Hello everyone.

I am Ms. Absel, and I'm feeling really excited because guess what we're going to do together? We are going to do some handwriting.

I love sharing handwriting.

I love forming new letters together, making patterns.

It's all so much fun.

So what you need to be ready is to have your eyes ready looking.

You need your ears ready to listen out for keywords.

And we're gonna be warming up our hands and our wrists soon.

So you'll need those ready.

And let's begin.

Let's have a great time.

The outcome for today's lesson is "I can form the pre-cursive letters, v, w, x, and z." There are quite a few keywords for us to look out for in today's lesson.

Let's go through them.

Let's go through them, my turn and then your turn.

First of all, x-height letters, lead in, lead out, break letter.

Fantastic.

So I hope you will be looking out for all of those words.

Hope you're gonna listen for them.

And I hope you're gonna think carefully about them, and I hope you're gonna be curious about them.

They are going to come up in our lesson.

Let's be ready for them.

Today's lesson has got four parts to it.

So our lesson is called pre-cursive formation for v, w, x, and z.

And can you guess the four parts? Yes, I'm sure you can.

First of all, forming the pre-cursive letter v, then forming the pre-cursive letter w.

Next, forming the pre-cursive letter x.

And finally, we will be forming the pre-cursive letter z.

Are we ready to get started with the first part of our lesson and thinking about the importance of warmups? So before we start to write, it is important we warm up our hands and our wrist muscles.

Your hands and your wrists will get stronger when you exercise them.

And warming up your hands before writing will help to improve your handwriting.

What's not to love about warming up our hand and wrist muscles? We're going to start our handwriting warmups with a really, really fun warmup.

This one is piano playing.

And this is so much fun because we get to exercise our hands, and we get to imagine a really fun tune in our head.

So I'm going to go first, and then it will be your turn.

I'm getting my fingers in position on top of my imaginary piano, and I am going to start pressing each of these keys on the keyboard by moving my fingers and pressing them down, stretching my fingers, moving along the keyboard, making a lovely tune.

Oh my goodness, this sounds great.

I'm enjoying hearing this in my mind.

Wonderful.

And now it's your turn.

Get your hands ready.

Get your fingers in position just above the keys on your piano keyboard, and let's go.

Let's start playing our tune.

So you're pressing your fingers down on the imaginary piano keyboard.

You are stretching out your fingers 'cause you need to go and to reach some of those notes that are a little bit further away.

Oh, how's your tune sounding? Are you enjoying it? I can hear all of these lovely imaginary tunes.

What a great, great sound.

What a great stretch for our fingers.

Well done everyone.

Next, we are going to have a go at the clapping position.

So for this, we're going to bring our hands together as if we were clapping.

And I'll have a go first, and then it will be your turn.

And I'm gonna press all of my fingers into each other.

So fingers from this hand are pressing into the fingers from this hand.

And my palms, the centre of your hand, those, the palms, are pressing against each other as well.

It's a really, really nice way for us to get our hands and our wrists as well ready for handwriting.

Mm.

It feels really nice.

It's your turn.

Get your hands ready as if you're going to clap.

You'll deserve a clap after this, and let's press them together.

Pressing together each of your fingers, pressing together your thumbs, pressing the palms of your hands together.

Your wrists are getting a nice little stretch here as well.

Doesn't this feel great? Ah, lovely.

And relax.

Well done.

Oh wow.

Have a look at this.

Can you see the letter that has appeared on the screen? Have a very close look at this pre-cursive letter v.

Take a look from every angle.

Hmm.

What do you see? What do you notice? Tell the person next to you everything that you can see and notice about this letter.

Pause the video here.

Well I wonder, did you notice that this letter has a lead in? Did you notice that it has a lead out? And did you notice that it's an x-height letter? So that means it goes up as high as the x-height line, sits between the baseline and the x-height line.

So this is the pre-cursive formation of the letter v.

The pre-cursive formation of letter v has a lead in.

Now remember, this is one of our keywords.

So what is a lead in? So a lead in is a way into our letters.

So we're actually leading into it from the letter that came before.

So let's say we had a letter before, maybe pretend it was an e, that e is gonna join, and it's gonna join up to this lead in to the v.

