Teaching: Handwriting Year 1 – 2

creating meaning for themselves or others

Achievement objectives

Level 1 English

Speaking, Writing, and Presenting

Processes and strategies

Students will:

Acquire and begin to use sources of information, processes, and strategies to identify, form, and express ideas.

Indicators:

• has an awareness of the connections between oral, written, and visual language when creating text
• creates texts by using meaning, structure, visual and grapho-phonic sources of information, prior knowledge, and some processing strategies with some confidence
• seeks feedback and makes changes to texts
• is becoming reflective about the production of own texts
• begins to monitor, self-evaluate, and describe progress.

Learning Objectives

Purposes and audiences

Recognise how to shape texts for a purpose and an audience.

Indicators:

• constructs texts that demonstrate some awareness of purpose and audience through appropriate choice of content, language, and text form
• expects the texts they create to be understood, responded to, and appreciated by others
• is developing and conveying personal voice where appropriate.

Ideas

Form and express ideas on a range of topics.

Indicators:

• forms and expresses simple ideas and information, usually drawing from personal experience and knowledge
• begins to support ideas with some detail.

Language features

Use language features, showing some recognition of their effects.

Indicators:

• uses some oral, written, and visual language features to create meaning and effect
• uses a range of high-frequency, topic-specific, and personal-content words to create meaning
• spells some high-frequency words correctly and begins to use some common spelling patterns
• begins to use some strategies to self-correct and monitor spelling
• writes most letters and number forms legibly when creating texts
• begins to gain control of text conventions, such as: capital letters and full stops; some basic grammatical conventions; volume, clarity, and tone; and simple symbols.

Structure

Organise texts, using simple structures.

Indicators:

• uses knowledge of word and sentence order to communicate meaning in simple texts
• begins to sequence ideas and information
• uses simple sentences with some variation in beginnings
• may attempt compound and complex sentences.

Building Alphabet Knowledge

Building alphabet knowledge (learning letter names, recognising both lower-case and upper-case
formats, and matching letters with their sounds) is a strong focus in year 1 classrooms. With new
learners, avoid focusing on letters that are visually similar (such as “b” and “d” or “n” and “u”) at the
same time. Also, as noted in previous sections, the sounds of some letters can be easily confused
across languages (see Learning through Talk, page 21).

For clarity, use the name of the letter rather than its sound when referring to single letters. There are
letters that have more than one sound and some sounds that can be made by more than one letter.
These are areas to explore after the students are reasonably confident with their alphabet knowledge.
Vowels are an exception to this general rule. If you are focusing on a particular vowel sound, it is
better to refer to the sound rather than the letter name so that the students are very clear about what
sound to listen for.

Writing

When writing, students need to be able to hear the sounds in words before they can attempt to write
them. Teacher modelling of the slow stretching of words during shared writing provides explicit
opportunities for developing students’ abilities to hear and articulate the sequence of sounds within
words. (If some students have difficulty distinguishing or articulating sounds, see Learning through
Talk pages 31–38 and 70–71 for further information.)

Writing requires the child to pay close attention to the words he has chosen to write in his story, to hear the sounds in those words and to write down letters that will represent those sounds. It is an activity well suited to developing phonemic awareness.

Clay, 2016, page 93

Teaching Handwriting

The Aim of Teaching Handwriting

In primary schools, the aim of teaching handwriting is to teach each child to write legibly, fluently, without strain, and with sufficient speed for all practical purposes.

The purpose of using the same system in all schools is to produce continuity and consistency in the teaching and learning of handwriting.

Teachers should not rigidly insist on the precise, standardised reproduction of model letter shapes, but should emphasise rather the way the pencil or pen is moved to form the letters. The central theme of this booklet is that, to achieve the aim, a child’s task is to learn efficient movements rather than to copy model shapes.

Basic Lowercase Script

Cursive Style Basic Script

Basic Capital Script

Letter Groups

Numeral Script

Consistency of Movement and Shape

“It is not the shapes of letters which is of first importance when teaching handwriting. The prime lesson to be learnt is the way in which the pencil … should be moved to form the letters.” (Jarman6)

Sequence of Instruction

The main stages in teaching children handwriting at primary school generally are:

• teaching grip, letter shapes and movements;
• teaching ligatures;
• increasing speed and endurance without loss of quality.

