Handwriting Rules 4! NSW 2e sample/look inside

Katy Collis and
Alexandra Kennedy
NSW Second Edition
4
NSW Foundation Style

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 short letters including e...............................................5
To tall 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 ellipse letters c, a, d, o, g................... 11
To tall 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 with fewer guidelines.........................................49
Introducing speed loops
Fluency joins from b, p and s .......................................54
Speed loops to tall letters b, h, k and l..........................56
Speed loops from long 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
Helpful tips.
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New joins: Horizontal joins to s
Page Features
retrace
os os os os
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 blue
line. Make a horizontal join and then retrace the top of the s.
os os os os os os os os os os os os os os
fs fs fs fs fs fs fs fs fs fs fs fs fs fs fs
rs rs rs rs rs rs rs rs rs rs rs rs rs rs
Trace then write these adverbs.
possibly positively loosely mostly crossly
Trace then write the sentences.
then retrace back around.
“I’m positive it could possibly rain ,” said Sam .
The oafs wore scarfs and briefs.
Tick any joins to s that are excellent.
Underline any joins that you could improve.
Handwriting: horizontal joins to s. Punctuation: sentence punctuation, quotation marks, proper noun (Sam). Grammar: adverbs ending in -ly,
modality (possibly). Spelling and vocabulary: suffix -ly (possibly, positively, loosely, mostly, crossly).
A variety of practice
activities. These provide
an English syllabus
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.
Self-assessment
feature to
encourage
students to take
responsibility
for their own
progress.
Humorous illustrations to
reinforce concepts.
Remember to pause if you
need to, and relax your hold
on the pen or pencil.
Trace then write.
sch scr spl spr shr sph squ str thr
sch school scr scream spl splat
spr sprint shr shriek sph spher
squ squar str straight thr through
Find and write a word of your own for each letter cluster.
sch scr spl
spr shr sph
squ str thr
Trace then write.
Characters in scary movies
shriek and s cream .
Put a cross next to any joins that you could improve.
Handwriting: all joins. Spelling and vocabulary: three letter consonant blends ‘spl’, ‘spr’.
Handwriting Rules! Year 4
NSW Edition
ISBN: 978 0 6550 9279 7
Designer and typesetter: Trish Hayes
Illustrator: Stephen Michael King
Series editor: Marie James
Indigenous consultant: Al Fricker
This edition published in 2024 by
Matilda Education Australia, an imprint of
Meanwhile Education Pty Ltd Melbourne, Australia
T: 1300 277 235
E: customersupport@matildaed.com.au
www.matildaeducation.com.au
First edition published in 2015 by
Macmillan Science and Education Australia Pty Ltd
Copyright © Katy Collis and Alexandra Kennedy 2014, 2021, 2024
The moral rights of the authors have been asserted.
Printed in China by Central
Sep-23
Consolidation: All joins
39

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.
Name:
Date of birth:
JOB APPLICATION: HANDWRITING EXPLORER
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
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: dialogue/direct speech, quotation marks, exclamation marks, question marks. Spelling and vocabulary: rhyme (rail/tail).
Literary elements: onomatopoeia, Mother Goose rhyme.
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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 main line
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
Circle your smoothest join.
Underline a join that needs more practice.
Handwriting: diagonal joins to short letters and long 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
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
My retracing to make joins is
improving good fantastic .
6
Handwriting: diagonal joins to tall 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 blue line.
qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu
The quick queen queued quietly for quoit s.
z
little wave
Trace then write.
When you make
a diagonal join from the letter z,
remember to make a little wave
at the bottom of the z.
ze zi zl zu zy zz ze zy
sneeze wheeze freeze breeze squeeze
Write your own words that have a diagonal join from z.
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.
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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 blue 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. Grammar: prepositional phrases (into a swan; beneath 20 mattresses and 20 featherbeds),
compound word (featherbeds). 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).
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Review: Horizontal joins
wi vi ry xy
Trace then write.
A horizontal
join is a line
with a little
wave. It’s used
from o, r, v, w
and x.
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
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
ellipse letter you need
to retrace.
o o oa
Review: Horizontal joins
Go along the
blue line . . .
then retrace . . . and write your
anticlockwise ellipse 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).
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Review: Horizontal joins
wh wh wh wh
From the go up . . . then retrace down.
exit . . .
To join a letter that
finishes near the blue line
to a tall 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.
Circle your five best horizontal joins.
12
Handwriting: horizontal joins to tall letters. Grammar: adjectives (spooky, weird, dark), adverb (horribly), compound sentence with
coordinating conjunction (and). 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 by 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 .
Draw a star next to the line that shows your best writing.
(Think about shape, slope and letter sizes.)
Handwriting: horizontal joins. Grammar: relating verb (was), pronoun reference (a man-he). 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.
blue 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
I remembered when to lift my pencil and when to retrace
sometimes often always .
14
Handwriting: drop-in join to f. Grammar: adjectives, nouns, saying verbs (huffed, puffed), noun group (The awful wolf), past tense. 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 tall
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