Hi, everybody, I'm Ms. Gardner and welcome to today's handwriting lesson.

In today's lesson, it's a really fun one.

We're going to be writing a cinquain poem using our best cursive handwriting.

So thank you for joining, I hope you enjoy it, and let's get started.

Your learning outcome for today's lesson is to correctly copy a poem in cursive handwriting.

Let's start with the keywords.

We'll do my turn, your turn.

Poem.

A poem is a piece of writing that uses creative and rhythmic language to express thoughts, feelings, or ideas, often within a specific structure or pattern.

Cinquain.

This is a form of poetry consisting of five lines, typically with a specific syllable count or pattern.

Join.

A join is how the letters are connected together.

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

Letter spacing, the amount of space between individual letters in a word, ensuring they are evenly spread out.

There are two sections of our lesson today.

In the first we'll be doing a handwriting warm-up, then we'll be reviewing and copying a cinquain.

So we are not writing our own poem today.

We are copying one in order to practise our cursive handwriting.

So let's start with our warm-up.

Before we start, what are these pictures reminding us to do when it comes to handwriting? Pause the video now and have a little think.

Okay, so the first picture is reminding us to be sat on a chair and a table or desk, to have our feet flat on the floor, and our back against the chair.

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

So if you're right-handed, the paper should be tilted slightly to the left.

If you're left-handed, the paper should be angled slightly to the right, and then your non-writing hand is supporting by keeping the paper still.

Then the third picture, reminding you to hold your pencil or pen in the tripod grip.

Before starting to write, it's really important to warm up your hand and wrist muscles, just like you would warm up your leg muscles before a sports match.

Your hands and wrists actually get stronger the more you exercise them, and so warming up your hands before writing will then help to improve your cursive handwriting.

Let's do today's handwriting warm-up.

Let's warm up our hands using the piano playing technique.

This is one of my favourite warm-ups to do, because you get to use your imagination to imagine in your head a really lovely tune.

So, you're going to pretend that you've got a piano underneath your hands and you're gonna stretch out your hands and your fingers ready to play your tune.

Then you're gonna start pushing down on the keys and playing a melody in your head.

Maybe you might stretch your fingers, you've got to reach a note that's a bit further away.

Maybe you're gonna push down on one finger on one note for a bit longer.

There's no right or wrong with this.

You're just imagining a nice song, and the tune might change, the melody, the speed might change, which means that you need to move your fingers in different ways.

Okay, it's your turn.

Get your fingers ready.

Imagine you've got a keyboard or a piano underneath you, and then in your head, imagine a song that you're playing on the piano with your fingers.

This is a really good way to not only warm up your fingers, but also stretch them, 'cause you might need to stretch to play a different piano.

Have you got a fun song that you're imagining in your head? I'm sure you're all doing great.

Well done and I hope your fingers feel really warmed up now for handwriting.

Now we're going to do the clapping position for our warm-up.

So you're going to put your hands together as if you were going to clap.

I'm gonna have a go first and then you'll be able to have a go.

So make sure your fingers are lined up, precisely touching, and then you're gonna push your hands against each other.

Feels really nice, and it kind of warms up your arms, your wrists, and your hands.

Okay, your turn.

Get your two hands, put them together as if you're about to clap, and then put some pressure on each hand so they're kind of pushing into each other.

Should feel quite nice.

Okay, well done.

Another thing to do before you start your handwriting is to practise some writing patterns, as these help us to prepare for writing and for joining letters together.

So you can see these writing patterns on the screen now will actually require really similar hand and wrist movements to cursive handwriting.

So I'm going to do the writing pattern in the air first and then you're going to have a go.

So here, in this pattern, it's loops, isn't it? It looks a bit like one of those toys, a slinky that goes down the stairs, doesn't it? So I'm gonna start on the bottom and I'm really gonna try and keep my movements smooth and flowing.

And I'm gonna go up and then down, up and then down, up and then down, up and then down and out.

Your turn.

You got your finger ready? Let's do this together.

Up and then down, up and then down, looping up and then looping down, up and then looping down.

Great! Okay, it's time for Task A.

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

Remember, don't lift your pencil or your pen off the page when you're forming the pattern, and really try to focus on keeping the movement smooth and flowing.

Pause the video now.

Off you go, and enjoy.

Well done, everybody.

I hope you enjoyed that.

Did you use your tripod grip? Did you keep your pencil on the page, and was your movement smooth? I'm sure you all did really well.

Great job! Okay, it's time for the second part of the lesson now we are all warmed up.

