MANUAL. Cursive Handwriting. 5th. Edition. Everything you need to teach handwriting at primary level using Letter-join.

Transcription

1 5th Edition Cursive Handwriting MANUAL Everything you need to teach handwriting at primary level using Letter-join. Joined-up handwriting made easy You can download and print further copies of this manual at More ideas for Wo rd Banks, Spelling lists and worksheets LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 5th EDITION Green and Tempest Ltd 2018

2 Introducing Letter-join CONTENTS Letter-join in the classroom Letter-join is an online handwriting resource which can be used to teach handwriting on classroom interactive whiteboards. It includes animations, touch-screen activities, cursive fonts, lesson planners and access to hundreds of practice worksheets. Letter-join fonts for MS Word Print No-lead Letter-join Plus Air Plus Air No-lead School staff can create homework sheets, newsletters, posters and labels using Letter-join fonts in MS Word. See pages 6 and 7. Letter-join on school tablets Letter-join access on ipads and tablets is included with school subscriptions. Letter-join s fun touch-screen activities are designed to encourage pupils to practise handwriting and is compatible with Apple, Android and Windows tablets. Free home access for your children Letter-join includes free access for pupils to practise at home on their PCs and tablets. Password details are sent to schools at time of purchase. Set-up for Teachers 4 Classroom set-up 5 The Letter-join menu 6 The five Letter-join fonts LESSON PLANNERS 9 Designed for schools wishing to follow a continuous cursive handwriting programme. EYFS 10 Ideas and resources to introduce cursive handwriting to early years pupils KEY STAGE 1 14 Material to teach other character sets and to reinforce and practise handwriting KEY STAGE 2 20 Exercises and practical methods to help reach National Curriculum expectations 7 Set-up fonts for MS Word 8 How to choose the class font Alternative letterforms Handwriting Lesson Planners Letter-join now includes Lesson Planners for teachers wishing to follow a structured continuous cursive handwriting teaching plan. See page 9 for details. RESOURCES 24 Introduction 26 Printout sheets 29 Worksheet Generator 30 Dictation Exercises 32 On-line Word Processor 34 Word Animator The Letter-join cursive handwriting style includes alternative letterforms that are used on all cursive resources including animations, the Worksheet Generator, Magic Words, Word Animator, online Word Processor and all cursive worksheets. Designed to look and feel like natural handwriting, it is easy to learn to write. Handwriting policy document Letter-join includes a curriculum-based handwriting policy. It is supplied in MS Word format to school subscribers and can be easily edited to quickly produce a personalised handwriting policy for your school. See page 42 for details. Simple internet compatibility Letter-join is compatible with most internet browsers on desktop computers and on ipads, Windows and Android tablets and LearnPads. See page 43 for LearnPad log-in and recommended browsers. FUN 36 Magic Patterns and Magic Words ADMIN & TECH. 38 School Admin set-up How to set up a Letter-join School subscription. 40 Letter-join for pupils at home How your children can use Letter-join at home. 41 Installing fonts Downloading and installing Letter-join fonts on PCs and across networks. POSTURE & GRIP 37 Seating position and pencil grip MORE 43 Recommended browsers Browser recommendations including Learn Pad set up. 43 Cost Calculator Find out the cost for a school subscription. 43 Free Trial Register for a 30 day free trial of Letter-join. 2 LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 3

3 Classroom Set-up Teachers Information Panel Click on the info button on any Letter-join page for instant Letter-join knowledge. The Letter-join menu CLASSROOM SET-UP Instruction Guides l Handwriting Lesson Planners (PDF format). l Cursive Handwriting Manual for teachers l Handwriting Policy l Fonts description guide l Fonts in Microsoft Word l On-line Word Processor l Setting up tablets (school) l Word Animator guide l Worksheet Generator guide l Instructions for pupils to use Letter-join at home l Handwriting Manuals for pupils and parents The Teachers Information panel gives you immediate information on Letter-join s most widely used features. Access instruction guides, fact sheets and downloads. Classroom Options allows teachers to choose which Letter-join fonts to use on a classroom basis. Letter-join Workflow: Animation to Worksheet Animations for individual letters include voiced instructions and link to an accompanying practice worksheet. Account information contains passwords and usernames for school and at home. How to distribute passwords for your pupils to use Letter-join at home See page 40 Choose a letter to watch Animations with spoken instructions Touch-screen activities for IWBs, ipads and tablets Practice worksheets accompany all sections 4 LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 5

