Book: Bogolyubov, Handwriting Techniques

Developing the skill of correct, clear, and beautiful handwriting with a calligraphic style among primary school students is a serious and painstaking matter. It requires a lot of effort, knowledge, and systematic exercises from the teacher.

But all the difficulties in teaching this skill, in developing children’s attention and carefulness, must be overcome due to the great importance of writing. Written language is one of the most important means of communication.

In his work on linguistics, I.V. Stalin points out that without exchanging opinions, “…without a language that is understandable to society and common to its members, society ceases to produce, disintegrates, and ceases to exist as a society. In this sense, the language, being a tool of communication, is also a tool of struggle and development of society.”¹ “…the emergence of writing, the emergence of a state that needed for management a more or less orderly correspondence, the development of trade, which needed even more orderly correspondence, the appearance of the printing press, the development of literature,” says I.V. Stalin, “all this has brought about great changes in the development of language”.²

Having such great importance in the life of the people, writing thereby acquires the same importance for every individual. Proper and beautiful handwriting facilitates reading of any handwritten text, promotes easier and wider communication between people in all areas of social activity, evokes a natural feeling of satisfaction for both the writer and the reader, and creates conditions for more lively thought work.

“By teaching students to be neat and precise in their written work, correcting their handwriting, the teacher instills in them respect for their work, a sense of responsibility towards the task at hand, and a habit of cleanliness and orderliness.”³

Therefore, when teaching handwriting, the teacher should constantly strive to instill in the students the knowledge and skills of correct, legible and speedy writing, because on their strength will depend, to some extent, the further success of each student’s education.

The 19th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which opened up new prospects for further raising the cultural level of our people, outlined in its directives a new stage in the development of public education: the transition from seven–year education to universal secondary education (ten years) and the transition to universal polytechnic education.

These grand tasks can and must be resolved with the active support and selfless work of the entire teaching profession.

First of all, the issue of students’ literacy should be addressed, and correct and beautiful writing is one of the necessary and important conditions for developing spelling skills.

The significance of penmanship was given great attention by the outstanding Russian educator K.D. Ushinsky. He pointed out that the initial skills of correct spelling are laid down by the penmanship teacher. This same idea is developed by modern Soviet educators. For example, methodologist S.P. Redozubov writes: “By fighting for good handwriting and a good notebook, we are essentially fighting for the literacy of students.”⁴

The methodical letter of the School Management of the Ministry of Education of the RSFSR on teaching Russian language states: “Students with poor handwriting and weak reading skills make more mistakes in distorting words than others.”⁵

The task of this educational manual is to help an elementary school teacher correctly and systematically organize the teaching of handwriting to children in grades 1–3, to show not only all possible methods and techniques for developing proper handwriting in students, but also to identify the conditions necessary for the development of beautiful handwriting.

Along with the main theoretical principles, the teacher should also be dedicated to every detail of conducting a handwriting lesson. For this purpose, in the compilation of the manual, the methodological heritage of our school was used, accumulated both in the works of pre–revolutionary methodologists such as P.E. Gradoboyev, I.E. Evseev, F.V. Grekov, V.S. Gerbach, as well as, especially, contemporary ones such as D.A. Pisarevsky, V.A. Saglin, E.V. Guryanov, M.L. Zakozhurnikova, A.I. Voskresenskaya, N.I. Tkachenko and others.

The founder of our pedagogy, K.D. Ushinsky, believed that “any sensible written expression of one’s thoughts should at the same time be impeccable in spelling and as clean and beautiful as possible in penmanship.”

The great pedagogue, equating the beauty of handwriting with its semantic and orthographic aspects, thereby affirmed that penmanship greatly aids the proper education of a child.

In developing handwriting skills in students, Ushinsky attached great importance to the tactical method.

Among K. D. Ushinsky's contemporaries, who paved new ways in the field of handwriting, the Moscow educator-calligrapher P. E. Gradoboev stood out. He authored an interesting work titled "Guide to Handwriting for Parents, Educators, and Governesses, as well as for those who would like to correct their bad handwriting without a teacher's assistance," published in Moscow in 1871.

P. E. Gradoboev was a prominent calligraphy specialist. He especially amazed his contemporaries by being able to simultaneously teach up to 100 students, cultivating beautiful, correct handwriting in all of them. P. E. Gradoboev created his own unique font, which became the foundation for handwriting guides in subsequent years.

Many masters and teachers of penmanship emerged from P.E. Gradoboev’s school, among them I.E. Evseev, who held a prominent place in the history of penmanship methodology and authored the “Methodology of Teaching Penmanship,” which went into its seventh edition in 1913.

This work provides an overview of the main methods of penmanship, descriptions of rules for students’ seating, notebook placement, and pen holding, types of preparatory exercises, the sequence of letter writing, and ways of writing elements, including the use of beat marking. In addition, it contains Russian writing exercises and samples of various manuscript fonts, which are currently little or not used at all (roundhand, blackletter, gothic, bâtarde, pancée).

The pre–revolutionary methodological guide by I.E. Evseev meets the requirements that are currently applied to aids of this type to the greatest extent.

In the book “Methodology of Teaching Writing” by F.V. Grekov, published in Moscow in 1911, special attention is given to the hygienic aspects of the handwriting lesson. It presents requirements for classroom equipment: what desks, board, lighting, and writing utensils should be like; it offers a number of practical tips and guidelines on the methodology of handwriting. In addition, the author shows the difficulties that faced the handwriting teacher in the old school, revealing the deficiencies in the programs that existed at that time.

In V.S. Gerbach’s book “Methodological Guide to Teaching Writing,” published in St. Petersburg in 1911, we find a well–justified sequence of writing lowercase and uppercase letters, with a detailed indication of the count for each individual letter.

But the most valuable thing V.S. Gerbach did was to create handwriting practice sheets. The practice sheets contain examples of writing lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers, and superscript signs. After the letter samples, there were words and phrases written first in italics, then on two and one line.

Credit must be given to the beautiful appearance of the letters, connections, and signs, which still serve as models for imitation. It is true that since then, some letters have changed. The slant of the letters has also changed. Instead of a 55° slant, it is now customary to write with a 65° slant. But the type of slanted handwriting is still largely preserved in the form established by V.S. Gerbach.

A drawback of the book is the author’s instability in views on the nature of writing. He considered both slanted and upright writing to be equally acceptable.

The Great October Socialist Revolution brought about a fundamental upheaval in the entire system of children’s education and upbringing. In Soviet schools, handwriting instruction is built on a scientific basis, in light of the tasks of preparing and educating well–rounded members of Soviet society.

In periodicals and at teacher conferences, lively discussions on handwriting issues were held repeatedly: about straight and slanted writing, about ways of drawing individual letters, about calligraphic mode, about the application of the genetic method, and so on. All this significantly contributed to the improvement of teaching methods and the enhancement of writing skills among students.

Among the educational aids published after the revolution, we should note the guides compiled by D.A. Pisarevsky and V.A. Saglin, the handwriting practice sheets by A.I. Voskresenskaya and N.I. Tkachenko, and the methodological aids by E.V. Guryanova and M.K. Shcherbak.

D.A. Pisarevsky’s book “Teaching Writing,” published by Uchpedgiz in 1938, is valuable in that it was the first to provide Soviet teachers, albeit not without errors, with basic guidelines for the correct introduction of handwriting in the first and second grades of primary school based on a summary of previous experience. The theory of continuous writing was explained with sufficient clarity. The author delves into the order of studying letters, methods of writing them, analyzes the composition of each letter, gives different types of deviations from the norm, indicates different ways of connecting letters.

The author superficially presents the conditions that ensure correct beautiful writing.

In the guide “Teaching Writing in Primary School,” compiled by V.A. Saglin and released by Uchpedgiz in 1948, the purpose, conditions, and methods of teaching writing and handwriting in grades 1, 2, 3 and 4 are set out; instructions are given on correcting neglected handwriting, on preparing for speed writing in secondary school and, finally, on writing with chalk on the classroom board.

