Hello everyone, my name is Miss Afzal, and I'm really thrilled to be here with you, because we are going to be practising one of my very favourite things and that is handwriting.

So we're gonna get into it.

We're gonna have a go at practising some letters and some patterns.

We're gonna do some warmups.

It's gonna be a great time we have, and I hope you're ready.

I hope you're excited too.

Let's get started.

The Outcome for today's lesson is, "I can form the letters M, N, R, H, K, B, and P." I think we're going to have a lot of fun.

Let's get started.

There are some Keywords to look out for, to listen out for, and to think carefully about in today's lesson.

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

X-height letter, letter family, ascender, descender.

Fantastic, I'm looking forward to coming across these words in today's lesson, hope you are too.

Today's Lesson, Formation of M, N, R, H, K, B and P, is made up of two parts.

Firstly, we'll look at forming the lower case letters, M, N and R in print.

Next, we'll be forming lowercase letters, H, K, B, and P in print.

And there are similarities between the M, N and R, and H, K, B, and P.

And you'll find out more about what those similarities are, as we get into this lesson.

Let's start with some warmups.

Can you remember why it's important to warm up your hands before handwriting? Your hands and your wrists get stronger when you exercise them.

Just like any muscle in your body.

And making your hands and your wrists stronger, will help you to hold your pencil, using your tripod grip.

Let's have a go at our hand, squeeze warmup.

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

I'm gonna choose which hand to begin with, this one.

And I'm gonna start by stretching out all my fingers, stretching them really wide, really far apart.

And then I'm gonna slowly bring them in.

And I'm going to imagine I've got something precious in my hand and I'm squeezing and holding it tight, holding something tightly in my hand.

Something tiny, tiny and precious.

And then I'm going to open out my fingers into that lovely stretch once again.

And then back into a squeeze, holding something precious and tight.

I'm gonna try with the other hand.

First of all, that lovely big stretch, stretching all my fingers, and then bringing all those fingers in and squeezing something, holding something precious, holding it tight.

Out to that lovely stretch, and then fingers into a lovely squeeze, mm, feels great.

Okay, it's your turn.

Choose which hand you're going to begin with.

Put that hand up, open up the fingers, stretch them wide, and then squeeze them tight.

Hold something precious and tiny and tight, and then stretch and squeeze.

Lovely, other hand.

First of all, stretch and then squeeze the hand tight, stretch and squeeze.

Oh, lovely job, everybody.

Next we're going to move on to our wrist circles.

First of all, I'm going to stretch my hands out in front of me and then I'm going to pull my fingers in, form fists, and then I'm going to make circles, moving in one direction.

Lovely circles.

And then I'm going to go in the other direction.

This feels good.

This feels fun.

Are you ready to join in? Let's go.

Take your hands, put 'em out in front of you, form fists.

Let's go, one direction.

Other direction.

Let's just do it again because it's so much fun.

We can't really stop, 'cause we're enjoying ourselves so much.

That's the way to do it.

Take a look at these letters on your screen, the M, the N, the R.

What do you notice about these letters? Pause the video here, while you tell someone nearby.

These letters are all lowercase formations in print.

Did you notice that? And they all sit between the baseline and the x-height line.

They are all x-height letters.

Do you remember this keyword that we had? So x-height letters are letters that go up as high as the x-height line.

What else do you notice about these letters? They all have starting points on the x-height line.

They all start in that same position, and they're all formed in a similar way.

They all are formed by going down, back up and over, so that's why they're in the same letter family.

Another one of our keywords.

So they're in, they're a family, because they're all, there's something similar about them, and they all have that similar formation, down, back up and over.

And letters M and the N, they both finish with a flick on the baseline.

It's that fun time of forming letters in the air.

I'm going to go first at forming letter M in the air with my finger and then it will be your turn.

Okay, I'm getting started at, do you remember where? The x-height line.

And I'm gonna go straight down to the baseline.

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

Guess what, again? Up and over, down to the baseline and flick.

Feels pretty good.

Let me show you that again.

I'll start at the x-height line.

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

I won't keep all this fun to myself.

I'm gonna let you join in.

Are you ready? Put your finger at the x-height line.

Let's go.

Down to the baseline, up and over, down to the baseline, up and over, down to the baseline and flick.

Again, again, I hear you call.

