Handwriting Rules NSW 4 Student Book sample/look inside

H ndwriting
Rules!
STUDENT
WORKBOOK
NSW Foundation Style
NSW English Syllabus for
the Australian Curriculum
Katy Collis and Alexandra Kennedy

Contents
Review: Printing
Lower-case and capital letters......................................2
Numerals and punctuation.............................................3
Labelling diagrams.........................................................4
Review: Diagonal joins
From i, u, m, n, a, c, e, t, d, h, k, l
to body letters including e.............................................5
To head and body letters.............................................. 6
From q and z ..................................................................7
Review: Drop-in joins
To a, c, d, g, o, q.............................................................9
Review: Horizontal joins
From o, r, v, w, x............................................................10
To anticlockwise letters c, a, d, o, g............................11
To head and body letters.............................................12
Review: Joins to and from f
To f ...............................................................................14
From f............................................................................15
Review: Letters that don’t join
From b, g, j, p, s, y........................................................16
New joins
Horizontal to e .............................................................17
Horizontal and diagonal joins to x...............................20
Horizontal joins to s......................................................22
Diagonal joins to s........................................................24
Consolidation ..............................................................26
New guidelines
Writing without head and tail guidelines.....................49
Introducing speed loops
Fluency joins from b, p and s ......................................54
Speed loops to head and body letters b, h, k and l....56
Speed loops from tail letters........................................57
Speed loops to and from f...........................................58
Signatures.....................................................................60
Autographs...................................................................61
Assessment
Progressive speed and fluency trials .........................62
Progressive self-assessment.......................................64
Notes for teachers and parents.......... inside back cover
Can others easily read my writing?............. back cover
Pause a moment............................................ back cover
22
Page Page Features
Helpful tips.
New joins: Horizontal joins to s
retrace
o o o o
Extend the exit hook
over the top of the s . . .
Trace then write.
To write faster, you can join s from letters that finish at the top
body line. Make a horizontal join and then retrace the top of the s.
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f
r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r
Trace then write these adverbs.
posibl posibl posibl posibl posibl posibl posibl posibl posibl posibl posibl posibl posibl posibl positive
el el el l l l l l l loosel loosel loosel loosel loosel loosel loosel loosel loosel mostl mostl mostl mostl mostl mostl mostl mostl mostl crosl crosl crosl crosl crosl crosl crosl crosl crosl
Trace then write the sentences.
then retrace back around.
“I’m positive
e i i i i i i i i i i i i coul coul coul coul coul coul coul coul coul coul coul coul posibl posibl posibl posibl posibl posibl posibl posibl posibl posibl posibl posibl rai rai rai rai rai rai rai rai rai rai rai rai ,” ” sai sai sai sai sai sai sai Sa Sa Sa Sa Sa Sa Sa .
Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th Th oaf oaf oaf oaf oaf oaf oaf oaf oaf wore scarf scarf scarf scarf scarf scarf scarf scarf scarf scarf scarf scarf an an an an an an an an an an an an briefs.
Self-assessment Tick any joins to s that are excellent.
Underline any joins that you could improve.
Handwriting: horizontal joins to s. Punctuation: sentence punctuation, speech marks, proper noun (Sam). Grammar: how adverbs ending
in -ly, modality (possibly). Spelling and vocabulary: suffi x -ly (possibly, positively, loosely, mostly, crossly).
A variety of practice
activities. These
provide an English
curriculum context
for handwriting,
to give it meaning
and make it fun and
motivating for Year 4
students.
For the teacher,
links to grammar,
punctuation, spelling
and vocabulary, and
literary elements.
Clear instructions to teach or
review each join.
38
Consolidation: all joins
Remember to keep
your letter shape, size,
slope and spacing
consistent.
Trace then write the thinking verbs.
Link to animation
showing correct
join formation.
(Download a QR
code reader from
the App Store.)
Self-assessment
feature to
encourage
students to take
responsibility
for their own
progress.
ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho e ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho e e e e e e e e e wis
he he he he he he wondere wondere wondere wondere wondere wondere wondere wondere wondere wondere wondere wondere
Trace then write.
This edition published in 2021 by
Humorous illustrations
to reinforce concepts.
believe
e e e
Thomas sa sa sa sa sa sa sa sa sa sa sa sa sa sa i i i i i i i i i i i i i i th th th th th th th th th th th th th th docto’s docto’s docto’s docto’s docto’s docto’s docto’s docto’s docto’s docto’s docto’s docto’s docto’s docto’s waitin waitin waitin waitin waitin waitin waitin waitin waitin waitin waitin waitin waitin waitin roo roo roo roo roo roo roo roo roo roo roo roo roo roo , tryin tryin tryin tryin tryin tryin tryin tryin tryin no no no no no no no no no
t t t t t t t t t pani pani pani pani pani pani pani pani pani abou abou abou abou abou abou abou abou abou his ar ar ar ar ar ar ar . It wa wa
wa
wa
n’t lookin lookin lookin lookin lookin lookin lookin lookin lookin goo goo goo goo goo goo goo goo goo .
A red stai stai stai stai stai stai stai stai stai stai stai stai
was seepin seepin seepin seepin seepin seepin seepin seepin seepin seepin seepin seepin through th th th th th th th th th th th th bandage .
Oops, though though though though though though though though though Thomas. I thin thin thin thin thin thin thin thin thin thin thin thin thin thin thin I us
e e e e e e e e e to to to to to to to to to muc muc muc muc muc muc muc muc muc ja ja ja ja ja ja ja ja ja .
Self-assessment Cross out the words that don’t apply.
I need to work on my letter shapes, slope, spacing, size, tails.
Handwriting: all joins. Grammar: thinking verbs (thought, think), apostrophe for possession (doctor’s), proper noun (Thomas). Spelling and
vocabulary: apostrophes for contraction (wasn’t), homophone (too/to/two). Literary elements: third person narrative, point of view, quote
from Doubting Thomas, by Morris Gleitzman (2006).
Matilda Education Australia, an imprint
of Meanwhile Education Pty Ltd
Level 1/274 Brunswick St
Fitzroy, Victoria Australia 3065
T: 1300 277 235
E: customersupport@matildaed.com.au
www.matildaeducation.com.au
First edition published in 2014 by
Macmillan Science and Education Australia Pty Ltd
Copyright © Katy Collis, Alexandra Kennedy/
Macmillan Education Australia 2014
Handwriting Rules! NSW Foundation Style
Year 4 Student Workbook
ISBN 978 1 4586 4463 3
Editor: Laura Jordan
Production controller: Janine Biderman
Publisher: Sharon Dalgleish
Design: Trish Hayes
Illustrations: Stephen Michael King
Printed in Malaysia by Vivar Printing Pdt Ltd
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 25 24 23 22 21 20