It is a mistake to try to teach children to write before they are ready.

Verbalisation

In the context of handwriting, verbalisation means that the children watch and listen as the teacher models the letter and describes the movements, “Start at the top, down to the line, up, over, down, stop.”

The children then repeat the directions aloud as they practise the letter. As their confidence grows, they can assist in describing the sequence of movements. Research confirms that language has a vital place to play in focussing a young child’s attention on letter shapes and movements (Markoff8) and that learning is more effective if the children verbalise while they copy than if they do not verbalise. (Furner9)

Verbalisation should include reference to the starting point, direction of stroke, and stopping point. Both teacher and pupils should verbalise to reinforce the important visual cues. Immediate feedback and correction is vital so that children do not fix incorrect forms in their minds by repeating them. This is particularly important when children are first learning to write.

The technique should not become an unthinking, ritual chant. Verbalisation should be discontinued when starting points and direction of movement become established.

Letter Formation: Teaching Writing Strokes

Printing letters (manuscript) is a developmentally appropriate first step for handwriting instruction in kindergarten through grade 2. Letters can be grouped based on size and alignment. There are short letters (a, c, e, i, m, n, o, r, s, u, v, w, x, z), tall letters (b, d, f, h, k, l, t), and letters that extend below the line (g, j, p, q, y). Students should be taught a consistent way to form a given letter every time they write it, and then practice forming that letter many times to develop automatic and fluent handwriting skills. 

• b: Start at the top with a vertical stroke, then make the loop to the right without lifting the pencil rather than form the line and the loop in separate strokes.
• m: Start at the top and draw the line down, then trace back up to start the first curve, then trace back up the first curve to make the second curve.
• https://keystoliteracy.com/blog/teaching-handwriting/

Students benefit from explicit instruction in how to form letters. This includes the teacher modeling by verbally explaining how to form a letter. Rhymes or songs can be used to help students remember the steps to form letters.

Students also benefit from lots of practice writing letters. Brief practice sessions are more effective than longer, periodic sessions. In the early grades, daily practice of 5-10 minutes per day is recommended. Students may need multiple opportunities (at least 5-10 times) to practice a letter using a variety of different practice formats such as copying and tracing on paper, or by tracing letters in something that gives tactile reinforcement (e.g., sand, rice, shaving cream). (Coker & Ritchey, 2015)

Instructional Suggestions:

• Encourage students to begin all uppercase letters from the top and lowercase letters from the middle or top.
• Practice letters in groups that have similar shapes so students have practice reinforcing the same motor pattern. Examples:
• straight-line letters: i, l, t
  • letters that start with a small c shape: a, c, d, g, o, q, s
  • letters that start with a straight line down and then come back up and over to form a bump: b, h, m, n, p, r
  • diagonal letters (more difficult to form): k, v, w, x, y, z
• Spiral back each day to review previously taught letters.

• At first, focus on having students learn the correct motor movement to form a word. Focus attention on legibility once there is motor memory.
• Always provide visual guidance for what a letter should look like and use visual aids such as arrow cues for stroke direction and dotted letters for tracing.

Verbal Path for Lower Case and Upper Case Printing Formation

Lower Case Formation

• a pull back, around, up, and down
• b pull down, up, around
• c pull back and around
• d pull back, around, up, and down
• e pull across, back and around
• f pull back, down, and cross
• g pull back, around, up, down and under
• h pull down, up, over, and down
• i pull down, dot
• j pull down, curve around, dot
• k pull down, pull in, pull out
• m pull down, up, over, down and up, over and down
• n pull down, up, over and down
• o pull back and around
• p pull down, up, and around
• q pull back, around, up, down and up
• r pull down, up, and over
• s pull back, in, around, and back
• t pull down and cross
• u pull down, around, up, and down
• v slant down, up
• w slant down, up, down, up
• x slant down, slant down
• y slant in, slant and down
• z across, slant down, and cross

