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

In today's lesson, we're going to continue practising cursive writing in the letter strings of two different suffixes.

I'm really looking forward to today's lesson, so thank you so much for joining and let's get started.

Your learning outcome for today's lesson is to correctly form words using the suffixes er and est.

Let's start by looking at the keywords.

We'll do my turn, your turn.

Suffix, a suffix is a letter or group of letters at the end of a word, which creates another word.

Join, this is how the letters are connected together.

Letter string, this is a group of letters that are written together in a word.

Lead in, this is the stroke or line that guides us into starting a letter.

Lead out, this is the stroke or line that guides us to smoothly finish a letter.

So, there are three sections of our lesson today.

In the first, we'll be doing a handwriting warm-up.

Then we'll be writing the suffix er, and then we'll be writing the suffix est.

So let's start with our warm-up.

Before we start, have a think about what these pictures are reminding you to do when it comes to handwriting.

Have a think by yourself, talk to the person next to you or with your whole class.

Pause the video now.

Okay, so our first picture is reminding us to sit on a chair at a table.

We don't want to be just resting a book on our knee.

We want to be on a table.

Our feet are flat on the floor, and our back is against the chair.

Then our next picture is reminding us to angle your paper correctly, so if you're right-handed, the paper should be at a slight angle towards the left.

If you're left-handed, the paper should be angled slightly towards the right.

And then remember, your non-writing hand supports this, so it holds the paper or book down so that it doesn't move around.

Then your final picture is reminding you to hold your pencil in the tripod grip.

Before starting to write, it's really important to warm up your hands and wrist muscles just like you would warm up before some sports game.

Your hands and wrists get stronger when you exercise them, so the more you exercise them, the stronger they get.

Warming up your hands before writing will really help to improve your cursive handwriting.

So let's start with a warm-up.

Let's have a go at the finger pull warm-up.

I'll have a go first, and then it's your turn.

So I'm going to get one of my hands ready, like this, and then I'm gonna get my other hand and start on the thumb.

I'm going to pull, this is the finger pull technique, so I'm gonna pull my thumb and kind of squeeze it at the same time.

Then my next finger, pull and squeeze.

Pull and squeeze really tight, almost like you're trying to pull it out of the joint of the socket.

Pull and squeeze, but not too hard.

It should feel really nice, almost like a kind of finger hand massage.

And then we'll swap hands, starting at the thumb.

Pull and squeeze, pull and squeeze.

Nice and slow, not too quickly.

Pull and squeeze.

Oh, I just heard a little click.

Pull and squeeze.

Shake it out, and now it's your turn.

Get your two hands ready.

Choose which hand you're gonna start with, it doesn't matter which.

And then, starting on the thumb, let's go and pull down, pull and squeeze.

Pull and squeeze, pull and squeeze.

Pull and squeeze, squeeze.

Good job, next hand, let's go.

Starting at the thumb, pull and squeeze.

This feels good, doesn't it? It feels like your hands are getting a really good warm-up ahead of handwriting.

Pull and squeeze, and then the last one.

I can shake it out.

Now they feel really ready and strong for some handwriting.

Let's now use the rolling wrist warm-up technique.

So you're gonna start by hanging one of your hands down, doesn't matter which one, a bit like this.

You're gonna imagine there's a bowl underneath your hand.

It could be a bowl of cake mixture, maybe a bowl of soup or stew or something that you need to mix with your hand.

You're going to imagine that you are mixing what's in the bowl.

So you're gonna go in one direction, and then you can use your hand to go in the other direction, so almost backwards, rotating the wrist in a different way.

And then you're gonna take your other hand, and you're gonna do the same thing.

You're going to pretend there's something in the bowl.

I think this time I'm pretending there's gonna be a bowl of cookie mixture.

I'm gonna go the other way, the wrist in a different direction.

Okay, your turn now.

Get one of your hands ready, it doesn't matter which.

Hang it down, and imagine you've got a bowl of something underneath.

What have you got in your bowl? Maybe you've got some soup, some pasta, brownie mixture, cake mixture, something that needs mixing.

So you're gonna start, off you go, mixing what's in the bowl, going in one direction.

You can go slowly and then speed up a bit and then switch the other direction.

So you're getting a really nice rotating movement in your wrist.

