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CANNONVALE STATE SCHOOL CURRICULUM
Handwriting Guidelines
“the production of legible, correctly formed letters by hand or with the assistance
of writing tools, for example, pencil grip or assistive technology” (ACARA)
Handwriting is explicitly taught from Pre-Prep to year 6. Handwriting is modeled daily by
teachers during the Daily Writing warm up session.
P-2 students will also require handwriting consolidation and practice daily, during explicit
literacy teaching.
Neat, correctly formed, legible handwriting is expected, especially in bookwork
presentation and writing sessions. The following guidelines and the Handwriting
overview are to be followed for script, font and phrases and in alignment to the schools’
bookwork policy for presentation expectations and writing tool implements.
It is expected that teachers will differentiate handwriting technique using the following
guide, to meet individual needs of students as required when writing.
Pre-Prep/Early Writing Skills
• Follow Barbara Brann’s ‘The Magic Caterpillar’ Handwriting program.
• Introduce the story of Casey the Caterpillar, practice daily until story is memorised and
can be retold by students.
• Students learn and practice to form the shapes used in the story eg. gum nut cup, feeler,
twig, short stick, tall stick, feelers, possum tail.
• Only use a chalkboard and chalk (sensory & kinesthetic feel) to form shapes when
‘formal’ writing in the early literacy stage. It is suggested to practice writing shapes using
different mediums (paint, crayon, gel, sand) and tools (thick crayons, brush, tripod pencil
as developmentally required).
• Students need to develop fine motor skill, strength and control through daily-targeted
activities for motor domain eg. Pegging clothes on a line, manipulating play dough,
sensory tables, threading beads, cut and paste (brush on paint), painting with various
tools.
• Ensure correct use of tree and branch (margin and ruled line) and caterpillar egg
(starting point to write) when writing shapes on lines on chalkboard.
• When letter shape names and formation are demonstrated with speed, accuracy,
correct letter height and chalk does not lift to form a shape (except i, j, x) students are
ready to form words and sentences on chalkboards.
• Progress to teach shapes as letter names. When writing is neat, controlled, legible,
correctly formed, correct height, chalk does not lift and correct spaces are used between
words when writing, students are ready to write on paper.
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CANNONVALE STATE SCHOOL CURRICULUM
Prep - 1 Handwriting
• Students need to progress from print to cursive font due to speed and flow enabled with
fast, fluid writing, which will allow students to write with ease.
• Ensure that students have good pencil control, fine motor technique and can form letter
shapes before they begin to write on paper for handwriting lessons (See pre Prep skills)
• The smaller the implement the better control. A normal HB hexagonal pencil is correct
for a child to write with at age 5 unless they have dysgraphia or undeveloped fine motor
control and require an implement suggested by OT.
• Use chalkboard with lines (Casey Caterpillar’s tree, branch and egg model) or lined paper
during daily writing warm up and writing activities.
• Do not allow students to copy from the board or trace letters/words regularly, it is
better they practice formation skills independently.
• Students who do not yet form correct letter shapes from memory are NOT ready to
independently write sentences or words – teachers should scribe the students’ verbal
explanation or story until independent competence is achieved.
• Writing tasks for a Prep age student should only encompass three memory skill sets,
unless automatic skills are applied. (The child’s age minus 2 years)
• The daily writing warm up is an opportunity for teachers to model correct handwriting,
bookwork expectations and use self-talk when writing.
• Explicitly teach the handwriting of the daily speech sound pic, using the SSP prompts and
phrases for formation.
• Daily practice to formally write the date, day and spelling of words.
• Use whiteboards and markers for writing SSP daily handwriting prompts and phrases
and during SSP poster work. The whiteboard sessions are for fast mapping and allow
fast, fluid writing. This is handwriting consolidation and practice.
Year 2-6 Handwriting
• The daily writing warm up is an opportunity for teachers to model correct handwriting,
bookwork expectations and use self-talk when writing.
• Explicitly teach cursive handwriting using letter joins, entries and exits as described in
the Handwriting overview.
• Refer to the SSP prompts and phrases for formation when students require intensive
support to correctly form single, unjoined letters.
• Daily handwriting should include the date, words or letters on a single line and
sentences or a paragraph correctly formed and written on lined paper.
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CANNONVALE STATE SCHOOL CURRICULUM
SUGGESTED HANDWRITING SEQUENCE
The following is a suggested sequence for the re-introduction and remediation of
handwriting in Years 3 – 6. It is provided as a guide/checklist and for teacher information
only. It is not intended to be adhered to step-by-step for students who already have correct
letter formation.