Enter here!
This year you will be entering the amazing
worlds of FLUENCY and LEGIBILITY.
You will learn how to write faster using
special joins.
You will develop a writing style that is
easily read by others.
JOB APPLICATION: HANDWRITING EXPLORER
Name:
Date of birth:
Previous handwriting experience:
Why I would make a good handwriting explorer:

Review: Printing
Trace then write.
A wise old owl sat in an oak.
The more he heard the less he spoke.
The less he spoke the more he heard.
Practise printing in these smaller lines.
Look on the back cover and check you’ve
remembered the 7 s’s.
Why aren’t we all like that wise old bird?
Trace then write the capital letters.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
2
Handwriting: lower-case and capital printing. Grammar: statement, question, sentences. Punctuation: capital letters to start sentences,
full stops, question mark. Spelling and vocabulary: rhyme (heard/bird, oak/spoke). Literary elements: Mother Goose rhyme.

Trace then write.
Little Robin Redbreast
sat upon a rail;
Niddle noddle went its head.
Check your letter size,
slope and spacing as
you print.
Review: Printing
Wiggle waggle went its tail.
Trace then write the punctuation marks.
“ ” , ; : ? ! _ “ ” , ; : ? ! _ “ ” , ; : ? ! _
Trace then write.
“Oooh! Oooh!” exclaimed the owl.
“What did you say?” asked the robin.
Trace then write.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Self-assessment
Circle your neatest printed words on this page.
Handwriting: lower-case and capital printing, punctuation, numerals. Grammar: statement, exclamation, question, saying verbs
(exclaimed, asked). Punctuation: sentence punctuation, speech marks, exclamation marks, question marks. Spelling and vocabulary:
rhyme (rail/tail). Literary elements: onomatopoeia, Mother Goose rhyme.
3

Review: Printing
Choose an adjective and a noun for each label. Remember to print.
Adjectives awesome, fearsome, loathsome, cumbersome, troublesome, handsome, gruesome
Nouns teeth, jaws, scales, legs, tail, claws, eyes
Label any extra parts you like. Give the creature a name.
4
Handwriting: using printing to label diagrams. Grammar: adjectives, nouns, noun groups. Spelling and vocabulary: suffix -some.
Literary elements: mythical creatures (dragons, beasts).

