Cursive Creations Preview

Cursive CuCrsriveeaCtrieaotnionss A Beginner’s Guide to Handwriting ATrBisheagGiinlkenrsoenr’s Guide toIntoxicatedOnLife.com Handwriting Trisha Gilkerson

Cursive Creations: A Beginner’s Guide to Handwriting Intoxicated on Life • Copyright 2017 Trisha Gilkerson Publishing and Design Services: MelindaMartin.me ISBN: 978-1-946484-45-1 This workbook is licensed for family use. You may make as many copies for your own immediate family as you like, but you may not make copies for individuals outside of your immediate family or resell the workbook. If you would like to purchase your own copy, visit http://intoxicatedonlife.com





Welcome We’re excited you and your student are here on this journey to learn cursive. Typically students begin to learn cursive between the ages of 7-9, but this can vary quite a bit. Sometimes students are younger or older than this date range. Whenever you begin, the process is the same—working through the letters step-by-step and taking plenty of time to practice. Before Writing When you’re teaching cursive to your student, you want to be sure to watch for several different things as your student gets started that will help them be successful with neat handwriting. 1. Good posture. Be sure your student is sitting at an appropriate desk or table where their feet can touch the floor. Students shouldn’t slouch or lean way over too closely to their paper. They should sit up straight with their back slightly inclined toward the desk. Their writing forearm should rest on the desk. 2. Paper placement. With cursive writing, we’re looking for letters that are slightly slanted. This means, paper shouldn’t ever be placed straight in front of a student but should be tilted. For right handed students, paper should be tilted up to the right. For left handed students, paper should be tilted up to the left. 3. Pencil grip. Continue to watch your student’s pencil grip as they move into cursive handwriting. If a student does not have the appropriate grip, they will end up with writer’s cramp. Introducing Letters You’ll see that all of the lower case letters are introduced first, before students are introduced to the upper case letters. All the letters are introduced in groups that follow a similar starting pattern. Some letters start with an upward swoosh, while others begin with a hump—or another pattern altogether. 1 | IntoxicatedOnLife.com

When introducing a new letter to your student, take time, as the teacher, to walk your student through the writing process. These are important steps as your student is just in the very beginning stages of building muscle memory. 1. Demonstrate. The diagrams are there primarily for teacher use. Take the time to show your student how to write the letters on a white board, or if you don’t have a white board use a piece of paper. 2. “Air write.” Have your student use their finger to write the letter in the air along with you. 3. Finger trace. Have your student trace over the letter several times with their finger before trying to write it on their own. How Long Should the Book Take? There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer for that question, but most students should be able to complete this book in 8-12 weeks. You’ll want to introduce 2 new letters in the same pattern group. But there’s a lot of flexibility here. You can slow down and just work on one letter at a time if your student is getting frustrated, or move ahead more quickly if they are picking up on it quickly. Continue moving forward even when handwriting isn’t perfect. Your student will continue to improve with diligent practice. Remember, this book is just the very first step in cursive— learning the letter strokes and how they all connect. As your student continues to mature, so will their cursive writing style. What Comes Next? We’d recommend moving your student to a book like one of our Write Through the Bible: Intermediate books after this one. It begins with a review of the letter strokes and writing simple words, then moves students on to writing short, manageable phrases. 2 | IntoxicatedOnLife.com

Lower Case Letters: a, d, g, q, c, o All of these letters begin at the baseline and start to go up and around until they reach the top of the letter, then move back the other direction towards the baseline. \\|a |d |g |q |c |o 3 | IntoxicatedOnLife.com

|a Trace over top the letters below, then write on your own. |a |a |a |a |a |a |a |a |a |a Trace the connected letters below, then write on your own. |aa |aa |aa |aa |aa |aa |aa |aa |aa |aa |aa |aa |aa |aa 4 | IntoxicatedOnLife.com

|d Trace over top the letters below, then write on your own. |d |d |d |d |d |d |d |d |d Trace the connected letters below, then write on your own. |ad |ad |ad |ad |ad |ad |ad |da |da |da |da |da |da |da 5 | IntoxicatedOnLife.com

|g Trace over top the letters below, then write on your own. |g |g |g |g |g |g |g |g |g Trace the connected letters below, then write on your own. |dag |gad |gda |agd |adg |agd |dga |gda |adg |gad 6 | IntoxicatedOnLife.com

|q Trace over top the letters below, then write on your own. |q |q |q |q |q |q |q |q |q Trace the connected letters below, then write on your own. |qdag |gadq |gaqd |dqag |daqq |aqdq |dqqa |adaq 7 | IntoxicatedOnLife.com

|c Trace over top the letters below, then write on your own. |c |c |c |c |c |c |c |c |c |c Trace the connected letters below, then write on your own. |cad |qac |dcas |aqdc |dqc |dac |aqc |cas |acds |ccdq 8 | IntoxicatedOnLife.com

|o Trace over top the letters below, then write on your own. |o |o |o |o |o |o |o |o |o |o Trace the connected letters below, then write on your own. |cod |coda |goad |doo |goo |cog |ago |doc |coo |dog Note to parents: o’s end at the midline, not the baseline. This means the letter following an o will need to be slightly altered. Your student may need some extra help learning how to connect the letters properly. 9 | IntoxicatedOnLife.com

Practice writing words using the letters we know. |gap |gap |coda |coda |goad |goad |dog |dog |doc |doc |cog |cog |ago |ago |cod |cod |ado |ado 10 | IntoxicatedOnLife.com

Lower Case Letters: t, i, u, w These letters curve straight up and then retract back down almost to the baseline before curving back up again. |t |i |u |w 11 | IntoxicatedOnLife.com

|t Trace over top the letters below, then write on your own. |t |t |t |t |t |t |t |t |t |t Trace the connected letters below, then write on your own. |coat |taco |goat |tag |to |toad |qat |act |got |cat 12 | IntoxicatedOnLife.com

|i Trace over top the letters below, then write on your own. |i |i |i |i |i |i |i |i |i |i Trace the connected letters below, then write on your own. |dicot |qaid |acid |it |gait |iota |tic |adit |did |tiga 13 | IntoxicatedOnLife.com

|u Trace over top the letters below, then write on your own. |u |u |u |u |u |u |u |u |u Trace the connected letters below, then write on your own. |quota |audio |quit |gut |duct |gut |duo |auto |tug 14 | IntoxicatedOnLife.com

|w Trace over top the letters below, then write on your own. |w |w |w |w |w |w |w |w Trace the connected letters below, then write on your own. |twig |wadi |wait |cow |caw |wig |dow |wit |wag Note to parents: w’s end at the midline, not the baseline. This means the letter following a w will need to be slightly altered. Your student may need some extra help learning how to connect the letters properly. 15 | IntoxicatedOnLife.com

Practice writing words using the letters we know. |acquit |acquit |wait |wait |cow |cow |coat |coat |taco |taco |iota |iota |toga |toga |auto |auto |gato |gato 16 | IntoxicatedOnLife.com

Lower Case Letters: j, p, r, s Each of these letters go straight up towards the midline, but then follow their own pattern. |j |p |r |s 17 | IntoxicatedOnLife.com

Pages 18 - 78 RReemmoovveedd for preview purrppoosseess

Books of the Bible: Extra Practice B|ooks |of |the B|ible 79 | IntoxicatedOnLife.com

Practice writing the names of the books of the Bible. O|ld T|estament G|enesis Exodus Leviticus 80 | IntoxicatedOnLife.com