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 is to correctly form words using the suffixes -ful and -less.

Let's start by looking at the key words.

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, a group of letters that are written together in a word.

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

Lead out, the stroke or line that guides us into smoothly finishing 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 -ful, and then we'll be writing the suffix -less.

So let's start with our warm-up.

Before we start, what are the pictures here reminding us to do when it comes to handwriting? Have a think by yourself or discuss it with your partner, your class, whoever you are with.

Pause the video now.

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

So making sure you've got a desk in front of you.

Make sure your feet are flat on the floor and that your back is against the chair.

The second picture is reminding us to angle your paper correctly.

If you're right-handed, your paper should be at a slight left angle towards the left, and if you're left-handed, your paper should be tilted slightly towards the right.

And then your non-writing hand supports you.

It holds down the paper so that it doesn't move around.

And then finally, the picture reminds us to hold your pencil in the tripod grip.

Before starting to write, it's really important to warm up your hands and your wrist muscles.

A bit like before you played a game maybe of basketball, you would do a warm up beforehand to get your muscles ready.

Your hands and wrists get stronger when you exercise them.

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

And improve your stamina means you'll be able to keep on and doing your cursive handwriting for longer.

So let's warm up.

So let's do the hand squeeze warm up.

I'm going to go first and then you are going to have a go.

So we can start with one of your hands.

It doesn't matter which one I'm gonna start with my right and then I'm gonna start by stretching my hand as wide as I can.

And then I'm going to squeeze my hand together.

I'm always gonna imagine there's something really precious in the palm of my hand that I don't want to lose.

So I'm gonna squeeze my fingers really tight onto my hand so that there's no gaps.

Maybe like a chain of a necklace or something really small gemstone that I don't want to lose.

So I'm squeezing my hand tight.

Then I'm gonna open it and stretch my hand wide again, and then squeeze it again.

Then we'll do it with my other hand.

I'm gonna start by stretching my hand wide open and then squeezing it together.

Imagining there's something inside, I don't want to let go of.

Stretching wide, squeezing tight.

Okay, it's your turn.

Choose whichever hand you want to start with.

I'm gonna start with my right.

And we are going to start by stretching the hand wide and open and squeezing it, tightly holding it whatever is precious to you.

Stretching wide, squeezing tight.

Okay, let's swap hands.

And then the same thing.

Start by stretching your hand wide and then squeezing it really, really tightly.

Stretching out wide and then tight squeeze.

Great job.

Well done.

Okay, let's do some wrist circles.

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

So I'm gonna start by putting my hands out, performing little fists and then moving my wrists in one direction together.

Really nice feeling on your wrists.

It feels like they're getting lots of movement there.

And then I'm gonna switch direction, go the other way around little circles, forming little circles with my wrists.

Really great way to warm your wrists up.

Okay, are you ready? It's your turn.

Get your hands out like this, form little fists.

And then choosing which one direction you wanna go in which direction you're gonna go in.

Let's go to the right and then forming circles in this direction.

And then switch direction other way around, making sure your wrists are feeling really ready for handwriting.

Great job.

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

So you can see here there are three really useful writing patterns as these are quite similar movements that our wrist will need to do for cursive handwriting.

So I'm going to do the writing pattern in the air first with my finger, then you'll be able to have a go.

So this one here, it looks a little bit like a snake, doesn't it? So I'm going to start at the top and then I'm gonna squiggle down to the bottom.

Left, right, left, right, left right, and then back up to the top.

Right, left, right, left, right, left.

And then again with the next one, starting at the top.

Squiggling down.

Left, right, left, right, left right.

Really trying to keep a smooth flowing motion.

Then back up, left, right, left, right, left right.

It's your turn.

Now you're going to do the writing pattern in the air.

So get your finger ready.

Let's start at the top this time and then we're gonna go squiggling down to the bottom.

Right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left.

Back up to the top, left, right, left, right, left, right, left right.

And then again, 'cause there's three of these starting at the best.

