My school is taking a poll, we need to know what grade cursive begins at schools... Please write back. Also, what style do you use? Thanks!
I really don't know. This is just my second year and I teach first grade. Last year, I had a parent with an older child and she wondered about when it is taught. I checked with a second grade teacher and she said they used to do it, but it is now a third grade skill. I attended elementary in the district I am teaching in and we learned in second grade. I'm guessing they thought that third graders would be able to pick up on it more quickly.
The school I am at always started it in third grade. But my second and first grader decided they wanted to learn too. I printed the cursive sheets off here on a to z.
Second grade at my school, but as a fourth grade teacher I wish they waited until third because every year I get students who can't really do either one legibly.
We teach it in third. We had a second grade teacher who was teaching her kids some at the end of the year, but we have asked her to stop. We would rather they focus on practicing their printing. I'm amazed at how many of my kids can't print correctly. We use Zaner-Bloser.
I teach cursive in 2nd grade after the holiday break. We use Zaner-Bloser too. We teach it in 2nd grade, because there is supposently too much to teach in 3rd grade which I do get because we all have too much to teach on each grade level.
We start in third grade in our school, usually after Christmas break. However, we do want to start introducing the letters earlier because they need more practice.
2nd and d'nealian. I do think it's young though- most of my kiddos struggle to PRINT legibly. I wish there was more time to emphasize manuscript first.
cursive handwriting I am a Kindergarten Teacher at a private school. This year is my first year teaching Kindergarten, but I have taught first grade for several years....anyways, we start teaching them in Kindergarten! At first I was pulling my hair out, but my students have excellent cursive handwriting......We use ABeka!
Third grade, and CURSIVE is easier then manuscript for those kids who have horrible handwriting! The flow, and movement is easier then the circle and stick movement of print.
It is slowly introduced in 2nd here. Most of my kids love it and mommaruthie is right. Cursive is easier for some kids. To this day, my print is horrid. But my cursive is beautiful. I've found that a lot of my boys enjoy cursive. And their cursive is easier to read than their print.
Printing Skills My students are learning cursive and they love it. I teach 2nd grade. They get so excited to learn cursive. The students seem to pick up on cursive quickly too. However, my students do not always print very neatly. My principal is thinking of switching cursive to 3rd grade so that the focus can be on printing. I am fine with that as I agree printing needs to be addressed. How do I get my students at grade two to print more legibly? Any tricks?
I thank you all for continuing to teach cursive; so many systems have eliminated it from their curriculum entirely. Some people even believe handwriting is no longer necessary at all! I believe that a person's handwriting is an extension of his/her personality, and that people who let this skill go, or who disregard it as an outmoded trend, are stifling yet another aspect of themselves that helps the world's perception of them. Handwriting is almost like a fingerprint, or perhaps part of one's grooming. Those who genuinely care, will strive to make their handwriting classy and clear, and the same can probably be said for their grooming. Those whose handwriting is sloppy and disheveled are probably the same when it comes to personal grooming. This has been a perception I've noticed over 28 years of teaching, from 6th grade up through the college level. On a word processor (to which I am hopelessly addicted), everybody's work can look the same. This is not a good thing at all. But I will admit that since nothing of the person can be detected in any other way, style, grammar, usage, tone, etc. all become that much more important. No 'art' is ever really lost, as long as there is someone who refuses to let it become so. And handwriting is definitely an art. Occasionally, I require my college students to handwrite an essay. Some of them whine, but they are usually that sloppy, disheveled bunch. Inside and out.
When I was at another district and teaching third grade, that school started in third grade after Christmas. Now I'm at another district and teaching second grade, I start a few weeks before Christmas. The results are pretty much the same.
We used to teach it in 2nd, but several years ago, the 2nd grade teacher and I got together and decided it was better if they waited until the beginning of third instead of middle/end of 2nd. Not all of the students had such great fine motor skills, so less time was spent mastering it by waiting until 3rd grade. We also started d'nelian in K, which was a big plus. We've got a lot of teachers just doing their own thing now, so not every grade learns d'nelian, so that has made it harder. Now that I teach 4th, I'm finding that my kids are having a much harder time with cursive. Next year we are going back to teaching it in 2nd grade (supposedly!). I personally think that if the kids learn to print in d'nelian well by the end of 2nd grade, it is better to wait until the beginning of 3rd to teach cursive.
we don't really teach handwriting..its so sad the kids need it but there is literally not enough time in the day to get everything done that needs to be done never mind adding anything else!! i do try and do it as a center activity for kids on some days
I am flabergasted at the number of 7th graders I have who struggle with cursive. These kids are 12!!!!
Our school goes grades 6-12. We're assuming they already know it. And, as a Catholic HS, our kids come from something like 40 or 50 different elementary schools.
My school starts at the beginning of grade 1. They are not required to write everything in cursive until grade three or four though. In the primary grades it is treated more like an individual "subject".
We had our meeting and officially next year we will start cursive in 3rd grade rather than 2nd... we still don't know what style yet. We are looking at options...
RE: Cursive Handwriting Hi! I started homeschooling my daughter last year, using ABeka. I have taught her manuscript through K4 and K5. Now I'm trying to decide if I should go ahead and introduce cursive to her in 1st grade...Do you think it will be difficult for her to cross over - now that she is just getting familiar with print? I really don't want to confuse her, but she's a very bright girl: she was reading MY books at the beginning of her Kindergarten year. I know that A Beka emphasizes cursive, and I don't want her to get further behind...Any suggestions or comments.
I am sure she is very bright, but I don't really see the need for the hurry... Is there a reason you would want to teach it now? Her motor skills are still forming.
