Cursive handwritingGrades 2–4
Cursive worksheets A to Z
Prints the whole cursive alphabet with one capital and small letter pair on each ruled line. The first pair is dark to copy, and the rest of the line is grey to trace. It suits students from about second to fourth grade.
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On this page
What prints
The title is "Cursive Letters A to Z". Below it, a short instruction has the student study the dark pair opening each line, then trace the grey ones, beginning every letter at one fixed spot.
The body has 26 ruled lines, one per letter, from Aa through Zz. On each line the pair is written across the whole width: the first copy is dark, and every copy after it is light grey to write over. Guides on each line: a fine upper rule, a dashed rule at the small-letter mark, and a darker baseline. Because the pairs repeat along the line, a student gets many tries at the same joins before moving down to the next letter.
The alphabet runs onto more than one page. At the large size it takes four pages, at medium three, and at small two. The last page is padded with empty ruled lines so a student can write letters unaided.
Letter shapes are taken from Cedarville Cursive, a font by Kimberly Geswein shared under the SIL Open Font License. Its style is natural teacher handwriting, not an official school program. Expect some differences if your school follows Zaner-Bloser or D'Nealian capitals.
The settings
- Practice. Opens on "Letters A to Z". Other choices are Alphabet chart, One letter, A name, Words and Sentences.
- Letters. "Capital and small (Aa)" is the default, with "Capitals only" and "Small letters only" as alternatives.
- Line size. "Large (beginners)", "Medium" (the default here) or "Small (confident writers)". Large gives more room per stroke but needs more pages.
Tips for the session
Work on three or four letters, not the whole sheet. Cursive is a rhythm skill, and a short, calm session beats a long tense one. Ask the student to trace the dark model with a finger first, then pencil, then write one copy at the end of the line without looking.
Watch the pencil lifts. A letter pair should come out as one connected movement, with the pencil leaving the paper only to cross a t or dot an i. If the line looks stiff, slow down rather than going over it again.
Mixed in with practice, show the letters in real words. The cursive words worksheets are a natural next step, and the lowercase cursive letters page gives extra repeats of the small forms.
Worked example: a week of letters for Amira
Amira, age eight, is starting cursive at home. Her mother picks Letters: Capital and small (Aa) and Line size: Medium, then prints page one, which holds the first ten pairs, Aa through Jj.
Monday they do Aa, Bb and Cc. Amira traces each line, then writes the pair once on the last grey spot. Tuesday is Dd, Ee and Ff. By Friday she has covered Aa to Jj and picks the three she likes least for a second try. The following week they print page two and continue from Kk. Within a month, the third page covers the last pairs. Her mother notices that a few capitals look different from the ones in Amira's classroom, and she asks the teacher which style to follow.
Last note
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Sources
- Common Core State Standards: Language, Grade 1 (L.1.1.a, print all upper- and lowercase letters) thecorestandards.org
- Reading Rockets: Writing readingrockets.org