4 CLASSROOM SET-UP Using Letter-join fonts The five exclusive Letter-join fonts Letter-join Plus Letter-join Plus is the font most widely used by Letter-join school subscribers. It is a continuous cursive font with lead-in and lead-out lines. The five Letter-join fonts included in school subscriptions can be downloaded from a school s Letter-join Administration page to use in MS Word. See page 41 for how to install and instructions for school technicians. School staff can select a Letter-join font to use on the following Letterjoin activities; Magic Words, Worksheet Generator and Word Animator via the Information panel. Fonts will use the alternative letterforms that have been chosen for the letters f, k, w, x and z. The Letter-join Online Word Processor incorporates the Letter-join fonts without requiring any font download to PC. the big dog Display Letter-join fonts correctly in MS Word When using any of the Letter-join cursive fonts in Microsoft Word it is important to switch on the Contextual Alternates option to correctly reproduce the cursive letterforms and use the correct joining strokes between letters. About Contextual Alternates Contextual Alternatives is a typographical term for correctly joining cursive letters together. Letter-join font software compatibility As well as MS Word, Contextual Alternates can be used with Letterjoin s Online Word Processor, and are auto-selected by Apple Pages. For MS Word please set-up as shown below. CONTEXTUAL ALTERNATES apple SWITCHED ON CONTEXTUAL ALTERNATES SWITCHED apple OFF Lead-in line missing CLASSROOM SET-UP Wrongly shaped letters that overlap Letter-join Air Plus Letter-join Air Plus is used when wanting to teach continuous cursive letters that are not joined. Letter-join No-lead Letter-join No-lead does not include the lead-in line at the start of each letter but has a lead-out line that joins to the following letter. Letter-join Air No-lead Letter-join Air No-lead does not include a lead-in line and the letters are not joined. Letter-join Print Letter-join Print matches the letter style used in Letter-join to teach printed letters. the big dog the big dog the big dog the big dog NEW! Animations for Letter-join No-lead font and a set of worksheets now available. Switching on Contextual Alternates in Microsoft Word Install Letter-join fonts - see page 41 With the Letter-join fonts installed on your computer open MS Word and check the fonts are displayed on the font list (if they are not showing, re-start MS Word for the fonts to be recognised). How to switch on Contextual Alternates: Select text. In MS Word, select Format > Font (or Ctrl D). Select the Advanced tab. Tick the Use Contextual Alternates button. This option has to be selected every time MS Word is re-opened or alternatively a Word template can be created with Contextual Alternates already enabled. 6 LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 7

5 CLASSROOM SET-UP Choosing Letter-join fonts for individual classroom accounts Logging in to a classroom account of a Letter-join school subscription allows classroom teachers to choose one of the five Letter-join fonts to use in three Letter-join activities: Magic Words, Worksheet Generator and Word Animator. The Letter-join fonts do not need to be downloaded for these activities. Handwriting Lesson Planners Letter-join Handwriting Lesson Planners are designed to guide teachers and their assistants to teach continuous cursive handwriting using a systematic method. Letter-join Handwriting Lesson Planners cover each of the key stage requirements and are written by teachers and editors with expertise in EYFS, KS1 and KS2. They are developed in keeping with the National Curriculum and use Letter-join s resources to provide a thorough and interesting way to teach handwriting. Change the font using the Classroom Options button To change the font to use on the three Letter-join activities, click on the Info button at the bottom left of any page. Choose Classroom Options and select the Letter-join font you wish to use. Fonts can only be changed by staff logging-in to a classroom account and cannot be changed by children using the Home-School log in. The chosen font will be used when children log in to Letter-join at home. Classroom options allows teachers to choose a Letter-join font to suit their individual class needs for three Letter-join activities: Magic Words Worksheet Generators Word Animator This is independent of other classroom font choices within a school. Teachers can download Letter-join Lesson Planners from Classroom Options. EYFS MODULE 1-70 LESSONS Pre-cursive patterns and continuous cursive, lowercase letters Module 1 is divided into three sections: 1) Pre-cursive patterns: 20 lessons 2) Easy letters & words: 25 lessons 3) Harder letters & words: 25 lessons On completion of Module 1 children should be able to form and correctly join all cursive lowercase letters. YEAR 1 MODULE 2-60 LESSONS Capital Letters, Printed Letters, Numbers, Punctuation and Other Symbols. Module 2 is divided into three sections: 1) Capital letters: 25 lessons 2) Printed letters: 25 lessons 3) Numbers & symbols: 15 lessons A comprehensive appendix includes over 240 printout sheets for this module. YEAR 2 MODULE 3-90 LESSONS Increase fluency and speed of children s handwriting through regular practice. Module 3 is divided into three sections: Term 1: Consolidating letter formation. Term 2: SPaG revision sheets. Term 3: Speeding up handwriting and fun handwriting activities. Module 3 will increase the fluency and speed of children s handwriting and enable them to form letters securely and with the correct orientation. YEAR 3 MODULE 4-60 LESSONS Improve legibility, consistency and quality of handwriting. Module 4 is designed for Year 3 children in lower KS2 where pupils should be using joined handwriting throughout their independent writing. The worksheets for this module cover a variety of curriculum topics: Dictation, double letters, number vocabulary, palindromes, tongue twisters, MFL (French and Spanish), onomatopoeia, simile, WOW words and spellings. Coming soon! Lesson Planners Module 5 and 6. 8 LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 9