All sections, especially the first, are detailed in the book, taking into account the difficulties that children may experience in the process of work. The section “Writing with chalk on the classroom board,” which was absent in previous guides, is very valuable.

In addition, the book contains a number of minor practical guidelines, given based on many years of experience of Leningrad teachers. But the guide also has a number of major shortcomings, particularly in the issues of setting up handwriting teaching in the second and third grades of primary school.

E.V. Guryanov’s textbooks provide a new, scientific approach to teaching writing based on psycho–physiological research of the writing process.

The author emphasizes the conditions that ensure the development of correct writing, provides a number of practical guidelines that should enhance the effectiveness of exercises in the first and second grades.

However, E.V. Guryanov’s vacillation on the issue of using the linear method raises some perplexity. It is impossible to agree with the author’s proposal on teaching handwriting without slanting rulers. The experience of teaching handwriting without slanting rulers, conducted, for example, by A.I. Verre in the 1980s, gave purely negative results.

In the 20th century, we once again observe a struggle for the application of the linear method of teaching handwriting. The opponents of notebook ruling were primarily supporters of the American method of literacy education and the method of M. Montessori.

What writing without rulers led to in practice can be seen from the results of Y.I. Fausek’s work, set out in the book “Teaching Literacy and Speech Development According to the Montessori System.”

Y.I. Fausek held a false view that a child learns to write not in the process of writing, but through a whole series of preparatory exercises. She asserted that “different children (not teachers! — author’s note) approach writing differently: some start writing words immediately after preliminary exercises, others first write letters for a short time, then move on to words.” Such a “method” negated the role of the teacher, excluded organized, systematic work of children in the process of learning to write, and was categorically rejected by Soviet educators.

The main method of teaching handwriting in our Soviet school is the genetic method. This method assigns the leading, decisive place in the process of teaching children to the teacher. At the same time, it implies active work by the students themselves.

The successes achieved in teaching handwriting in recent years are undoubtedly very great. However, it cannot be said that all children graduating from school have good handwriting. Much still needs to be done to achieve the necessary level of calligraphic culture.

The state minimum of these requirements is determined by the primary school program for handwriting.

According to the curriculum for 1954/55, 2 hours per week are allocated for handwriting in the first grade, which makes up 64 hours a year, and in the second and third grades — 1 hour per week.

To achieve the best results, the teacher should use each hour as effectively as possible.

Let's consider the program requirements of the Ministry of Education for handwriting.

The handwriting of students, like that of all literate people, should be correct, beautiful, legible, and fast.

Letter templates are provided in primary school programs, primers, and copybooks.

A distinctive feature of all the letter templates accepted in Soviet schools is the simplicity of their design. However, in writing practice, there are many inaccuracies that should not be allowed in students' handwriting. For example, the letter т is often written like or the letter ж is depicted as three straight lines crossed horizontally or in the form of intersecting lines and so on.

The correctness and rationality of handwriting lies in adhering to the norms established by the Ministry of Education, and those movements of the fingers, wrist, and forearm which are most suitable when writing. On the other hand, correct and rational writing requires the writer not to make unnecessary movements, not to make any squiggles that don't beautify the letters, but only slow down the pace of writing.

It's unacceptable to write the Russian letters "л" and "м", starting from the top, because this manner of writing results in a break in the hand's movement, i.e., it slows down the writing of the letter (see fig. 6 for examples of distortions). These letters should be written starting from the bottom, from the point, as is customary. One should not underline the letter "ш" or draw a horizontal line above the letters "п", "т", etc.

According to the requirement of correctness and rationality, certain ways of connecting letters and techniques of continuous writing must be observed.

Therefore, the teacher must be well acquainted with the norms of writing, following which he is obliged to develop a correct and beautiful handwriting in students.

So what are these norms? Let's analyze them.

1. Oblique writing, in which letters are written at an angle of 65°, is considered correct and beautiful.

Oblique writing is more natural than straight writing, as it corresponds to a better, more relaxed position of the hand, torso, and head.

For example, if you put a sheet of paper or a notebook in front of you not obliquely, but straight, and start writing, then with the movement of the forearm from left to right, while keeping the elbow in the same position, the line will invariably be directed upwards. In order to write strictly along the line, you have to constantly "shorten" the brush and forearm. Prolonged writing in this position leads to the emergence of a disease - so-called writer's cramp.

The possibility of writer's cramp is eliminated with oblique writing.

Only with oblique writing is a uniform handwriting, its legibility, and rhythm maintained. Oblique writing is most suitable for the development of shorthand (I.E. Evseev).

Straight writing often turns into so-called "mirror" writing (with a tilt to the left), which has an extremely illegible and ugly appearance (fig. 7).

In defense of straight writing, it is usually argued that it requires a normal posture of children, hence it's more hygienic than oblique writing. However, this consideration cannot be considered correct, because the inclination of writing is achieved not due to posture, but thanks to the position of the notebook.

2. Correct and beautiful handwriting must necessarily have pressure, which gives it rhythm and legibility.

Pressure in the handwriting of students is developed through the application of correct techniques and prolonged exercises. When the pen moves down, its tips diverge, creating a bold line. When the pen moves upwards, its tips come together, forming a thin hairline.

Among many writers, including children, a false prejudice against pressure is often created, and to avoid it, they start writing with the side of the pen. They seem to think that handwriting without pressure is cleaner and neater. However, writing consisting of densely intertwined, hair-like, identical lines cannot be clear, rhythmic, and therefore beautiful.

It is also very important that children write not just with pressure, but observe different types of pressure, for example, when writing a straight line, a straight line (stick) with rounding at the bottom, ovals and semi-ovals, flame-like lines (fig. 8).

3. Lowercase letters should be of the same height; uppercase letters should also have a certain height and greatly exceed the size of lowercase letters. The height of lowercase letters gradually changes over the first three years of education. In the first grade, children write letters 8mm high, in the second grade - 5mm, and in the third - 3mm.

In the past, our calligraphers, for example, P. E. Gradoboev, held the view that the capital letter can exceed the lowercase in height 3-4 times. Currently, Soviet methodologists hold the view that in the first grade when writing on slanted lines of a large size, the capital letter should exceed the lowercase by 2 times, and starting from the second grade both when writing on two lines and when writing on one line - by 2.5 times. Thus, in normal handwriting (speedwriting) the height of capital letters is 7.5mm.

The sizes of the letters in writing, as pedagogical practice shows, play a big role. For example, children with large handwriting have more difficulty learning spelling than those with normal-sized letters. Apparently, this happens because the child's eye captures a word written in large handwriting with strain, and thus poorly perceives orthograms that need to be learned.

Handwriting is spoiled by uneven heights of letters or individual elements. However, in order for the handwriting to be beautiful, it is necessary to observe not only the same height of the letters, but also the correct ratio between the height and width of the letter.

A normal ratio should be such that the length of the main element, for example, an oval or a slanted line with pressure and rounding at the bottom, relates to its width as 2:1. The ratio of the height to the width of the letter will change depending on the number of letter elements.

4. To maintain the correctness and beauty of the handwriting, connecting lines between letters, as well as thin hairlines of elements are written with the same slant.

Indeed, this slant is somewhat larger than the slant of the main elements, and the lines are more reclined than the lines of the main elements, however, the uniform slant of the hairlines gives the entire handwriting an even and rhythmic character.

5. Finally, for the correctness and beauty of handwriting, it is very important to evenly arrange letters in a word and words on a line. All lines should start on one vertical line.

Margins are usually made 3 cm wide.

Words should be written so that there are equal spaces between them, equal to the width of the handwritten letter 't'.

Letters in a word should be arranged at equal intervals, which in speedwriting will be slightly wider than the main element of the letter, but completely even. This gives the entire handwriting strict rhythmicity, and therefore, beauty.

Only in the first grade, when writing on slanted grids with large cells, the distances between letters will be equal to one cell, that is, the width of a single letter element. But already from the second grade, in order to develop fluidity in writing, intervals should be lengthened. This leads to a more flexible approach to slanted lines and then a gradual move away from them.

Only by observing all five conditions, as well as correctly drawing ovals, which should maintain the classic elliptical shape, and perfectly straight slanted lines, can a teacher achieve beautiful handwriting from students.

