Poor Handwriting
Common Things that Contribute to Poor Handwriting
Posture sprawling on desk
holding head up with one hand
knees not under desk & aligned with paper
Pencil Grip awkward
incorrect fingers used to hold pencil
Writing on the writing in the space in top margin
lines writing along the bottom edge of the paper under last line
not writing on the lines
Starting at the not starting at the left margin
margins indent too large (should only be the width of a finger)
Spacing too much space between words – like in primary (should only be the width of
the letter m)
Speed slow – lack focus, no continuous writing
slow – needs to think of letter formation while writing
lack of speed means that student cannot keep up with transcribing notes from
the board - constantly behind
too fast - writing becomes illegible - even student cannot read own writing
Neatness smudged, blotchy
irregular letter size
Writing tools pencil not sharpened well enough
pencil lead is too hard - writing is very light & hard to read
pencil lead is too soft - smudges
writing tools not at hand, lost, misplaced, time wasted
writing tools not at hand, lost, misplaced, time wasted
Proper Posture
Proper Pencil Grip
Activities in Classroom
To increase speed & fluency:
MMP (Mad Minute Printing) or MMC (Mad Minute Cursive) for 1 to 3 minutes - to race
the clock & improve on personal best time
record letters per minute (lpm)
Printing Goals: gr. 3 - 40 lpm, gr. 4 – 50 lpm, gr. 5 – 60 lpm, gr. 6 – 67 lpm
Use a variety of things to write such as:
"the red fox jumped over the lazy dog" - every letter once
"pack my box with five dozen lacquer jugs" - every letter once
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabc.... - the alphabet
FMTW (Five Minute Timed Writing) - mostly reflective writing on experiences or articles
for the class yearbook - in both printing & cursive
record words per minute (wpm)
In note-taking & in Agenda - use abbreviations & symbols to develop own shorthand for
speed
Handwriting Objectives
Legibility - Handwriting needs to be legible to the writer and intended reader.
Fluency - Handwriting needs to flow so the writer can record thoughts without struggle.
Printing
In grade 4, students are expected to print legibly and without hesitation. Some of the important
things are:
correct letter formation
consistent size
capital and tall letters are about twice as large as short letters
writing is on the line
clear lines are made with sharp pencils, neat erasures
adequate speed in writing (about 40 to 50 letters per minute - lpm)
proper pencil grip
proper posture
the head is solely supported by the neck while writing
Printed Letters
Follow the direction arrows when writing the letters & numbers.
Cursive
At the beginning of grade 4,students should know how to form cursive letters and be able to
write in cursive while referring to an alphabet chart for some assistance.
By the end of October, students are expected to be able to write in cursive without needing to
check an alphabet chart. Some notes will need to be written solely in cursive.
By the end of grade 4, students should be able to read their own cursive writing without
hesitation and be able to read well-written cursive writing from others.
For exercises to improve cursive writing, check the following: Handwriting For Kids. Some of the
important objectives for cursive writing are:
speed
correct letter formation
reading & writing handwriting of others
lettering
Cursive Letters
Follow the direction arrows when writing the letters.
Keyboarding
Keyboarding is just another means of writing. In grade 4, lessons in proper keyboarding
techniques will be completed. Proper fingering and posture is encouraged since these
contribute to speed & fluency in writing.
There is a difference between keyboarding and word processing. The goal of keyboarding is to
make the student so familiar with the keyboard that writing happens without thought being
given to the location of the letters on the keyboard. If a student types les that 10 w.p.m. (words
per minute), then he/she lacks familiarity with the keyboard. Even students who "hunt & peck"
with 2 fingers but who know the keyboard can type at 10 wpm. There is also no need to type
faster that 30 wpm, since most students cannot compose quality writing faster than that. Even
adults cannot compose a page of quality writing in less than 10 minutes. The goal at this stage is
not to train the student to be a "typist" of work created by others. The goal is to allow the
student to use the computer as just another writing tool.
Resources & Interesting Sites
Handwriting from Print to Cursive Writing published by The York Region Board of Education,
Curriculum Guideline February 1995
Italic writing http://www.studioarts.net/calligraphy/italic/curriculum.html - an interesting
concept on how to improve learning cursive writing
RESOURCE:
http://www.gmbservices.ca/Jr/Handwriting.htm