6 Early Years Foundation Stage What can be more fun than learning to draw spirals and zig-zags? Patterns and pre-cursive shapes can be challenging for young pupils, but Letter-join has all the resources needed to introduce joined-up handwriting to younger children. Lets try... Magic Patterns and Magic Words To complement traditional Letter-join practice worksheets for patterns and words, pupils can choose Letter-join touch-screen activities for Magic Patterns and Magic Words. Letter-join s animations present pre-cursive patterns with fun sounds that can be copied by air-writing or by tracing on IWBs, tablets and, most importantly, by practising with a pencil on printed worksheets. This naturally leads on to the introduction of real letters. Watching and copying the shapes of letters and the various joining techniques will enable pupils to learn to write simple words in a cursive style at this early stage. It is a playful section where letter-joining techniques can be practised by finger writing and where pupils are rewarded with stars for accuracy (see more on page 36). 10 LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 11

7 EYFS Develop writing skills with pre-cursive patterns Choose interactive activities and printed worksheets as a foundation to handwriting Letters and words made simple Watch, practise, trace and copy the easy way to learn cursive handwriting Using the same approach as Patterns, Letter-join introduces animations of the easy letters of the alphabet in a progressive manner starting with long ladder letters and building up to more complex letters. Each letter is presented as an animation with a spoken description which is repeatable. There are also opportunities to try letters on IWBs and tablets. EYFS Interactive whiteboard display allows for whole class involvement. Letter-join provides a selection of fun pre-cursive patterns for EYFS pupils that cover all handwriting movements. These encourage fine and gross motor skills as a foundation to cursive handwriting. Letter-join s pre-cursive patterns are Pre-cursive patterns cover all writing shapes. grouped into logical sets of similar shapes, and each pattern is animated, accompanied by exciting sounds. The patterns can be traced over on IWBs or tablets. Presented large on the IWB, Letter-join is perfect for air-writing for gross motor skills. Finer Watch patterns, such as jellies, with fun sounds. control can be gained by finger writing on tablets or with a pencil using the worksheets. Worksheets consist of lines of patterns for tracing using a pencil or crayon and a simple drawing which can be coloured-in using the patterns of that group. Each set of letters can be followed by accompanying words which illustrate the joining methods of the letters just practised. The letter Staff can control the speed of animations. and word sets can be printed in three different sizes for real handwriting practice. Without lead-in line option Practice tracing patterns on IWBs or tablets. Fun worksheets are available for all the pattern sets for handwriting practice using pencils and crayons. WORKSHEET GENERATOR Tailor-made worksheets LETTER-JOIN FONTS Create cursive worksheets quickly in different formats using any of the five Letter-join fonts. See page 29. Word animations cover all the joining methods between characters. WORD ANIMATOR Create animations for any word Use Letter-join s Word Animator to create an animation of any word. These can be saved into Word Banks for your children to use at home. Animations of letters and words and associated worksheets are available without lead-in lines. CLASSROOM OPTIONS Tip! Click the Info button, choose Classroom Options to change to another Letter-join font. Classroom teachers can use the fonts for: l Magic Words, l Word Animator l Worksheet Generator. 12 LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 13

8 Key Stage 1 Handwriting can be fun and using Letter-join can help reinforce cursive handwriting during KS1 with a variety of fresh activities. To support handwriting at school, pupils can also log into Letter-join at home, accessing all the resources including the touch-screen activities on ipads and tablets (see page 40). KS1 is the time to introduce new letterforms (capital letters, numbers, printed letters and punctuation) and Letter-join animates all of these to show the correct formation and provides ready-made worksheets for labelling and form-filling using capital and printed letters. Lets try... KS1 SPaG Revision Letter-join offers a series of worksheets to support KS1 SATS which are not only great for improving handwriting, but are also perfect for the revision of spelling, punctuation and grammar. Pupils should also be looking to produce neater handwriting with consistent spacing and letter sizes as well as learning speedy handwriting which can be practised using Letter-join s dictation exercises. There are 18 fun worksheets aimed to boost your children s confidence so they are SATs ready. These worksheets can be downloaded from Resources > KS1 and are also used in Handwriting Lesson Planner Module LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 15

