Contents Handwriting: an important aspect of the modern curriculum
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The Happy Handwriting course
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Writing a school handwriting policy
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Handwriting in the National Curriculum for Key Stage 1
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The teaching focus for each week (Year 2)
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Lower-case letter formations
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Capital letter formations
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Memory phrases
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Teaching handwriting in Year 2
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Teaching the lessons
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Assessing handwriting in Year 2
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Assessment sheet for Year 2 joins
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Lesson plans: Units 1–10
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Lesson plans: Units 11–20
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Lesson plans: Units 21–30
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Additional support sheet: Curly Caterpillar letters
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Additional support sheet: Long Ladder letters
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Additional support sheet: Robot and Zigzag letters
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Speed and fluency practice sheets
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Additional practice sheets
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Guidance for alphabetical order tasks
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Alphabet practice sheet
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Capital letter practice sheet
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Writing guidelines
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The Happy Handwriting course Happy Handwriting provides guidance and resources for you to teach efficient, fluent, and legible handwriting as simply as possible, and to create a clear, shared handwriting policy in school. Happy Handwriting teaches the key elements of early handwriting: letter movements, alphabet knowledge, joins between letters, and well-proportioned writing as early and thoroughly as possible. Handwriting should be taught specifically, and separately from phonics instruction. However, letter formation and knowledge of letter names contribute to phonics and literacy learning. Children who can form letters correctly and automatically, and can discuss the letters by their names, use these skills in their phonics and writing. The teaching of correct letter movements early in children’s literacy learning is an important foundation of fluent and automatic handwriting. In Year 2, most children will have learned the correct movements for letters. They need to make these movements automatic and learn to control the size and relative proportions of letters. In Year 2, children need to practise spacing words and making joins smoothly. Some children will find learning handwriting relatively easy and a few may almost seem to ‘catch’ it effortlessly. However, other children will find handwriting more challenging, and mastering the complex, rounded shapes of letters and joins may need more practice and attention. Happy Handwriting builds in regular self-review of handwriting by children and assessment by teachers, so that you can use the additional resources to support children who need more guided practice. There is assessment advice and a recording sheet for handwriting assessments for each family of letter movements, and printable materials for parents and carers to support their child’s handwriting development.
Letter formation is a movement, not just a shape The Happy Handwriting course prioritises the introduction of the correct movements to form lowercase letters (letter formation), followed by their capital formations. The letters are introduced in order of letter movement families, based on the formation of the letters. However, the order of introduction in Happy Handwriting supports most phonics schemes, so that handwriting practice includes known GPCs and reinforces the phonological knowledge they are developing.
The letter formation families The four families are: ●
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The Curly Caterpillar family: anti-clockwise round, exemplified by the letter c o cadgoq o esf The Long Ladder family: down and off in another direction, exemplified by the letter l o ilt o uyjk The Robot family: down and retrace upwards, exemplified by the letter r o rnm o hbp The Zigzag family: straight, sharp turn, exemplified by the letter z o vwxz
Happy Handwriting
Letter formation – movements There is a letter formation movement in Happy Handwriting for each letter. The dot is the starting point and each arrow represents a directional stroke. These are set out on pages 13 and 14 of this guide. There is a memory phrase to reinforce this movement, set out on page 15. After this the relative heights of letters are the next priority. We recommend plain paper to start with, then use of four writing guidelines.
Letter formation for left-handers The formation of some letters is slightly different for some left-handed children, who ‘pull’ the lines right to left, where right handers will ‘push’ lines left to right: the lower-case letters t and f and the capital letters A, E, F, H, J and T.
Joining letters in Key Stage 1 In Key Stage 1, Happy Handwriting teaches five main joins between letters: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
diagonal joins to letters without ascenders (for example: ai) diagonal joins to letters with ascenders (for example: ch) horizontal joins to letters without ascenders (for example: wa) horizontal joins to letters with ascenders (for example: wh) joins to round (anti-clockwise) letters (for example: ad).
The basis of all these joins is correct letter movements, but the focus of Year 2 is joining the letters using these joins and establishing good spacing and proportions. Year 2 Term 1 focus:
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diagonal joins to letters without ascenders (ai)
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diagonal joins to letters with ascenders (ch or al)
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horizontal joins to letters without ascenders (wa or oa)
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horizontal joins to letters with ascenders (wh or oh)
Year 2 Term 2 focus:
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joins to round (anti-clockwise) letters (ad)
Year 2 Term 3 focus:
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revision of the joins and checking letter proportions and spacing.
Break letters Happy Handwriting uses a lower-case script where most letters have an exit stroke or ‘flick’ to prepare children to join letters as soon as they feel able. In Happy Handwriting, the following letters do not join to letters following them: b, g, j, p, q, x, y, z, s. Most adults use an efficient semi-joined script when they write, and Happy Handwriting prepares children to learn this as early as possible.