Writing should be fast, but teaching children to write quickly is not an easy task. The pace will increase gradually, over all three years of teaching penmanship. In the first grade, children should write slowly, because fast writing at the very beginning of education, before firmly mastering the outlines of letters, will lead to distortion of handwriting. And in the future, it is necessary to speed up the pace of writing with extreme caution.

The most acceptable writing norms were developed by A.-I. Voskresenskaya. In the first grade, at the beginning of the academic year, students should write 4-5 letters per minute; at the end of the year, 10-12 letters. In the second grade, at the beginning of the year, the writing speed will be 12-15 letters per minute, and at the end, about 30 letters. In the third grade, students should write at a speed of 45-50 letters per minute. In the fourth grade, the writing speed should be 50-65 letters.

The students' writing should be legible. The teacher should never forget this, because all other qualities of writing will lose a significant part of their positive value if the student writes illegibly.

Illegible handwriting usually appears in students as a result of oversight and inexperience of the teacher. Most often, illegible handwriting begins with incorrect drawing of letters, premature transition to speedwriting, random individual deviations in the writing of this or that child, not corrected by the teacher in time.

Our graphics sharply differs from the graphics of foreign countries. Sharp strokes, characteristic of Gothic in German writing, are completely alien to our handwriting graphics; so are the round shapes of English rondo. The roundings in our letters, which give them a beautiful appearance, have neither sharp corners nor breaks.

Based on the features of our graphics, you cannot simplify the writing of individual letters in shorthand. For example, when writing the letter к, you cannot depict it like the Latin ; the letter л — like the Latin ; the letter з in the form of ; the letter х — in the form of . Similarly, it contradicts the simplicity and rationality of our writing to draw the letter in the form of , which requires lifting the hand. Extravagance, intentional curliness of letters is also alien to the Soviet style of writing.

One often observes handwriting in which there is a break between letters. Such writing in its nature is close to printing. The writer inscribes each letter separately with clearly distinguishable gaps between them.

This type of writing is characterized by its clarity, but it lacks another fundamental valuable quality - speed. The emergence of such handwriting is due entirely to the oversight of teachers who have not taught their students to write letters without lifting the pen from the paper and to correctly connect them.

People with poor handwriting lack the ability to write quickly because they have not mastered either the knowledge or the skills of writing.

Writing speed is achieved by: 1) gradually reducing the size of letters, i.e., shortening the line of pen movement; 2) applying rational connections between letters, ensuring continuous writing; 3) increasing the mobility of the wrist, fingers, and forearm; 4) applying simplified letter drafts, unlike calligraphic drafts.

Among the conditions listed that ensure rapid writing, the main role belongs to writing without lifting the pen from the paper.

Continuous writing appeared in our shorthand at the beginning of the 19th century.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, literate Russian people used shorthand with the isolated representation of each individual letter, and the use of continuous writing was to a certain extent a moment of rationalization of writing. It entered practice gradually and unnoticeably, so much so that it was not even reflected in the methods of teaching handwriting, compiled in pre-revolutionary times.

V. S. Gerbach completely bypassed the issue of continuous writing; the statements of I. E. Evseev and F. V. Grekov are characterized by their brevity and uncertainty.

In the Soviet methodology, the issue of the continuity of writing was first raised by D. A. Pisarevsky, who outlined specific paths for the development of continuous writing.

D. A. Pisarevsky holds the view that continuous writing should begin as early as the 1st grade during literacy training. Only the first 18 letters, in his opinion, are written with the pen lifted while writing each element. Subsequently, children write new letters continuously and gradually get used to writing previously learned letters without lifting the pen.

Being an ardent supporter of continuous, fast writing, D. A. Pisarevsky once claimed that "when working to speed up writing, the previous setting regarding the discontinuity of writing should gradually change. The teacher must show the children how to connect lowercase letters without lifting the pen. Of all the letters of the lowercase writing, only the letters "б" and "э" require mandatory lifting - the first when connecting it with the next letter, the second - to draw the middle wavy line. All other letters can be written and connected with others without lifting the pen from the paper."

Regarding the teaching of writing to "literate" children, D. A. Pisarevsky considered it "mandatory from the very first steps of teaching writing to accustom children to the correct connection of letters with each other, to connected writing."

Resolute defense of continuous writing arose in contrast to the American method of teaching literacy, where children learned not to write, but to draw letters, which led to the spoiling of handwriting and to difficult writing.

Based on theoretical statements and established writing practices, the question of continuous writing should be divided into two: about the continuous writing of letters and about the continuous writing of words.

Already in the 1st grade, students should be required to write some single-element and two-element lowercase letters without lifting the pen.

In the first semester, 1st grade students write group II letters: л, ы; group III: а, б, д, я; group IV: е, ч, ь, в; group V: з without lifting the pen.

They also learn continuous connections of letters in words: иг, ил, ум, уч, ьи, ои, ок, ою, ох, дя, юг, ия, яч, се, пе, ее, ов, че, ье, зл, ук, иж and other similar combinations.

In the 2nd grade, children learn to write the lowercase letters и, ш, п, т, у, м, ц, щ, н, ю, uppercase И, Ш, Ц, Щ, Ч, Л, М, Е, З, Я, У, Д without lifting the pen; they acquire the skills of continuous connection of letters, beginning from the top with straight lines or semicircles, such as ип, up, ну, ущ, ящ, чт, кш.

In the 3rd grade, children study ways of writing such lowercase letters as р, ф, х, ж without lifting the pen.

When studying shorthand, they become familiar with techniques for continuously connecting letters that begin with elongated straight lines and ovals - по, ор, аф, що, об, ба, са, etc.

Capital letters, except for those whose continuous writing is mastered in the 2nd grade, are written with the pen lifted between elements even in shorthand.

The attempt by V. A. Saglin and some other methodologists to write them without lifting the pen cannot be considered successful, as it achieves almost no time economy. Meanwhile, it clearly harms the simplicity of writing due to the elaborate lettering, which impairs the legibility of handwriting.

Only those capital letters that end with elements with lower curves are connected without lifting the pen to the letters that follow them, such as И, С, Я, К, etc.

The other capital letters are connected with the lowercase letters that follow them with the pen lifted.

We talked about the requirements that are imposed on the students' handwriting. But these requirements will lead to the desired results only when the proper conditions are present.

Writing is a complex psycho-physiological process in which hand movements are controlled and directed by eye movements. Therefore, there must be a correct interaction between the eyes and the hand during writing. Disruption of these conditions causes improper eye accommodation, tension in hand movements, impacts the health of the writer, and creates inevitable difficulties in writing.

Particularly harmful to the health of students are a low tilt of the head, which can cause myopia, and incorrect body posture while writing, which can lead to spinal curvature - scoliosis. When the body is in an improper position, excessive bending compresses the chest cavity. This makes breathing difficult and predisposes the child to lung tuberculosis.

The correct sitting position during writing depends primarily on the design of the desk (fig. 10, 11), which should match the height of the student and provide them the opportunity to keep their eyes at an equal distance from the entire surface of the notebook.

When determining the size of the desk, it is necessary to consider its height, the distance along the vertical line between the bench and the edge of the table facing the student, the height of the bench, and the length of the table.

The Ministry of Education has developed the following table for differentiating desks according to the height of students:

But it's one thing to provide a desk that corresponds to the student's height, another, even more important and very difficult task is to teach the child to sit at it.

And the teacher is obligated to do this, as the correct posture has great hygienic and didactic significance.

With the correct posture, the one who is writing must sit straight; his chest should not touch the edge of the table, as this causes incorrect breathing and lung disease.

Both shoulders of the student should be at the same height, otherwise scoliosis might develop (fig. 12).

Fig. 13. Incorrect posture causing nearsightedness.

The head of the person writing should be slightly tilted forward so that a distance of 30 cm is maintained between the eyes and the line of text (fig. 14). One should not allow the student to tilt his head towards the right or left shoulder, or to bend it too low towards the table (fig. 13): he must keep his head straight; this prevents myopia and helps the writer to visually encompass the whole line, and even several lines at once, promoting the development of the visual control and the use of it.

