is real. It is a difficult habit to correct in the later stages of primary school, yet it is worth the effort. Correct pencil grip is critical. Encourage students to sit comfortably in their seat. Position their handwriting book at a slight angle on the table, with one hand on the page. No heads to be rested on their hands.
Provide lined books - tall letters should touch the dotted line, body letters should be between two thick lines and long letters should touch the bottom dotted line. This too needs to be explicitly taught each lesson. There are still students even in upper primary that do not understand letter placement. It could just happen to be this week that they get it.
It helps to get your head around the vocabulary of flicks, kicks, exits, tails and joins before you begin teaching cursive handwriting. Read the tricks below to help.
When explicitly teaching cursive handwriting, be clear that;
Capital letters do not join or have flicks
Letters that do not join are: b, p, s, g, j, and y
O, r, w, v, and x flick from the top
Letters that have exit flicks are: a, d, h, i, k, l, m, n, t, and u
We do our s as per normal
Most letters that finish on the top line don’t join to the letter e
Already have exit flicks c, e, and q
At the end of words, the letters o, r, v and w don’t have exits.
In cursive writing the letters f, r, and z change shape. But s only changes shape when another letter joins to it.
Letter f becomes a long letter and goes down and joins back up with the next letter
For peer assessment have them check their peers pencil grip and seating position and for self assessment ask students to underline or circle their favourite one in each line.
Do you have any tricks for teaching cursive handwriting to upper primary students? What finger, hand or wrist warm-ups have you used before? We would love it if you joined the conversation by leaving a comment below.