Let's go, from the x-height line, down to the baseline, up and over, down to the baseline, up and over, down to the baseline and flick.

Shall we do one more? Let's indulge ourselves in one more M.

Let's go, down to the baseline, up, over, down to the baseline, up, over, down to the baseline and flick.

Mm, mm, those Ms. Okay, it's time for the letter N.

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

I'm starting, guess where? Yes, you got it, the x-height line, because these are all x-height letters, remember? I'm going to go down to the baseline, up and over, down to the baseline and flick.

So this is interesting, isn't it? It's really similar to the letter M that we just did, but it's just got one up and over, as opposed to two in the M.

Let me show you again.

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

Especially after we've done the M, the N seems really, really quite straightforward and easy now.

I wonder if you'll find that as you have a go, ready? Put your finger at the x-height line.

Let's go, down to the baseline, up and over, down to the baseline and flick.

Let's try again.

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

Should, we do one more? I don't think we can stop ourselves.

Let's go, down to the baseline, up and over, down to the baseline and flick.

Really, really liking those Ns.

Well done, everybody.

And now, it's time for the R.

Where do we start? At the x-height line.

So I'm gonna go first of all, and then afterwards it'll be your turn.

I'm going to go down to the baseline, up and over, and I'm over just a little bit, just a little bit, underneath the x-height line.

Let show you again.

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

That's it, again, it's so, so simple, especially once you've already done the M and the N.

It's your turn.

Fingers at the ready, at the x-height line.

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

Again, down to the baseline, up and over.

Last one, let's do it, really focus.

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

Mm, I am enjoying those Rs.

Well done, everyone, really enjoyed your focus there.

For your Task, I'd like you to practise forming the lowercase letters M, N, and R.

First of all, go over the grey examples of the M, the N, and the R.

Next, try using the starting dot to help you.

And remember, each of these letters begins at the x-height line.

So we'll have the same starting position.

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

Enjoy the Ms, the Ns, the Rs, the way they're all formed in quite a similar way.

Enjoy this lovely letter family, and I'll see you when you're finished.

Pause the video here.

So how did you get on with forming the lowercase letters M, N, and R? Did you remember to start at the x-height line for every single one? Did you make that same pattern of going down, back up and over for every one of these letters? Did you keep your pencil on the page for each letter? Oh, so circle your best M, your best N, your best R, and celebrate, you deserve a celebration.

And now, we're onto the next part of our lesson, forming low case letters, H, K, B, and P in print.

And here they are.

Here's the H, the K, the B, the P.

What do you notice about these letters? Pause the video here and tell someone nearby.

Did you notice that all of these letters are lowercase formations in print? Letters H, K, and B have ascenders.

So remember the ascender is a part of the letter that goes above the X-height line and it ascends.

To ascend means to rise up, to go up.

It ascends as part of the letter.

The ascender is the part of the letter that reaches above the x-height line.

There it is.

There we can see there they are.

We can see those ascenders.

And letter P has a descender.

And a descender is a part of the letter that reaches down below the baseline.

What else do you notice about these letters? Have a look at these dots, the starting points.

Does that give you a little clue about something you can notice? The letters H, K, and B have a starting point on the ascender line, all the way up at the top of the ascender line.

Whereas, letter P starts on the x-height line.

All the letters are formed in a similar way.

They're all formed by going down, back up and over, so therefore, they're in the same letter family, and some things are similar about them.

That's why they're in a family.

It's that fun time.

We're forming letters in the air.

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

Okay, I am going start to, you remember where? At the ascender line.

I'm going to go all the way down to the baseline, and I'm gonna go back up to the x-height line, up and over, down to the baseline, and finish with the flick.

Mm, feels good.

Let me show you again.

Start at the ascender line, all the way down to the baseline, back up to the x-height line, over, down to the baseline, and flick.

It is your turn.

Are you ready? Fingers in position at the ascender line.

Let's go, down to the baseline, up and over at the x-height line, down to the baseline and flick.

Again, I hear you cry.

Let's go, from the ascender line, down to the baseline, up to the x-height, over, down and flick.

One more from the ascender line, down to the baseline, up to the x-height line, over, down and flick.

Those Hs look very good, well done.

Are you ready now for the Ks? I'm gonna go first of all.

I'm gonna start all the way up at the ascender line, and I'm gonna make my way down to the baseline.