Children's legs, bent at a right angle at the knees, are placed flat on the floor, providing full stability to the body. The feet do not necessarily have to be shifted: the left foot can be slightly extended forward. A student, whose feet do not reach the floor, can rest both feet on the front stand.

The hands of the person writing should lie on the table so that the elbows slightly protrude over the edge of the table and are 10 cm away from the torso, and both forearms lie at right angles to each other (fig. 14).

The first rule of writing is that the writing, i.e. right, hand should move completely freely. In addition, when writing, it's necessary that not only the fingers flex and extend, not only the wrist performs rotating and other movements, but gradually, as the line is filled, the forearm also moves to the right.

It should be noted that simultaneously with the linear movement to the right, from the beginning of the line to the end, the forearm also performs another movement - a slow rotation (pronation). As a result of this movement, the pen, pointed with its top towards the shoulder at the beginning of the line, will gradually deviate to the left towards the end of the line and point towards the chest (fig. 15).

So, the penmanship teacher should not only strictly control the student's posture, but also ensure that coordination of finger, wrist and forearm movements develops in the process of learning, as well as pronation movements, i.e., those movements during which the palm gradually turns its left side down as the hand moves to the right.

Those children who freely move their forearm while writing write smoothly and beautifully, not those who press on it with their whole body and tensely lift the forearm above the table from time to time to move it to the right. "The large muscular tension arising in children after writing two or three characters with a motionless forearm causes distortions in the shape of letters, slant, and pressure against the writer's will."

The quality of the pen and the way it is held play an important role in writing. It is not recommended to use too thick or short pens for writing. The best pen is considered to be a wooden one, without a metal tip, 15 cm long and 8 mm thick.

Students should not be allowed to use such nibs as a rondó, "duck" and others with blunt tips. The best nibs are No. 86, 30, 36, 300 from the "Soyuz" factory, as well as No. 1, 270, 510; many approve of No. 1 nibs.

These nibs have a thin and sharp tip and produce thin, hair-like lines when moving upwards.

It is also important when writing that the nib is firmly fixed in the pen.

The pen is held when writing by three fingers: thumb, index and middle, while the ring and little fingers, slightly bent towards the palm, serve to support the writing hand, which will then easily and freely slide over the paper.

The mutual arrangement of the three fingers holding the pen is very important. On the left, the pen is held by the inner part of the nail phalanx of the thumb, on the right it is pressed against the first joint of the middle finger and the third joint of the index finger; from above, the index finger lightly drops onto the pen, which under no circumstances touches the thumb, but slightly protrudes forward in comparison with it. All three fingers - the thumb, index and middle - should be in a semi-bent state (fig. 16). Bending the first joint of the index finger leads to muscle strain, causes fatigue, slows down writing or distorts it when trying to speed up the pace.

The fingers holding the pen are usually 1 cm away from the nib. The nib is placed on the sheet of paper so that the groove is facing down and the 'window' of the nib is facing up.

The back of the hand should be facing upwards when writing, and the palm downwards. It is not recommended to press the right edge of the palm against the paper, as this deprives the hand of mobility and prevents smooth writing.

With the correct hand position and correct holding of the pen, the free end of the pen will be pointed towards the right shoulder, and as the page is written, the end of the pen will gradually move towards the center of the chest. By this sign, the teacher will easily be able to check whether the students are holding the pens correctly, as any deviation of the pen's end to the side will be noticeable even at a glance.

Whether a student is holding the pen freely or tensely can be determined by looking at the index finger.

Sometimes the student bends it so much that it gives the impression of a dislocation.

The most common deviations from the rules of holding the pen are as follows.

1. The fingertips converge with great tension (fig. 17).

2. The fingers do not hold the pen, but the nib or are located close to the nib. This restricts the movement of the hand and is the cause of unevenness, lack of smoothness of handwriting and ugly lettering.

3. Sometimes the fingers stretch out a lot, and the middle of the pen comes into contact not with the third joint of the index finger, as it should, but is often lowered into the hollow of the hand between the thumb and the index finger (fig. 18). This is one of the causes of illegibility in handwriting.

Practicing teachers have developed a good method of preparing children for writing; it consists in the children, at the teacher's command, simultaneously placing their elbows on the edge of the table, bringing their fingertips together at a right angle. Then they simultaneously lower both forearms so that the elbows slide easily off the edge of the table and the forearms lie at a right angle (fig. 19).

The correct way to hold a pen is usually tested as follows: the teacher asks the student to raise and lower the index finger 6-7 times in a row. With the correct grip, the pen, held from the sides by the thumb and middle fingers, does not fall out of the student's hand and remains in the same position (fig. 20).

The next necessary condition for developing beautiful handwriting is the correct position of the notebook.

During writing, the notebook should lie in front of the student at an angle, so that its lower edge forms an angle of 25° with the edge of the table facing the student. With this position of the notebook, the student will easily draw slanted lines, which make up the letters. As the lines are filled, the child moves the notebook up with his left hand, without changing the angle of inclination. This helps to maintain a uniform inclination throughout the entire page.

When moving to the next page, the same inclination of the notebook is maintained.

The student must learn the following rules for positioning the notebook when writing: 1) the right hand writes, the left hand holds the notebook; 2) the lower left corner of the page should be opposite the middle of the chest.

A necessary condition to prevent overfatigue of children with all the resulting negative consequences for their health is the physical education minute, which is held 1-2 times during the handwriting lesson.

Physical education minutes consist of 3-4 exercises in the form of free movements and are conducted in an organized manner, under the guidance of a teacher. To perform the exercises, students leave their desks and stand in rows.

In the first grade, such exercises can be used: 1) initial position - standing, legs shoulder-width apart, hands down. Swing your arms to the side and in front of your body; 2) with the same initial position, tilt the torso to the left, the right hand is brought under the armpit, and the left hand seems to glide over the body. The same in the other direction; 3) with the same initial position - get up on your toes, hands - forward, palms down; sit down on your toes; stand on your toes; return to the initial position; 4) initial position - standing on the left leg, hands on the waist, extend the right leg to the side; jumps.

Change the leg after every four jumps.

In the second grade, the teacher can recommend the following exercises: 1) initial position - standing, right hand forward, left hand back, fingers clenched into fists. Alternating arm swings; 2) initial position - standing, feet shoulder-width apart, hands on the waist, alternating left and right torso turns; 3) initial position - standing. Alternating left and right torso turns with clapping above the head; 4) initial position - standing, hands on the waist. Small squats on the toes with knees spread apart.

In the third grade, in addition to the exercises used in the second grade, the following exercises can be performed: 1) initial position - standing, arms to the side, palms down. Big circles with the arms (in the frontal plane, the movement of the arms starts upwards); 2) the same, but starting the movement downwards; 3) initial position - standing, feet shoulder-width apart, arms to the side. Make forward torso bends, alternately reaching the right toe with the left hand, then the left toe with the right hand.

The development of solid, stable habits of posture, holding a pen, hand movements, which the student would maintain during handwriting lessons and during other written work in class and at home - this is the primary task of the teacher. It is solved by everyday painstaking work and knowledge of the individual characteristics of each student.

The peculiarity of penmanship as a subject is that it instills the skill of writing based on knowledge and abilities, which are consistently developed by the teacher in students, and this skill is gradually brought to automation in the process of school education.

The following methods were and are used in teaching penmanship: copying, linear, genetic, tactile, or rhythmic.

Let's consider each of them separately.

The copying, or stigmatographic, method. It appeared in the 18th century. Its essence lies in the fact that writing was conducted on prepared, printed or handwritten, copybooks with letters and words, applied to paper with barely noticeable lines or dotted lines.

Students, tracing with a pen with ink already prepared letters and words, were thus accustomed to write correctly.

This method was widely used in the 19th century. Now it is used only in rare cases, when students are unable to master the lettering with the usual method of teaching. In such cases, the teacher writes letters and words for the student in the notebook with a pencil, and he traces them with ink.