We're going to be reviewing and copying a cinquain.

A cinquain is a five-line poem that follows a specific structure, and the clue actually that it's a five-line poem is in the first part of the word, C-I-N-Q, cinq, which comes from the French, meaning five.

Cinquains often focus on creating vivid imagery through descriptive language and sensory details.

Let's have a look at an example.

Silent.

Falling gently.

Whispers of memories.

Winter halting the march of time.

The snow.

What do you think this poem is describing? Pause the video now and have a think by yourself or discuss this with your partner, your class, whoever you're with.

What did you all think? I thought maybe it was describing the snow, because snow is very quiet when it falls, so it's silent and it falls really gently, but you might have had a different answer too.

Well done.

So, can you remember the four joins that we've learnt in cursive handwriting? Here is an example of each join.

Have a think about or discuss with your partner or class, how can you describe each join? Pause the video now.

Okay, so the first join, joining the letters A to W, goes from the baseline to the x-height line.

The second join, C to H, goes from the baseline up towards the ascender line.

The third join, joining O to M, dips down just below the x-height line and goes from the x-height line to the x-height line.

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

So let's look closely at the first two lines of the cinquain.

Silent.

Falling gently.

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

Okay, so, what do we notice? The first letter of both words, or the first word of each line start with a capital letter.

And then you'll notice that the capital letter is not joined to the next letter.

There's a tiny little gap.

There's full stops at the end of the line.

There's lead ins at the first letter of the letter string, I and A in silent and falling, and then gently as well.

Each word finishes with a lead out.

There's some looped descenders, two Gs and a Y.

And there's ascenders, four Ls and then Ts.

And remembering, the T doesn't go all the way up to the ascender line.

It just goes half the way up.

Let's look a little bit more closely at the joins.

So, we know that it's a capital letter at the beginning and full stop at the end of each line.

The capital letter does not join to the next letter in the letter string.

The next letter, though, has a lead in after the capital letter from the baseline.

So have a look at the letter I and A in silent and falling.

They both have a lead in from the baseline and they are not joined to the capital letter.

The first line, silent, uses the first and second join in its formation, and the second line also uses the first and second join in its formation.

And there is adequate letter spacing within the words.

So the letters are not squashed too closely together, but they're also not spread really far apart.

And this helps make the writing legible, we're able to read it.

Let's practise writing the first two lines of the cinquain.

I'm making sure I'm sitting comfortably at a desk and I'm holding my pen in the tripod grip.

First I'll start with a capital letter and then I'm going to lift my pencil, because I'm not joining the capital letter to the next letter.

So, finding a starting point, I'm ready to go.

Ready, line, go.

Capital S for silent.

And then I've removed my pen, and then I'm gonna go back to the baseline to find a starting point.

Lead in to form the letter I.

Joining I to L, baseline up to the ascender line.

L to E, baseline to x-height line.

E to N, baseline to x-height line.

N to T.

I'm going to go up towards the ascender line, but not all the way.

Then I'll go back, dot my I, cross my T, and then I can do my full stop on the baseline.

Okay, now the next line, falling gently.

Again, starting with a capital letter, because I'm not going to join to the next letter.

Capital F, I've lifted my pen, and then lead in to form the letter A.

A to L, up to the ascender line.

L to L, up to the ascender line.

L to I, baseline to x-height line.

I to N, baseline to x-height line.

N to G, and then finishing with a descender loop lead out.

Then I'll go back and dot my I.

Now gently, starting at the baseline, find a starting point.

Lead in to form the letter G.

And looped descender, joining E to N, baseline to x-height line.

N to T, not going all the way up to the ascender line, but some of the way.

T to L, all the way up to the ascender line, and finishing with a looped descender lead out.

Then I'll go back and cross my T and then I'll do a neat little full stop on the baseline.

Great.

So checking for understanding.

Select the true statement.

A, a capital letter will join to the next letter in the letter string.

B, after forming a capital letter, you lift your pencil before forming the next letter.

C, capital letters come at the end of a letter string.

Pause the video now.

That's right, it is B.

You do not join the first capital letter of the word to the next letter.

So you can lift your pencil off the page and then start the next letter with a lead in.

Well done.

Let's now look closely at the last three lines of this cinquain.

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

Okay, I wonder if you noticed all of these points.

So each line starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.

The first letter is a capital letter and therefore does not join to the next letter.

There are a range of cursive letter joins used, depending on which letter is joining to which letter.

In these three lines, all four cursive letter joins are being used.