Then switching hands, you've got another bowl of something underneath.

Maybe this time, your soup, which needs a bit of mixing together.

Rotating in one direction and then switching over and rotating in the other direction.

So now, your wrist should be feeling really strong and really flexible, ready for some handwriting, great job.

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

You can see the patterns below.

All of these require movements that are quite similar to the movements we'd need to do when doing cursive handwriting, so it's a really useful thing to do before you start your handwriting.

So I'm going to do the writing pattern in the air with my finger first.

You can see this pattern here, looks a bit like two Ws, doesn't it? But they're joined.

So I'm gonna start at the top, and then I'm gonna go all the way down, back up a little bit, not quite as high, back down to the bottom, then high up to the top, back down, little bit up, back down, all the way up.

Your turn, have you got your finger ready? Let's all do this together.

Starting at the top, gonna go down, then a little bit up, then down, then all the way up, then down again, a little bit up, down again, and then all the way back up.

If you'd like to, you can pause the video now and have another go at doing that.

Well done, it's time for task A.

You're now going to copy and continue these patterns using your tripod grip, so holding a pencil in your tripod grip.

You want the rest of the pattern to look as similar to the pattern that's on the page already.

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

You want to keep your pencil almost glued to the paper, and that helps to create a really smooth and flowing movement.

So pause the video now and off you go.

Well done, everybody, I hope you enjoyed that.

Have a think about what you just did.

Did you use your tripod grip? Did you keep your pencil on the page? Was your movement smooth? If you need to, you can pause the video and have another go at continuing these patterns.

Otherwise, great job.

It's time for the second section of our lesson where we are writing the suffix er.

A suffix is a group of letters or a letter at the end of a word, which creates another word.

Let's have a look.

Here we have the word jump.

Then we've added the suffix er, and we've created a completely different word.

We've created the word jumper, something you wear.

Then the next word is happy.

Here we've replaced the y with an i, added the suffix er, and now we have the word happier.

Here we have the word old, then we've added the suffix est, and we've changed the word from old to oldest.

He's the oldest in the class.

So there are lots of different types of suffix.

It can help our handwriting and our spelling to practise letter strings using common suffixes, as they appear in lots of words.

We'll use words which end in the suffix er and est so much in our writing, so it's really important that we get to practise them.

So can you remember the four joins in cursive handwriting that we've learned so far? There are four joins.

Here are some examples of these joins which could help you.

Pause the video now and either have a think by yourself or talk about this with your class, your partner, whoever you're with.

What are the four joins? Off you go.

Okay, so our first join, you can see here, a and w are joined, and this is from the baseline to the X-height line.

Then our second join, you can see c and h are joined in this way, is from the baseline up towards the ascender line.

Our third join is from the X-height line to the X-height line, just dips a little bit below.

And then the fourth join, w and l are joined this way, is from the X-height line up towards the ascender line.

If you need to, you can pause the video, take another look at these, 'cause it's really important that we feel confident on all the four joins.

Pause the video now.

Okay, so here is the suffix er in cursive handwriting.

You can see it's form from the letters e and r.

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

So the letter e and r are both X-height letters.

We don't have an ascender or a descender here.

The letter e begins with a lead in from the baseline, and the letter r is a lead out on the X-height line.

Let's take a closer look.

So the first letter, e, has a lead in from the baseline.

The last letter has a lead out.

The letter r has a dip down as the lead out.

You can see it just dips a little bit below the X-height line.

The letter e is joined to the letter r using the first join, because it's from the baseline to the X-height line, and you do not lift your pencil when you're forming the joins.

So I'm going to form the suffix er in cursive in the air with my finger before we start writing it on paper with a pencil.

So I'm gonna start on the baseline.

I'm going to start my lead in to the letter e form my letter e, which is an X-height letter, and then I'm going to join e to r from the baseline to the X-height line.

And then my lead out from the letter r is just a little dip down below the X-height line.

Okay, it's your turn.

Let's all do this together.

So everyone got your finger ready? Let's start on the baseline.

We're gonna start with our lead in forming the letter e, the X-height letter, and then back at the baseline, we're gonna join e to r.

And then at the X-height line, we'll finish with a lead out, a little dip down below the X-height line.

Okay, if you need to, you can pause the video and have another go with that.

Otherwise, great job.

