Cursive Teaching Resources

Make the art of cursive letter-writing easier to teach and easier to learn with cursive alphabet charts, handwriting worksheets, pen licenses and more teacher-created resources.

Every resource in this penmanship collection has been carefully curated by the Teach Starter team of expert teachers, so they're ready to download and print and ready for you to start using in your elementary classroom!

Curious about cursive, where it's taught and whether it's worth teaching to your students? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!

What Is Cursive? A Kid-Friendly Definition

If you're teaching students to write in cursive this school year, you may want to start with a definition to explain what it is!

Sometimes known as script, cursive is a style of penmanship in which letters are joined together in a flowing manner.

The style of handwriting is often quicker to write — at least when compared to block letters — and it's often taught to students shortly before they're allowed to begin using a pen in the classroom.

Wait ... Do Schools Still Teach Cursive?

It's a question you might hear from parents on parent-teacher night or during open house at the start of the school year. The answer, of course, is yes. There are still plenty of schools where cursive is being taught in America.

In fact, many states in the US have actually made teaching cursive part of education law in recent years! Some require it by the end of 3rd grade, others by the end of 4th or 5th.

Why Do We Teach Cursive?

Some school districts have abandoned cursive letters and the cursive alphabet, and Common Core standards call for teaching handwriting in just kindergarten and first grade before moving on to keyboard skills.

But if you're in a district where cursive is still taught, you've probably found cursive can be helpful for students as they examine old texts — the founding fathers used cursive on both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution— and there's evidence of overall cognitive and academic benefits from handwriting in general.

What Are the Benefits of Teaching Cursive Handwriting?

Studies have even found that cursive has been linked specifically to measurable positive effects on spelling and composition skills for older kids.

Plus, cursive is beneficial for students with dysgraphia!  The handwriting practice requires less fine motor movement and minimizes some of the common letter confusions that kids face when printing. Research shows that it's harder to invert, mix or confuse letters when they're made as part of a single unbroken line that forms a word — which makes cursive easier to create!

How to Teach Cursive

Wondering how to teach cursive this school year? This collection of cursive handwriting sheets, jokes, and more can help make the practice of penmanship more fun for your elementary students!