How to teach Cursive Writing in 5 steps?
On this page, we will show you a way to teach cursive writing in 5-steps. We have implemented this training method in our Free 15-day Cursive Writing Course.
Step 1: Teach Cursive Letter Formation
The biggest and most important part of teaching cursive writing is to help the learner understand the formation of cursive letters. Have a look at the Cursive Alphabet. Cursive letters formations are different from general writing. For example, the letter “k” in lowercase is written in the following way.
Cursive letters are written in different shapes. Unlike the traditional way of teaching from “a” to “z”, these letters are to be taught in a different order. The order we give here would help the learner to incrementally turn the hand to write cursive letters in a very easy way.
You can teach lower case cursive letters in the following sequence. We have made a free online course on Lowercase Cursive Letters (a-z) that you can refer to for your teaching.
Set 1: Letters c, o, a, d, g, q
Set 2: Letters i, u, w, t, r, s, j, p
Set 3: Letters e, l, b, f, h, k
Set 4: Letters n, m, v, y, x, z
Similarly, capital letters can be taught in the following sequence. With our free online course on Capital Cursive Letters (A-Z), you understand why this sequence is effective.
Set 5: Letters C, O, Q, E, L, G
Set 6: Letters A, M, N, S, T, F, I, J
Set 7: Letters P, R, B, H, K, D
Set 8: Letters U, V, W, X, Y, Z
The letter is better understood when the learner repeats and writes it more often. So ask them to write at least 1o-15 times. A worksheet would be useful for this practice. You can use our free printable worksheets for lowercase and capital letters to teach cursive letter formation. These worksheets have arrows to show the letter formation as well as dotted letters for better practice.
Step 2: Teach Cursive Letter Connections
After the crucial step of teaching cursive letters individually, it is time to connect the letters. You can start to teach connecting the letters as two-letter words in this sequence. These combinations need not have meaning, as they focus only on combinations. Ask the learner to practice connecting the letters in the same set.
- co, ca, cd, cg, oc, oa, od, og, oq, ac, ao, ad, ag, aq, dc, do, da, dg, dq, gc, go, ga, gd, qc, qo, qa, qd, qg
- iu, iw, it, ir, is, ij, ip, ui, uw, ut, ur, us, uj, up, wi, wu, wt, wr, ws, wj, wp, ti, tu, tw, tr, ts, tj, tp, ri, ru, rw, rt, rs, rj, rp, si, su, sw, st, sr, sj, sp, ji, ju, jw, jt, jr, js, jp, pi, pu, pw, pt, pr, ps, pj
- el, eb, ef, eh, ek, le, lb, lf, lh, lk, be, bl, bh, bk, fe, fl, fb, fh, fk, he, hb, hf, hk, ke, kl, kb, kf, kh
- nm, nv, nx, ny, nz, mn, mv, mx, my, mz, vn, vm, vy, vz, xn, xm, xy, xz, yn, ym, yv, yx, yz, zn, zm, zv, zx, zy
You can use our free printable worksheets to teach connecting c-o-a-d-g-q, i-u-w-t-r-s-j-p, e-l-b-f-h-k, n-m-v-y-x-z as two-letter words.
This sequence of connecting letters will incrementally teach connections without stressing the learner’s hand too far.
Connecting capital letters
Most of the time capital letters do not connect with other capital letters. So you can make the learner combine capital letters with small letters. The best option here is to ask them to connect with vowels.
For example,
- Ca, Ce, Ci, Co, Cu
- Wa, We, Wi, Wo, Wu,
- Ra, Re, Ri, Ro, Ru
- etc.
If you prefer using our Capital Letter Worksheets in your teaching, these combinations are already included in them.
Step 3: Teach Actual Words in Cursive
Once the learner is comfortable in connecting the cursive letters, teach 2-letter words. These words would be the real words that we often use. Below are a few words that you can ask the learner to practice.
- of, oh, on, or, ox, ad, am, at, do, go,
- if, in, is, it, we, to, so,
- ex, be, by, he,
- no, ma, me
Now raise the bar and make the learner practice 3-letter words. For example,
- can, add, dam, get
- use, win, tap, sit, pen
- egg, law, bed, few, how
- not, mug, van, you
Similarly, you can teach writing 4-letter words such as
- cook, oath, dark, give, quit
- wood, tray, sand, pick,
- each, like, blow, half, kind,
- nose, mark, yoga, zero
If you are looking for worksheets with this kind of words, we have prepared various worksheets with 2-letter words, 3-letter words, 4-letter words, 5-letter words, 6-letter words, 7-letter words, 8-letter words, 9-letter words, and 10-letter words for your easy teaching. Take a printout and use them in your teaching.
Step 4: Teach Sentences in Cursive
Now it is time to combine the words into sentences. Start with simple sentences like
- Look at the sky
- We are rich and happy
- The bus is going to come now
- Roses are red in color
Cursive is better learned when the learner thinks and understands what they are writing. Ask them to write idioms that have a deeper meaning, such as
- New brush sweeps clean
- You reap what you sow
- One flower makes no garland
- At the bottom of the ladder
Use our Sentences and Idioms worksheets where we have prepared more than 40 sentences for practicing in cursive.
Step 5: Teach Passages/Paragraphs in Cursive
In this final step, you can teach combining sentences that have a common meaning. Paragraphs focus on a particular point.
Teaching Schedule
If you need a comprehensive lesson plan to teach cursive, look at our “15-Day Cursive Writing Course” schedule.
Cursive Writing Kit
We have carefully designed and prepared a cursive writing kit for cursive writing practice. You can use this kit to teach cursive writing to your students in 15-days.
https://youtu.be/-BKhscmvSRQ
The kit contains one workbook and three practice books.
The workbook will be useful to practice
- strokes & patterns
- lowercase letters
- capital case letters
- connecting lower and capital case letters
- 2-letter words
The kit also has three practice books which will help your students to practice
- 3-letter, 4-letter and up to 10-letter words
- simple and regular sentences
- small and regular paragraphs
- writing cursive on single line paper
Evaluation
Any instructor-led training on handwriting needs continuous evaluation. This evaluation should happen at every step. In fact at each letter. As a teacher, you should see how your learner is writing. Give more focus on how the letters are formed and how they are connected.
Did you find a better and effective way to teach cursive? Let us know in the comments below.