Hi, everybody, it's Ms. Gardner, and welcome to today's handwriting lesson.

In today's lesson, we're going to be reviewing what we've learned about cursive handwriting throughout the unit, but this time in the context of a kennings poem.

So I'm really looking forward to it.

I hope you enjoy the lesson and let's get started.

Your learning outcome for today's lesson is to correctly copy out a poem in cursive handwriting.

Let's start with the keywords.

We'll do my turn, your turn.

Poem.

A poem is a piece of writing that uses creative and rhythmic language to express thoughts, feelings, or ideas, and often with a specific structure or poem.

Kenning poem.

This is a poem constructed using a series of kennings to describe a person, object, or concept.

Join.

This is how the letters are connected together.

Letter string.

This is a group of letters that are written together in a word.

So there are two sections of our lesson today.

In the first, we'll be doing a handwriting warmup and then we'll be reviewing and copying a kenning poem.

So let's start with our warmup.

Before we start, what are these pictures reminding you to do? Have a think by yourself or chat with the person next to you or as a class.

Pause the video now.

Okay, so the first picture is reminding us to be sat on a chair, at a table or a desk, to have your feet flat on the floor and your back against the chair.

The second picture is reminding you to angle your paper correctly, so if you're right-handed, have it slightly tilted to the left.

If you're left-handed, have the paper slightly tilted to the right.

And then your non-writing hand supports you by holding down the paper so that it doesn't move around.

Then finally, the third picture is reminding us to hold our panel pencil in the tripod grip.

Before starting to write, it's really important to warm up your hands and your wrist muscles.

Your hands and wrists get stronger when you exercise them.

So the more you exercise them, the stronger they'll be.

Warming up your hands before writing will help to improve your handwriting or make it neater and you'll be able to write in cursive for longer.

So it's a really good thing to do.

So let's do today's warmup.

Let's have a go at doing the finger touch warmup.

I'm going to have a go first and then you'll be able to have a go afterwards.

So with the finger touch warmup, you're going to put your hands like this, open like this, and you're going to imagine you've got some Play-Doh on your thumb, resting on your thumb.

Then you're going to touch the Play-Doh with your first finger, then your next finger, then your next, then your little finger, and then you can go backwards, little finger first this time, then this finger, then this finger, then this finger, imagining you're touching that Play-Doh.

You can go a little bit faster if you want to.

Back, touching it again.

And let's get your other hand.

This time, you're imagining the Play-Doh to be on your other thumb and you're gonna touch the Play-Doh with your first finger, then your next, then your next, then your next, then backwards there.

Touch, touch.

And then you can get really fun, you can do both hands together.

Little fingers, first fingers and then backwards.

Okay, it's your turn.

You need to now choose either your right hand, your left hand, or both hands, it doesn't matter.

Choose which hand you want to start with.

Imagine your Play-Doh is on your thumb and then start touching it, each finger on the Play-Doh, pressing it down, backwards.

Maybe get both hands this time, touching each finger on the imaginary Play-Doh.

I hope you can imagine the Play-Doh there and the texture of the Play-Doh that's quite soft, you're pushing down on it.

And really good way to warm up your fingers ahead of handwriting.

Great job.

Let's use the wiper wrist technique to warm up for handwriting.

This is a really good technique, because not only does it warm up your wrists, but it also is a great chance to use your imagination.

So you are going to imagine your wrists are your windscreen wipers.

You're in a car, so you can imagine you're in a bus or a taxi or a car or a van, whatever, and you're driving wherever you want to drive, but it is pouring with rain and it's not very easy to see if you're driving and there's rain splattering on the windscreen.

So we need to use windscreen wipers.

So we're going to imagine our hands are windscreen wipers and we're going to wave them left and right, speeding it up a little bit, because the rain's getting harder to wipe the windscreen clear so that we can see.

So now your turn.

Get your hands ready, pretend they're windscreen wipers, and let's start wiping the screen clean slowly and then the rain's getting harder.

So it goes, speed up, speed up, speed up, and slow down again.

And now your wrists should be feeling really warmed up and ready for some handwriting.

Great job.

Another good thing to do before you start your cursive handwriting is to practise some writing patterns, as this helps us to prepare for writing and for joining letters.

You can see the writing patterns on the screen here.

All will require similar hand and wrist movements as cursive handwriting, so it's a really useful task for warming up.

So I'm going to do the writing pattern in the air with my finger first and then you're going to have a go.

So starting at the bottom, this pattern looks almost a bit like the letter W or maybe the letter L joined together, writing a similar movement to cursive handwriting.

So starting at the bottom and then going up and then down, little bit up, down, up, down, little bit, up, down, up, down.

A little bit up.

Really trying to keep my movement smooth and flowing.

It's your turn, your turn.

Have you got your finger ready? Let's do this together.

Okay, so starting at the bottom and then up and then down, a little bit up, down, up, down, little bit up, down, up, down and out.

Really focusing on keeping a smooth flowing movement.