And then it also has a lead out.

And what the lead out does is it joins from this letter v.

It takes us out of the v and into the next letter that's gonna come after it.

So it's like the lead in and the lead out, it's like they're holding hands with the next letter that comes afterwards or the letter that comes before.

And letter v has a lead out at the x-height line.

So it's quite interesting 'cause some of the letters have a lead out at the baseline, just a bit lower, but the v likes to lead out from the x-height line.

And letter v is an x-height letter.

So we know all about x-height letters.

They sit between the x-height line and the baseline.

Okay, it's time for fun.

It's time for forming letters in the air.

So I'm gonna have a go first of all forming the letter v in the air with my finger, and then it will be your turn.

This is such, I can feel it already, this is a really nice one to form.

So I'm gonna start at the baseline with my, do you what it is that we start with? We start with a lead in.

And my lead in takes me all the way up to the x-height line.

Then I make a diagonal line down to the baseline and then a diagonal line back up to the x-height line.

And can you remember what we finish with? A lead out.

And the lead out is at the x-height line.

I'll show you one more time.

I'll start at the baseline with my lead in to the x-height line.

Diagonal down, diagonal up, lead out.

That felt pretty good.

Are you ready to join in with the fun? Let's go from the baseline.

Lead in up to the x-height line.

Diagonal down.

Diagonal up.

Lead out at the x-height line.

Great.

Let's do this again.

This is a really nice one to do.

Let's go lead in, diagonal down, diagonal up, lead out.

I don't think we can stop.

We'd better not stop.

We're just having too much fun to stop.

Let's go.

Lead in, diagonal down, diagonal up, lead out.

Mm.

Those Vs are looking so good.

I am really loving those.

Well done everyone.

I'm going to show you how to form the pre-cursive letter v.

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

I'm going to start at the baseline, and I'm gonna say ready, line, go.

There's my lead in.

It goes up to the x-height line, then I make a diagonal line down to the baseline, a diagonal line to the x-height line, and then a finish with a lead out at the x-height line.

Let's try that again.

Ready, line, go.

Lead in to the x-height line.

Diagonal down, diagonal up, and my lead out at the x-height line.

Let's try one more.

Ready, line, go.

Lead in, diagonal down, diagonal up, lead out.

Check for understanding.

Which is the correct formation of the pre-cursive letter v.

Take a look at these three Vs that have appeared on the screen.

Which is the correct one? Pause the video while you decide.

Well done if you selected that first v.

that is sitting correctly between the x-height line and the baseline because we know this is an x-height letter, and it's got the lead in and the lead out.

For your task, I would like you to practise forming the pre-cursive letter v.

First of all, go over the grey examples.

Next, try using starting dot.

And finally, complete two lines of the pre-cursive letter v independently on your tramlines.

Enjoy every v, stay focused, have fun, and I'll see you when you're finished.

Pause the video here.

Okay, it's good to be back together again.

How did you get on? I am curious to know.

Did you start on the baseline? Did you remember your lead in? Did you remember the lead out? Remember, it's like they're holding hands.

It's a little line that helps us to hold hands with the letter that comes before and comes afterwards.

Did you reach up to the x-height line? Did you make two diagonal straight lines for the v? Did you have fun? Did you enjoy every single v? That's the main question.

Now circle your best one and celebrate.

Great job team.

And now it's time to look at forming the pre-cursive letter w.

Are you ready? It's about to appear on the screen.

Here it is now.

Okay, so have a very good look at this pre-cursive letter w.

Hmm.

What do you notice about it? What are some things that you can spot? What can you see? Tell somebody nearby everything that you can see.

Pause the video here.

Okay, did you spot these three things? Did you notice that it has a lead in? Did you notice that it has a lead out? And did you notice that it is an x-height letter, sits between the x-height line and the baseline? I wonder if you've got all three of those things.

So, let's just go into each of them maybe a little bit.

So remember the lead in is one of our keywords.

The lead in, it leads us into this letter.

So from the letter that came before, we join from there when we're doing cursive writing, and we lead in, so it's like it's holding hands.

This line helps us to hold hands with the letter that comes before, that's the lead in.

