Bok B
ABC Publications
Business Park Rd, Lisnenan, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal
www.abcschoolsupplies.ie
© ABC Publications 2025 9781917517041
Author: Dr Sinéad McCauley Lambe Design: Veronica Moloney
Images: All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the written permission of the publishers or else under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Irish Copyright Licensing Association.
How to use this book - underpinning principles
Move Write Book B (Cursive) is a developmentally designed handwriting practice book that supports the progression of cursive style handwriting.
Building on the sensorimotor focus of Move Write - A Whole-body Approach to Handwriting, a tactile alphabet is included at the beginning of the book. Learners are invited to look carefully at all the letters on the inside page of the front cover and to examine the distinguishing features of each letter. This activity is building on the visual discrimination skills developed in the Move Write: A Whole-body Approach to Handwriting programme. In this way, the learners themselves will develop their own ideas about letter characteristics, and which letters should be grouped together, which will make them more likely to be able to remember how to form the letters correctly. This approach also supports teachers in being able to align their approach to teaching phonics to their teaching of handwriting.
Possible questions / prompts that you could use to facilitate the conversation are as follows:
∙Can we try to find all the letters that have a straight line in them? Put a cube on all the short letters.
∙Can we try to find all the letters that have a loop near the bottom? Put a cube on all the letters that have a loop near the bottom.
∙Now, can you find a letter with a loop near the top? Put a cube on those letters.
∙Can we find letters that have a dot on top? Put a cube on those letters.
∙Can we try to find letters that have a ‘hollow’ or a ‘hole’ in them? Put a cube on those letters.
∙Can we find letters that have a ‘c’ hidden in them?
An example of possible groupings could be as follows:
C Curved letters: c, a, d, g, o, s, q, x
Straight line letters: i, j, t, p, n, m, r
Looped letters: e, l, b, f, h, k
Hollowed letters: u, y, v, w, z
As a class-group, as a small-group or in a one-to-one setting, decide what groups or ‘families’ the letters belong to. Decide which letter you are going to begin with and encourage learners to find the correct practice page. This process promotes the development of critical visual perceptual skills as learners use visual discrimination skills to find the correlating page in the book. The process also supports a child-led, developmentally appropriate approach, as well as the professional judgement of educators.
Move Write Book B (Cursive) provides practise opportunities for children to revise the lower-case letter formations introduced in Book A. The new focus of Book B is on mastering the formation of capital letters. Book B also provides opportunities for learners to practise some common conventions of print, in line with the progression steps outlined in the Primary Language Curriculum. Extension activities focus functional writing activities - providing practise opportunities for learners to write their name and address and to write a shopping list. Lined practice pages are included at the back of the book so that teachers or parents can introduce blends in line with their phonics programme or encourage learners to begin to write words or sentences independently.
A lower-case and capital letter checklist is provided at the beginning of the book, as well as a ‘Ready to Write’ checklist for teachers and parents.
Ready to Write? Checklist for teachers and parents
Check that all children have enough hard space to write on comfortably, and consider individual needs. For example, do some children require vertical writing space? See pages 20-21 of the Move Write Teacher manual.
Make sure that left-handed writers sit at the left-hand end of the desk/table. This will help to prevent their writing hand from bumping into another child and provide them with more space to write comfortably and effectively.
Remind all children of the correct posture for writing, depending on their developmental stage. See pages 20-21 of the Move Write Teacher Manual.
Have you checked that the tables and chairs are the correct height and size for each individual child?
Check the environment for auditory / visual distractions and ensure that all children are supported to stay alert and on-task in the environment.
Can all children see the whiteboard from where they are sitting without having to adjust their position?
Is the lighting in the room appropriate for individual needs. For left-handed writers, try to ensure that there is light coming from the right side of the child.
Check that all children are comfortable with the writing tool that they are using. Consider individual sensory needs. Some children might require additional tactile feedback. For example – placing a piece of sandpaper under the page.
Are the pencils that the children are using sharp? For left-handed writers, ensure that the pencil is not too sharp – as the left-handed writer will push the pencil across the page.
For left-handed writers, ensure that the learner holds the writing tool higher up so that they can see their writing. Hold it between 2 and 3cm (about 2 finger-tips) away from the tip of the writing tool.
For left-handed writers, position the page slightly to the right so that the learner can see what they have written.
Do all children understand what they must do, and how long that they have to do it for? Consider the use of visual schedule here.
Capital Letters & Lower Case Checklists
Capital Letters & Lower Case Checklists
Write and draw yourself
Name:
Draw a picture of yourself here.
Drawing Lines
You can draw lines in lots of ways. Lines can be straight or wavy, long or short or curly! How many different kinds of lines can you make?
Question
and copy ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Question
and copy ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Trace and copy
Give it a go!
, , , , , , , , , , , ,
Practise writing a shopping list
Practise writing your name and address
Give it a go - write your name and address!