So these words are written in cursive handwriting, and they use the suffix er.

So we have the word jumper, something you put on if you're a bit cold, and slower, the snail was slower than the hare at running.

Have a look at these words closely.

What do you notice about their formation? Pause the video now.

Okay, so jumper, what can we say? It starts with the letter j, which has a lead in from the baseline and then has a looped descender, and it finishes with the letter r, which has a lead out just below, it's dipped down just below the X-height line.

Then the word slower.

Our first letter, s, starts with the lead in from the baseline.

There's the ascender letter, l, and then our final letter, r, again finishes with the lead out just dipping below the X-height line.

So what do you need to think about when you're writing letter strings with a common suffix? The first letter of the word has a lead in from the baseline.

The last letter has a lead out.

In this example, in this suffix, the letter r has a dip down as the lead out.

There will be a range of cursive letter joins used within the letter string, depending on which letters are in the word, depending on what the word is.

In the word jumper, the suffix er is joined using the first join from the baseline to the X-height line.

In the word slower, the suffix er is joined using the third join this time from the X-height line to the X-height line.

So it depends on what the letter before the suffix is, which affects which join you're using.

Let's practise writing words with the suffix er.

We're going to write jumper and slower.

I'm making sure I'm sitting comfortably, and I've got my pen in my tripod grip.

I'm gonna start with my pen on the baseline, ready to start with the lead in.

I'm ready to go, so I'm going to say to myself, "Ready, line, go." And let's start with our lead in to form the letter j.

Going down to the descender lead out loop to join j to u.

Then joining u to m, baseline to X-height line, m to p, down to the descender line, and then adding our suffix, so baseline to X-height line, baseline to X-height line, and finishing with a lead out.

Then I can go back and dot my i.

Now, I'm going to write the word slower.

So again, I'm starting on the baseline.

I'm ready, so I'm gonna say, "Ready, line, go." Starting with my lead in, forming the letter s, and joining from the baseline up to the ascender line, and baseline up to X-height line, X-height line to X-height line to join o and w.

Again, X-height line to X-height line, and then X-height line, sorry, baseline to X-height line, and finishing with a lead out.

Checking for understanding, select the correct formation, A, B, or C.

Pause the video now.

That's right, it is A.

It can't be B because the e is too small.

It doesn't reach the X-height line.

And then it can't be C because you haven't got the the full body of the letter r.

Well done.

It's time for task B.

First, you're going to practise writing the suffix er using the starting point on the baseline to help you.

Then you're going to practise writing the following words on your lines, jumper, happier, nicer, and slower.

If you can, I would try to write each word at least three or four times.

So pause the video now and off you go.

Great job, everybody, well done.

Have a look at your joins in the words you've just written.

Did you use the correct joins within the letter strings? Did you remember the lead out dip down for the letter r? If you need to, you can pause the video now and make any edits to any of your words and joins using the examples on the screen to help you.

Pause the video now.

Great job, everybody, well done.

Have a look at everything you've written on task B, circle your best join, the join you're most proud of, and then celebrate, great job.

Okay, it's time for the final part of our lesson today, where we're going to be writing the suffix est.

Here is the suffix est in cursive.

You can see it's formed from the letters E, S, and T.

What do you notice about the letter formation and the joins that are used? Pause the video now and take a closer look.

Okay, so our letter e is our first letter.

It begins with a lead in from the baseline, and then t is our final letter, and it finishes with a lead out from the baseline too.

The first and the second cursive letter joins are used, so we use the first join and the second join.

Let's take a closer look.

The first letter has a lead in from the baseline, that's e.

The last letter has a lead out.

The first join is used to connect the letter e to the letter s from the baseline to the X-height line.

The second join is used to connect the letter s to the letter t from the baseline, but this time towards the ascender line.

You don't lift your pencil when forming the join, so that means when it comes to crossing the t, you do that at the end once you finish joining all the letters together.

So now, I'm going to form the suffix est in cursive in the air using my finger, then we'll have a chance at writing it on paper.

So we're gonna start at the baseline.

I'm gonna start by forming the letter e with our lead in from the baseline.

So forming the letter e, and then joining, from the baseline to the X-height line, the letter S, and then back at the baseline, we're going to then join to the letter t, up to the ascender line, back down to the baseline, and then a lead out.