And then lead out helps us to hold hands with the letter that's coming afterwards.

So these are very helpful, very friendly things, the lead ins and lead outs.

Let's find out more.

This is the pre-cursive formation of the letter w.

The pre-cursive formation of the letter w has a lead in, and it has, can you say it? Well done.

A lead out.

The pre-cursive letter w has a lead out at the x-height line.

So remember, some letters lead out from the baseline, but the w leads out at the x-height line.

And the letter w is an x-height letter and is formed with diagonal straight lines.

And guess what? It's time to form this letter w in the air.

Let's have a go.

I'll go first, and then it'll be your turn.

This is gonna be a fun one to do because I like, it's kind of like it's got a bit, almost like a repeating pattern to it, which is a lot of fun.

So I'm gonna start at the, do you remember where? The baseline.

With my? Yes, you've got it, the lead in.

So, I'm gonna make my lead in all the way up to the x-height line.

Then I'm gonna make a diagonal line down, a diagonal line up to the x-height line, and repeat.

Diagonal line down to the baseline, diagonal line up, and what do I finish with? Can you remember? The lead out at the x-height line.

Let me show you one more time.

From the baseline, there's my lead in to the x-height line.

Diagonal down, diagonal up, diagonal down, diagonal up, lead out.

That lovely friendly lead out, it's like it's holding hands with the next letter.

Okay, I'm not gonna keep all this fun to myself.

I'm gonna let you get involved.

Are you ready? It's your turn.

From the baseline, let's go with that lead in up to the x-height line.

Diagonal down, diagonal up, diagonal down, diagonal up.

Lead out.

Let's do it again.

Ready, from the baseline.

Lead in, that lovely friendly lead in, down diagonally, up diagonally, down diagonally, up diagonally, lead out.

One more from the baseline.

Lead in, diagonal down, diagonal up, diagonal down, diagonal up, lead out.

Look at those Ws.

They are wonderful.

Really, really great job everybody.

Let's move on.

I'm going to show you how to form the pre-cursive letter w.

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

I'm going to say to myself, "Ready, line, go." And I'll start with my lead in.

It goes from the baseline up to the x-height line.

Then I'll do a diagonal line down to the baseline, a diagonal up to the x-height line, a diagonal down to the baseline, and a diagonal up to the x-height line.

Then I'll finish with the lead out at the x-height line.

Let's try that again.

Ready, line, go.

Lead in, diagonal down, diagonal up.

Repeat that again.

And then finish with the lead out at the x-height line.

Let's try one more.

Ready, line, go.

Lead in, diagonal down, diagonal up, diagonal down, diagonal up, lead out.

Check for understanding.

Which is the correct formation of the pre-cursive letter w? Hmm.

Take a look at these three Ws that have appeared on the screen.

Two of them are imposters, but one is the real deal.

Which is that? Pause the video while you decide.

Yes, you've got it.

Well done.

It's B, it's the one in the middle.

That W is sitting in between the x-height line and the baseline, and it has got the lead in and the lead out at the x-height line.

Well done if you chose this fantastic representation of the pre-cursive letter w.

Now it's time for your task.

I would like you to practise forming the pre-cursive letter w.

First of all, go over the grey examples.

Next, try using the starting dot.

And finally, complete two lines independently on your tramlines.

Remember, the most important thing is to enjoy this.

So enjoy forming every single w, and of course, stay focused.

That's gonna really help you to do and to be your best.

I'll see you when you're finished.

Pause the video here.

Good to see you again.

How did you get on with forming the pre-cursive letter w? There are a few things that I'm wondering about.

Did you remember your lead in from the baseline? Did you add in a lead out at the x-height line? Did you keep your pencil on the page as you were forming each pre-cursive letter w? And crucially, did you enjoy every single one? I hope so.

Which is your best? Circle it and celebrate.

And now it's time performing the pre-cursive letter x.

Are you ready for the x to appear on the screen, for the x to mark the spot? Here it is.

Here comes the x.

Take a very close look at this x.

Curious about it? What can you see? What can you notice? Maybe something a little bit different to some of the other letters that we've looked at.

I wonder if you're gonna spot this.

