Hello, everyone.

This is Miss Afzal, here again to share some more handwriting with you.

I'm so excited to be here.

I hope you're feeling excited too.

We're going to, as always, do our best.

We are, as always, going to have lots of fun.

Are you ready to begin? Let's get started.

The outcome of today's lesson is I can form the letters E, S, F, V, W, X, and Z.

There are a few keywords look out for in today's lesson.

Let's go through them.

My turn, your turn.

X-height letter, ascender, descender, anti-clockwise direction, diagonal line.

Hope you will be looking out for these words, listening carefully for them, thinking about them, being curious about them, and maybe even being excited about them.

Today's lesson has two parts.

So in our letter formation of E, S, F, V, W, X, and Z, we are going to look at forming lowercase letters, E, S, and F in print, first of all.

And then, we'll move on to forming the lowercase letters, V, W, X, and Z in print.

Let's get started with some warmups.

Can you remember why it's important to warm up your hands before handwriting? It's because your hands and your wrists get stronger when you exercise them, just like any muscle in your body.

So making your hands and your wrists stronger will help you to hold your pencil in the tripod grip.

Let's have a go at the finger tap warmup.

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

I love this warmup because it exercises our fingers and because it feels so good doing this on our head, giving ourselves a little massage.

So I'm gonna start by putting my hands on top of my head, and I'm gonna tap each of my fingers, starting with my little finger all the way to the thumb, and I'm actually gonna tap down the side of my head.

So moving each of my fingers tapping, and it feels great on my head, like a lovely, gentle massage.

Now I'm going to go back up to the top, and this time I'm going to tap down the back of my head.

Oh, this is feeling like a lovely way to begin our handwriting session.

Hmm, really nice.

And now it's your turn.

Get your hands ready, place them on top of your head, tapping down the sides of your head.

Doesn't that feel good? I love this exercise because it sounds good, it feels good on our head, and crucially, it's strengthening our fingers, ready for handwriting.

Fantastic.

Next, we're going to have a go at the wrist shake.

This is really helpful for our wrists.

So all we're gonna do is just gonna hold our hand down like this, and we're going to shake, shake our hand, so shaking our wrist, shaking our hand.

And I'm gonna do the same on the other side, just shaking my wrist and my hand.

Now it's your turn.

Are you ready? So choose whichever hand you want to begin with and let's just shake that wrist.

Other side, shake your wrist.

Nice gentle shake.

Really fun way to do this is we could also shake upwards.

And this is lovely.

Have a go with me because this is like we're saying bye, just for now, or we can be saying, hello, hello.

Well done.

Have a look at these letters on the screen.

What do you notice about them, the E, the S, and the F? Pause the video here while you tell somebody nearby.

All of these letters are lowercase formations in print.

The letters E and S are x-height letters.

What that means is they sit between the x-height line and the baseline.

Those are called x-height letters.

And letter F has an ascender.

Remember, an ascender is the part of the letter that extends above the x-height line.

It ascends, it goes upwards.

And it also has a descender.

Descender means to go down.

And that was a part of the letter that reaches below the baseline.

So this is quite an extraordinary letter, the F, because it has an ascender and a descender.

Pretty special.

There they are.

What else do you notice about these letters? Can you see their starting points? The letters E, S, and F all have different starting points.

So letters E, S, and F all curl around in an anti-clockwise direction.

So let's have a look at this word, anti-clockwise.

So clockwise means the way that a clock goes around.

When you tell the time, the way the clock moves, that's clockwise.

And so anti-clockwise is the opposite.

It's the other way around.

So not the way a clock goes, but the other way, it's anti-clockwise.

And the letters E, S, and F all have curved lines within their formation.

So they've all got these curved lines, which there's something quite lovely about forming curved lines.

What is it, I don't know.

Let's have a go.

Let's see how lovely it feels.

So I'm going to go, first of all, forming the letter E in the air, and then it will be your turn.

So I'm going to start, the starting point for this is quite interesting.

It's in between the x-height line and the baseline, right in the middle.

And I'm going to make a horizontal line across, and then I'm gonna curl upwards in, remember what direction, an anti-clockwise direction, touching the x-height line.

And then I'm going down to the baseline and curling up.

That's it, let me show you again.

So we start in between the x-height line and the baseline, right in the middle.