Did you spot all four joins? If you need to, you can pause the video now and take a closer look to try and find an example of all four joins.

And then the length of each sentence ranges from two words to six words, but they all finish with a full stop.

Let's practise writing the last three lines of the cinquain.

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

Each line starts with a capital letter, so I need to remember that, and to remember to lift my pen after the capital letter, 'cause I don't join the capital letter to the next letter.

So finding a starting point, my first letter, whispers of memory, so capital W.

Ready, line, go.

I can lift my pen because I'm not joining.

Then finding a starting point to start my lead in to form the letter H.

H to I, baseline to x-height line.

I to S, baseline to x-height line.

S to P, down to the descender line.

P to E, baseline to x-height line.

E to R, dipping down below the x-height line to join to S.

And finishing with a lead out on the baseline.

Then I go back and dot my I.

Whispers of memories, of.

Starting point on the baseline.

Lead in to form the letter O, and dipping down, looped ascender, looped descender.

Whispers of memories.

starting on the baseline.

Lead in to form the letter M.

M to E.

E to M, baseline to x-height line.

M to O.

O to R, dipping down below the x-height line.

Dipping below the x-height line to join R to I.

And then finishing with a lead out on the baseline.

And then I need to dot my I and a full stop.

Whispers of memories.

Next line, winter halting the march of time.

So again, a capital W.

Then I lift my pen and I'm not going to join, so lead in.

And then N to T.

I'm not going to go all the way to the ascender line, just some of the way.

Finishing with a dip down lead out on the x-height line.

Dot my I, cross my T.

Winter halting the march of time.

Starting with a lead in to form the letter H, joining H to A.

A to L, all the way up to the ascender line.

L to T, just halfway up to the ascender line.

T to I, N to G, finishing with a looped descender.

Then I can go back, cross my T and dot my I.

The march.

Starting point on the baseline, lead in to form the letter T, all the way up to the ascender line for the letter H.

And H to E, joining baseline to x-height line.

Then I go back and cross my T.

March of time.

Starting point on the baseline, lead in to form the letter M.

M to A.

A to R, baseline to x-height line.

R to C, dipping below the x-height line, all the way up to the ascender line for the letter H and finishing with a lead out on the baseline.

Of, starting point on the baseline.

Lead in to form the letter O, dipping down, and then looped descender.

And we can just about fit the word time in on this line.

So, lead in to form the letter T, not all the way up to the ascender line.

Joining T to I, I to M, and M to E, baseline to x-height line.

Then I'll go back, cross my T, dot my I, and I can do my full stop.

Okay, the last line is the snow.

Starting with a capital T.

Again, I can take my pen off the page and lead in to form the letter H, 'cause we're not joining the capital letter, the letter H.

H to E, finishing with a lead out on the baseline.

And then snow, lead in to form the letter S.

S to N, N to O, and then dipping down below the x-height line to join O to W.

And finishing with a dip down lead out below the x-height line, and then a full stop on the baseline.

Great! Checking for understanding.

Select the correctly punctuated line.

Pause the video now and take a closer look.

Okay, so the one that has the correct sentence that's correctly punctuated is C.

Why? Because it starts with a capital letter and finishes with a full stop.

Well done.

It's time for Task B.

You need to copy the cinquain in cursive handwriting on your tramlines.

Make sure you're thinking about capital letters, full stops, and all the joins really, really carefully.

So making sure your pencil or pen is in a tripod grip, pause the video now and off you go.

Well done, everybody.

Great job! Have a look at the cinquain that you just wrote.

Did you remember a capital letter at the beginning of each line? Did you use the correct joins within the letter strings? Did you keep your pencil on the page until the end of the letter string? So did you go and dot your I and cross your T after you finished writing the letter string? And did you remember the full stop at the end of each sentence? Pause the video now, look back through your cinquain, and make sure you've checked all of these points.

Off you go.

Great job, everybody.

Well done.

Now, read back through the poem one more time, circle your very best join, the one you're most proud of, and then you can celebrate.

Great job.

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

A cinquain is a form of poetry consisting of five lines, typically with a specific syllable count or pattern.

Each line of the poem starts on a new line with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.

In cursive handwriting, you lift your pencil after forming the capital letter.

Capital letters do not join to other letters in the letter string.

The cursive letter joins used within a letter string depend on which letter is joining to which letter.

You don't lift your pencil when forming the joins, and adequate letter spacing ensures your writing is legible.

Well done today, everybody, and across this whole unit.

Great job.