9 KEY STAGE 1 KEY STAGE 1 Developing pupils handwriting skills Use Letter-join to teach harder letters and words to help pupils gain confidence in their handwriting Capital and Printed Letters, Numbers and Punctuation all have animations and practice worksheets at the ready! Reach KS1 handwriting standards Demonstrate the correct methods for writing upper and lower case letters with the correct joins. Letters and Words cover all the joining techniques between cursive characters. Letter-join s animations of letters and words make it easy to learn and write the letters of the alphabet. The words used in the examples have been carefully selected to cover all cursive joining methods enabling pupils to quickly become more natural with the variety of strokes between different letter shapes. After watching the animations, it s easy to use a classroom IWB, ipad or tablet using a finger or stylus to familiarise and practise the letter shapes and joining techniques. The pre-prepared worksheets, which are available in three different sizes, can be easily printed for that all too important real handwriting practice. Practice worksheets Letter-join s worksheets for KS1 include practice sheets for all of the animated letters and words, word lists, high frequency words and sequencing sentences. See page 24 for a full listing of Resources. KS1 100 High Frequency Words this water people which Printable worksheets in three sizes in trace and copy format New worksheets are regularly added and announced on the Letter-join web site. Show how to form numerals of the same size that sit on the base line. Teach how to write printed letters and use Letter-join s animations and worksheets to practise how they are used. Ensure that pupils know how much space to leave between words. Encourage pupils to write longer passages of text to build up endurance using the Dictation Exercises. Use Letter-join s worksheets to ensure that letters sit on the base line and are consistent in size with correctly formed ascenders and descenders. More letters Animations for Capitals, Printed Letters, Numbers, Punctuation and Symbols can be found under the More Letters menu tab. Try Letter Families worksheets Help pupils become familiar with similar letter shapes and become confident at writing differently formed characters. Using the familiar format of long ladders, curly caterpillars, one-armed robots and zig-zag letters, Letter-join s worksheets can be printed out for tracing and copying the different letter families. Vibrant graphics add to the recognition of each letter family and your school s alternative letterforms are automatically used. Times tables worksheets are available in the Resources > Printouts section to help with number writing. Letter Families worksheets can be found under Resources > Printouts > KS1. 16 LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 17

10 DICTATION KEY STAGE 1 KEY STAGE 1 Letter-join s Magic Words touchscreen activities The Magic Words section is a great way for Key Stage 1 pupils to type in their own words and practise handwriting using the touchscreen capabilities of ipads and tablets. With five exciting backgrounds to choose from and a simple star reward function, pupils will enjoy using Letter-join on their tablets at school and at home. See page 36 for more about Magic Words. Practise number writing with times tables printouts Letter-join includes a full set of times tables worksheets from 2 through to 12 times tables which are great for practising number writing. They are provided in look, trace and copy format which are great for homework sheets or five-minute fillers. Introduce form-filling Pupils can learn how to write within the constraints of a form using printed and capital letters. Letter-join includes a selection of forms for Key Stages 1 and 2. Handwriting worksheets Handwriting and spelling go together and Letter-join provides many spelling worksheets for practising cursive handwriting. These include: Pangram sentences using all the letters of the alphabet. High frequency words for Key Stage 1. Sequencing sentences. Cloze exercises. See pages 26 to 28 for more worksheet examples. Times tables worksheet example. Practise speedy writing with Dictation Exercises Key Stage 1 form-filling example. Letter-join s Dictation Exercises are a great introduction to speedy writing and help build up writing stamina. They also help in learning how to produce a first draft, proof checking and writing out a final copy. The dictation exercises for KS1 include a simple spelling list, a list of 2 digit numbers and an easy poem. Pangram sentences using all the letters of the alphabet High frequency words for Key Stage 1 Key Stage 1 Cloze sentences R E S O U R C E S A dictation list written out as a first draft and a final copy. See page 30 for more information about Dictation Exercises. 18 LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 19

11 Key Stage 2 Ready for the final round of handwriting challenges? When pupils master these they ll be true handwriting champions! Building on KS 1 skills, pupils will be writing passages of text neatly and speedily, labelling diagrams using printed letters appropriately and filling in forms using legible writing. Letter-join s resources will help pupils acquire a feel for neatness and quality in their final handwritten work. The dictation resources will help to develop handwriting stamina when writing. With the support of Letter-join, pupils will have covered all the criteria necessary by the end of Year 6 to reach the standards set out in the National Curriculum for handwriting. Lets try.. Topic spelling practice using the Word Animator and the LJ online Word Processor Build word animations for whiteboard and tablet practice and send to the Letter-join Word Processor to create an look, trace and copy spelling list. 1 Build a bank of animated topic words for pupils to replay and trace using the Word Animator. 2 Share Word Banks with pupils to watch and practice. 3 Click Make Spelling List to format your Word Bank into a Spelling List. Example of tracing topic words on a tablet using a Letter-join Word Bank. 20 LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL See page 34 for details on LJ Word Animator and page 32 for details on the On-line Word Processor. LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 21