1
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
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

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CANNONVALE STATE SCHOOL CURRICULUM
Australian Curriculum English Content Descriptions
Handwriting
Developing a fluent, legible handwriting style, beginning with unjoined letters and moving to joined
handwriting
Foundation Year
Create short texts to explore, record and report ideas and events using familiar words
Creating texts
and beginning writing knowledge (ACELY1651)
Participate in shared editing of students’ own texts for meaning, spelling, capital
letters and full stops (ACELY1652)
Produce some lower case and upper case letters using learned letter formations
(ACELY1653)
Construct texts using software including word processing programs (ACELY1654)
Year 1 Creating
Create short imaginative and informative texts that show emerging use of appropriate
texts
text structure, sentence-level grammar, word choice, spelling, punctuation and
appropriate multimodal elements, for example illustrations and diagrams (ACELY1661)
Reread student's own texts and discuss possible changes to improve meaning, spelling
and punctuation (ACELY1662)
Write using unjoined lower case and upper case letters (ACELY1663)
Construct texts that incorporate supporting images using software including word
processing programs (ACELY1664)
Year 2 Creating
Create short imaginative, informative and persuasive texts using growing knowledge of
texts
text structures and language features for familiar and some less familiar audiences,
selecting print and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and purpose
(ACELY1671)
Reread and edit text for spelling, sentence-boundary punctuation and text structure
(ACELY1672)
Write legibly and with growing fluency using unjoined upper case and lower case
letters (ACELY1673)
Construct texts featuring print, visual and audio elements using software, including
word processing programs (ACELY1674)
Year 3 Creating
Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts demonstrating
texts
increasing control over text structures and language features and selecting print,and
multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and purpose (ACELY1682)
Reread and edit texts for meaning, appropriate structure, grammatical choices and
punctuation (ACELY1683)
Write using joined letters that are clearly formed and consistent in size (ACELY1684)
Use software including word processing programs with growing speed and efficiency to
construct and edit texts featuring visual, print and audio elements (ACELY1685)
Year 4 Creating
Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts containing key
texts
information and supporting details for a widening range of audiences, demonstrating
increasing control over text structures and language features (ACELY1694)
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CANNONVALE STATE SCHOOL CURRICULUM
Reread and edit for meaning by adding, deleting or moving words or word groups to
improve content and structure (ACELY1695)
Write using clearly-formed joined letters, and develop increased fluency and
automaticity (ACELY1696)
Use a range of software including word processing programs to construct, edit and
publish written text, and select, edit and place visual, print and audio elements
(ACELY1697)
Year 5 Creating
Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive print and multimodal
texts
texts, choosing text structures, language features, images and sound appropriate to
purpose and audience (ACELY1704)
Reread and edit student's own and others’ work using agreed criteria for text
structures and language features (ACELY1705)
Develop a handwriting style that is becoming legible, fluent and automatic (ACELY1706)
Use a range of software including word processing programs with fluency to construct,
edit and publish written text, and select, edit and place visual, print and audio elements
(ACELY1707)
Year 6 Creating
Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, choosing and
texts
experimenting with text structures, language features, images and digital resources
appropriate to purpose and audience (ACELY1714)
Reread and edit students’ own and others’ work using agreed criteria and explaining
editing choices (ACELY1715)
Develop a handwriting style that is legible, fluent and automatic and varies according to
audience and purpose (ACELY1716)
Use a range of software, including word processing programs, learning new functions
as required to create texts (ACELY1717)
Further handwriting information and resources can be found:
QCursive: a Queensland handwriting resource (The learning Place)
The teaching of Handwriting Handbook Years 1-3
The teaching of Handwriting Years 4-7
Queensland Cursive notes
TIPS
 Be organised – have all materials and resources prepared! 
 Provide feedback and generous praise at a class and individual level.
 Model expectations – legible, correct formation, slope, spacing, entries, exits and
joins. Use high level handwriting exemplars.
 Showcase student handwriting on the exemplary work display.
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CANNONVALE STATE SCHOOL CURRICULUM
 If something is not working, change it! Be prepared to make adjustments to this
process to cater for the needs and learning styles of your students.
