Hello, this is Ms. Afsal and I'm so happy to be here with you today to share some more handwriting letters.

Let's have fun.

Let's get started.

The outcome for today's lesson is, I form the letters M, N, and R, and this comes from the unit, Writing Lowercase Letters in Print.

Let's begin.

In today's lesson, there are a number of key words that I would like you to look out for and to listen out for.

Let me share them with you now.

First of all, I'll say the word and then it will be your turn.

Ready? X-height letter.

Baseline.

Tramlines.

Letter families.

So let's make sure that we are looking for and listening for these keywords in today's lesson.

Today's lesson formation of M, N, and R has four parts to it.

The first part is our handwriting warmup, getting our hands all set and ready and warmed up for writing.

The next part will be forming the lowercase letter M in print.

After that, we'll have a go at forming the lowercase letter N in print.

And finally, we'll be forming the lowercase letter R in print.

Let's begin with our handwriting warmup.

Are you ready? Can you remember why it's important to warm up your hands before handwriting? Think.

What do you remember? It's because our hands and our wrists get stronger when we exercise them, just like any other part of our muscle gets stronger, if we're exercising it.

And making our hands and our wrists stronger is gonna help us to hold our pencil and use our tripod grip.

Let's have a go at our handwriting warmups today.

So the first warmup is playing the piano.

So first of all, I'm going to have a go.

I'll show you and then it will be your turn.

So I'm gonna get my hands ready on the piano keys, just hovering above the keys, and then I'm going to start playing the piano.

I might start playing at one end of the piano, and I'm going to the other end.

I'm back again, and I'm using all of my fingers.

I'm stretching them out, playing lots of different keys on the piano.

Now it's your turn.

Are you ready? Get your hands hovering above the keys of your piano and let's go.

Playing the piano, playing a lovely tune, really enjoying it, really stretching out all of our fingers and our thumbs.

Oh, this sounds great.

Good tune, everyone.

Well done.

For our next warmup, we are going to be clapping hands.

So I'm gonna show you, first of all.

I'm gonna put my hands together, so I gonna clap them and then I'm gonna press my hands together.

Press them together really hard so all of my fingers are touching, fingers from one hand are touching the fingers from the other hand and they're pressing into each other.

Okay, now it's your turn.

Are you ready? Put your hands together as if you are going to start clapping.

You're gonna deserve a clap after this 'cause you're doing such a good job.

Hands together and now press those hands together so that all of your fingers from one hand are pressing into and touching the fingers from the other hand.

That's it.

Great job.

And your palms are touching as well.

So that's the centre of your hand here.

Palms are touching, pressing against each other.

Let's give ourselves a little clap.

That was a great, great warmup.

Well done, everyone.

For the next part of our handwriting warmup, we are going to practise some patterns.

So practising writing patterns helps to prepare us for writing letters.

We can do patterns that go up and down, like the first one.

We can do zigzag patterns, or we can do patterns like the last one that are going down and up, down and up, down and up.

Oh, they feel good.

Let's have a go at practising this handwriting pattern that you can see.

So I'm going to start at the top.

You're gonna go down and then up and over and down, up, over and down, up, over and down.

Let me show you one more time.

So I'm starting here.

I'm gonna go down and then up, over and down, up, over and down, up, over and down.

Now it's your turn.

Are you ready? Have a go with your finger first of all.

Ready? Let's go.

Down, up, over and down, up, over and down, up, over and down, up, over and down.

They look great.

Well done.

Terrific job.

I'm going to have a go with my elbow now.

I'm going to start up the top.

Down, up, over and down, up, over and down, up, over and down.

Now it's your turn.

Get your elbows ready.

Who knew that elbows could help us with our writing? Let's go.

Down, up, over and down, up, over and down, up, over and down.

Well done.

Fantastic job.

Those patterns look wonderful.

For your task, I would like you to copy and continue the pattern using your tripod grip.

So start at the top.

