Hi, everybody.

My name is Ms. Gardner, and welcome to today's handwriting lesson.

In today's lesson, we're going to be reviewing the four joins that we've learned in cursive handwriting.

So it will be a really useful lesson and I hope you enjoy it, so let's get started.

Your learning outcome for today's lesson is to correctly use the four joins in cursive handwriting.

Let's start with the keywords.

We'll do my turn, your turn.

Join.

This is how the letters are connected together.

Ascender line.

This is the top line of the tramlines.

x-height line.

The line which the x-height letters reach.

Baseline.

The line that most letters sit on.

Descender line.

The bottom line of the tramlines.

So there are three sections of our lesson today.

In the first, we'll be doing a handwriting warm-up, then we'll be reviewing the first and second join and then we'll be reviewing the third and fourth join.

So let's start with our warm-up.

Before we start our handwriting, what are these pictures reminding us to do? Pause the video now and have a think or discuss this with your partner, your class, whoever you're with.

Off you go.

Okay, so the first picture is reminding us that when we do our handwriting, we need to be sitting on a chair and at a table or a desk, our feet need to be flat against the floor, and our back against the chair.

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

So if you're right-handed, the paper can be tilted slightly to the left, if you're left-handed, the paper should be tilted slightly to the right, then your non-writing hand will support you by holding the paper or book down to make sure it doesn't move around.

Then the third picture is reminding you to hold your pencil in the tripod grip.

Before starting to write, it's really important to warm up your hands and muscles a bit like you'd warm up your leg muscles before you take part in a gym class.

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

Let's do today's 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're got to reach a note that's a bit further away.

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

There's no right or wrong with this.

You're just imagining a nice song.

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 are going to clap.

I'm gonna have a go first and then you'll be up 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 to put some pressure on each hand so they're kind of pushing into each other.

Should feel quite nice.

Okay, well done.

Another great thing to do before you start your cursive handwriting is to practise some writing patterns, as this helps us to prepare for writing and for joining our letters.

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

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

So starting at the bottom, this writing pattern almost looks a bit like e's, the lowercase e's being joined together, doesn't it? So it will require definitely a similar wrist movement to cursive handwriting.

So starting at the bottom, I'm gonna go up and then loop down, up, loop down, up and loop down, up and loop down, really trying to create a smooth flowing movement.

Your turn.

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

Starting at the bottom, up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down, looped up and then down.

Great job.

It's time for Task A.

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

Remember, try not to lift your pencil or pen off the page when you're forming this pattern, you want it almost to be stuck to the paper, and focus on keeping the movement smooth and flowing.

Pause the video now and off you go.

Well done, everybody.

I hope you enjoyed that.

So have a think, were you using your tripod grip? Did you keep your pencil on the page and was your movement smooth? I'm sure you all did brilliantly.

Well done.

It's now time for the second part of the lesson where we are going to be reviewing the first and second join.

Here are some examples of some joins.

Cursive handwriting involves joining letters together without lifting your pencil off the page.

How the letters are connected together depends on which letter is joining to which letter.

Cursive letter joins refers to how the letters connect together.

Learning the letter joins will improve your cursive handwriting skills, allowing for a smooth flow of handwriting.

So let's think about the joins that we've learned, the first one first, can you remember the first join? Let's remind ourselves.

Here are some examples of the first join.

Pause the video now and take a close look at each example, how could you describe the first join? How do these letters all join together? Pause the video now.

Okay, so the first join is from the baseline to the x-height line.

So a is joined to p from the baseline to the x-height line.

That's the same for all of those examples.

Can you spot the first join being used in this letter string, A-R-T? Pause the video now and take a closer look.

Okay, so where is the first join being used in this letter string? It's joining a to r.

You can see that the letters are joined from the baseline up to the x-height line.

So the first join is from the baseline to the x-height line.

Now, can you remember the second join? Here's some examples.

Pause the video now and have a think or discuss this with your partner or class, how could you describe the second join? Off you go.

Okay, so the second join is from the baseline again but this time, above the x-height line towards the ascender line.

You can see l, h, and f go all the way up to the ascender line but the letter t just goes towards the ascender line, not all the way.

So to summarise, the only letter that doesn't reach all the way to the ascender line when using this join is the letter t.

So that's just something to be remembering.

So check in for understanding, can you spot the second join being used in this letter string? Pause the video now.

Okay, so the second join is being using to join i to t.

The second join is from the baseline to above the x-height line towards the ascender line but remembering that the letter t doesn't go all the way to the ascender line.

So I'm going to form the first and then the second join in the air with my finger, because it's a really good idea to practise things in the air first before you write them down on paper, then you're going to have a go.

So let's start with our first join joining i to n from the baseline to the x-height line.

So I'm going to start, I just find a starting point on the baseline and start my lead in to form the letter i, back down to baseline then joining baseline to x-height line and then finishing with a lead out on the baseline, the letter n.

Then, I'll go back and dot the i after I finished the join.

Now, let's do the second join, c to h.

So again, finding a starting point on the baseline, lead in to form the letter c and then back down to the baseline to join c to h up to the ascender line, back to the baseline to finish with a lead out.

