Handwriting

Handwriting is the art of forming letters and words on paper using a pen or pencil.

Correct posture

Before we start to handwrite we need to make sure we are in the correct posture:

1. Feet flat on the floor
2. Back against the back of the chair
3. Stomach lightly touching the table in front

Warming up

To prevent injury it's important to warm up our hands, fingers, wrists with some warm up exercises.

Handwriting patterns

We use handwriting patterns to get us used to forming the shapes used in letters - we can use zig zags, looping and straight hills.

Tripod grip & paper layout

When we handwrite we need to use the tripod grip, this involves gripping your pencil or pen between your thumb and first finger and supporting it with your second finger. Keep the fingers bent and bring the pen the paper so the thumb is underneath.

The paper should be at a diagonal facing towards your writing hand, this ensures your paper and pen are aligned in the same direction.

Tramlines

When learning to write tramlines are used to help us write neatly. Tramlines are made up of four lines, in order from the top they are:

1. Ascender line
2. X-height line
3. Baseline
4. Descender line