Make a horizontal line, and then I'm curling, I'm going upwards and curling around anti-clockwise all the way down to the baseline.

And I'm finishing just above the baseline.

Okay, it is your turn to form the letter E.

Ready, get in position, and let's go.

Horizontal line, and then let's curl up, and anti-clockwise touching the x-height line, and then down to the baseline, and finish just above the baseline.

Let's do another one.

Ready, horizontal line, and then anti-clockwise, x-height line, baseline.

Lovely, those E's are looking ever so good.

Next, we're gonna form the letter S.

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

I'm gonna start just below the x-height line for this one.

Can you remember what direction we go in? Yep, you've got it, anti-clockwise.

So you're gonna go anti-clockwise touching the x-height line.

And then I'm curling around to halfway in between the x-height line and the baseline.

And now, I'm curling around clockwise and I'll finish just above the baseline.

So we've got two curl around.

We've got one anti-clockwise, and then one clockwise.

Let me show you one more time.

So I'll start just below the x-height line, go anti-clockwise, curling around.

And then when I'm halfway in between the x-height line and the baseline, then I'm gonna curl around clockwise.

Lovely, it is your turn.

Are you ready? Let's go.

Just below the x-height line, let's go anti-clockwise, curl around.

And then when you're halfway between two lines, let's curl around clockwise.

Lovely, again, just below the x-height line, go anti-clockwise, curling around, and then clockwise.

Fantastic, I like those S's.

They're looking very good.

I'm enjoying seeing all of your S's.

And finally, we'll form the letter F.

I will go first.

Then, it will be your turn.

Again, it's a different starting point for this letter to the last two.

This one we start a bit higher up, so we're halfway in between the ascender line and the x-height line.

And what direction do you think we go in? Yep, you've got it, anti-clockwise.

Let's go anti-clockwise.

Let me just show you.

And I'm gonna go all the way down to almost to the descender line and then a curl up.

Take my pen off and then I'll make a cross at the x-height line.

Let me show you again.

So I'm starting in between the ascender line and the x-height line.

I'm going anti-clockwise all the way down to almost the descender line, curl up, pencil off, cross at the x-height line.

Okay, it's your turn to form the letter F.

Let's go.

So we're starting quite high up.

We'll make our anti-clockwise movement, then down to almost the descender, curl up, pencil off, and across at the x-height line.

One more.

Anti-clockwise, all the way down, down, down, down, curl up, pencil off, and across.

Look at those F's.

They are very, very fine.

For your task, I'd like you to practise forming the lowercase letters, E, S, and F.

First of all, go over the grey examples.

Next, try using the starting dots to help you.

And finally, complete one line of each letter independently on your tram lines.

Enjoy every E, every S, every F, and stay focused, stay fresh, and have fun.

See you when you're finished.

Pause the video here.

Good to see you again.

How did you get on with forming lower case letters E, S, and F? Did you start at the correct starting point? Remember, it's different for each of these three letters.

Did you go round in an anti-clockwise direction? Not the way a clock goes around, the other way? Did you keep your pencil on the page, only lifting it when you are making the cross across the F? Circle your best of each letter and celebrate.

Well done.

For the next part of our lesson, we will be forming lowercase letters, V, W, X, and Z.

Here they are.

What do you notice about these letters, the V, the W, the X and the Z? Take a close look at them and then tell somebody nearby what you notice.

Pause the video here.

All these letters are lowercase formations in print.

They all sit between the baseline and the x-height line, which makes them all x-height letters.

Now remember, that's one of our key words.

So x-height letter means letters sit between the baseline and the x-height line.

That's their home.

What else do you notice about these letters? All of the letters have the same starting point.

Letters V and W are formed in similar ways.

They're both formed by going diagonally down and then diagonally back up.

Letter X is formed by making two straight, diagonal lines, which cross in the centre.

And a diagonal line is a line that goes, so it's not not a line that is going straight down and it's not a line that is going straight across.

It's kind of halfway in between those.

So it's a slanted or tilted line, it's a diagonal line.

And letter Z is formed by a zig-zag pattern.

That's one with a straight and then a diagonal line and then another straight line.

It's time to form letters in the air.

Are you ready for some serious fun? Okay, we are gonna start with the V.

This is a very nice letter to form.

There's something just quite simple about this V that I think I'm really going to enjoy.

Let me show you first of all.

My turn and then it's your turn.