You're going to go all the way down, up, over, down, up, over, down, up, and over, and get into a lovely flow and a rhythm and a pattern and enjoy yourselves.

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

Keep your pencil on the page the whole time.

Pause the video now.

I wonder how you got on with that first task of forming the pattern using your tripod grip.

Did you hold your pencil in the tripod grip the whole time? Did you keep your pencil on the page all the way across? And did you have fun? Now we're going to move on to forming the lowercase letter M in print.

Let's take a close look at this letter M that has appeared on the screen.

I would like you to look really closely at this letter M.

What can you see? What can you notice about the letter M? Pause the video now and talk to somebody nearby about what you can see.

I wonder what you noticed.

Did you notice that the letter M is an X-height letter? Did you see that? That it comes the top of the letter M, comes up to the X-height line.

Did you notice that it has that lovely little flick at the bottom? Let's take a look a little more closely at this letter M.

What else do we know about it? We know that the letter M is an X-height letter.

The top of the letter goes up as far as the X-height line.

Letter M is a small letter.

It does not have an ascender, one of those tall lines going up to the ascender line.

And letter M finishes with a lovely flick.

Check for understanding.

Select the two true statements.

Letter M is an X-height letter.

The letter M is a tall letter.

The letter M finishes with a flick.

The letter M has an ascender.

Well done.

The letter M is an X-height letter and the letter M finishes with a flick.

I'm going to have a go at forming the letter M in the air.

I'm going to start at the X-height line.

I'm gonna go down to the baseline, back up to the X-height line, over and down, back up, over and down, and flick.

Well, that was fun.

Let me try it one more time.

Start at the X-height line.

I'm gonna go down to the baseline, back up to the X-height line, over, down to the baseline, back up again, over, down, and flick.

Now it's your turn.

Are you ready? Get your fingers ready in the air.

Let's go.

Start at the X-height line, down to the baseline, back up to the X-height line, over and down, back up to the X-height line, over and down, and flick.

Let's try one more.

Are you ready? At the X-height.

Let's go down to the baseline, up to the X-height, over and down, back up, over and down, and flick.

Well done, everyone.

That was fantastic.

Now I'm going to have a go with my elbow.

Put my elbow in the air.

Start on the X-height line.

I'm gonna go down, back up to the X-height line, down to the baseline, back up, over, down, and flick.

Let me do one more.

Start at the X-height, down to the baseline, up, over and down, up, over and down, and flick.

Now it's your turn.

Get your elbows ready.

Ready for writing.

Let's go.

On the X-height, down to the baseline, up, over, and down, up, over, and down, and flick.

One more.

X-height, to the baseline, up, over, and down, up, over, and down, and flick.

Well done, everybody.

Look at those beautiful letter M's in the air.

You've done a great job.

I'm going to model how to form the lowercase letter M.

I've got my pen in the tripod grip.

I'm sitting comfortably, feet on the floor, back against the chair.

I'm going to start on the X-height line.

Go down to the baseline, back up to the X-height line, over and down, up, over and down, and flick.

Let's try that again.

Start on the X-height line, down to the baseline, up, over and down, up, over and down, and flick.

Let's try one more.

Start at the X-height line, down to the baseline, up, over and down, up, over, down, and flick.

Check for understanding.

Which is the correct formation of the lowercase letter M? Is it the M above the A, B, or the C? Have a think.

Pause the video here.

It's the M that's above the letter A.

It's starting on the X-height line, going down to the baseline, back over and down, up, over, and down, and flick.

Well done.

For your next task, I'd like you to have a go at forming the lowercase letter M.

There are three parts to this task.

First of all, I'd like you to go over the grey examples of the letter M.

Starting on the X-height line, down to the baseline, up, over, and down, up, over, and down.

And don't forget that lovely flick.

For the second part of the exercise, I'd like you to try starting on the starting dot and the same formation of letter M.

Start on that dot on the X-height line, down to the baseline, up, over, and down, up, over, and down, and flick.

And finally, I'd like you to complete two lines of letter M independently on your tramlines.