There's something quite special about the pre-cursive letter x.

What can you see? Tell the person next to you.

Pause the video here.

Okay, there's something special going on here with this x.

Well, first of all, let's talk about the the height of it.

It is an x.

The x is an x-height letter, so it sits between the x-height line and the baseline.

It has, like all pre-cursive letters, a lead in.

Remember that's leading in from the lead out of the other, the letter before it will join into this lead in.

That's how we're gonna get our nice cursive writing, joined up writing.

Now, the very interesting and curious thing here is there's no lead out.

No lead out with this letter.

Did you spot that? I wonder.

And let's find out more about it, about this no lead out.

This is the pre-cursive formation of letter x.

The pre-cursive formation of letter x has a lead in but no lead out.

This is because the letter x is one of the few letters that does not join onto other letters.

A letter that doesn't join onto other letters is called a break letter.

That's one of our keywords.

So should we just say that again? Ready, my turn.

Break letter.

You? Fantastic.

So a break letter, it gives us a break, it gives us a pause, and it stops us.

It gives us a little break in our joined up writing, and it doesn't join to the next letter.

Check for understanding.

Select the true statements.

Letter x is a break letter.

The letter x does not join onto other letters.

The pre-cursive formation of x has a lead in and out.

Letter x starts on the ascender line.

Pause the video while you select the true statements.

Well done if you chose the first two.

The letter x is a break letter.

And what that means is that the letter x does not join onto other letters.

Okay, it's time for us to form the pre-cursive letter X in the air.

I'll go first of all, and then it will be your turn.

So we are going to start at the, do you remember where? The baseline.

With the? Lead in.

Well done.

Okay, let's go lead in, goes up to the x-height line, and then a diagonal line down.

And then we lift off our pen, go up back up to the x-height line and make another diagonal line down.

And that's it.

No lead out.

Remember? No lead out.

It's a break letter.

All right, let me show you one more time from the baseline.

Let's go lead in, diagonal line down, pencil off, and diagonal line across.

And those two lines, we want them to cross in the middle.

It is your turn.

Are you ready? Get your finger in position at the baseline for the lead in and then a diagonal line down.

Lift up your pen and make a diagonal line so that those two lines cross in the middle.

Wonderful.

I think we'll try that again.

Ready? Lead in, diagonal line down, pencil off, back up to the x-height line, and make a line across.

Wonderful.

Those look great.

I'm liking those xs.

Fantastic.

I'm going to show you how to form the pre-cursive letter x.

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

I'm going to say to myself, "Ready, line, go." And I'll start from the baseline and draw my lead in, which goes up to the x-height line.

Then I'm going to make a diagonal line down to the baseline.

I'll lift up my pen, go back up to the x-height line and draw another diagonal line, making sure those two lines cross in the middle.

And this letter is a break letter so it doesn't have a lead out.

Let's try that again.

Ready, line, go.

Lead in, diagonal line to the baseline.

Lift up my pen.

Another diagonal line, making sure the two cross, no lead out.

One more.

Ready, line, go.

Lead in, diagonal down, lift up my pen, another diagonal going across.

There we are.

Check for understanding.

Which is the correct formation of the pre-cursive letter x? Choose from these three Xs in front of you.

Two of them have snuck in.

They shouldn't really be there, but one of them is the correct x formation of the pre-cursive letter x.

Which one is it? Pause the video while you decide.

Well done if you selected the first one.

That is correctly sitting in between the x-height line and the baseline.

For your task, I'd like you to practise forming the pre-cursive letter x.

First of all, go over the grey examples.

Next, try using the starting dot.

And finally, complete two lines independently on your tramlines.

Enjoy every x.

Remember, there's a lead in but there's not a lead out.

And stay focused.

See you when you're finished.

Pause the video here.

Okay, good to see you again.

How did you get on with forming the pre-cursive letter x? I wonder.

Did you start on the baseline? Did you remember the lead in? Did your two lines cross in the middle? Did you lift your pencil off the paper to form that second diagonal line? Did you remember there's no lead out for the pre-cursive letter x because it's a break letter? Which is your best one? Circle it and celebrate.

And now we have come to the time where we'll be forming the pre-cursive letter z.