So I'm gonna start at the x-height line, make a diagonal line to the baseline, and then a diagonal line to the x-height line.

So, let me show you again.

Diagonal down and a diagonal up.

That's it, that's the V.

Okay, are you ready to show me your letter V? Gonna start at the x-height line.

You're gonna go down, diagonal down, diagonal up.

Amazing, again.

Diagonal down, diagonal up from the x-height line to the baseline diagonal and from the baseline to the x-height line, another diagonal.

It seems hard to stop doing this, doesn't it, for some reason? It's just such a fun letter.

Such a nice simple letter to make.

Well done, everyone.

I love those V's.

Next, it's time to form the letter W in the air.

This one, especially after we've just made the V letter, this one is quite, again, it's quite straightforward.

It's almost like two V's right next to each other.

Let's have a go.

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

I'm gonna start at the x-height line, the diagonal down to the baseline, the diagonal up to the x-height line.

And the same again.

Diagonal down to the baseline, diagonal up to the x-height line.

That's it.

Lemme show you again, ready? From the x-height line, diagonal down, diagonal up, diagonal down, diagonal up.

Are you ready for the W? Let's go.

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

Again, diagonal down, diagonal up, diagonal down, diagonal up.

I can't say it, but I can form it.

How about you? Can you pull that W one more time? Wonderful.

Next, let's form the letter X in the air.

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

I'm starting at the x-height line for my X and I'm gonna make a diagonal down.

Same thing we've been doing on the last two letters.

Then, I'm gonna pick up my pencil, put it back up to the x-height line, and make another diagonal line, making sure that those two lines cross in the centre.

Let me show you again.

Start at the x-height line, diagonal down, pencil off, back up to the x-height line, and then another diagonal down, making sure the two cross like this.

It's your turn to form the letter X, ready? At the x-height line diagonal down to the baseline, pencil off, back up to the x-height line, and then another diagonal down, making sure they cross.

Let's do it again, ready? Bring the x-height line diagonal down, pencil off, and another diagonal down.

Those X look great.

Well done, everybody.

Okay, it's time for our final letter.

This is the letter Z.

Last letter of the alphabet is a pretty, pretty special letter.

You know what, I have a Z in my first name and my surname, so I'm quite, I'm very familiar with this letter.

I like it very much.

Okay, let me show you how to form the letter Z.

I'm gonna put my finger at the starting position, which is on the x-height line.

I'm gonna go make a straight line across, a diagonal line down to the baseline, and then another straight line across.

So it's kind of a zig-zag pattern, which is a lot of fun.

Are you ready? Let me show you one more time.

Start at the x-height line, across, diagonal down, across, zig-zag pattern.

It's your turn to enjoy the letter Z, ready? Let's go across, diagonal, across.

Let's do it again.

Zig-zag pattern.

This is fun, yep.

I think you're getting why I'm enjoying that.

I have so many Z's in my name.

It's a really great fun letter to form.

Well done, everybody.

Now, it's time for your task.

I'd like you to practise forming the lowercase letters, V, W, X, and Z.

First of all, go over the grey examples.

Next, try using the starting dot to help you.

And finally, complete two lines of each letter independently on your tram lines.

Enjoy every one of these letters, the diagonals, the crossing each other in the centre, and the zig-zags.

There's a lot of fun to be had.

Enjoy, and I'll see you when you're finished.

Pause the video here.

How did you get on with forming the lowercase letters V, W, X, and Z? Did you start at the x-height line for each of them? They all have the same starting position.

Did you draw straight, diagonal lines? Did your X's cross at the centre? Did you enjoy the zig-zagginess of the Z? I hope so.

Circle your best of each letter and celebrate.

Great job, team.

In our lesson formation of E, S, F, V, W, X, and Z, we have covered the following.

The letters E, S, V, W, X, and Z are x-height letters.

Letter F has an ascender and a descender.

The letters E, S, and F are formed with curved lines.

The letters V, W, X and Z are formed with straight and diagonal lines.

Well done, everybody.

This has been such a fun lesson.

I really loved the curviness of those first three letters, the E, S, and F, and then the zig-zaggy and diagonalness of the last four letters, V, W, X, and Z.

It's been great to practise these letters with you.

I hope you had a lot of fun, I know I did, and I look forward to seeing you at the next lesson.

Bye for now.