Upper Case Formation

• A slant down, slant down, across
• B pull down, up, around and in, around and in
• C pull back and around
• D pull down, up and around
• E pull down, across, across, and across
• F pull down, across, across
• G pull back, around, across
• H pull down, pull down, across
• I pull down, across, across
• J pull down, curve around, across
• K pull down, slant in, slant out
• l pull down L pull down, across
• M pull down, slant down, slant down, pull down
• N pull down, slant down, pull up
• O pull back and around
• P pull down, up, and around
• Q pull back and around, cross
• R pull down, up, around, down, in, and slant down
• S pull back, in, around, down, and back around
• T pull down, across
• U pull down, around, up
• V slant down, slant up
• W slant down, up, down, up
• X slant down, slant down
• Y slant in, slant, and down
• Z across, slant down, across

Basic Movements

There are a variety of ways in which letters may be grouped for instruction; one method is to group letters based on similar movements. Teach letters with straight lines first because young children can make these more easily than those with curves.

Letters with descending strokes and tails could be grouped for additional instruction focussing on tails. (Lower case basic script c, s, and f could also fit here.)

Care should be taken to see that basic script o is written as an oval. Encourage children to try to write basic script e and c almost “straight-backed” to avoid the tendency for these letters to become too rounded.

After initial teaching, basic script q and u should be practised together in their usual spelling association.

Letters may be distinguished by their ascending or descending strokes, by “bridges” (as in basic script n and m), and by under-curves (as in u and y).

Capital Letters

Teaching of the capital letters is usually left until children are able to write most of the lower case letters from memory with reasonable accuracy. However, most children will use capital letters for written work before meeting them in handwriting lessons.

Teach children to bring the middle point of capital basic script M down to the base line, and the middle point of capital W level with the outer arms. This makes the letter easier to form because children do not have to guess the mid-point of the letter.

Handwriting Groupings

Graphological approach

The graphological approach (see Appendix 2a) is based on the hand and finger movements used to form the letters. It is particularly helpful for learners with poor fine motor skills or who need extra practice to develop automaticity of correct letter formation

Phonological approach

This approach ensures that similar looking and sounding letters are taught well apart and so it helps beginning readers and writers to avoid confusions over grapho–phonological (letter–sound) correspondence.
The Carnine Order (Carnine et al 2004) sets out a very effective sequence for this approach, although it
includes upper-case as well as lower-case letters. If the upper-case letters (which begin to be included between the lower-case letters ‘y’ and ‘x’) are removed from the order, the sequence of the lower-case letters is as follows:

An integrated or thematic approach

Many educators choose to integrate learning across several areas of the curriculum in order to provide rich learning experiences and also to help manage an overcrowded curriculum.

Explicit teaching

‘There is a clear link between effective teaching and explicit teaching’ and Edwards-Grove (1999) makes the point that explicit teaching actually promotes a shift towards ‘learning-centred’ programs of literacy by letting the learners in on the big secret of what specific learning is going on.

Explicit teaching can help to prevent poor handwriting by clearly indicating the relationships between letters and the relationship of each letter to the writing base line (the line on which the bodies of the letters sit).

Introduction of the letters in groups according to their patterns of formation ensures that letters such as b and d would be introduced at different times and related to different letter groups. This can limit confusion about letter formation and reduce the incidence of letter reversals.

Lesson focus

In the explicit teaching of handwriting, each lesson should have a clear and simple focus (eg the correct formation of a single letter, revision of a group of letters such as those requiring clockwise movements, the introduction of a particular aspect of linking such as hooks, or the practice of linking letters in commonly found patterns). Letters should be taught in groups depending on their movement patterns.

The Teacher’s Style

It is essential that teachers learn the basic script and the cursive style so that the samples of writing children see on blackboards, whiteboards, and wall charts will provide them with good models. Not all teachers will be able to demonstrate perfect models of letter shapes to their pupils, but they can demonstrate the correct movements for each letter, and can assist each child to learn and then master them. The teacher’s task is to demonstrate how the movements are made. Handwriting is a system of movements. A sample alphabet or copies of letters produced for pupils can only show shapes, not
movements.

Posture

At times, children will write draft copies of their work while standing up, while they are lying or sitting on the floor, or when they are outside the classroom. However, good posture should be positively emphasised during handwriting instruction and when the children are writing final copies for others to read.

There is no single correct posture for all children, but the following points give a guide to posture which encourages them to relax and helps them to write with ease.