And it is about to appear on screen any moment.

Now, take a close look at it.

What do you notice about this z? What can you see? What can you spot? Is there something a little bit curious about it? I wonder if you're gonna pick that up.

Tell the person next to you everything you notice.

Pause the video here.

Okay, did you notice there is a lead in? Did you notice that there's no lead out? Mm-mm.

Not with a z.

And also it's an x-height letter sitting in between the x-height line and the baseline.

Let's find out more.

This is the pre-cursive formation of the letter z.

Letter z starts on the baseline to form the lead in.

The pre-cursive letter z is an x-height letter.

X-height line, baseline, that's where it likes to sit.

The pre-cursive letter z does not have a lead out.

No lead out.

The pre-cursive letter z is a? Do you remember what it's called? Break letter.

As it doesn't join on to other letters.

Okay, it's time for fun.

It's time for forming letters in the air.

I'm gonna go first of all, forming the pre-cursive letter z, and then it will be your turn.

I'm gonna start, do you remember where? On the baseline.

Well done.

With my? Lead in.

Fantastic.

Okay, let's go.

Lead in all the way up to the x-height line.

Straight line across, diagonal line down to the baseline, and another straight line across the baseline.

And then I stop.

I take a break.

I don't make a lead out because this is a break letter.

It doesn't have a lead out.

Let me show you one more time.

From the baseline, lead in, up to the x-height line, straight line across, diagonal line down, another horizontal line.

And that's it.

It is your turn to form the pre-cursive letter z.

Ready, line, go.

Lead in, straight across, diagonal down, diagonal across.

Done.

Again.

Lead in, horizontal across, diagonal down, horizontal across.

Those Zs look good.

I can't stop here.

Let's go.

Let's go.

One more.

Ready, lead in, horizontal, diagonal, horizontal.

Look at those Zs.

I am loving the Zs.

Thank you everyone for joining in.

I'm going to show you how to form the pre-cursive letter z.

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

I'm going to start at the baseline and say "Ready, line, go." From my lead in up to the x-height line, I'm gonna go straight across the x-height line, make a diagonal down to the baseline, and then straight across the baseline.

The z is a break letter so it doesn't have a lead out.

Let's try that again.

Ready, line, go.

Lead in, straight across the x-height line, diagonal down, straight across the baseline.

And one more.

Ready, line, go.

Lead in, straight across, diagonal down, and across.

Check for understanding.

Select the correct formation of the pre-cursive letter z.

Take a look at the zeds before you.

Two of them are just there to distract you, but one of them is the real deal.

Which one is it? Pause the video while you decide.

Fantastic.

Well done if you selected the z above the letter C.

This one is sitting correctly in between the x-height line and the baseline, and it is formed in the correct way.

For your task, I'd like you to practise forming the pre-cursive letter z.

First of all, go over the grey examples.

Next, try using the starting dot.

Finally, complete two lines independently on your tramlines.

Remember the lead in.

Remember the horizontal, the diagonal, the horizontal, and no lead out.

Remember, the z is a break letter.

Have fun, stay focused.

I'll see you when you're finished.

Pause the video here.

Okay, it's good to be back together.

How did you get on with your practise of forming the pre-cursive letter z? I'm curious to know, did you start on the baseline? Did you go all the way up to the x-height line for the lead in? Did you keep your pencil on the page the whole time? Did you remember this is a break letter, so no lead out? Did you have fun? Did you stay focused? Circle your best letter z and celebrate.

In our lesson, pre-cursive formation of v, w, x and z, we have covered the following.

The pre-cursive letters, v, w, x, and z all start on the baseline.

The pre-cursive letters v and w have a lead in and lead out.

The pre-cursive letters x and z only have a lead in.

The letters, v, w, x, and z are all x-height letters.

The pre-cursive letters x and z are break letters as they don't join on to other letters.

Really, really well done everybody for joining in with this lesson.

I think it was a lot of fun.

I hope you enjoyed it too.

And I hope you will remember the special things that we learned today, especially that the x in the z are break letters, and they don't have the lead out.

They just take a little pause, they take a break.

Well, let's take a break now, and I'll see you on the next lesson.

Bye for now.