12 KEY STAGE 2 KEY STAGE 2 Accomplishing neat handwriting Use Letter-join s advanced handwriting exercises to reach KS2 National Curriculum standards Extra animations and practice sheets for KS2 Try to reinforce other characters such as numerals, punctuation and mathematical symbols in the More Letters section. Word lists Letter-join combines handwriting practice with other KS2 tasks such as the recommended word lists. Challenging dictation exercises These exercises will help with speedy note-taking, stamina and encourage proof-checking. KS2 Dictation Exercise - extract from Hansel and Gretel... it was built of bread and covered with cakes... Advanced form-filling Promote accuracy and neatness of printed and capital letters with advanced form-filling worksheets. The National Curriculum tasks Key Stage 2 pupils to aim for quality, speed and stamina. Letter-join s resources will help to attain these aims and provides worksheets and exercises to help improve handwriting. The National Curriculum criteria for KS2 handwriting includes: Quality: Ensure that letters are of consistent size with equal word spacing and that ascenders and descenders are parallel and do not interfere with the writing on the above or below lines. Speed: Improve speed of handwriting to allow creative writing to take precedence over the task of handwriting and be able to take quick notes at a faster pace. Stamina: Have the strength and mobility to be able to write for longer periods of time without fatigue. Pupils are expected to have full knowledge of different kinds of handwriting for different purposes Including: Neat, joined, cursive letters for writing passages, large amounts of text, lists and letters. Printed or capital letters for posters, notices, headings, labelling and form filling. Speedy handwriting for note-taking and dictation where neatness is not as important and shortcuts can be used, such as + instead of and. These worksheets can be found in the Resources section of Letter-join. 22 LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 23

13 Resources RESOURCES A comprehensive bank of resources, in six section, designed to enrich your handwriting lessons. Printout Sheets Page 26 Word Processor Page 32 Create and save documents using any of the Letter-join fonts. Designed as an alternative to MS Word for creating spelling lists and much, much more! A speedy alternative to the Worksheet Generator as it does not require Letter-join fonts to be downloaded onto computers. Worksheet Generator Page 29 Create cursive handwriting worksheets for spelling lists, sentence sheets and posters Choose any of the five Letter-join fonts to produce worksheets. Worksheets are created within internet browsers and your school s choices of preferred letterforms for f, k, w, x and z will be used. Page 30 1 Word Animator Create animations of words to save in classroom word banks TYPE A WORD 2 CREATE ANIMATION 3 BUILD A WORD BANK 4 PRACTICE WITH PUPILS Page 34 Dictation Exercises Improve children s handwriting speed and accuracy EYFS A selection of CVC words, a list of numbers and an easy poem. Key Stage 1 Harder dictation exercises: a list of phrases, easy additions and a three- verse poem. Sentences and paragraphs using years 1 and 2 common exception and high frequency words. Classroom Warm Ups Gross and fine motor skills A new and well-received addition to Letter-join resources, pupils will enjoy these fun warm-up exercises for gross and fine motor skills. They can be found in the Letter-join Lesson Planners and on-line under Resources. Key Stage 2 More challenging exercises: a shopping list, complex numbers and a longer written passage. Dictation exercises using extracts from traditional stories and poems. 24 LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 25

14 Printouts High Frequency Words 100 high frequency words to trace and copy for EYFS and KS 1 in small, medium and large sizes. Lesson Planner HFWs In medium size with an additional task. SPaG worksheets A growing series of worksheets ideal for KS1 and KS2 SATs revision and perfect for homework or five minute fillers. Spelling Lists and Sentences Punctuation Grammar RESOURCES NOW INCLUDES KS1 SPaG Letter families Colourful worksheets to help with the different families of letter shapes. Practise spelling rules and patterns with eight trace and copy word lists then reinforce with eight missing words worksheets. Practise punctuation in the context of meaningful sentences. Ten worksheets covering all the punctuation requirements. A series of exercises covering the grammar topics required for KS1 and KS2 SATs from adjectives to prepositions. Pangrams Worksheets to consolidate correct letter formation using sentences that contain all the letters of the alphabet. French worksheets Word lists Cloze exercises Sequencing sentences Write sentences in order to form short narratives. Two different levels for years 1-2 and years 2-3. Worksheets combining handwriting practice and French vocabulary including accented letters. Spelling words in trace and copy format, as listed in the DfE s English Programmes of Study. Missing words sentences using words from the word lists for Years 3-4 and Years LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 27

