Italic Handwriting Book D Grade 3

Shorter, meaningful, and regular practice is better than longer and/or sporadic sessions. For students in 3rd to 6th grade, we recommend 60-120 minutes per week (12-24 minutes per day).

Some general recommendations:

• Plan on practicing no more than a page at one sitting.
• Spend some time during practice doing some self-assessment. Encourage the student to choose which letters (or joins) they did well, have them mark them and try to replicate those. Ask them to choose which ones they feel do not match the model and therefore need a mental plan (e.g. “I want the ‘h’ ascender downstroke to be straighter”.)
• Put practice to use as soon as you can. For instance, try to avoid asking them to practice a single letter over and over.
• While you might be tempted to jump around in the book, we suggest going page by page, reading all the material as you go.
• Do start with the “Pre-Test” sample of your student's current handwriting. It will be important to see how your student's handwriting has changed over time when the book is finished and the student does the “Post-test".

While you may experience improved handwriting after just a few sessions, most gains will come from repeated practice over time. Handwriting is a lifelong skill built up over many years of study. As you use the workbook, encourage the student to try out your new handwriting on other school work, especially spelling and vocabulary lists, writing short compositions, thank you notes, and other correspondence.

Print / Basic / Manuscript: Writing with no letter joins. Some systems call their printing "ball and stick."

Cursive / Script / Longhand: Writing with joined letters. Used to increase the speed and ease of writing by limiting the number of times one lifts the pen or pencil from the paper.

Serif: An addition to the letter used in cursive writing to initiate the join.

Letterform: The path the writing tool takes to form the letter, numeral or punctuation.

Calligraphy: Literally means "Beautiful writing". Used for formal correspondence, presentations, or artwork. Not intended to be written quickly. Tools: edged pen and ink (either felt, cartridge or dipped), or brush.

Handwriting: Everyday writing used for communication and notes, often with the necessity for speed and legibility. Tools: pencil, felt-tip or ball-point pen, crayon, etc.

The Getty-Dubay Italic Handwriting Series is a developmentally appropriate course that starts with Book A, is designed for use in Kindergarten, and progresses by grade through Book G. Each book supports the motor skill, attention span, and content level of its respective grade level.

If your student needs remedial handwriting work, it is best to use that Getty-Dubay Italic book that matches the student's language skill. For example, an 8th grader who needs help with basic italic would probably be happier using Book G, instead of going back to Books A or B.

Here are a few ideas you can try with your son:

1. 1
   Practice on blank paper with large felt pens. These come in a variety of bright and stimulating colors.
2. 2
   Write with crayons.
3. 3
   Write his letters in sand or cornmeal.
4. 4
   Have him lay a jump rope down in the shape of the letters and make a game of hopping around the letters.
5. 5
   Ask him to try using letterforms in drawings (e.g. lots of n's for house shingles, w's for hair, etc.) Find opportunities to help him make the letters and have fun at the same time.

Ask the child to look at the letter and tell you how it's different from the model. Is it wider, taller, thinner, smaller? Are the letters further apart than the model? Never, ever use the word "wrong." It is simply different from the model.

Encourage the child to assess his/her own writing, with your guidance.

Our books useful no matter with which hand you write. One way this is true is that where possible the page content is arranged carefully so that your writing hand does not cover up the handwriting model you are copying. For left handers we recommend having your wrist below the line of writing and slanting the paper down to the right — in other words, a slight turn in the clockwise direction. Having good over-all posture and enough space for comfortable movement of your arm are also important for a good handwriting experience.

For parents of left-handed children: Left-handedness is perfectly natural, but does present some challenges in our right-handed-centric world. The good news is that, with encouragement, left-handed writers do find ways to adapt. Never insist that the student change writing hands.