The linear method originated at the beginning of the 19th century with the introduction of lined notebooks. It facilitated students to master the correct spelling of letters of a set slope and size, the correct connection of elements, the development of eye measurement and smoothness of writing.

With the development of the linear method, five types of notebooks appeared: No. 1 - with diagonal rulers, with a line width of 8 mm and a middle line; No. 2 - with diagonal rulers and a line width of 5 mm, without a middle line; No. 3 - with two rulers, with rare diagonal lines at a distance of 25 mm from each other; No. 4 - with two rulers without oblique or slanted lines and, finally, No. 5 - one ruler each (see fig. 1-5, p. 10, 11, 12).

In notebook No. 1, there are three horizontal lines: 1) the top line of the line; 2) the middle line of the line; 3) the bottom line of the line. Lowercase letters are located between the top and bottom line.

Above the top line of the line is a superscript line, serving as the border for capital letters. Below is a subscript line, serving as the border for elongated straight lines and loops, which are included as elements in lowercase letters.

Since the same line in relation to one line is subscript, and to the next - superscript, it would be advisable, in order not to cause confusion in children, to call it intermediate; the lines that cross diagonally the line and intermediate ones are called oblique.

No. 1 notebooks are used in the first year of training. It is necessary to ensure that the student uses notebooks with such lining not only in the penmanship lesson, but also in other lessons related to written work.

At the same time, these notebooks should not be left in use by students in the second year of study.

When using notebooks with oblique rulers No. 1 in the first grade, the teacher should not allow any deviations from the forms of letters depicted in the copybooks.

In the II grade, children switch to notebooks No. 2 with oblique lining, with frequent oblique lines, with a decrease in the line width to 5 mm. This transition to smaller letters facilitates the student's subsequent mastery of shorthand while preserving the correct form of letters.

Using notebook No. 2, the teacher develops continuity and smoothness of writing in second-grade students, and he should ensure that students avoid the mistake, which is repeated in many schools' practice, of writing disproportionately wide letters ⁷.

In the 2nd quarter, second-grade students write in notebooks No. 3 with rare oblique lines, spaced 25 mm apart from each other. These lines serve both for orientation in the correct uniform slope and for the development of eye measurement.

In the III grade, students switch to writing in notebooks No. 4 with two rulers without oblique ones, and then - in notebooks No. 5 with one ruler. It would be a big methodological mistake to linger in the III grade on writing by oblique lines.

Such are the paths of correct application of the linear method.

Genetic method. It has the following features:

1. The writing of letters is necessarily preceded by the preliminary writing of elements.

2. Children learn to write letters not in alphabetical order, but in the order of increasing difficulty of their writing.

3. Learning is based on genesis, that is, the formation of each subsequent letter by attaching a new element to the preceding letter and the preliminary assimilation of the basic element underlying the new group of letters.

At present, learning to write in our Soviet schools is carried out according to the genetic method officially recommended by the Ministry of Education, which has now turned into a genetic system of learning. Despite this, violations and deviations from the genetic method are observed in the practice of teaching penmanship, which are reduced to the following:

1. letters are studied in handwriting lessons not in the established order;

2. children start writing a new letter without preliminary writing of its constituent elements;

3. often teachers limit themselves to preliminary writing of only those elements that have not been encountered before, and forget to repeat those elements that were studied earlier. Such a violation of the principles of the genetic method adversely affects the course of learning.

Repetitive writing of elements in the first and second grades should not be considered excessive even when the majority of students in the class write impeccably.

For example, children have already written a straight line with pressure and rounding at the bottom when studying the first group of lowercase letters. But an experienced teacher will definitely repeat it before writing lowercase letters of the second and third groups, l and a, in which it is included.

The teacher will write a straight elongated line with pressure and loop as before writing the letter у, and , of which is an element.

Exercises in writing elements and then letters develop students' skills in beautiful and correct handwriting.

Only in the third grade, when moving to a single line, there is no need to start writing from the elements, since the teacher now faces other tasks - the development of speed writing and smooth writing.

To correctly apply the genetic method, you need to know which elements make up lowercase and uppercase letters.

Lowercase letters consist of the following elements:

1. Straight line with emphasis;

2. Straight line with emphasis and rounding at the bottom;

3. Straight line with emphasis and rounding at the top;

4. Straight line with emphasis and rounding at the bottom; and rounding at the top;

5. Straight line with two hair connecting lines;

6. Elongated straight line with emphasis;

7. Elongated straight line with emphasis and loop;

8. Left semioval;

9. Right semioval;

10. Right semioval with a loop;

11. Oval with emphasis on the left side;

12. Oval with emphasis on the right side.

In addition to the main elements, additional elements are included in lowercase letters:

1. Dot with hairline;

2. Lowered loop;

3. End knot;

4. Initial knot;

5. Wavy line with emphasis in the middle;

6. Wavy line without emphasis;

7. Upper raised loop;

8. Dot with a small flame-like line;

9. Small oval.

The following elements are included in uppercase or capital letters:

1. Initial rounding;

2. Straight line with emphasis and rounding at the bottom;

3. Straight line with emphasis and rounding at both top and bottom;

4. Loop;

5. Dot with a hairline curved line going obliquely upwards;

6. Right semi-oval;

7. Left semi-oval;

8. Oval;

9. Wavy line with emphasis in the middle;

10. Flame-like line;

11. Left semi-oval with loop;

12. Initial rounding with wavy line;

13. Oval with emphasis on the left side;

14. Oval with emphasis on the right side.

Some of these elements are simple in their notation, others are significantly more complex. Finally, there is a group of particularly difficult elements.

All lowercase letters are divided into five groups depending on the difficulty of their writing.

1. The first group includes the letters и, ш, г, п, т, н, р, у, а. They consist of a straight line with emphasis; a straight line with emphasis and rounding at the bottom; a straight line with emphasis and rounding at the top; a straight line with emphasis and rounding at both the top and bottom.

2. The second group includes the letters л, м, ц, щ, ь, ы. They consist of a straight line with emphasis and rounding at the bottom, with the addition of a dot with a hairline, a lowered loop and a final knot.

3. The third group includes the letters о, а, ю, д, б, я, ф, composed of right and left ovals.

4. The fourth group includes the letters с, е, ё, ч, ъ, в, consisting of left semi-ovals.

5. The fifth group of lowercase letters includes the letters э, х, ж, з, к, consisting of right semi-ovals, of right and left semi-ovals joined together.

The letter к is added to the fifth group as it is difficult to write, although in terms of its constituent elements, it is more suitable for the letters of the second group.

Capital letters are divided into four groups.

1. The first group includes letters whose main element is a line with rounding at the bottom: И, Ш, Ч, Ц, Щ, Л, М, А.

2. The second group includes capital letters whose main element is a semi-oval and oval: С, О, Э, Х, Е, З, Я.

3. The third group includes capital letters whose main element is a flame-like line: Ж, У, Ю, Н, К, Р, В, Ф.

4. The fourth group includes letters whose main element is a flame-like line in conjunction with a wavy one: Г, П, Т, Б, Д.

Arabic numerals are divided into three groups based on the difficulty of their writing.

1. The first group includes 1, 4, 7, which consist of straight lines with uneven, gradually increasing pressure downwards, with the addition of additional lines - horizontal in the number 4 and wavy in the number 7.

2. The second group includes 6, 9, 3, 5, which consist of ovals, right and left semi-ovals.

3. The third group includes 0, 2 and 8.

The number 2 consists of: a) initial rounding, b) a right semi-oval with pressure, transitioning into a left semi-oval without pressure, which are written in one movement, c) a wavy line with pressure in the middle.

The number 8 consists of: a) a right semi-oval with pressure, b) a left semi-oval with pressure directly attached to it, c) a right semi-oval without pressure, d) a left semi-oval without pressure.

Цифра 8, состоящая из четырех последовательно соединенных полуовалов, должна быть написана в конечном итоге одним непрерывающимся движением.

The rhythmic, or tactical method. It is widely used in teaching writing in elementary school for all three years of study.

