A few months back (where does time go???), I shared some lowercase printing sheets I made for my dyslexic kiddo. I finally got around to finishing the uppercase sheets! This summer, I’m planning to make him some cursive sheets, so sign up for my email list if you want to be notified! Maybe they exist elsewhere, but I have never seen printing sheets designed this way. All of my kids, not just my dyslexic child, always start out writing bottom to top. Because the lines get faded in the direction of writing, kids naturally know where to start and stop their lines.
My best guess for why kids do this is that when your coordination is low, it’s easier to draw a line moving away from yourself than towards yourself. Over time, this habit of writing bottom to top can become ingrained making it hard for kids to break. How important is it, really? My guess is not very. Of my four children, my dyslexic son probably has the neatest writing for his age despite forming his letters in an inconsistent way.
However, I feel it is my job as their primary educator to constantly remind my two youngest kids to start at the top when I see them forming their letters in an unconventional way. I was getting tired of having to always give them a verbal reminder that didn’t seem to stick in their memories. One day I was messing around with my iPad when I realized I could gradually fade the letters. It immediately struck me as a way to avoid having to say the words “start from the top” so often.
I’ve tried in the past using worksheets that had a dot showing where to start and numbered arrows showing which way to go first, second, etc. However, this can appear so visually cluttered that my kids would get confused and just ignore the numbers. Often they would start at the right place and go the wrong way.
I only had to explain to my kids one time to move the pencil from dark to light for them to intuitively understand which way to move the pencil to form the letters. It’s as if our minds naturally can imagine a pen running out of ink giving us clues as to the direction of motion. The sheets alternate between these shaded letters and simply faded letters so kids have to think about the direction more often as they move down the page. By the bottom, they are writing letters completely on their own.
I have had number sheets ready for a while, so I’m going to try not to take so long to post them! My cursive images are ready in Procreate. I just have to put them into a document. They will definitely be ready when my kids start school in the fall! You can sign up here to be notified. I hope these sheets give your kids the confidence to practice letters on their own!
Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Early Elementary
Time Required: 1 minute
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free printable
Materials:
paper
Instructions:
1. Print out the Uppercase Printing Sheets as many times as you want!
2. Optionally, you may want to bind the pages using a binding machine, combs, and covers.
ENJOY!
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