15 RESOURCES RESOURCES Printed Worksheets Labelling exercises Form-filling exercises Worksheet Generator Create your own cursive handwriting worksheets for spelling lists, sentence sheets and posters The Letter-join Worksheet Generator has been updated so school staff can choose any of the five Letter-join fonts to produce worksheets. Worksheets are created within internet browsers and your school s choices of preferred letterforms for f, k, w, x and z will be used. Hints and Tips A selection of worksheets for practising printed letters, covering curriculum-based topics for all key stages. A simple form for early years. A more advanced form for KS 1. A series of form-filling exercises for all key stages to help teach the formation of printed and capital letters. The font is not joining correctly on the Worksheet Generator. Do not use Internet Explorer for Letter-join! The Worksheet Generator will produce fonts correctly if using Google Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Times tables worksheets PRINTING WORKSHEETS How do I save worksheets created using the Worksheet Generator? The Google Chrome browser has a facility to save pages as PDF files. Create your worksheet as normal using Google Chrome and select Ctrl P then change Destination to Save as PDF. The worksheets are printing very faint and the guidelines are not showing. Some laser printers can struggle to print from a web page. Save the worksheet as a PDF (see above) and print from the PDF. The tracing words are printing in black when I generate a worksheet. If using Firefox to print the tracing words in grey, select the Print Background option from Page Setup. Firefox: File > Page Setup > tick Print Background. The lines are over-running when I print a generated worksheet. We recommend a maximum number of letters/words/ lines for each character size on the Worksheet Generator. If exceeded these recommendations the lines may over-run. Try reducing the number of words per line. Trace and copy worksheets for tables facts to 12 x 12. Posters and Handouts Alphabet banners All the letters of the alphabet, each on an A4 sheet, to print out for displaying in the classroom or for pupils to colour in. Available as cursive and capital letters. A4 Highlighted Paper Choose from 3 different line width Alphabet printouts A4 printouts for cursive, printed and capital letters which will print using your school preferred letterforms for f, k, w, x and z. These are useful for sending home so that parents know which letterforms are used at school. Lined writing paper Choose from traditional ruled paper or our new yellow, highlighted design. Spelling Lists Sentence Sheets Posters/Freestyle In three sizes with options to In three sizes with options to show all the guidelines or hide or show guidelines and the baseline only. with trace or trace and copy options. In three sizes with options to show guidelines, baseline only or no lines at all, and to range text left or centred. 28 LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 29

16 RESOURCES RESOURCES Dictation Exercises to speed-up dictation Add speed to your children s note-taking. Easy CVC words, two-digit numbers and an easy poem for beginners. Phrases, additions and a poem for KS1 as well as 12 worksheets with spelling lists and sentences using years 1 and 2 common exception and high frequency words. Challenging lists, complex numbers and exercises using traditional poems and stories to help KS2 pupils improve their note-taking and handwriting speed. Writing down notes when a person is speaking can be a tricky task, but dictation is a very good exercise to build proficiency and speed in handwriting. Letter-join s dictation exercises range from Easy to Challenging to cater for pupils from EYFS through to KS2. They are simple and fun, and can be practised at school as well as at home. How to use the Dictation Exercises The exercises are presented as sound files which are firstly played at normal speed for pupils to become familiar with the text. The text is then played slowly for pupils to write down. The spoken text is played back again at normal speed allowing pupils to fill in any gaps that they may have left in their written draft or to correct any errors. The final text can then be displayed on screen or printed out so that pupils can re-write the text in their best joined-up handwriting making any corrections on the way. The exercises are presented as sound files which are firstly played at normal speed for pupils to become familiar with the text. The text is then played slowly for pupils to write down. The spoken text is played back again at normal speed allowing pupils to fill in any gaps that they may have left in their written draft or to correct any errors. Dictation Exercises are found under the Resources tab. The final text can then be displayed on screen or printed out so that pupils can re-write the text in their best joined-up handwriting making any corrections on the way. The National Curriculum states that by the end of Key Stage 2 pupils should have fluent, legible and, eventually, speedy handwriting. Example of key stage 1 Harder numbers dictation exercise. 30 LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 31

17 RESOURCES Letter-join On-line Word Processor displays cursive fonts correctly. Make a spelling list with the Letter-join on-line Word Processor No need to install fonts! Letter-join On-line Word Processor Create instant cursive spelling lists, and more, on-line The Letter-join On-line Word Processor allows you to create and save documents using any of the Letter-join fonts, including your school s preferred letterforms. Use when on a computer that does not have Letter-join fonts or MS Word installed. How to use Log in to your Letter-join classroom account, go to Resources and choose W Processor. You can either start typing to create a new document using the familiar commands, or open any of the ready-to-use template files to overwrite with your own text and images. Opening documents To open a template or a saved document choose File > Open from the menu bar within the browser window and NOT Ctrl+O or File > Open on your computer s menu bar. Note: Do NOT use Ctrl+O or File > Open on your computer s menu bar to open a document. File Open 32 LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL Saving and printing documents Documents are saved for each classroom account. When saving documents you must use File > Save on the menu bar within the browser window and NOT Command-S or File > Save on your computer s menu bar. When printing documents you must use File > Print on the menu bar within the browser window and NOT Ctrl+P or File > Print on your computer s menu bar. Ready-to-use Letter-join templates The Letter-join Word Processor includes a growing number of templates including a Spelling List. Customise on-line in seconds with any Letter-join font using your own words. Look, trace and copy spelling list Instructions can be found under the Info button Click File from the Word Pro. window, select Open choose Fully Cursive Spellings from the Templates section Open the Letterjoin Word Processor under Resources. Scroll over the heading to select Spellings title and overwrite the heading for your spelling list. Scroll over Insert date and overwrite the date or select an option from the pull-down menu. Place your cursor in the cell underneath Look and type your first word again. The Trace text will be grey. Now place your cursor in the cell underneath Trace and type your first word again. The Trace text will be grey. You can print directly to your printer or you can save it as a PDF by changing the destination of the printer to Save as PDF. 6 Selecting all of the text, once the list has been created, it will allow the font type and size to be changed. Continue by adding the Look word and then the Trace word in the next rows until the table is complete. You can save your worksheet using Save at the top left of the Word Processor window. To print your spelling list use the Printer Icon at the top left of the Word Processor window. You can also save spelling list as a PDF file as shown below. LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 33

