Hoosier State Today

With the integration of technology into almost every aspect of our lives, parents may be wondering if teaching handwriting still has a place in our elementary school curriculum. The research clearly states handwriting should be systematically and explicitly taught, beginning in kindergarten. The sensorimotor feedback from the act of forming letters improves students’ memory for letters and words, enabling stronger reading and writing fluency. 

Through our Fundations curriculum, students in grades K-2 receive carefully planned and explicit instruction in learning how to print. Once in third grade, Fundations moves from reinforcing accurate and fluent print formation to cursive writing.  Learning both print and cursive formations support better spelling, more fluent writing, and a student’s ability to read all kinds of fonts, including older scripts used in historical documents.

Third Grade Fundations curriculum provides teachers with carefully planned and explicit cursive handwriting instruction with the goal that all students will develop legible and fluent cursive handwriting. CCS 3rd-grade teachers engage students in both gross motor and fine motor activities that teach and reinforce cursive letter size, shape, spacing, slant, and stroke formation. Once students learn the individual letter formations, they begin practicing how to connect letters and ultimately, how to use cursive in their daily writing. As students progress through the grades, keyboarding may overtake much of students’ formal writing production. However, fluency and legibility in print and cursive will still be critical in students’ daily work and note-taking. 

Original source can be found here.