Anonymous wrote:Wait I thought FCPS still taught cursive. It doesn't?

My D learned cursive in 3rd grade.

Our FCPS school uses the lined paper. I bought a bunch at the dollar store for home. My son's handwriting is also not good. It's legible when he slows down and makes an effort. The teacher is patient and working with him, too. He's made a lot of progress this year in 2nd but it's still a struggle.

They are supposed to teach handwriting in a purposeful way. There isn't enough time to teach everything, sadly. Let the teacher know you want it to be taught. They need to provide the paper. Ask for it. Ask the principal to order it, if needed. They are supposed to teach cursive in 3rd, but again, there is so little time for everything and you have to tell the teacher you want to see it. The teachers want to have time to teach it. Tell the principal to make it a priority. It is important for reading and brain development.

Wait I thought FCPS still taught cursive. It doesn't?

15:12 Yes, things aren't uniform and supplies are diminishing.

This hasn't been our experience. I remember from kindergarten on our FCPS school used lined paper to practice handwriting. I can't remember all the names but the paper had a sky line, ground line, etc. The kids knew what the lines were and where they needed to start and stop to practice their lower and upper case letters. They also used journals where half the page is blank for drawing pictures and the bottoms half had guided lines for writing. As with everything it seems curriculum is not uniform across all schools in FCPS which is a shame.

Anonymous wrote:http://www.amazon.com/Zaner-Bloser-Handwriting-Grade-1/dp/073676836X/ref=pd_sim_14_5?ie=UTF8&dpID=510YprSTuWL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=0ZPFJNW6M6Y7F0GPD8V6

http://www.amazon.com/Handwriting-Paper-Grade-Ruling-Red-Baseline-Broken/dp/0880858974/ref=pd_sim_236_9?ie=UTF8&dpID=41tNomG%2Bx9L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=0CMCAK0GWVZDBJRJ3J0Z

Yes, I can buy something at home to use, but why doesn't FCPS just have lined paper for the kids to use there?

This isn't just FCPS, it's everywhere. Unfortunately handwriting and cursive dropped off the national standards a few years ago and have never been on the SOLs. When this dropped off the standards many school systems immedicately dropped the ball on handwriting let alone cursive. Many sysytems don't provide a focus on handwriting beyond first grade and never introduce cursive.

There are so many benefits to handwriting practice and to cursive including benefits to spelling with motor memory, improvement in reversals, benefits to fine motor skills in general, improved performance on creative writing. Let alone that no one will have cursive signatures or be able to read documents.

Basically whatever your kids skills are by the end of first grade are what they are as far as handwriting goes. For generations before them all children's fine motor skills benefited from the tedious time everyday over several years to learn print and cursive.

Sadly, teachers only care about the message in the child's writing and not the handwriting itself. Maybe they care if they can't read it but that's about it.

Normal - we supplement with the Kumon writing words and sentences workbooks.

Hi op, yes my experience is like yours and my son is in 4th. I see this with lots of boys where handwriting is a struggle. You can print lined paper with the midline dashed and solid top and bottom lines. This is free, but you can also purchase the lined paper and use that. Teach your son about the top, bottom and mid line and when you have him write the lower case letters you can call the letters that are between the top and bottom lines "tall". Letters that are between the midline and the bottomline are "small". Letters that drop below the bottom line are "fall". So, tall, small and fall letters. Don't make him spend too much time practicing each day if he hates it.

I have seen improvement in my son's writing each year. I still think it looks terrible, but he can do better if he takes his time. The teachers allow him to type when lots of writing is needed on certain assignments. And yes, they don't spend much time teaching writing beyond kindergarten.

http://www.amazon.com/Zaner-Bloser-Handwriting-Grade-1/dp/073676836X/ref=pd_sim_14_5?ie=UTF8&dpID=510YprSTuWL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=0ZPFJNW6M6Y7F0GPD8V6

http://www.amazon.com/Handwriting-Paper-Grade-Ruling-Red-Baseline-Broken/dp/0880858974/ref=pd_sim_236_9?ie=UTF8&dpID=41tNomG%2Bx9L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=0CMCAK0GWVZDBJRJ3J0Z

The paper is a huge problem in FCPS. It has no guidelines. It doesn't get better.

My first grade DS still writes in a very labored fashion. Homework takes forever. His letter sizes are all over the place and he often writes above or below the line. I know this should improve as he becomes more comfortable. It does, however, seem surprising that it seems they do very little letter practice in FCPS. I do not remember much last year in K either. When I was a kid in Massachusetts we did a ton of this, using paper with guidelines. DS has never used this paper. I have considered asking his teacher if I should purchase some and work with him myself. I have two questions. Has anyone been in a similar position and seen writing improve much as the child gets into second grade? Also, has anyone had a similar experience in FCPS? I understand that there is a lot of controversy over teaching cursive, but teaching clear handwriting seems like a very basic skill and something that should be mastered in early elementary. Thanks.