This 70 pg book focuses on cursive handwriting practice of every letter in the alphabet, aimed at the older elementary learner. Each page has both lower case and upper case letters for the learner to practice writing the letters on.

Included also are blank pages with training lines for when your child is comfortable enough to attempt writing the letters of the alphabet in cursive without prompting. It is a great exercise to attempt at any stage but will give you a clear indication of his or her progress.

Be prepared that letters will not be formed according to what is printed but with continued use and practice your child will become familiar with the formation of the letter and then begin to associate it with the “sound” the letter makes, as well as start to associate the “sound” and “sight” of the letter with pictures. This is designed to be a fun educational activity, although an essential one and encouragement and guidance by the educator/parent can turn any monotonous activity or one that can easily become monotonous into a fun activity. These units are based on learning through repetition and so additional activities are encouraged.

Some suggestions to enhance your child’s familiarity of the sounds and shapes of the letters are:

• Cutting pictures out of magazines, newspapers and old books, that begin with this particular “sound”: “Say it and sound it” If it has the same sound, cut it out and paste it on a separate sheet. I have included pages for cut and paste activities.
• Drawing pictures of objects that begin with this “sound”: This is also a fun activity and can be added to the end of this book as your child progresses from letter to letter. These exercises may not be necessary as your child has reached the stage in his or her handwriting development that he or she can quite comfortable associate sound with sight. They can still however be fun :)

Your child should not immediately be expected to be able to write the word of the picture she or he recognizes. It is enough at this stage that the sound is recognized and associated with a picture, be it in printed or drawn form.

I have included a few pages of basic tracing activities, all of which assist with the development of Fine Motor Skills in early learners. These exercises are excellent for children who may have an identified learning difficulty or those whose attention spans are much like one of my own daughter’s – about the length of a noodle! In writing cursive your child may just wish to bypass these exercises.

When you and your child are comfortable with these books I would suggest moving on to the individual “I Like…” series which focuses on a specific letter of the alphabet. If you are very enthusiastic perhaps used in conjunction with.