18 RESOURCES Word Animator Create animations of words to save to class Word Banks For Pupils: Access a classroom Word Bank at school and at home Word animations that are produced by a class teacher can be watched and practised at any time on IWBs, ipads and tablets. Staff logging into their Letter-join classroom account can create animations of words to save and replay using any of the five Letter-join fonts. For Teachers: How to add new Word Banks and new words 1) Log in to Letter-join Use your school s Home-School log-in on a PC or Tablet log-in on a tablet and select the correct classroom name. (2) Select Fun then Word Bank on the Letter-join menu. (5) Watch Choose Watch to see the word being written on the whiteboard or tablet. 1) Select New Word Bank or choose an existing Word Bank. 2) Choose Add a Word and enter a new word. Click OK. 3) Trace over the word slowly and smoothly. If necessary, you can erase and start again. 4) Press Save to add the animated word to the Word Bank. Using class Word Banks Create a spelling list from a Word Bank (6) Try Choose Try to practise writing words on a whiteboard or tablet. (3) Choose a Word Bank from the pull-down list. Setting up Letter-join for children at home see page 40. Create unlimited Word Banks of, for example, topic words, spellings or children s names. Children can access their classroom s Word Banks at school on a whiteboard, or at home on tablets see For Pupils on opposite page. Look, trace and copy spelling lists can be automatically produced in the On-line Word Processor by selecting the Make Spelling List option. Spelling lists are produced using the default Letter-join Plus font. This can be changed by highlighting the spelling words and selecting the desired font from the pull-down menu. See page 8 for more information. (4) Select a word Select a word to watch and practise either on-screen or from the pull-down menu. Find out how to issue children and their parents with the Home Instructions letter. 34 LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 35

19 Fun activities Magic Patterns, Magic Words and Word Bank Correct seating position and pencil grip PENCIL GRIP Colourful, touch-screen handwriting practice for IWBs and tablets Magic Patterns can be used to trace any of Letter-join s pre-cursive patterns and fun shapes on any of the magic backgrounds. Magic Words allows words to be typed onto the screen and then written over using a finger or a stylus for practice and fun. For more interaction it also features a simple star rated scoring system. The Word Bank allows children to access banks of animated words created by their teachers (see page 35). Magic Patterns, Magic Words and Word Banks can also be used on interactive whiteboards. The pop-up option allows a window to be dragged to the bottom of the screen to bring the window within reach of younger pupils (see below). Blackboard showing a fun shape for tracing from Magic Patterns. There are a number of colourful backgrounds to select when using Magic Patterns and Magic Words. How to sit comfortably The table reaches to below elbow height Keep feet flat on the floor Sit with a straight back, not leaning over the page Sit right back in the seat Pull the chair close in to the table How to hold a pencil correctly using the tripod pencil grip Both right and left handed children should be encouraged to use the tripod grip which allows the pen/ pencil to be held securely whilst allowing controlled movements of the pen/pencil nib. Seating and handwriting positioning for left-handed children Left-handed children may find it difficult to follow right-handed teachers as they demonstrate letter formation (and vice versa). Teachers should demonstrate to left-handers on an individual or group basis Paper positioning for right-handed children. 1 Grip the pencil with your index finger and thumb with the nib pointing away. 2 With your free hand, spin the pencil from underneath. 3 Use your middle finger to support the underside of the pencil. Magic Words on a classroom whiteboard. 36 LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL Left-handed pupils should sit to the left of a right-handed child so that they are not competing for space. Pupils should position the paper/book to their left side and slanted, as shown. Pencils should not be held too close to the point as this can interrupt pupils line of vision. Extra practice with left-to-right exercises may be necessary before pupils write left-to-right automatically. Tripod grip for left-handed children. Paper positioning for left-handed children Paper position for left-handed children. LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 37