Have fun, everyone.

Pause the video here.

How did you get on with forming the lowercase letter M? How did your practise session go? Did you start on the X-height line? Did you go back, up, and over? Did you have that lovely flick to finish with? And did you keep your pencil on the paper while you were forming each of those letter M's? Well done.

Now look at all of your letter M's on your page, circle which is your best one, and celebrate.

Give yourself a little pat on the back.

You've done a great job.

For the next part of our lesson, we'll be forming the lowercase letter N in print.

Let's begin.

I'd like you to start by taking a close look at this letter N that has appeared on the screen.

What can you see? What do you notice about this letter N? Turn to someone nearby and share with them everything you can see and everything that you notice.

Pause the video here.

There's a lot to notice about the letter N.

Did you notice that it's an X-height letter? That it ends with a flick? I wonder, did you notice that it's very similar to the letter M? Let's find out some more about the letter N.

Letter N is formed in a similar way to the letter M.

They both start at the X-height line.

They go down, back up, over and down.

They belong to the same letter family.

I'm going to have a go at forming the letter N first of all and then it will be your turn.

First let's try with our finger and then we can use our fist.

Are you ready? I'm going to start on the X-height line.

I'm gonna go down to the baseline, back up, and over, and flick.

Let me show you one more time.

I'm starting on the X-height line.

I'm going down to the baseline, back up to the X-height line, over, down, and flick.

Now it's your turn.

Get your fingers ready in the air.

Let's go.

On the X-height, down to the baseline, back up to the X-height line, over, down, and flick.

That looks lovely.

Let's try it one more time.

Ready? X-height line, down to the baseline, back up to the X-height, over, down, and flick.

Fantastic! Should we do one more? Because this is just so much fun.

I wanna keep going.

X-height line, down to the baseline, back up to the X-height, over, down, and flick.

Lovely.

I'm going to show you now using my fist, I'm starting at the X-height line.

I'm going down to the baseline.

I'm going back up to the X-height, over, down, and flick.

One more.

X-height, baseline, back up to the X-height, over, down, and flick.

It's your turn, get your fists ready.

Let's go.

X-height, baseline, back up to the X-height, over, down, and flick.

Last one.

Let's make it our best.

Let's really go for it.

X-height, baseline, back up to the X-height, over, down, and flick.

Look at those amazing letter N's.

You've done such a fantastic job.

Well done.

I'm going to model how to form the lowercase letter N.

I have my pen in the tripod grip.

I'm sitting comfortably, feet on the floor, back on the chair, paper angled.

I'm ready to go.

I'm going to start on the X-height line.

Go down to the baseline, back up to the X-height line, over, down to the baseline, and flick.

Let's try that again.

Start on the X-height line, down to the baseline, up to the X-height line, over, down to the baseline, and flick.

One more.

X-height line, baseline, back up and over, down and flick.

Check for understanding.

Select the correct formation of N.

Which of these three N's is the correct formation? Pause the video here.

Well done.

It was the N above the letter B.

It starts at the X-height line.

It's going down to the baseline, back up to the X-height, over, down, and flick.

Well done.

Let's move on to our task.

Now we're going to practise forming the lowercase letter N.

This task has three parts to it.

For the first part, I'd like you to go over the grey examples of the letter N, starting at the X-height line, going down to the baseline, back up to the X-height, over, down, and flick.

For the second part of the activity, I'd like you to try using the starting dot.

Place your pencil on the starting dot, all the way down to the baseline, back up to the X-height line, over, down, and flick.

Finally, I'd like you to complete two lines of the letter N independently on your tramlines.

Have fun doing this.

Pause the video now.

How did you get on with practising forming the lowercase letter N? Did you remember to start on the X-height line each time? Did you go down to the baseline, back up to the X-height line, over and down? Did you finish with a lovely flick? Circle your best letter N and celebrate.

Give yourself a pat on the back, a high five.

You've done a great job.

Well done.

