New
New
Year 3

The first join: in, ig, ed, eg, aw, ap, an, ar

I can correctly form the first join.

New
New
Year 3

The first join: in, ig, ed, eg, aw, ap, an, ar

I can correctly form the first join.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Cursive handwriting involves joining letters together.
  2. The letters all have a lead in starting at the baseline.
  3. The first join goes from the baseline to the x-height line.
  4. The pencil does not lift when forming the join.
  5. The letter w lead out "finishes with a small dip down" to aid joining.

Common misconception

Children will often want to take their pencil off to form the join.

Emphasise the flowing motion of cursive writing. The letters need to be joined together so the pencil needs to stay on the page.

Keywords

  • Join - connecting together

  • Lead in - the stroke or line that guides us into starting a letter

  • Lead out - the stroke or line that guides us to smoothly finish a letter

  • Baseline - the line that most letters sit on

  • X-height line - the line that x-height letters reach

In the task section of the lesson, the children are given two words to practise writing with the joins. Increase the number of words if your children are confident with the join.
Teacher tip

Content guidance

  • Risk assessment required - physical activity

Supervision

Adult supervision required

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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6 Questions

Q1.
True or false? Warming up your hands before writing will help to improve your handwriting.
Correct Answer: true, True
Q2.
Cursive handwriting involves ...
forming the letters separately by lifting your pencil.
Correct answer: joining letters together by not lifting your pencil.
joining all of the letters in a sentence together with no finger spaces.
Q3.
How many tramlines are there usually?
3
5
Correct answer: 4
Q4.
Put the tramlines in the correct order, from the top to the bottom.
An image in a quiz
1 - ascender line
2 - x-height line
3 - baseline
4 - descender line
Q5.
Which of these letters has a descender?
a
c
Correct answer: f
Correct answer: g
Correct answer: y
Q6.
Which of these letters has an ascender and a descender?
y
p
Correct answer: f
g

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