Let's start at the bottom this time.

And right left, right, left, right, left up to the top and left, right, left, right, left, right, down to the bottom.

Well done.

So it's time for Task A.

You need to copy and continue these patterns using your tripod grip.

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

We want to keep your pencil almost glued to the paper.

Don't take it off, we'll remove it 'cause this helps to really keep the movement slow, smooth and flowing, which is really important when it comes to cursive handwriting.

So pause video now.

Off you go and enjoy.

Well done, everybody.

Great job.

Have a think.

Did you use your tripod grip when you were completing the patterns? Did you keep your pencil stuck on the page? Was your movement really smooth? I'm sure you all did a great job.

Well done.

It's time for the second part of our lesson where we are going to be writing the suffix -ful.

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

Let's have a look.

Careful.

So care is our root word.

We've added the suffix -ful to make a new word.

Careful.

Here, beauty is our root word.

We've replaced the y with an i and then added the suffix -ful.

And now we have beautiful.

Here, help is our root word.

We've added the suffix -less and now we've got the word helpless.

There are lots of different types of suffix, but it can help our handwriting and our spelling to practise these letter strings using common suffixes as they appear in lots of words, ful and less are really common suffixes that we'll use in our writing.

So it's really important that we're practising them.

Can you remember the four joins that we've learned in cursive handwriting? Here are some examples to help you remember.

Pause the video now and have a think or discuss this with your partner, your class, whoever you're with.

Okay, so our first join.

Here, the example a is joined to w and the first join is from the baseline to the x-height line.

In the second join, the second join is from the baseline up towards the ascender line.

That's how the c and the h are joined.

In our third join, it is from the x-height line to the x-height line, but just a little dip down below the mx-height line.

And then finally our fourth join goes from the x-height line up towards the ascender line.

If you need to, you can pause the video now and have another close look at all these joins.

Otherwise, really well done.

So here is the suffix -ful in cursive handwriting, you can see the suffix -ful is formed from the letters f, u and l.

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

Okay, so the letter f, our first letter starts with a lead in loop and the letter f ends with a lead out loop to start joining to the letter u.

Then l is an ascender, and it ends with a lead out from the baseline.

Let's look even more closely.

There's some really focusing on the joins.

The letter f has a lead in loop from the baseline.

The last letter l has a lead out also from the baseline.

The letter f is joined the letter u using the first join from the baseline to the x-height line.

And the letter u is joined to the letter l using the second join from the baseline to the ascender line.

Remember, you don't lift your pencil when you're forming the joins.

So I'm now going to form the suffix -ful in cursive in the air with my finger 'cause it's a really good idea to practise with a finger in the air before you start writing on paper with pencil.

So I'm gonna start with letter f on my baseline and I'm gonna start with my lead in loop.

So starting on the baseline and then going up to the ascender line, my lead in loop, then down past the baseline to the descender line, then lead out loop.

I'm gonna start joining the f to the u at the x-height line.

And then at the baseline I'm gonna start joining the u to the l up to the ascender line, back down to the baseline and then a lead out.

Lots to think about there.

It's your turn.

You're now going to form the suffix -ful in cursive in the air with your finger.

So let's all start together.

Start on the baseline.

We're gonna go start forming the f.

So we'll go and do our lead in loop at the ascender line, then go down past the baseline down to the descender line, the lead out loop.

Then we're gonna join the f to the u at the x-height line form the letter u, and then at the baseline we'll join the u to the l up to the ascender line back down to the baseline lead out.

Well done if you want to, you can pause the video now and have another go at practising that.

Really well done.

So these words are written in cursive handwriting and use the suffix -ful.

So we have the word careful.

I was really careful when I was closing the window.

And playful.

Yesterday at break time I was in a really playful mood.

Look really closely at these words.

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

Okay, so careful.

What do we notice about the letter formation? Our first letter c starts with a lead in from the baseline.

Then we have the letter f, which has a looped descender.

