Handwriting and tracingGrades 1–3
Handwriting practice sheets
Short sentences print in grey on primary-ruled lines, with an empty line under each for the child to copy it. You can type your own sentences. It suits first through third graders building neat, steady printing.
- Type your details or print blank
- Print or PDF, Letter or A4
- Free, no sign-up
On this page
What prints
The page is titled "Sentence Writing Practice". Each sentence appears in light grey on a ruled line, with a thin top line, a dashed midline and a darker baseline. Directly under it is an empty ruled line of the same size. The child traces the grey sentence and then writes it again below, copying from the one above. The instruction printed on the sheet also reminds children to leave a finger space between words.
If you type nothing, the sheet uses seven built-in sentences, starting with "I can read a book." and "The sun is hot." and ending with the pangram "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." At the medium size that fills two pages.
Unlike the letter pages, no copy is dark. Every sentence is grey, because a sentence is traced once rather than repeated across the line. A sentence that is too long for the width is shrunk to fit, so very long ones come out small.
The settings
- Practice. Set to "Sentences".
- Sentences, one per line. Up to 400 characters across 8 lines. Type each sentence on its own line. Leave it empty to use the built-in set.
- Line size. Medium (grades 1 to 2) is the default. Large (pre-K and K) makes tall letters and fewer lines, and Small (grades 3 and up) gives narrow lines for older writers.
Because each sentence takes two lines, a page at the medium size holds five sentences. Eight typed sentences print over two pages.
Getting more from the page
The best sentences are ones the child can read without help. Write them from the child's own life: the pet's name, a spelling word, a line from a book they are reading. The printed sentence is then both handwriting practice and a small reading and spelling check.
Watch for three things as the child writes.
- Letters sitting on the baseline instead of floating above it.
- Tall letters reaching the top line and short ones stopping at the dashed line.
- A finger space between words, and a capital at the start with a period at the end.
Handwriting that is automatic leaves attention free for what to say. The IES practice guide on elementary writing recommends building fluency with handwriting, spelling and sentence construction for that reason. Keep each session short and look at quality, not quantity.
Worked example: spelling words in sentences
A second-grade teacher is working on the words "friend", "because" and "school". In the sentences box she types three lines:
My friend rides the bus to school. I stayed home because it rained. We read at school with a friend.
She keeps the medium size and prints one page. Students trace each grey sentence, then copy it onto the empty line beneath without looking back more than once per word. She checks the capital letters and periods, and she circles one well-formed word on each line.
For a follow-up on those words, there is the spelling practice worksheet, and for editing skills there are capitalization worksheets.