It's time for task A.

You now need to copy and continue these patterns using your tripod grip.

Remember, don't lift your pencil when you're forming the pattern.

You wanna keep your pencil stuck on the page and focus on keeping the movement really smooth and flowing.

So pause the video now and off you go.

Well done, everybody.

Hope you enjoyed that.

Have a think, did you use your tripod grip? Did you keep your pencil on the page? Was your movement smooth? I'm sure you all did a brilliant job, well done.

It's now time for the second part of our lesson where we are going to be reviewing and copying a kenning poem.

So we will now read a kenning poem written about a big object.

"Morning-bringer, day-starter, light-giver, warmth-bringer." Kenning poems are a bit like riddles and they hint at the subject of a poem rather than telling the reader.

They consist of a list of kennings.

Kennings are two words often joined together with a hyphen that take the place of a noun.

What do you think this kenning poem might be about? What object, what is the subject of this poem? Morning-bringer, it brings about the morning.

Day-starter, starts the day.

Light-giver, it gives light.

Warmth-bringer, it brings warmth.

Pause the video now and either have a think by yourself or discuss with your partner.

What do you think is the subject of this poem? Pause the video.

I think the subject of this kenning poem must be the sun, because it brings the morning in, it brings about the morning, it starts the day, brings light to the world, and it gives us some warmth when it's shining, doesn't it? So I think it's the sun, but as they, as I said, the kenning poem doesn't tell us explicitly what the subject is.

It hints at it.

Can you remember the four joins in cursive handwriting? Here are some examples of each join to help you.

Pause the video now and have a think or discuss with your partner or your class.

How can you describe each join? Off you go.

Okay, so our first join, aw, is joined from the baseline to the x-height line.

The second join, ch, is joined from the baseline up towards the ascender line.

The third join, om, is joined from the x-height line to the x-height line just with a dip down.

Then the fourth join, wl, goes from the x-height line up towards the ascender line.

Let's look closely at the first two lines of the kenning poem.

"Morning-bringer, day-starter." What do you notice about the letter formation? Pause the video now.

Okay, let's have a look.

So both lines start with a capital letter, don't they? M and D.

And you'll notice that they are not joined to the next letter.

The first letter of the rest of the letter string.

There is a little gap between the, after the capital letter and then you have a lead in from the baseline.

And that goes the same for the second word after the hyphen.

Bringer and starter both start with a lead in on the baseline.

We also have lead outs at the end of each word, morning and day, both finished with a descender loop lead out.

And R and R both end with a lead out just dipping down just below the x-height line.

Okay, so let's just summarise what we know about the first two lines of the kenning poem.

There is a capital letter at the start of each line.

The capital letter does not join to the next letter.

There are a range of cursive joins used depending on which letter is joining to which letter within the letter string.

The letters G and Y in morning and day both have a looped descender.

And there is a hyphen between the two words which form the kenning.

Let's practise writing the first two lines of the kenning poem, "Morning-bringer, day-starter." Both lines start with a capital letter, so I need to make sure I'm remembering that when I write the capital letters, because remembering that a capital letter does not join to the next letter.

So I'm making sure I'm sitting comfortably.

I found my starting point on my baseline.

Ready, line, go.

I'm going to start forming the capital M.

And then I can take my pen off the page.

I'm going to start my lead in after a little gap to form the letter O and then I can join O to R just dipping below the x-height line, R to N, just dipping below again the x-height line.

N to I, baseline to x-height line.

I to N, baseline to x-height line, and then N to G finishing down at the descender line with a lead out loop.

And now I can go back and dot my I.

Then I'm going to write my hyphen, not too big, not too small.

Then leave a little gap before I start my lead in to form the letter B.

This time, we don't need a capture letter, bringer.

So lead in from the baseline forming the letter B, joining B to R, baseline to x-height line.

R to I, just below the x-height line.

I to N, baseline to x-height line.

N to G, baseline then down to the descender line with a lead out loop.

G to E and then E to R, baseline to x-height line finishing with a lead out loop just below the x-height line.

Then I can go back and dot my I.

Now I'm going to write the next line, day-starter.

Again, day starts with capital D.

So starting by forming my capital D.

Then I can leave a little gap and then my lead in to form the letter A.

And then joining A to Y from the baseline up to the x-height line down to the descender line with a lead out loop.

Then we have another hyphen and then leaving a little gap.

Start with our lead in from the baseline, forming the letter S, joining S to T up towards the ascender line, but not all the way, T to A, A to R baseline to x-height line.

R to T, x-height line up towards the ascender line, but not all the way.

T to E, baseline to x-height line.

E to R, baseline to x-height line finishing with a lead out just below the x-height line.

Now I can go back and cross my T's.

Great.

Checking for understanding.

Copy the first two lines of the kenning poem in cursive handwriting on your tramlines.

Make sure you're holding your pen or pencil in a tripod grip.

Pause the video now, off you go.

Okay, well done.

