Cursive is a foundation skill. Children need handwriting practice beyond second grade to build cognitive automaticity. Although it may seem like cursive is from a different era—a time when people communicated via letter and didn’t have technology at their fingertips—it’s still important for children to learn today. With benefits that span beyond the classroom, cursive instruction is critical for student success!

Here are five reasons why:

1. Children spend up to 58 percent of classroom time writing on paper and writing demands increase with age. Students who write in cursive write faster and more fluently and can meet the writing demands of the classroom better.

2. Cursive leads to personalized writing. As students master cursive, they begin to develop their personalized writing style, which is proven to be faster and more efficient.

3. Cursive improves literacy skills. Cursive enhances writing fluency, composition, and speed while reinforcing reading and literacy skills!

4. Cursive enables students to use both sides of their brain and boosts comprehension, participation, and written communication skills. Cursive is beneficial for more than just note-taking.

5. Cursive helps students write quickly and efficiently in all subjects. Students use cursive across all subjects and use cursive to take notes, write in journals, and complete science labs and social studies assignments.

• Lowercase Cursive Teaching Order

• Capital Cursive Teaching Order

• Full Cursive Alphabet and Letters

• Vertical Cursive

Lowercase Cursive Teaching Order

Children learn their lowercase letters first, and then transition to capitals. In cursive, we teach lowercase letters first to help children learn cursive skills in the easiest, most efficient way. It’s also developmentally planned to start with letters that are familiar from printing, making an easier transition from print to cursive.

Capital/Uppercase Cursive Teaching Order

Capitals are taught after lowercase letters because of their infrequent use and complex formations. Children usually learn capitals very quickly. The simple letter style and teaching order makes cursive capitals easy to learn.

Full Cursive Alphabet and letters

Learning Without Tears uses a simple, continuous, vertical stroke that is easy for children to learn. The letter style is also familiar because it looks like the letters and words children see and read every day.

Today’s cursive is not about style, or being fancy. With correct formation habits, students develop the speed and legibility necessary for cursive success.

Using Vertical Cursive

Say goodbye to fancy, hard-to-write cursive and hello to a functional approach to achieving speed and fluency.

Vertical cursive eliminates complicated loops and curlicues. It’s easy to write and read. We keep cursive simple and allow students to develop their own personal style as they become confident in their writing skills.

To learn more, please watch this video on vertical cursive today!

Why Handwriting Without Tears

Our award-winning, multisensory handwriting curriculum is developmentally appropriate and easy to implement. Our cursive language is child-friendly, featuring simple and fun instructions that are easy for children to understand. We use a simple, continuous, vertical stroke that is easy for children to learn. The letter style is also familiar because it looks like the letters and words children see and read every day.

Take a look at our cursive curriculum products to find the one that matches you.