Handwriting Without Tears

We have been working on capital letters in our handwriting workbooks. You may hear some of the language at home and I encourage you to use it with your children. We sing, "Where do you start your letters? At the top!" to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands!" We also use the terms big line, little line, big curve, and little curve. These 4 types of lines make all of the capital letters. The first set of letters I've taught are "leap frog" letters: F,E,D,P,B,R,M,N. These letters all start with a big line down and then we leap frog back up to the starting point to continue the letter. The next set of letters are starting corner letters: H,K,L,U,V,W,X,Y,Z. The final set of capital letters I teach are center starting letters: C,O,Q,G,S,A,I,T,J. We practice each of these capital letters in a gray box in our workbooks. Leap frog and starting corner letters start in the top left corner; starting corner letters start in the middle of the top of the box.