A diagonal join goes
from the exit kick at the baseline
up to the next letter.
u up up up
Review: Diagonal joins
Make an
exit kick . . .
then keep going up . . . until you get to the
start of the next letter.
Trace then write. Remember to make smooth diagonal joins.
ar ai aj am an au av aw ay
ap cr ce cu dr du di ei ey
ep eu em en er ew ee hi he
hu hy in im er ki ke kn ky
kr mn mi mu mm my mp ni
ny nu nn ui uy up ur um un
the bee 's knee s
Self-assessment
Circle your smoothest join.
Underline a join that needs more practice.
Handwriting: diagonal joins to body and to body and tail letters. Spelling: common letter pairs. Literary elements: idiom.
5

Review: Diagonal joins
u ul ul ul ul ul
Make an
exit kick . . .
then keep going up . . . to the very top . . . then retrace to make
the next letter.
Trace then write. Be careful when you retrace the join.
ab ah al ak at cl ch ck
To connect a
diagonal
join to a tall
head and body
letter, continue
the exit kick all
the way up to
the top, then
retrace to make
the next letter.
ct dt dl dh el et eb ht
hl ik il it ib kl kh ll lk kl
lt mb ml nb nh nt nk nl nb
th t tl uk ub ut ul at it th
get into hot water
pick of the litter
Self-assessment
My retracing to make joins is
improving good fantastic .
6
Handwriting: diagonal joins to head and body letters. Spelling: common letter pairs. Literary elements: idiom.

Use a
diagonal join
to join from
q to u.
q
Review: Diagonal joins from q and z
qu qu qu
Trace then write.
Continue the exit kick on the tail of the q all the way up to the top
body line.
qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu
The quick queen queued quietly for quoit s.
z
little wave
When you make
a diagonal join from the letter z,
remember to make a little wave
at the bottom of the z.
Trace then write.
ze zi zl zu zy zz ze zy
sneeze wheeze freeze breeze squeeze
Write your own words that have a diagonal join from z.
Self-assessment
I remembered to make a little wave on z sometimes
often always .
Handwriting: diagonal joins from q to u, and from z. Spelling: common letter pairs, rhyme (sneeze/wheeze/freeze/breeze).
Literary elements: alliteration.
7

Review: Diagonal joins
There’s a very funny in sect
that you do not often spy,
And it i sn’t quite a spider
and it i sn’t quite a fly;
It i s something like a beetle,
and a little like a bee,
But nothing like a woolly grub
that climbs upon a tree.
It s name i s quite a hard one,
but you’ll learn it soon, I hope.
So try: Tri- Tri-anti-wonti
Triantiwontigongolope.
The Triantiwontigongolope
Write the poem. Draw a triantiwontigongolope in the box above.
8
Handwriting: diagonal joins. Literary elements: made-up words, poetry, ‘The Triantiwontigongolope’, from A Book for Kids, by CJ Dennis (1921).

To link a, c, d, g, o and q
drop them onto the exit
of the letter in front.
u uc uc ua
Review: Drop-in joins
Trace the letter pairs. Remember to draw a longer exit kick.
ma mo na no uc ic ud id ca da
uq iq ug ig ng nd nc to co do
la lo ta ha ho ka ko ld ad ac
Trace then write.
Make an then keep going up, then lift your pencil
exit kick . . . almost to the top body line . . . and drop-in the letter.
The ugly duckling turned into a swan .
Only a true Prince ss can feel a pea beneath 20
matre sse s and 20 feather bed s.
That’s a
cygnet!
Handwriting: drop-in joins after letters with exit kicks. Punctuation: sentence punctuation. Spelling and vocabulary: plurals adding -s
or -es, animal young (ducklings, cygnet). Literary elements: references to fairy tales (‘The Ugly Duckling’, ‘The Princess and the Pea’,
by Hans Christian Andersen).
9

Review: Horizontal joins
wi vi ry xy
A horizontal
join is a line
with a little
wave. It’s used
from o, r, v, w
and x.
Trace then write.
oy op on om oz oi ow op on
ry rn ru rm ru ri rr rp ru
vy vu vi vr vu vi vy vu vi
wi wr wu wy wi wr wu wy wn
xi xu xy xy xu xi xy xu xp
Trace then write.
burps like a yowie
wriggle s like a viper
Self-assessment
Circle your five best horizontal joins.
10
Handwriting: horizontal joins. Spelling: ‘ur’ digraph (burp), ‘ow’ digraph (yowie). Literary elements: similes.