Then our letter l ends with a lead out.

Playful, again, our first letter p starts with the lead in from the baseline.

We have two looped descenders in this last word y and f.

And then the final letter l ends with a lead out from the baseline.

So what do you need to think about when you're writing a letter string with a common suffix? Remember the first letter of the word 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.

So it depends on what the word is.

In these examples, the suffix -ful is joined using the second join from the baseline to the ascender line.

But it won't always happen that way.

Remember, you don't lift your pencil until you have completed the letter string.

So if you need to dot an i or cross a t, you do that after you finish the letter string.

Let's practise writing words with the suffix -ful.

We're going to write careful first and then playful.

So starting with careful and making sure that I'm set comfortably and my pen is in my tripod grip, I'm gonna find the baseline which I'm starting on here.

And then I'm going to start with my lead in to form the letter c, so I'm ready.

So I'm going to say ready, line, go.

Forming my letter c with a lead in joining it to a baseline to x-height line, same for a to r.

And then joining r to e just below the x-height line.

And then the lead in loop to form the letter f and then the lead out loop to join it to the letter u.

And then finally joining u to l up to the ascender line back down to the baseline and a lead out.

Lovely.

Okay, let's now write the word playful.

Again, we'll be starting on the baseline for our lead in.

I'm ready.

So I'm going to say ready, line, go.

Let's form the letter p leading in, down past the descender line.

Back up, joining p to l up to the ascender line back down again l to a, a to y and then down to do a lead out loop.

And then into joining f, the lead in loop, back down again the lead out loop f and then u to l up to the ascender line back down to baseline and lead out.

Checking for understanding.

Select the correct formation, a, b, or c.

Pause the video now.

That's right, it is a, f has got the correct loops and l ends with a lead out.

Well done.

It's time for Task B.

First, your practise writing the suffix -ful, using the starting point on the baseline to help you.

Then you'll practise writing the following words on your lines.

Careful, playful, useful and beautiful.

And I suggest you try to write each word at least three or four times.

Pause the video now.

Off you go.

Well done, everybody.

Great job.

Have a look at your writing.

Did you use the correct joins within the letter strings? Did you remember the lead in and the lead out loop for the letter f? If you need to, you can pause the video now.

Go back through any of the words that you've written and try to make any edits that you might need to using the examples on the screen to help you.

Okay, well done, everybody.

Have a look at all the words that you've written.

Circle your best join and celebrate.

Great job.

Okay, it's time for the third part of our lesson where we are writing the suffix -less.

Here is the suffix -less in cursive.

Look at it really closely.

What do you notice about the letter formation and the joins used? Pause the video now.

Okay, so what do we notice? l, the first letter is an ascender letter and it has a lead in from the baseline, s is our final letter and it has a lead out from the baseline.

The first join here is used for all of the letter joins.

So l to e, e to s and s to s, all use the first join 'cause they're joined from the baseline to the x-height line.

Let's look really closely though again.

The first letter l has a lead in from the baseline.

The last letter s has a lead out.

The first join is used to connect all of the letters in this suffix from the baseline to the x-height line.

And you don't lift your pencil when forming the join.

At all, you don't need to lift your pencil.

So I'm now going to form the suffix -less in cursive, in the air with my finger.

Okay, so I'm gonna got my finger ready.

I'm gonna start on the baseline.

I'm gonna start by drawing the letter l up to the ascender line from my lead in, then back down to the baseline.

Then I'm gonna form my letter e and then start joining e to s from baseline to x-line.

Form my letter s and then join that s to the next s from the baseline to the x-height line.

And then when I'm back on the baseline, I'll do finish with my lead out.

Lots to think about again about on this one.

It's your turn now.

So everyone get your finger ready.

Let's start on the baseline together.

We're gonna start with by forming our letter l, the ascender letter.

So we'll start with our lead in from the baseline, gonna go up to the ascender line forming our letter l, back down to the baseline, joining into our letter e.