Learning the alphabet Knowing the names of the letters allows us to talk about them and helps with phonics and spelling. Call a letter by its name, rather than the sound associated with it. If children learn the letter name when they learn the movement for the lower-case letter, they can then learn the capital letter which has the same name. Alphabetical order of letter names is an easily learned sequence which lasts a lifetime. It enables children to use dictionaries and alphabetical order – and it is one system that is not changing in this digital age! Happy Handwriting encourages you to sing the classic alphabet song, follow the letters across the page of the Practice Book and do the additional alphabet activities on pages 77 and 78 of this guide. There are additional alphabet activities in the printable resources.
Happy Handwriting
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Handwriting in the National Curriculum for Key Stage 1 The National Curriculum’s English programmes of study for writing at Key Stage 1 include: ● ●
transcription (spelling and handwriting) composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech and writing)
Competence in these two dimensions depends on fluent, legible and, eventually, speedy handwriting. The English programmes of study state that pupils need to be taught to: ● ● ● ●
form lower-case letters of the correct size relative to one another start using some of the diagonal and horizontal strokes needed to join letters and understand which letters, when adjacent to one another, are best left unjoined write capital letters and digits of the correct size, orientation and relationship to one another and to lower-case letters use spacing between words that reflects the size of the letters.
In writing, pupils at the beginning of Year 2 should be able to form individual letters correctly, establishing good handwriting habits from the beginning. In Year 2, pupils’ motor skills also need to be sufficiently advanced for them to write down ideas that they may be able to compose orally.
Non-statutory notes and guidance in the National Curriculum Pupils should revise and practise correct letter formation frequently. They should be taught to write with a joined style as soon as they can form letters securely with the correct orientation.
Teaching priorities for Happy Handwriting in Year 2 Happy Handwriting (Year 2) builds on letter movements learned in Reception and Year 1 and sets ambitious goals for children in Year 2. If children can learn automatic handwriting early it will help them to write across the curriculum. The Year 2 priorities are: ● ● ● ● ●
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forming lower-case and capital letters at the right size relative to one another correctly using of the diagonal and horizontal strokes needed to join letters understanding which letters, when adjacent to one another, are best left unjoined using spacing between words that reflects the size of the letters using the names and alphabetical order of the letters in the alphabet to order items.
Happy Handwriting
The teaching focus for each week (Year 2) Before starting Year 2 work, you may want to complete the diagnostic activity, available in the printables, to ensure the children can form all the letters correctly, or to practise those they can produce. Term 1
Horizontal and diagonal joins
Alphabet activities
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Diagonal joins to small letter (ai, ay)
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Diagonal joins to e (ie, ue, ae)
Matching lower- and upper-case letters – printable worksheet
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Diagonal joins to r (ir, ar, ur)
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Diagonal joins to ascenders (ch, th)
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Diagonal joins to ascenders (al, all, alk)
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Horizontal joins to small letters (oa, ow, out)
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Horizontal joins to e (we, oe, ve)
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Horizontal joins to ascenders (wh, oh)
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Numbers 1–10
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Capitals and relative size (Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms and names)
Term 2
Joins to round letters
Alphabet activities
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Diagonal joins to round letters (ea, ad)
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Diagonal joins to round letters (dg, ng)
Making alphabetically ordered lists – printable worksheet
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Diagonal joins to round letters (igh, ing)
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Joins from e (eeeeee, ea, ey)
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Horizontal joins to small letters (oo, oa)
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Horizontal joins to small letters (wa, wo, vi)
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Making small letters the same size (or, aw, au)
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Reviewing the main joins (an, mb, wr, wh)
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Mixing the joins (air, ear, our)
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Diagonal joins to round letters (ea, ad)
Happy Handwriting
Making alphabetically ordered lists – printable worksheet
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Term 3
Revising joins, checking proportions and spacing
Alphabet activities
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Checking height and space of letters (ily, ely, kly)
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Joins with f and t (of, ful, to, at)
Making alphabetically ordered lists to two letters – printable worksheet
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Checking diagonal joins to small letters (ui, aw, ip)
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Checking diagonal joins to ascenders (ck, el, il)
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Horizontal joins to small letters (on, op, wi)
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Horizontal joins to ascenders (ol, ob, ot)
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Diagonal joins to round letters (ag, dd, ug)
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Horizontal joins to round letters (oc, og, va)
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Unjoined letters (b, g, j, p, q, x, y, z)
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Self-assessment: What can I do?
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Happy Handwriting
Lower-case letter formations
abcde fghijk lmnop qrstu vwxyz Happy Handwriting: Lower-case letter formations
© HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 2021
Capital letter formations
ABCDE FGHIJK LMNOP QRSTU VWXYZ Happy Handwriting: Capital letter formations
© HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 2021