20 Administrator set-up Letter-join School Administrator Page Log in to Letter-join with your School Administrator details (sent to you by ) to access your school s Administrator Page, shown below. The page acts as a gateway to core Left hand menu Please see opposite page. Letter-join preferences for your school and classroom accounts. School Classroom Accounts and free trial users can access Teacher s Information Panel and classroom preferences via the information button present on every page, see page 4. School details Please check all details are current and update if necessary. Tablet Edition Log-in details for use at school and at home. Left hand menu Content here can only be accessed by logging in as School Administrator. The Administrator can choose preferred letterforms, download the fonts, the Handwriting Policy and other useful information as shown below. Account Information Choose alternative letterforms ADMINISTRATOR SET-UP This is where to select your school s preferred letterforms for cursive f, k, w, x, and z. Your choices will be used across all of your classroom and home accounts, and other Letter-join resources. Home-School Account PC log-in details for children to use at school and at home. See page 40 for more details. Download Letter-join fonts (School subscriptions only) Print Air Plus Classroom Accounts We recommend schools personalise class names so that children can identify their class when logging in. You can also choose to change the passwords. Help Lost Letter-join usernames and passwords School Admin For lost School Administrator details please contact us from a school address: Send to info@letterjoin.co.uk Classroom Account log in details Staff requiring classroom log-in details should contact their school s Letter-join Administrator. No-lead Letter-join Plus Air No-lead The five fonts you download will use the alternative letterforms, chosen by your school. See page 6 for more information. Handwriting Policy School subscribers to Letter-join can download an editable Microsoft Word document of the Letter-join Handwriting Policy. See page 42 for more information. Back to Letter-join Click here to go to the Letter-join School Edition opening page where you can access all of Letter-join s resources. How to distribute passwords for your pupils to use Letter-join at home See page LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 39

21 ADMINISTRATOR SET-UP Access for children at home Letter-join Home Instructions letter Issuing passwords for children and their parents to use Letter-join at home Log-in to Letter-join as School Administrator and select Home Instructions from the left hand menu. Open the link to the MS Word Document letter and insert your home and tablet log-in details where indicated. Naming your classes on the Admin page Children can use Letter-join at home and will be able to access word banks that have been created by their class teachers. To allow pupils to choose their classroom Word Banks please see how to change class names on your Letter-join Admin page (see page 38 for details). Installing Letter-join fonts for use in MS Word on PCs and across networks The Letter-join fonts can be downloaded by subscribing schools by logging in to Letter-join as a School Administrator and following the instructions below. (1) From the Letter-join home page Log in as Administrator on your desktop computer. Installing fonts on individual PCs ADMINISTRATOR SET-UP IT technicians and class teachers can also download the Letter-join Font Guide from the Info page for more information about installing and using Letter-join fonts. (4) To download the fonts please accept the Terms and Conditions and click on one, or each of the download font links as shown below. Please send home! Letter-join desktop log-in. (2) Select your school s preferred letterforms before downloading the fonts. The Letter-join Home Instructions letter can be printed onto your school letterhead or pasted into a school newsletter. It contains the username, password and swipe code for children to use. Choosing your school s preferred letterforms. (3) Select Download fonts and follow instructions. Font download options from the Administrator page. (5) Locate where the fonts have been downloaded on your PC to install. The fonts are named Letter-join Plus, Letter-join Air Plus, Letter-join No-lead, Letter-join Air No-lead and Letter-join Print, each followed by a number relating to your choice of letterforms. (6) Right-click the file and choose the Install option. Restart MS Word so that the font is recognised. The font is now ready to use in Microsoft Word and other applications that support Contextual Alternates. Installing fonts across networks Installing fonts on individual PCs Letter-join Home Users Guide is free for parents to download when they log in to Letter-join at home. Letter-join fonts can be distributed and installed onto classroom PCs and teachers laptops across a school network. Please consult your IT technician to distribute the fonts using the MSI installer option from the link on the Letter-join Download fonts page. 40 LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 41

22 School Handwriting Policy Edit and publish your school Handwriting Policy using Letter-join s MS Word template For desktop computers Instant access for 30 days at your school The Letter-join free trial can be shared by teachers and pupils at school on their PCs and tablets and includes access to all activities, animations and worksheets. Recommended internet browsers for Letter-Join We recommend the latest versions of the following browsers: Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Apple Safari Access to Letter-join through the LearnPad system: On your PC log in to LearnPad. Log in to Class Connect. Choose Content. Search for keyword Letterjoin. Subscribers to the School Edition of Letter-join can download a fully editable Microsoft Word document of Letter-join s Handwriting Policy to personalise to their school s requirements. Calculate the cost for your school From the Letter-join website, click the Buy button at the top of the page to select the Cost Calculator. Simply insert the number of classes your school requires and calculate the cost for a first year subscription to Letter-join. Subsequent years will not include the 100 registration fee. Below is an example showing the cost for 7 classroom accounts including the first year s registration fee. Based on the National Curriculum requirements for handwriting it is designed to help schools using Letter-join to produce a concise, easy-to-read handwriting policy to share with staff, parents and governors. The Letter-join Handwriting Policy template includes: General handwriting philosophy. Aims, methods and frequency for year groups and key stages. Instructions for correct posture and pencil grip for handwriting including instructions for left-handed pupils. Where to find the Handwriting Policy. Log in to your Letter-join school account as Administrator and select the Handwriting Policy Document link from the left hand menu. The Letter-join handwriting policy template includes images and editable text to quickly develop and personalise a school handwriting policy. FREE! ACCESS FOR PUPILS AT HOME Subscribe to Letter-join for your school and your pupils can log-in to Letter-join at home on their PCs and tablets. 42 LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL LETTER-JOIN HANDWRITING MANUAL 43