And then the letter s joining at the x-height line, forming the letter s back to the baseline, the next letter s, back to the baseline and then finishing with the lead out.

Well done, everyone.

If you need to, you can pause the video and have another go at that 'cause there was a lot to think about when you are joining the suffix -less.

Pause the video now.

Great job, well done, everyone.

So these words are all written in cursive handwriting and use the suffix -less.

The first word is helpless.

I felt helpless because there was nothing I could do to help.

And then pitiless.

He was pitiless, he felt no pity for me.

So have a look at these words closely.

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

Okay, let's start with helpless.

Our first letter h starts with a lead in from the baseline.

We have a few ascender letters in this word, h, l, and l.

And our final letter s ends with a lead out from the baseline.

Then pitiless, our first letter p starts with a lead in from the baseline then is a descender, descends down to the descending line.

We have two ascender letters, t and l, l a little bit taller than t as it goes all the way up to the ascender line.

And then s our final letter which finishes with a lead out from the baseline.

So what do you need to think about when you're writing a letter string with a common suffix? Remember 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 you're writing.

The suffix -less uses the first join to connect the letters from the baseline to the x-height line.

And you don't need to lift your pencil until you have completed the letter string.

And then you might need to go and dot your i's or cross your t depending on the word.

Let's practise writing words with the suffix -less.

We're going to write helpless and pitiless.

So let's start with helpless.

We're going to make sure we're sitting comfortably with our feet firmly on the ground and our pen or pencil in a tripod grip.

And we're going to find our starting point on the baseline.

And that's where we can start our lead in to form the letter h.

So I'm ready to go.

So I'm going to say ready, line, go to myself.

Starting with my lead in to form the letter h.

And then joining h to e from baseline from x-height line, e to l, baseline to the ascender line, l to p baseline down to the descender line.

And then let's do our suffix.

So p to l up to the ascender line back down to the baseline to join l to e baseline to x-height line, e to s baseline to x-height line, s to S baseline to x-height line, and x-height line.

And then finishing with a lead out from the baseline.

Now we're going to write pitiless.

So again, starting on the baseline, this is our starting point.

I'm ready to go.

So ready, line, go.

Let's start with our lead in to form a letter p down to our descender line.

Joining p to i baseline to x-height line, i to t, t goes towards the ascender line, but not all the way, t to i baseline to x-height line, i to l up to the ascender line, back down to the baseline to join to e.

And now we're going to join e to s baseline to x-height line, s to s baseline to x-height line and finishing with a lead out on the baseline.

And now I can go back, dot my i's and cross my t.

Great.

Checking for understanding.

Select the correct join a, b, or c.

Pause the video now.

That's right, it is b.

It wouldn't be a because the two s's aren't joined together.

And then c, the join isn't quite correct for the two s's and they're not the right same size.

You always want to try and keep your letters the same size.

Well done.

Okay, it's time for Task C.

You need to practise first writing the suffix -less using the starting point on the tramlines to help you.

Then you're going to practise writing the following words on your lines.

Helpless, joyless, pitiless and powerless.

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

Pause the video now and off you go.

Great job, everybody.

Really well done.

Have a look at your words.

Did you use the correct joins within your letter string? Did you keep your pencil on the page until the end of the letter string? If you need to, you can pause the video now and make any edits to any of your writing that you've done in this task, using the examples on the page to help you.

Pause the video now.

Well done, everybody.

Great job.

Now have a look at all the joins you've written in the task.

Circle your very best one and then you can celebrate.

Great job.

Here's a summary of everything we've learned today.

A suffix is a letter or group of letters at the end of a word which creates another word, <v ->ful and -less are examples of suffixes.

</v> 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, <v ->ful uses the first and second joins in its formation,</v> <v ->less uses the first join only within its formation.

</v> Which join is used to connect the suffix depends on the letter before the suffix is added.

And you only lift your pencil once the letter string is complete or if there's a break letter within the letter string.

Great job today, everybody.

Really well done.