The rhythmic method was used in teaching calligraphy by all our masters of calligraphy: P.E. Gradoboev, V.S. Gerbach, V.A. Saglin, achieving successful results.

The value of this method is, first, that it contributes to the development of smooth writing; second, it affects the acceleration of writing rates among slowly writing students; third, it develops clarity and decisiveness of movements in students, which are necessary for acquiring beautiful writing skills; fourth, the tact counts enlivens the work of the class and disciplines it.

As a rule, counts are given for lines with emphasis and dots.

All kinds of connecting lines in slow writing in the 1st grade correspond to the and count: one and, two and, three and.

Letters that start with thin lines, like, for example, "o" and "e" in tact in the 1st grade, start with "and", when pronouncing which children write a hairline, and when transitioning to the press, they say "one."

In grades II and III, connecting lines are written outside the count, in the intervals between the names of individual numbers.

When applying the rhythmic method, the following requirements should be taken into account:

1. Writing under the count should be started after the students have mastered the spelling of the letter without counting, in a free and calm pace;

2. The count is given by the teacher, individual students, and in some cases, by the whole class; the count is necessarily given with an orientation to those writing at an average pace, with a gradual, barely noticeable acceleration when moving from one stage to another (in this way, students are prepared for fast writing);

3. The rhythmic method should not be used continuously for a single lesson but should necessarily be interspersed with periods of calm writing without counting. Writing under count demands significant energy and attention from the student and quickly tires them. Therefore, at the initial stage of handwriting instruction, it is advisable to allow metering only during half of a line, taking breaks midway through. Otherwise, the quality of writing may deteriorate by the end of the line.

Of all the methods considered, the genetic method is currently the most common and widely used in schools. Relying on analysis in a logical sense, this method introduces an element of awareness into teaching; it outlines the entire educational system, helping teachers to sequentially plan lesson topics. It also determines the course of the lesson since the teacher, when studying multiple letters, invariably starts with the simplest in terms of spelling and progresses to more complex and difficult ones. When studying a single letter, the teacher transitions from writing elements to the complete letter.

The didactic principle of visualization finds its widest application in handwriting lessons. The need for visual teaching is dictated not only by the age of the students, but also by the very essence of the subject. To teach students how to write correctly, it is necessary to demonstrate examples.

The visibility of handwriting is achieved through: 1) showing exemplary writing on the board; 2) the teacher's writing in the students' notebooks; 3) writing in copybooks, and 4) using posters.

Of the listed ways of applying visualization, the first place is taken by the teacher's writing on the board. This visual demonstration provides the entire class with the opportunity to simultaneously observe the writing process.

Students write beautifully when the teacher himself writes beautifully. This requires the teacher to learn to write beautifully on the board.

When writing with chalk, the presence of a good board and high-quality chalk plays a big role.

The classroom board, made of wood or linoleum, should be even, smooth, painted in matte black paint. It should be thoroughly washed before the lesson. The area of the black field of the board should be 1.4 m vertically and 3 m horizontally. It would be good if horizontal and oblique lines are applied to the black field with blue or red paint, but only very thin ones.

The board should be hung or placed at the height of the classroom desks, about 85 cm from the floor, then what is written on the board will be clearly visible to all students. For the convenience of writing, it is desirable to make a device with which the board can be quickly moved up and down and vice versa.

For writing, one should use dry, soft chalk that does not scratch the surface of the board. If there is compressed chalk at school, it is necessary to sharpen blocks about 5 cm long from one end, similar to how a pencil is sharpened. A piece of ordinary chalk should be given a convenient shape for writing, as thick lines when writing on a board are formed not so much by pressure as by turning the chalk to the board with a transverse edge, and thin ones are drawn with the sharp end of the chalk.

If a permanent grid is not applied to the board, it should be carefully lined with chalk before a handwriting lesson, using a ruler and a rectangle made of at least plywood.

Another method involves the application of horizontal lines with a string smeared with chalk, which is moved in a stretched state along the board from one edge to the other and, when pulled, gives one parallel line after another.

The board should be lined with the utmost precision, and this should be done during the break before a handwriting lesson.

The system of training exercises on the board, contributing to the development of correct, beautiful handwriting skills of the teacher himself, was developed by V. A. Saglin.

The exercises are conducted in a certain sequence, and attention is primarily paid to the following.

1. Thin and thick vertical, horizontal, and oblique lines should be drawn at the same distance from each other, with their correct placement on the board (fig. 21).

Before performing this exercise, the board is graphed with vertical and horizontal lines into equal squares. The length of the sides of the squares is 30 cm.

When drawing figures with a continuous hand movement, individual strokes should be made confidently, and the writer encompasses both the beginning and the end of the line in one glance.

The first time, to draw lines correctly, you can use preliminary points that indicate both ends of the lines.

2. When writing curvilinear figures in the form of various kinds of ornaments, ovals and half-ovals (fig. 22), the figures are arranged on the board in one line. The writer looks at the whole figure. He traces it with a smooth hand movement first in one direction - to the right, then in the other direction - to the left, then outlines the figure a second, third time, etc., until the movements become completely free and precise, and the figure acquires a perfectly correct form.

3. When writing borders, formed by the combination of linear and curvilinear figures, located between two horizontal lines with occasional slants (fig. 23), it is necessary to maintain correct distances between parallel strokes and their equal inclination.

All these lines need to be outlined several times in different directions until the writer develops completely confident hand movements.

4. When writing elements of letters, both with and without pressure, before moving on to exercises in letter writing, it is necessary to master the writing of elements in roughly the following sequence: straight lines with various curves, ovals, left and right semi-ovals, etc. (fig. 24).

The straight line needs to be written evenly, with a uniform pressure from top to bottom, using the cross-edge of the chalk. As a rule, each element is first written slowly, then a little faster, until an even, correct line is achieved.

When writing a straight line with rounding at the bottom, it is necessary to draw a straight line with uniform pressure to the beginning of the rounding. Then make a small rounding half a cell wide and from it draw a thin straight line to the corner formed by the middle line of the row and the slope.

The rounding in lines with pressure at the top and bottom should have the same width. The pressure parts of these lines are written without bending, and the thin lines should not have the form of hooks. If the drawing of elements is not brought to perfection, it is difficult to achieve the correct and beautiful shape of letters.

No less attention should be paid to the correct drawing of the oval.

The main defect in the shape of the oval is its blurriness, which often gives the handwriting a heavyweight character.

To eliminate this deficiency, it is necessary to ensure that the oval is correctly and clearly inscribed in the cell, barely touching the lines forming it. In addition, when writing an oval, you should strive for the pressure in the oval to increase gradually to the middle, and starting from the middle it gradually decreases, so that the oval has the same inclination as the elements consisting of straight lines.

Following the oval, the teacher moves on to mastering the drawing of the left and right semi-ovals, which differ from the ovals by a lesser curvature of the line, etc.

Teachers also need to practice writing additional elements at different scales to show students how elements are formed from lines.

When transitioning to writing letters and words on the board, it is important to primarily develop the smoothness and continuity of writing, which are achieved by properly connecting elements and letters. This is the key to developing students' handwriting.

Unfortunately, in practice it is often observed that the teacher himself violates these necessary requirements when writing with chalk on the board.

Often, carried away by the desire to beautifully write each letter, they forget about another responsible task - to develop the rhythm of writing. And following the teacher, the student also begins to detach element from element, letter from letter when writing.

The rhythm of writing is very often violated by the fact that elements in letters and words are written closer and further away from each other.

Correct and beautiful writing of capital letters on the board, like lowercase ones, is achieved through preliminary training in writing individual elements.

The initial rounding, the oval, the flame-like line, and the initial rounding with a wavy line require especially a lot of work.

Before writing an element, you need to, first, carefully examine its spelling in the workbook, its location in the grid; secondly, trace all the ways of reproducing it in student notebooks; thirdly, determine what typical deviations in writing the specified element are expressed in.

As a rule, capital letters are written very slowly, smoothly, not jerkily. Then the writing process is gradually accelerated until its pace is brought up to normal. Only as a result of prolonged training does the teacher achieve free swing and confidence in movements.