Then I'm gonna go up to halfway between the baseline and the x-height line, and I'm gonna make a loop that touches the x-height line and comes back in, and then I'm gonna go down, make a diagonal line, down to the baseline and flick.

Let me show you that again.

I will start all the way up here at the ascender line, down to the baseline, and I'm gonna go up halfway to between the baseline and the x-height line.

I'm gonna make a loop that touches the x-height line and then I'm gonna make a diagonal line down to the baseline and flick.

Are you ready for your turn for forming the lowercase letter K? Let's go, at the top, the ascender line.

Let's go all the way down to the baseline.

Up to a halfway between the baseline and the x-height line.

Make a loop that touches the x-height line, and then a diagonal line down to the baseline and flick.

Again, ascender line, down to the baseline, up just a little bit, then let's make that loop that touches the x-height line.

Then let's make the diagonal line down to the baseline and flick.

Really, really good job, everyone, enjoying those Ks.

Now, it's time for me to form the letter B in the air.

I'm gonna use my fingers to do this, then it will be your turn.

I'm starting, can you remember where? Yes, you've got it, up at the ascender line.

I'm going to go all the way down to the baseline, then I'm gonna go back up, curl around, go over, down to the baseline, and then I'll finish with the two lines joining together.

Let me try that again.

I'll start at the ascender line.

Gonna go down to the baseline, I'm gonna go back up, over, curl around, down to the baseline and I'll finish with joining those two lines together.

Okay, are you ready to have a go at forming the letter B? It starts at the ascender line.

Let's go, down to the baseline, back up, and then over, curl around, down to the baseline.

Join those two lines together.

Let's try that again.

Start at the ascender line, down to the baseline, back up, over, curl round, enjoy that curl round, down to the baseline, and join the lines together.

One last one, ascender line, down to the baseline, back up, over, curl around, join the lines together.

We are done.

That's looking good.

Well done, everyone.

Next, I will form the letter P in the air and use my finger.

Afterwards, it's gonna be your turn.

This time I'm starting at the, do you know where? Can you remember? The x-height line this time.

And I'm gonna go down, down, down, keep going down, all the way down to the descender line.

This letter has a descender.

Then I'm coming back up to the x-height line, I'm gonna go over, around, curl around, down to the baseline and join the two lines together.

Let me try that again.

I'll start at the x-height line, and I'm going all the way down to the descender line.

Back up to the x-height line, around, go over, curl around, and finish by joining the two lines together.

Okay, it's your turn.

Are you ready to form the lowercase letter P? Let's go, from the x-height line, down to the descender line.

Back up to where we started.

Over and around, curl around, join the two lines together.

Again, one more, ascender line, sorry, x-height line, down to the descender line, back up to where we started.

Go over, curl around, finish by joining those lines together.

Those letter Ps look perfect.

Well done, it's time for your Task.

I would like you to practise forming the lowercase letters, H, K, B, and P.

First of all, go over the grey examples, the H, the K, the B, the P.

Next, try using the starting dot.

And remember, for the H, the K and the B, we start all the way up at the ascender line.

And for the P, we start at the x-height line.

Finally, complete two lines independently on your tramlines.

Enjoy forming all of these letters, this wonderful letter family.

And I'll see you when you're finished.

Pause the video here.

We are back together.

How did you get on with the Hs, the Ks, the Bs, the Ps? How did you get on with the ascenders, the descenders, the flicks, the loops, the diagonal lines? So much to cover in this lesson.

How did that all go? And what about starting at the correct starting point? Did you do that? Did you go down, back up and over? Did you keep your pencil on the page while you were forming each of the letters? I hope so.

Circle your best of each and celebrate.

Well done, everyone.

In our Lesson, Formation of M, N, R, H, K, B, and P, we have covered the following, the letters, M, N, R, H, K, B, and P, are all in the same letter family, as they're formed by going down, back up and over.

The letters M, N and R are x-height letters.

The letters H, K, and B have an ascender, and the letter P has a descender.

Well done, everyone, it was such a pleasure to be with you for this lesson.

I love how focused you were, and I love how you joined in with all of this, what this lesson contained, the curves, the up, down, and over, the flicks, the diagonals, the loops and everything else that was here.

You were here for all of it.

So I am so, so pleased about that, and I can't wait to see you on the next lesson.

Bye for now.