To make a horizontal
join to an anticlockwise
letter you need to
retrace.
o o oa
Review: Horizontal joins
Go along the top
body line . . .
then retrace . . . and write your
anticlockwise letter.
Trace then write.
vo va xo xa wa wo va wa wd
oc oa og od oo oa oo oa og od
ro ra rg rd rd rg ra ro ra rg
Trace then write.
rowdy zoom ogre body odd rage crowd
roam moan moat groan rogue toad boat
Trace then write.
The rowdy ogre groaned
a s she fell into the moa.
Handwriting: horizontal joins to drop-in letters. Grammar: sentences. Spelling and vocabulary: ‘ow’ digraph (rowdy, crowd), ‘oa’
digraph (groan, moat, moan, toad, boat). Literary elements: fantasy character (ogre) and setting (moat), gender representation (she).
11

Review: Horizontal joins
wh wh wh wh
From the go up . . . then retrace down.
exit . . .
To join a letter that finishes
near the top body line to a
head and body letter, you
need to retrace.
Trace then write.
ob oh ok ol ot rk rl rt wh ok
howl hoot spooky weird shook whirl di sorderly
swirl curl dark di sturbing spooki sh fearle ss
kooky oddball lurk e xtraordinar starle ss broken
Trace then write.
It wa s very dark and the wind
howled horribly around her.
Self-assessment
Circle your five best horizontal joins.
12
Handwriting: horizontal joins to head and body letters. Grammar: adjectives (spooky, weird, dark), adverb (horribly). Spelling and
vocabulary: ‘ow’, ‘oo’, ‘ir’, ‘ur’, ‘ar’, ‘ur’ digraphs. Literary elements: alliteration (howled horribly), fantasy settings/scary genre, quote
from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L Frank Baum (1900).

Review: Horizontal joins
Trace then write.
There wa s a man in our town ,
And he wa s wondrou s wi se;
He jumped into a bramble bu sh ,
And scratched out both hi s eye s;
And when he saw hi s eye s were out ,
With all hi s might and main
He jumped into another bu sh ,
And scratched them in again .
Self-assessment
Draw a star next to the line that shows your best writing.
(Think about shape, slope and letter sizes.)
Handwriting: horizontal joins. Literary elements: Mother Goose rhyme, idiom ‘might and main’ meaning ‘with all his strength or power’
– relevant to time when Mother Goose stories were first published, 1695.
13

Review: Joins to f
uf uf uf
Go up . . . almost to the then drop-in f.
top body line . . .
Trace then write. Remember to lift your pencil.
uf uf
ef ef
af af
wf wf
of of
lf lf
if if
df df
Trace then write. Remember to retrace the top of the f.
Trace then write.
xf xf
rf rf
loafing swift dreadful un safe awful bo xfi sh
wolf oaf elf w aif chief shelf
sniff huff puff bluff surf drift
The awf ul wolf huffed and puffed .
Remember! To make a
diagonal join to f, lift your
pencil and drop the f
onto the exit kick of the
letter in front.
But to make a
horizontal join
to f, you need to
retrace.
wf
retrace
Self-assessment
I remembered when to lift my pencil and when to retrace
sometimes often always .
14
Handwriting: drop-in join to f. Grammar: adjectives, nouns, verbs. Spelling and vocabulary: common letter pairs, rhyme (huff/puff/
bluff, swift/drift). Literary elements: reference to folk tale (The Three Pigs).

The letter f can join to
other letters from its crossbar.
Just make a horizontal join
at the crossbar.
Or, to join to a head
and body letter, continue
the crossbar up and then
retrace down.
Review: Joins from f
fr fi fa
Trace then write.
fa fa fa
fi fi fi
fo fo fo
fu fu fu
fr fr fr
fy fy fy
fl fl fl
piffle sniffle wiffle waffle
fly flip flop fla sh flow
f l
terrify magnify specify identify rectify
funny friendly fre sh frozen fro sty frightened
Handwriting: horizontal joins from f, joining along the crossbar. Grammar: verbs, adjectives. Literary elements: onomatopoeia.
15