• The children should sit comfortably, facing a table of appropriate size.
• They should rest their feet flat on the floor, although not necessarily together.
• They should keep their body upright, but tilted slightly forward towards the desk.
• They should keep their book or paper immediately in front of them to ensure that their hand and eye movements are co-ordinated. (This may be disrupted if the paper is to one side.)

Paper Positioning

Right-handers should turn the paper slightly from the vertical in an anticlockwise direction. Left-handers will find it easier if they turn the paper in a clockwise direction at more of an angle than for right-handers. It is important that the correct position be taught from the beginning to prevent left-handers adopting the “hook” position. (Refer to page 22.)

Children should hold the paper with the hand they do not use for writing. They should be encouraged to keep their paper or book well up on the desk to enable much of the forearm to rest on the desk. Such a position helps them to control the fine motor movements used in writing.

Holding a Pencil

There are physical differences in children’s hands and fingers which cause some variation in the way children hold a pencil.

Standards of Work

However, when teachers are considering the standard of children’s handwriting, they should take into account the equally important qualities of legibility and speed.

Children need to see the objective that the teacher has set as one that they can attain.

On the other hand, the teacher should not passively accept everything that children produce. Helping children to judge the suitability of their work in relation to the task they are undertaking involves evaluation.

Evaluation

Some important criteria by which teachers can evaluate children’s handwriting are:
• its general appearance and legibility;
• its consistency in shape, size, slope, and spacing within and between words;
• its speed;
• the amount of pressure applied;
• the writer’s physical co-ordination and fluency of movement.

A vital consideration is the quality of each child’s writing in relation to his or her co-ordination, and the effort the child makes to produce work of quality.
When children have made even minor improvements in their handwriting, positive comments will encourage them to improve yet further.

Assessment techniques

Ongoing observation
Ongoing observation and anecdotal records can be
undertaken and maintained by the educator.

Peer assessment
Learners can also observe others’ skills and behaviour.
Learners are asked, for example, to ‘Check your partner’s
pencil grip’ and ‘Check your partner’s seating position’.

Conferencing

Conferencing with individuals can take place during
explicit modelled handwriting and other written tasks.
Using self-assessment, learners check and identify
their progress in their skills and behaviour before the
conference. Learners could:
• underline their best letters and/or words in a
line of handwriting and explain their choice
• compare their letter formation to display charts
in the classroom.

Pupils’ Evaluation of Their Work

All children can be encouraged to evaluate their own writing from the earliest stages. However, they need regular help from the teacher in order to perceive the differences between their own writing and that of the model. (Markoff8)

Teachers can help children identify inefficiencies in their personal style by comparing their writing with examples showing consistency in shape, size, slope, and spacing within and between words. They can do this by discussing errors and how to correct them with an individual child, or by discussing common errors with a group.

Instructional Errors

Hofmeister describes five common errors in the teaching of handwriting.

• Massed practice without supervision. There is no evidence to suggest that practice alone will cause handwriting to improve. Just the opposite is a real possibility.
• No immediate feedback given. The handwriting act involves motor movements. One would not wait twenty minutes to correct a tennis player’s volley, and the same is true of handwriting. A delay in feedback often means allowing the child to practise inappropriate handwriting skills, making the remediation even more difficult.
• Emphasis on rote practice rather than discrimination. Perhaps the most important skill children should acquire is the ability to compare their efforts with a model and determine for themselves the changes necessary.
• Failure to provide good models. Models and not verbal instruction will be the main way many children learn best. But the teacher’s own blackboard or whiteboard work may be poor or, as the child reaches the bottom of a copy-book page, the model on the top line will be far away, and the child may be using his or her own efforts as a model.
• No differentiation between good and bad work. Too often the consequences of trying to improve are the same as not trying, especially when teachers reward good work with more work, or give the same amount of practice to letters done well as they do to letters done poorly.

Left-handed children should turn the paper from the vertical in a clockwise direction (the opposite direction from the right-handed position). Diagrams A, B, and C show, in order, the three most efficient positions. (Enstrom14)

When left-handed children adopt the “hook” or “round-the-corner” position for their hand in an effort to see their writing, they may have difficulty in achieving a fast, fluent style.