 MAKE IT FUN, ENGAGING AND CHALLENGING 
CANNONVALE STATE SCHOOL HANDWRITING OVERVIEW
Term 1
Term 2
Term 3
P
• Pre-writing fine motor
activities
• Casey Caterpillar story and
letters shapes consolidated
• SSP prompts and phrases
for letter formation (Sassoon
Infant font)
• Modelling of letter / numeral
formation – lower case
• Consolidation of left to right
(tree, branch and egg), top to
bottom (tall and short stick)
• Consolidation of correct
formation of own name
• Writing on large blue lines
• Correct pencil grip
• Consolidation of SSP
prompts and phrases
for letter formation –
lower case
• Consolidation of
numeral formation 0-9
• Consolidation of
correct formation of
own name
• Writing on large blue
lines
• Correct pencil grip
• Consolidation of SSP
prompts and phrases
for letter formation –
lower and upper case
• Consolidation of
numeral formation 1020
• Consolidation of
correct formation of
first and surname
• Writing on large blue
lines
• Correct pencil grip
• Introduction to red and
blue lines
Term 4
• Consolidation of SSP
prompts and phrases
for letter formation
• Consolidation of
numeral formation 030
• Consolidation of
correct formation of
first and surname
• Correct pencil grip
• Continue with red and
blue lines
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CANNONVALE STATE SCHOOL CURRICULUM
1
• Introduce red and blue lines
– Yr 1
• Qld beginner’s script font
(letters and numerals) with
correct stroke and letter
formation –
• Revise letters using short, tall
and hanging formations
• Short (Body letters)- a, c, e,
i, m, n, o, r, s, u, v, w, x, z
• Numerals – 0-9
• Capital letters
• Correct pencil grip
• Consolidate use of
red/blue yr 1 lines
• Refining letter
formation (writing in a
smaller area)
• Revise letters using
short, tall and hanging
formations
• Continue short (Body
Letters) - a, c, e, i, m,
n, o ,r, s, u, v, w, x, z
• Numerals – 10-20
• Capital letters
• Consolidate pencil grip
• Consolidate use of
red/blue yr 1 lines
• Refining letter
formation (writing in a
smaller area)
• Revise letters using
short, tall and hanging
formations
• Tall (Head) and short
(body) letters – b, d, f,
h, k, l, t,
• Numerals – teen
numbers
• Capital letters
• Consolidating pencil
grip
• Consolidate use of
red/blue yr 1 lines
• Consolidate letter
formation, spacing and
slope within red/blue
lines
• Revise letters using
short, tall and hanging
formations
• Short (Body) and
hanging (tail) letters –
g, j, p, q, y.
• Numerals – tens
• Capital letters
• Consolidating pencil
grip
2
• Introduce yr 2 red/blue lines
• Display ‘Qld Transition Letter
Train’ for reference
• Commence Transition
alphabet
• Queensland Modern Cursive
Font (unjoined)
• Introduce exits and rounded
entries
• Correct pencil grip
• Introduce yr 3 red/blue lines
• Consolidate use of exits and
entries with no joins
• Queensland Modern Cursive
Font (joined)
• Writing on yr 2 red/blue
lines
• Revise exits and
rounded entries
• Introduce pointed
entries
• Consolidate pencil grip
• Writing on yr 2 red/blue
lines
• Consolidate use of
exits and entries with
no joins
• Consolidate pencil grip
• Writing on yr 2 red/blue
lines
• Introduce letters that
change (f, z)
• Consolidate pencil grip
• Writing on yr 3 red/blue
lines
• Introduce diagonal
joins
• Introduce drop on joins
• Capital letters do not
join
• Writing on yr 3 red/blue
lines
• Introduce horizontal
joins
• Modified letters (joining
to f, s,z)
• Writing on yr 3 red/blue
lines
• Consolidate use of all
joins
• Letter ‘e’ does not join
on from top finishing
letters
3
4
• Introduce yr 4 red/blue lines
• Revision of Qld cursive
script, all joins and letter
formations
• Writing on yr 4 red/blue
lines
• Consolidate letter
formation, spacing and
slope using cursive
script
• Writing on yr 4 red/blue
lines
• Consistent use of
cursive writing in all
areas
5
• Writing plain blue lines
• Introduction of ‘pen licence’
(students write in pencil until
teacher gives permission for
pen)
• Revision of Qld cursive
script, all joins and letter
formations within plain blue
lines
• Practise of common letter
combinations to increase
speed
• Writing plain blue lines
• Most students should be
writing in biro
• Practise of common letter
combinations to increase
speed
• Development of individual
• Writing plain blue lines
• Continuation of ‘pen
licence’ (students write
in pencil until teacher
gives permission for
pen)
• Consistent use of
cursive writing in all
areas
• Practise of common
letter combinations to
increase speed
• Writing plain blue lines
• Most students should
be writing in biro
• Practise of common
letter combinations to
increase speed
• Development of
• Writing plain blue lines
• Most students should
be writing in biro
• Consistent use of
cursive writing in all
areas
• Practise of common
letter combinations to
increase speed
• Writing on yr 4 red/blue
lines
• Practise of common
letter combinations to
increase speed
• Introduce plain blue
lines
• Writing plain blue lines
• Most students should
be writing in biro
• Consistent use of
cursive writing in all
areas
• Practise of common
letter combinations to
increase speed
• Writing plain blue lines
• All students should be
writing in biro
• Practise of common
letter combinations to
increase speed
• Development of
• Writing plain blue lines
• All students should be
writing in biro
• Practise of common
letter combinations to
increase speed
• Development of
6
015
CANNONVALE STATE SCHOOL CURRICULUM
style
individual style
individual style
individual style