Did you remember the capital letters? Did you remember the hyphens? I'm sure you did really well, but if you need to, you can pause the video now and make any edits to your work.

Well done.

Okay, now let's look at closely at the last two lines of the kenning poem.

Light-giver, warmth-bringer.

What do you notice about the letter formation here? Pause the video now and take a closer look.

Okay, so again, the first word of both lines begin with a capital letter and the capital letter is not joined to the next letter, the first letter of the rest of the letter string.

So you can see I and A in light and warmth.

Both start, both have a lead in from the baseline.

Giver and bringer also begin with a lead in from the baseline.

Then you can see that each word finishes with a lead out.

Light and warmth finish with a lead out on the baseline.

Giver and bringer both end in the letter R so their lead out finishes just dipping down below the x-height line.

So let's summarise.

There is a capital letter at the beginning of each line.

The capital letter does not join to the next letter.

There are a range of cursive letter joins used depending on which letter is joining to which letter within the letter string.

The letter G in giver and bringer has a looped descender.

And there is a hyphen between the two words which form the kenning.

Let's practise writing the last two lines of the kenning poem.

Making sure I'm sitting comfortably and I'm holding my pen in the tripod grip.

Now for both lines, start with a capital letter.

So I need to remember that when I'm writing the first word of each line, 'cause remember that a capital letter does not join to the next letter.

So starting on my tramline, find my starting point, and I can write the first capital letter of the first word, light.

So capital L.

Then I can take my pen off the page, leave a little gap, and then start my lead in to form the letter I.

And joining I to G, baseline to x-height line.

Down to the descender line with a lead out loop.

G to H up to the ascender line, H to T baseline towards the ascender line, but not all the way.

Now I can go and dot my I and cross my T.

Then we need a hyphen, again not too big, not too small in between the baseline and the x-height line.

Then I'm going to write the word giver.

So starting with a lead in from the baseline, forming the letter G, lead out loop from the descender line.

Joining to the letter I, I to V, baseline to x-height line.

Joining V to E by dipping below the x-height line.

And then joining R, E to R from baseline to x-height line.

Dipping below for the x-height line for the lead out.

And then I can go back and dot my I.

Now the next line, warmth-bringer.

Again, warmth needs to start with a capital letter and I'm not gonna join that to the next letter A.

So forming my letter capital W.

Then I could take my pen off the page and then my lead in to form the letter A.

Joining A to R, R to M just below the x-height line.

M to T, baseline towards the ascender line, but not all the way.

And then T to H up to the ascender line.

Finishing with a lead out on the baseline.

And then I can cross my T.

Again, we need another hyphen in between the x-height line and the baseline.

Not too big, not too small.

Leave a little gap and then I can start my lead in to form the letter B up to the ascender line.

And then joining B to R, baseline to x-height line.

R to I, just below the x-height line.

I to N, N to G, baseline up to the x-height line.

Then down to the descender line with a lead out loop.

Joining E to R, sorry, G to E, and then E to R, baseline to x-height line finishing with a lead out just below the x-height line.

And then I can go and dot my I.

Great.

So checking for understanding.

Copy the last two lines of the kenning poem in cursive handwriting on your tramlines.

Pause the video now, off you go.

Well done, so have a look.

Did you remember the lead in for all the letters that needed a lead in? And did you remember the lead out at the end of each word? I'm sure you all did brilliantly, but if you need to, you can pause video now and make any edits using the example on the screen to help you, off you go.

Well done, everybody, great job.

It's time for task B.

You need to copy the kenning poem in cursive handwriting on your tramlines.

Remember, the purpose of this lesson was not to come up with our own kenning poem, but instead to copy in our neatest handwriting the example poem on the screen.

"Morning-bringer, day-starter, light-giver and warmth-bringer." Make sure you remember to start each line with a capital letter and joining the two words with a hyphen in between the baseline and the x-height line.

Pause the video now and off you go.

Well done, everybody.

I hope you enjoyed that.

Have a look at your kenning poem that you've just copied.

Did you start each line with a capital letter? Did you use the correct joins within the letter strings? Did you keep your pencil on the page until the end of the letter string? If you need to, you can pause video now and make any edits to your kenning poem using the example on the screen to help you.

Pause the video now.

Well done, everybody.

I'm sure you've all worked really hard and I hope you're really proud of your handwriting in this kenning poem.

So have a look back through what you've just written.

Circle your very best join that you're most proud of, and celebrate.

Really well done.

Okay, here is a summary of everything we've learned today.

A kenning poem is a poem constructed using a series of kennings to describe a person, object or concept.

Each line of the poem starts on a new line and with a capital letter.

In cursive handwriting, you lift your pencil after forming the capital letter.

Capital letters do not join to other letters in the letter string.

The cursive letter joins used within a letter string depend on which letter is joining to which letter.

You don't lift your pencil when forming the joints.

Well done today and across this whole unit.

You've all worked really hard and I hope you're proud of how far your cursive handwriting has come along.

Great job.