This is the path to developing the skill of correct writing on the board.

For the teacher's handwriting on the board to better contribute to the development of high-quality handwriting among students, the following rules should be observed.

1. Never forget about the class. Therefore, the teacher stands at the board half-turned while writing so that he can see whether all students are carefully following how he writes.

In order for all the movements of the teacher's writing hand to be clearly seen by those students who are sitting on the right, he should re-write the same element or letter, standing closer to the left side of the board.

2. You should not write samples of letters and words on the board in advance, before the lesson, but should do it necessarily in front of the students. Only watching the teacher's writing will help students understand how they need to start an element, in which direction to lead a line, etc.

3. During writing, you should not erase what was written unsuccessfully or engage in touch-ups, as this is what students will do in their notebooks.

Penmanship does not allow any corrections. Therefore, it is absolutely unacceptable for children to use an eraser during handwriting lessons.

4. The teacher usually accompanies writing on the board with detailed explanations, telling students where he puts the chalk, in which direction he leads the line, how he connects one element with another, where he finishes the letter. This method should be given special importance, as the lack of explanations during writing hinders children's thinking, which is organically linked to speech. This method virtually resolves the issue of teaching writing in light of I.V. Stalin's works on linguistics, opening our eyes to much that is unclear in terms of teaching methods.

I.V. Stalin writes: "Whatever thoughts arise in a person's head and whenever they arise, they can arise and exist only on the basis of linguistic material, on the basis of linguistic terms and phrases."

5. The letters written on the board should exceed in their size the letters written in notebooks approximately 10 times. If 1st grade students write a lowercase letter in their notebooks 8 mm high, then the teacher writes it on the board 8 cm high. Writing samples in two lines in the 11th grade will correspondingly equal 5 cm on the board, and writing samples in the 3rd grade in one line - 3 cm.

If the lighting in the classroom is reduced, the size of the letters on the board can be increased.

6. Finally, attention should be paid to the correct placement of letters and text on the board. For example, you cannot start writing to show in any place on the board. It is necessary to start writing from the top line and from the left edge of the board. For writing in one line, it is better to set one specific size of letters, which should be adhered to in all classes with this class.

Posters with samples of elements and letters should be the same size as the letters written on the board. The graphing should be clearly visible on the poster. The approximate size of the poster is 30 X 50 cm (fig. 25).

The best handwriting books for first grade students are the handwriting books of A.I. Voskresenskaya and N.I. Tkachenko, issued in the form of notebooks, and the handwriting books of N.A. Kostin, designed as a set of cards in envelopes.

The handwriting books of A.I. Voskresenskaya and N.I. Tkachenko for the second grade need significant corrections. There are no handwriting books for the third grade at all.

This causes great difficulties in the teacher's work.

The preliminary writing of samples of elements and letters in student notebooks is used by the teacher for the following purposes: firstly, to facilitate children's mastery of the spelling of letters and elements, and secondly, to accustom them to the correct management of notebooks.

The teacher resorts to repeated demonstration in cases where, in the process of teaching, he notices that the students are not coping with the task set before them. Students, watching the teacher's writing hand, better understand the assignment.

Guided by the program requirements, it can be recommended to conduct handwriting lessons according to the following scheme.

1. Informing students about the grades for the previous work, highlighting those who received 5 and 2, revealing typical deficiencies in all works, and showing the best ones.

2. Announcing the topic of the lesson.

3. Breaking down the letter into its constituent elements.

4. The teacher's writing of the first element of the studied letter on the board with an explanation.

5. Repeating the rules for seating, notebook placement, and pen holding.

6. Finger and wrist exercises.

7. Writing the first element in notebooks first without counting, and then with counting.

8. Writing of the second element of the studied letter by the teacher on the board with explanations.

9. Writing the second element by students in their notebooks first without counting, and then with counting.

10. Writing the entire letter on the board by the teacher with explanations.

11. Writing the entire letter by students in their notebooks.

12. Writing a word by the teacher on the board, followed by students in their notebooks, clarifying the ways of connecting elements.

13. Conclusion about the progress made by the class during the lesson.

14. Homework assignment.

This lesson plan should be considered as approximate.

It will vary depending on the topic of the lesson and the level of preparedness of the students.

Next, we will proceed to discuss the sequence in which the teacher should conduct their work in each year of teaching.

In the pre-alphabet period, which lasts from two to three weeks, the teacher, working with students on handwriting every day, has about 12 lessons.

Essentially, these are not handwriting lessons, but, more accurately, lessons in preparation for handwriting. Their goal is to develop the child's fingers and hand, to accustom the student to sit correctly at the desk during writing, to be able to correctly place the notebook, to use a pencil, pen, ink.

Hygiene doctors assert that in a seven-year-old child, the fine muscles of the fingers and the hand, which are exactly necessary for writing, are very weakly developed. Therefore, exercises that promote the development of muscles will be very useful for preparing for handwriting instruction.

In the first 7-10 lessons, the teacher accustoms the students to use a pencil, and then a pen and ink.

There was another point of view on this matter. Some methodologists insisted that the student should write with a pencil for at least the entire first month of school education. But such a solution cannot be considered correct, because a pencil is a completely special, different from a pen, writing tool and requires the participation of other muscles and different movements. Prolonged use of a pencil poorly prepares students for ink writing.

So why don't schools immediately start with ink writing? This is explained by the need to accustom children to the correct posture, to the movement of fingers and the hand, to preparatory exercises in drawing parallel strokes, ovals, which contribute to the fastest mastering of letter writing.

The order of lessons in the pre-alphabet period can be approximately as follows.

First lesson. The teacher begins it with a conversation with the children about what they need to do to learn to write correctly, intelligently, and beautifully.

The teacher tells the children about the role of labor, about perseverance, diligence, and attention, explains how to sit at the desk, how to position the legs and correctly place the hands, how to hold the head and shoulders, which fingers should be used to hold the pencil.

After this, the teacher explains to the children the names of the fingers and what we call the palm of the hand.

The teacher's talk-conversation is accompanied by exercises. The teacher suggests the students stand, sit, remove their hands from the table.

"Put your hands on the table so that the elbows protrude beyond the edge of the table. Take your pencils. Put down your pencils. Place a sheet of paper directly in front of you. Look at how it's lined," and so on.

The teacher shows the children how to draw on the grid sheets schematic images of objects consisting of straight lines — a staircase, a chair, a table, a little house.

During the drawing process, the teacher carefully observes the posture of the guys, does not allow them to touch the desk with their chest, ensures that they do not lower their heads too much, etc.

The drawing is interrupted by exercises — moving the forearm in the air from left to right and from right to left, while the elbow remains stationary. This is done for 6-7 movements in each direction.

Second lesson. Review of what has been learned about posture and how to hold a pencil; about how to hold your head and chest. Exercises in moving the forearm.

Drawing on grid sheets schematic images of objects resembling ovals: apples, eggs, plums, crescents, sickles. Shading them with lines from top to bottom (Fig. 26).

Exercises in the rotational movement of the right hand, placed on the elbow, counting one-two - up to 6 times to the right and up to 6 times to the left (Fig. 27).

Exercises in bending and straightening the fingers with the hands extended forward, counting one - extend, two - bend (Fig. 28).

Third lesson.* Review of sitting rules. "Stand up. Sit correctly. Place your feet flat on the floor. Put your hands up to the elbows on the table. Do it this way: put your elbows on the edge of the desk. Connect your fingers. Lower both hands onto the table, moving your elbows beyond the edge of the table" (see Fig. 19).

"Today we will not draw, but write with a pencil."

Handing out notebooks with oblique lines. "Open the notebooks, turning the cover of the notebook to the left. Look at how the notebook is lined. Three horizontal lines form a line. They intersect obliquely with slanted lines. Slanted lines go from top to bottom. Horizontal lines go from left to right. This is the top horizontal line, this is the middle horizontal line, and this is the bottom horizontal line. Point to these lines on the next page."

Children find the lines on the second and third pages.

Exercises in placing dots at the intersection of lines and in the middle of cells between slanted lines.

The teacher explains how to place the notebook when writing.