Pedagogical Approaches To Teaching Writing

Shared writing

Shared writing involves the teacher and a group of students – often the whole class – in planning and constructing a text together. The teacher models and talks through the process of constructing a text (or part of one), giving explicit instruction in how to use writing strategies during the shared writing process. The students contribute their ideas and expertise to the process of constructing the text. 

Shared writing provides a supportive instructional setting in which (depending on their students’ learning needs) teachers can:

• model the process of writing 
• explain and model the use of the conventions of written text 
• explicitly teach writing strategies 
• analyse how words are constructed 
• focus on letters, words, and letter-sound relationships 
• explore letter clusters, words within words, and patterns of spelling 
• model strategies for checking and improving spelling, syntax, and punctuation 
• model strategies for rereading and revising texts 
• develop students’ vocabulary and their knowledge of syntax and idiom 
• show students how to choose language to convey emotion or to persuade an audience 
• demonstrate the use of a range of forms and structures in written language 
• develop students’ sense of an author’s purpose and of the different audiences for different types of text.

During shared writing, as the teacher prompts, gives feedback, explains, and questions, valuable conversations arise between the teacher and students and also among students.

Interactive writing

In “interactive writing”, a variation of shared writing, all the children are involved in scribing the common text. Each child needs a marker or pencil and a small whiteboard or clipboard. The teacher leads the writing, but all the children write down the text themselves, sometimes copying and sometimes writing known letters and words themselves.

Interactive writing is most effective with a small group. It provides a safe and supportive environment for reluctant writers, for NESB students (students from non-English-speaking backgrounds), and for any students who need to give intensive attention to features of the English language.

Guided writing

In guided writing, as in guided reading, the student progressively takes control of the writing process. The teacher usually works with a group on a focused task. The teacher knows what the students have already learned, what their needs and interests are, and what their next learning steps will be. These steps are generally identified as the learning goals for a writing task that follows on from a model provided during shared writing. The students construct their texts individually, working with the ideas about writing already developed with the teacher. The teacher supports them in working out how best to convey their message to the intended audience.

Independent writing

Independent writing gives students opportunities to explore ideas that interest them and to practise what they have learned during shared and guided writing. Students need opportunities to write simply and honestly about their own experiences and things that matter a lot to them and to share their writing. Teachers provide a good model when they share their own writing and are as honest and specific in their writing as they expect their students to be.

When the students are writing on their own, the teacher can observe their writing and note their progress. Teachers should be ready to support or guide when necessary, but they need to be sensitive about intervening in a way that might interrupt a writer’s train of thought or reduce their sense of ownership of their writing. Writing should always be an enjoyable activity. Students should look forward to sharing their writing with a teacher who helps them to reflect critically on what they have written and to consider how the reader will feel when reading it.

Handwriting or keyboarding in primary schools?

Handwriting should be the dominant recording skill taught in the first three years of schooling followed by the addition of keyboarding skills in Years 3 to 6 (Mackenzie & Spokes, 2018)

The physical act of handwriting benefits early literacy learners because the kinaesthetic action contributes to greater recognition and memorisation of letters. Handwriting practice produced better letter recognition in students than those who solely used typing and digital devices (Longcamp, Zerbato-Poudou & Velay, 2005).

Students who have difficulty with handwriting spend most of their energy directed towards the motor process rather than thinking creatively or developing their ideas. Poor handwriting results in less length and quality of content (Cahill, 2009; Graham, 2010; Medwell & Wray, 2007). 

Handwriting skills needs to become automated to free up working memory. The ability to use orthographic fluency (that is the skill of forming letters, groups of letters and words efficiently and automatically) is necessary so that higher order cognitive skills can be allocated to the thinking and composing of text (Case-Smith, Holland & Bishop, 2011; Jones & Christensen, 1999; Medwell & Wray, 2007; 2014).

Letters

Students learn about the features of letters:

• Body, head (or ascender), tail (or descender) e.g.
• some letters have a body only
• some letters have a body and a head
• some letters have a body and a tail.

Exits – letters have exits which help with speed of writing, and eventually are used in joined writing.

Entries – letters have entries which help maintain top joining and continuity of the writing movement for speedy writing.

Joins – these are not actually part of the letter structure; they are used for speedy writing; joined writing combines entries and exits.

Parallelism – the basic strokes of letters are parallel.

Teaching NZ Cursive

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