Cursive handwritingGrades 2–4
Cursive F
A one-letter cursive page for F and f, with a big model, tracing lines for both cases, and three practice words. It suits children in grades 2 to 4 who are working on tall and long letters.
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On this page
Small f is the only cursive letter that stretches both above and below the line, with a loop on each side. That makes it feel hard at first, but the motion is one smooth figure eight.
On the page
One letter, one page. The big Ff model leads, and a caption beside it gives the print version plus the words fish, fan, fun. Underneath are seven kinds of row in order: capitals twice, small letters twice, the fff chain, then each practice word, and a spare empty line to finish. Dark first copies show where to begin; the grey copies are for tracing.
Cedarville Cursive, an open-licence font by Kimberly Geswein, draws every letter here. It reads as natural teacher handwriting, so expect small differences from a school's official chart. Capital F on the model has a curve at the top and a crossing stroke through the stem.
Options
- Letter. A drop-down of all 26 pairs. This page opens on F f.
- Line size. Large for beginners, Medium, or Small for confident writers; it starts at Medium.
How to form small f
Start on the baseline with an upstroke that climbs to the top line and loops back to the left. Bring the stem straight down, past the baseline, to the bottom line of the descender. Loop to the left and up, crossing the stem at the baseline, and end with a flick to the right. The two loops are about the same size.
How to form capital F
Begin near the top with a small curve, bring a long stem down to the baseline, and lift. Add a crossbar through the stem near the middle, running left to right. Some programs write this in one stroke and others in two. Not every program agrees on capitals. Zaner-Bloser style is described here; D'Nealian and the sample on the page may take another path.
Letter group and joins
Small f is a loop letter that starts as an undercurve. In many programs it sits with l, h and k as a tall letter, and its lower loop makes it kin to g, j, y and z.
The lower loop closes at the baseline, so the next letter can start right there. In 'fish', the flick from the lower loop runs into the i. If the descender is skipped, the join lands in the wrong place.
Common slips
Kids often skip the lower loop and cut f short at the baseline, which makes it look like a tall l. Another slip is a lower loop that falls to the right, away from the stem, so the crossing point is lost. The upper loop can also grow so wide that it bumps the letter before it.
Worked example: writing fan
Priya, age eight, works on 'fan'. She traces the f while saying 'up, loop, down, loop, cross'. The first try has a long tail that does not cross the stem; she retraces it to see where the crossing belongs. By the third row, the crossing lands on the baseline and the a begins directly from there. She checks that the tall loop is the same height as her d's, then writes fan on the spare line.
Next steps
When f feels steady, go on to cursive g or compare it with the whole cursive alphabet chart. Before this letter, you may want cursive E.