Okay, it's your turn.

Everyone get your fingers ready? Let's do this together.

Let's start with our first join, baseline to x-height line.

We're going to join i to n.

So find a starting point on the baseline, lead in to the x-height line, form the letter i, i to n joined baseline to x-height line and then finishing with a lead out.

Then, we go back and dot the i.

Now, let's do the second join, c to h.

Okay, so find a starting point on the baseline, lead in to form the letter c, baseline to ascender line to join c to h, back to the baseline to finish with a lead out.

Great job.

It's time for Task B.

You need to first practise the first join, so a, you'll join the letter a to the letter r on the tramlines, then b, you'll join the letter i to the letter n on the tramlines, c, you'll join the letter e to the letter g on the tramlines.

Then 2, practise the second join.

a, you'll join the letter i to the letter l, b, you'll join the letter i to the letter t on the tramlines, and then c, you'll join the letter c to the letter h on the tramlines, remembering that when you're dotting your i and crossing your t, you're doing that after you finish the letter string.

So pause the video now and off you go.

Well done, everybody.

I hope you enjoyed that.

Have a look at your work that you've just done for Task B and compare them to the examples on the screen.

For the first join, did you join from the baseline to the x-height line? And for the second join, did you join from the baseline towards the ascender line? If you need to, you can pause the video now and make any edits or have another go at any of the joins.

Otherwise, really well done, everybody.

Great job.

Okay, it's time for the third part of our lesson where we are reviewing the third and fourth join.

Can you remember the third join? Here's some examples to help us.

Pause the video now and have a think or discuss with your partner or class, how could you describe the third join? Off you go.

Okay, so the third join is from the x-height line to the x-height line.

You just dip down a little bit below the x-height line but not too much, just a little bit down below.

So to summarise, the join starts at the x-height line, dips below the x-height line and back up to join the next letter.

Check in for understanding, can you spot the third join being used in this letter string? Pause the video now and take a closer look.

Okay, so the third join is being used to join o to w.

You can see the little dip down below the x-height line because the third join is from the x-height line to the x-height line.

Well done.

Can you remember the fourth join? Here's some examples to help us.

Pause the video now and have a think about how you can describe the fourth join.

Off you go.

Okay, so the fourth join goes from the x-height line up towards the ascender line.

The only letter that doesn't reach all the way to the ascender line when using this join is the letter t.

So you can see when you're joining r to t, the arrow is a little bit shorter, isn't it? Because the t doesn't go all the way up to the ascender line.

So check in for understanding, can you spot the fourth join being used in this letter string? Pause the video now.

Okay, so the fourth join is being used to join r to l because the fourth join goes from the x-height line up towards the ascender line.

Well done.

Okay, I'm going to form the third and fourth join in the air with my finger first and then you're going to have a go.

So let's start with the third join, joining o to m, so just below the x-height line dipping down.

So starting on the baseline, find a starting point, lead in to form the letter o and then dip down just below the x-height line, back up again to form the letter m, finishing with the lead out on the baseline.

Now, the fourth join, joining o to h.

Again, starting on the baseline, find a starting point, lead in to form the letter o and then x-height line up towards the ascender line, back down to the baseline with a lead out.

Okay, it's your turn.

Let's do this together.

Everyone got your fingers ready? Let's start by forming our third join, joining o to m.

Let's start on the starting point, lead in to form the letter o, dipping down just below the x-height line, forming the letter m, lead out at the baseline.

Great, let's now join o to h using the fourth join.

Again, starting at the baseline, starting point, lead in to form the letter o, then from the x-height line up towards the ascender line to form the letter h and then a lead out at the baseline.

Great job, everybody.

Really well done.

It's time for Task C.

First, you need to practise the third join, so you'll join the letter w to the letter a on the tramlines, then b, you'll join the letter o to the letter m on the tramlines, then you'll join the letter o to the letter o on tramlines.

Then the second part of Task C is to practise the fourth join.

a, you'll join the letter o to the letter b on tramlines, b, you'll join the letter r to the letter t on tramlines, and c, you'll join the letter o to the letter f on the tramlines.

So make sure you're holding your pen or your pencil in your tripod grip, pause the video now and off you go.

Great job, everybody.

Well done.

Have a look at all the work you've just done for Task C.

Firstly, have a look at your third joins, did you join from the x-height line to the x-height line with just a little bit down below the x-height line? Then, look at your fourth joins, did you join from the x-height line towards the ascender line? Did you make sure that your letter t didn't go all the way up to the ascender line but stopped just above the x-height line? If you need to, pause the video now and make any edits to your joins or have another go at some of them.

Great job, everybody.

Really well done and well done for working so hard today.

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

Cursive handwriting involves joining letters together without lifting your pencil.

There are four cursive letter joins, which join is used depends on which letter is joining to which letter.

The first join connects from the baseline to the x-height line.

The second join connects from the baseline to the ascender line.

The third join connect from the x-height line to the x-height line.

The fourth join connects from the x-height line to the ascender line, and the first letter has a lead in and the last letter has a lead out.

Great job today, everybody.

Well done.