And then, we're gonna go and cross our t.

Okay, it's your turn, lots to think about there.

Most importantly, remember to cross your t at the very end.

So let's do this together.

Fingers ready, let's start on the baseline.

Start by forming our letter e to the X-height line back to the baseline.

Then let's join the e to the s up to the X-height line.

And then joining the s to the t from the baseline up towards the ascender line, then back down to the baseline and then a lead out.

And then what do we need to do? That's right, we need to cross our t, don't we? So remembering that the cross for the letter t is only added once the letter string is complete.

If you need to, you can pause the video now and have another go at forming the suffix est.

Otherwise, great job, really well done, and let's move on.

So these words are both written in cursive handwriting and use the suffix est.

Fastest, I am the fastest runner in the class.

Slowest, I am the slowest runner in the class.

Have a look at these words really closely.

What do you notice about the letter formations? Pause the video now.

Okay, so let's have a look at fastest first.

Our letter f has a lead in loop and a looped descender, and it ends with the letter t, which finishes with a lead out.

Our word slowest begins with the letter s, which starts with a lead in from the baseline.

Then we have the ascender letter l, end with the ascender letter t, which is not quite as high as the letter l.

And then, we finish the word with a lead out from the baseline on the letter t.

So what do you need to think about when writing letter strings with a common suffix? The first letter has a lead in from the baseline.

The last letter has a lead out.

There will be a range of cursive letter joins used within the letter string, depending on which letters are in the word.

The suffix est is joined to the word fast using the first join.

The suffix est is joined to the word slow using the third join.

And you don't lift your pencil until you have completed the letter string, so you're not going to cross your t, or if there's an i, dot your i, until you finish the letter string.

Let's practise writing words with the suffix est.

We're going to write fastest and slowest.

So I'm making sure I'm sat really comfortably with my feet firmly on the ground.

I have my pen in my tripod grip.

I'm going to find my starting point on the baseline so that I can start my lead in from there.

I'm ready to go, so ready, line, go.

Let's start with our lead in from the baseline to form the letter f.

F, and then the lead in loop, then the lead out loop, then joining f to a, a to s, baseline to X-height line, s to t, baseline towards the ascender line, but not all the way.

And back down to join the t to the e, e to the s, baseline to X-height line, s to t, baseline towards the ascender line.

And then finishing with a lead out, then I'll go back and cross my ts.

Now, I'm going to write slowest.

Again, starting on the baseline.

This is where I'll start my lead in to form the letter s.

I'm ready to go, so ready, line, go.

Lead in to form the letter s, joining s to l up to the ascender line, l to o, baseline to X-height line.

Dipping down to join o to w, just below the X-height line.

Again, w to e, just below the X-height line, and then e to s, baseline to X-height line, s to t, baseline towards the ascender line, but not all the way.

And now, I'll cross my t, great.

Checking for understanding, select the correct join, A, B, or C.

Pause the video now.

That's right, it is C.

It can't be A because the t doesn't go up high enough towards the ascender line, and it can't be B because s and t are not joined together.

Well done.

It's time for task C.

First, you'll practise writing the suffix est using the starting point on the baseline to help you.

Then you're going to write the following words on your lines, fastest, slowest, wisest, and oldest.

Just like last time, try to write each word at least three or four times.

So pause the video now, off you go and enjoy.

Okay, well done, everybody, great job.

Have a look back through what you've just done in task C.

Did you use the correct joins within your letter string? Did you remember to add the cross for the t once the letter string was complete? If you need to, you can use the examples on the screen to help you read back through all your words that you've written and make any edits that you need to.

So pause the video now, off you go.

Okay, well done, everybody.

Now, this is the fun part.

Have a look at all of your joins you've written in task C.

Circle your very best and then have a little celebration.

Really well done, everybody, great job.

Here is a summary of everything we've learned.

A suffix is a letter or group of letters at the end of a word, which creates another word.

Er and est are examples of suffixes.

There are four joins used to connect letters together in cursive handwriting.

The join used depends on which letter is joining to which letter within a letter string.

Er uses the first join in its formation.

Est uses a first and second join in its formation, which join is used to connect the suffix depends on the letter before the suffix is added.

You only lift your pencil once the letter string is complete or there is a break letter within the letter string.

Great job today, everybody, well done.