PR-2888IRE New Wave Handwriting Teachers Guide - Junior and Senior Infants

GLOSSARY
KEY HANDWRITING TERMINOLOGY
ANTICLOCKWISE:
movement in the opposite direction to the way in which the hands of a clock move
ASCENDERS:
letters that sit on the baseline and extend up to the second dotted line; also called body and
head letters. Ascenders can be lower-case letters such as l, and include all upper-case letters
BASELINE:
a solid line on which the majority of letters sit; the line on, under and above which all letters
are positioned
CLOCKWISE:
movement in the direction in which the hands of a clock move
CROSSBAR:
a small line drawn from left to right on letters such as t and f; usually horizontal or nearly
horizontal
CURSIVE:
a type of writing in flowing strokes with successive letters joined together; running writing
DESCENDERS:
letters that sit on the baseline and have a tail that extends to the dotted line below; body and
tail letters
DIAGONAL STROKE:
a line drawn in a diagonal direction
DIRECTIONALITY:
of or indicating direction
HANDWRITING LINES
a set of four lines dividing a space into thirds that follow the pattern—lighter line at the top,
followed by a second lighter line below it, then the baseline, with another divided line below
(which also serves as the top line on a lined page)
TOP LINE
MIDDLE LINE
BASELINE
BOTTOM LINE
DOUBLE LETTER:
two identical letters used in a word; for example, bb in bubble, ll in chilly
DOWNSTROKE:
a line movement in a downward direction from top to bottom; letters classified as downstroke
letters have a downstroke movement as the initial or predominant movement
ENTRY:
short, left-to-right line movements TO a letter that starts just below the first dotted line and
move upward to the first dotted line into the letter
EXIT:
short left-to-right line movements FROM a letter; exits can be diagonal or horizontal; used on
letters to prepare pupils for cursive handwriting
FINE MOTOR SKILLS:
movements that use the small muscles of the fingers, toes, wrists, lips, and tongue; used in
actions such as picking up small objects, using a spoon or manipulating a pencil to write
FINGER SPACE:
the distance between single letters or words written in a line
or in a sentence; created by placing the index finger between
each letter or word after writing
FINGER SPACE
192 NEW WAVE HANDWRITING TEACHERS GUIDE JUNIOR AND SENIOR INFANTS 978-1-84654-938-0 Prim-Ed Publishing www.prim-ed.com