For the next part of our lesson, we'll be forming the lowercase letter R in print.

Are you ready? Are you ready for R? Can you see that the letter R has appeared on the screen, right there in the middle of the screen? Can you see it? What can you see? And what can you notice about the letter R? Pause the video here and talk to somebody nearby about everything you can notice about the letter R.

Did you notice that it's an X-height letter? Did you notice that it's similar to the letter N? Let's find out a little bit more about the letter R.

The letter R is an X-height letter.

Letter R is formed in a similar way to the letters M and N.

They all start on the X-height line, they go down to the baseline, and they go back up and over.

They belong to the same letter family because they're formed in a similar way.

Check for understanding.

Select the two true statements.

Letter R has an ascender.

Letter R has a dot at the top.

Letter R is an X-height letter.

The letter R finishes by going back up and over.

Pause the video here.

The letter R is an X-height letter.

Well done if you selected this statement.

And the letter R finishes by going back up and over.

Well done if you selected this statement.

Let's have some practise at forming the letter R.

First of all, I'll have a go at forming the letter R with my finger and then with my nose, and then it'll be your turn at forming the letter R.

So I'm gonna start with my finger.

So I'm gonna put my finger up at the X-height line.

I'm going to go down to the baseline, back up to the X-height, and over.

It's really quite simple.

Let's try it again.

X-height, down to the baseline, back up and over.

Now it's your turn.

Are you ready? Get your finger ready at the X-height line, the imaginary X-height line.

Let's go down to our baseline, back up, and over.

Should we try again? We're at the X-height line.

We're going down to the baseline.

We are going back up and over.

Should we do one more? Because it's just so much fun.

It's hard to stop, isn't it when we get going? X-height, baseline, back up, and over.

These R's look terrific.

Well done, everybody.

I'm gonna have a go now with my nose, with my nose.

I'm gonna start.

My nose is at the X-height line.

It's going down to the baseline.

It's going back up and over.

I'm gonna try again.

I'm at the X-height.

I'm going down to the baseline.

Back up to the X-height and over.

Do you want to join in? Shall we try together? Ready? Get your nose at the X-height line.

Get your nose down to the baseline, get it back up and over.

Let's try one last one.

X-height, baseline, up and over.

What a lot of fun! Thanks for joining in.

I'm going to model how to form the letter R.

I'm going to model how to form the letter R.

I'm holding my pen in my tripod grip.

I'm sitting comfortably, feet on the floor, back against the chair, paper angled.

I'm ready to go.

I'll start on the X-height line.

I'm going to go down to the baseline, back up to the X-height line and over.

Let's try again.

X-height line, down to the baseline, back up to the X-height line and over.

One more.

Start on the X-height line, down to the baseline, back up to the X-height line and over.

Check for understanding.

Which is the correct formation of the lowercase letter R? Is it the R that you can see above the letter A, B, or C? Pause the video here.

The correct formation of the lowercase letter R is the one above box A.

This letter R is starting at the X-height line, going down to the baseline, and then back up and over, and it's standing up nice and straight.

For your task, I'd like you to practise forming the lowercase letter R.

First of all, go over the grey examples.

Start at the X-height line.

Go down to the baseline, up and over.

Next try using the starting dots.

From that starting dot, go down to the baseline, up and over.

And finally, I'd like you to complete two lines of the letter R independently on your tramlines.

Hope you have lots of fun as you write your letter R's.

Pause the video here.

How did you get on with forming the lowercase letter R? I wonder, did you remember to start on the X-height line? Did you go down to the baseline? Did you go back up to the X-height line and over? Circle your best letter R on your page and celebrate.

You deserve a celebration after all these wonderful letter R's.

Give yourself a little pat on the back.

Well done.

In this lesson, we have been looking at the formation of letters M, N, and R.

The letters M, N, and R are all X-height letters.

Letters M, N, and R all start on the X-height line.

They all go down to the baseline, back up and over.

Letters M and N finish with a flick.

They are all in the same letter family.