Cursive
The Benefits of Cursive Handwriting
Structured Literacy is a multi-sensory approach that is taught utilizing the SEE program at Rio Grande School. The Science of Reading states that spelling and handwriting connect our ability with speech to print and in the development of oral language.
Beginning in Kindergarten, we teach children to write in cursive. You may hear your children say, we read in print and we write in cursive or we read from left to right. These statements are repeated in every lesson in Kindergarten. In one lesson, children are taught a letter, it’s sound, and how to write it in cursive.
Why cursive?
Created for the Human Hand - Cursive dates back to monks in the eighth century. It was created for the human hand. When writing in cursive, our hand always begins in the same position, and we move from left to right. This is the same as how we read.
Cursive Reduces Reversals - The reversals of b, p, d, and q are extremely common with children when printing. Cursive eliminates some confusion with reversals because of the starting position for all letters. Eliminating reversals allows space to be freed up in our working memory.
Continuous Flow - Cursive handwriting is a rhythmic movement of letters providing a continuous flow, not an on-and-off movement like printing. Students can produce work faster when they have mastered cursive.
Reading Cursive - If you can write in cursive, you can also read in cursive. Almost all of our historical documents in the United States are written in cursive. Historians believe something is lost in translation when people are unable to read documents such as the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights in cursive. Also, imagine visiting the National Archives Museum in Washington D.C. and viewing original copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States for the first time but not being able to read them.
Spelling - Research shows that children who learn cursive become better spellers because they can visualize how letters fit together to form words.
Confidence & Motivation - Children WANT to learn cursive! Not only do they think it’s fancy, but they enjoy the explicit instruction. It gives them confidence and motivation to write. They also love to say their handwriting is better than their mom/dad/older sibling.