"Place the notebook so that the bottom left corner of the page you are going to write on is opposite the middle of your chest. Look at how I will place it." The teacher places a sheet of paper in a slanted position on the table in front of him. "Let's take the pencil in our hands and move the hand from left to right and from right to left. The tip of the pencil must always move exactly along the line on which we should write."

Writing arc-shaped lines to practice forearm movement.

"Put a dot at the intersection of the top horizontal line and the slanted line. To the right of it, at a distance of 10 cells, put a second dot at the intersection of the slanted and the bottom horizontal line. Draw a thin line with a pencil from the first point to the second. Place two points above the first two. Connect them with a thin line, going from right to left," and so on.

Then the children write arc-shaped lines to the count: one (to the right), two (to the left).

Writing straight lines (sticks) along diagonal lines.

«Поставьте точку на пересечении наклонной и верхней лежачей линии. Другую точку поставьте на пересечении той же наклонной с нижней лежачей линией. Ведите от первой точки ко второй черту вниз по наклонной, а рядом с нею — другую такую же черту.

Fourth lesson. Writing pencil preparatory exercises.

Reviewing the rules of sitting, notebook placement and pen holding.

Finger gymnastic exercises. Bending and straightening fingers with extended arms forward: to the count of one - bending, to the count of two - straightening.

Rotational movement of the right hand placed on the elbow, up to 6-7 times in one and the other direction.

Writing straight lines (sticks) on a slope, i.e., repeating what was done in the previous lesson.

Triple writing of the same lines in one cell. "Put three dots in one cell at equal distance from each other on the top horizontal line. Put the same three dots at the bottom. Draw a line from the first top dot to the first bottom dot. Then draw a straight line from the second top dot to the second bottom dot" and so on.

Children write the first line of sticks.

Fifth lesson. Reviewing the rules of sitting, notebook placement, and pen holding.

"How should you place your notebook? Place it so that the bottom left corner of the page is against the middle of your chest. The notebook should lie at an angle."

Exercises: forearm movement with the elbow stationary; bending and straightening fingers with outstretched arms; rotational movement of the right hand placed on the elbow.

Writing of zigzag borders consisting of horizontal and diagonal lines.

"Put two dots: one at the intersection of the top horizontal line and the diagonal, and the second at the intersection of the diagonal and the bottom horizontal line." Then the teacher explains how to lead the pencil line down from the first point to the second point, and from the second point along the bottom horizontal line two cells to the left until the intersection, and from there up along the diagonal.

Writing straight lines (sticks) connected by diagonal lines (see figure 29).

Sixth lesson. Review of what was learned before. Seating rules. Notebook placement. Exercises for the forearm, fingers, and wrist. Writing zigzag borders.

Writing straight sticks connected by diagonal lines.

Writing straight lines (sticks) with a rounding at the bottom.

The teacher shows how he places the chalk at the intersection of the top horizontal line with the diagonal and leads a straight stick down along this diagonal. Not quite reaching (about 1/6 of the length of this stick) to the lower horizontal line, he rounds it to the right and leads a thin line to the middle of the cell.

The children write a whole line of such sticks at a distance of a cell from each other.

In the next line, they write two sticks together, and in the third line, three sticks.

Seventh lesson. Writing ovals.⁸

Seating rules. Exercises for the forearm, wrist, and fingers. Notebook placement. Rewriting sticks with rounding at the bottom. Writing large ovals 16 mm in size. Repeating the names of lines.

Introduction to the intermediate (above the line) line.

The teacher tells the students how he places the chalk on the upper, superscript line, a little to the right of the diagonal, then leads down a thin rounded line along the diagonal. Slightly touching this diagonal, he brings the rounded line almost to the bottom line, makes a sharp rounding to the right, touches the bottom line and leads a thin rounded line up, but not along the diagonal, but between two diagonals. At the top, just before reaching the point where he started, he leads a second rounded line down next to the first one, and so on. After circling the first oval three times, he writes the second one, and so on.

The children write an oval with the pencil moving to the right one line, then the second one, and so on.

Eighth lesson. Writing ovals.

Seating rules. Exercises for the forearm, wrist, and fingers. Notebook placement. Rewriting sticks (one line) and sticks with rounding at the bottom. Repeated writing of ovals, formed by the movement of the hand to the left. Writing large ovals with the brush moving to the right.

The teacher tells how he places the chalk below the superscript line to the left of the diagonal, leads a thin rounded line upwards to the right; touches the superscript line and leads a rounded line down along the diagonal; touches the lower line and leads a thin rounded line upwards, which he ends slightly to the right of where he started. After that, a new oval begins, which almost merges with the one already written.

The children write ovals one after another until the end of the line.

Ninth lesson. Drawing a border consisting of upper and lower loops (see in the appendix).

Seating rules. Exercises for the forearm, fingers, and wrist. Notebook placement.

Writing loops of 18 mm in the form of the letter 'e' with the movement of the pencil several times over the same place.

Письмо петель в обратном порядке с движением руки слева направо и несколько раз по одному и тому же месту.

Tenth lesson. The first lesson of writing with ink. Understanding of ink, pen, blotting paper, and pen cleaner.

Comparison of the pen with a pencil and manuscripts written with pencil and ink.

Explaining to the students the structure of the pen: spreading, splitting the tip of the pen when moving the pen downwards, closing it when moving upwards.

How to hold the pen in hand? Display and review of the poster. Exercise with raising the index finger (see Fig. 20).

Drawing straight lines with a dry pen.

Placement of dots on the line, at equal distances from each other and of a certain thickness. Such an exercise was first recommended by K.D. Ushinsky.

The exercise in setting a dot, especially with slanted lines, is the simplest, so it is most expedient to start writing with this exercise. When performing it, the main attention should be paid to the observance of the rules of seating, holding the pen, and the position of the notebook. On the other hand, setting a point cannot be considered a very easy task, because the student needs to visually determine the distance, adjust the force of pressure on the pen, and not to deviate up or down from the line.

Writing with ink. How to use a pen when writing with ink. Dipping the pen in ink. Drawing a straight line.

Writing a straight line with pressure. First, students write three lines, then, after being reviewed by the teacher, all the others to the end of the line.

The teacher reviews the work again, and the students write the second line. Then, lines with pressure and rounding at the bottom are written and previously shown on the board how they should be written. This is usually done in all subsequent exercises.

Homework: make a pen cleaner. Repeat what you learned about the arrangement of lines in a notebook.

Eleventh lesson. Writing ovals.⁹

Repetition of seating rules, exercises for the forearm, fingers, and wrist.

Repetition of writing lines with pressure and lines with pressure and rounding at the bottom, which were written by students in the previous lesson. Writing ovals in the air.

Writing an oval (letter O) on the board and in notebooks. When writing on the board, the teacher gives the following explanations: "Today, children, we will learn to write an oval. An oval is written like this". The teacher explains that the oval should be written not from left to right, but, on the contrary, from right to left. He places the chalk a little above the middle lying line on the inclined line and leads a rounding line (thin) upwards. He cuts off a small corner, touches the upper line. Cuts off the second corner and leads down a rounded line with pressure, which gradually increases to the middle. Starting from the middle, to the bottom of the oval, the pressure gradually decreases. At the bottom, he cuts off one corner, touches the bottom line, cuts off the second corner at the bottom, and leads a thin line up to the place where he started.

"So you write as well," says the teacher, "increase the pressure using your index finger."

Twelfth lesson. Writing a straight elongated line with a loop at the bottom. Reiteration of seating rules. Exercises for the forearm, fingers, and wrist.

Writing a straight line with pressure and rounding at the bottom in groups of two, three, and four elements together (one line is written).

Writing ovals with pressure from the left side with intervals of one cell between them. Writing a straight line with pressure and a loop at the bottom, reaching to the intermediate (subscript) line.

After conducting a system of preliminary exercises, the teacher prepares the children for writing letters in the ABC period, he acquaints them with the use of ink, pen, blotting paper, pen cleaner, develops their skills of correct seating, teaches how to hold the pen, how to position the notebook, teaches them to write elements of the first letters a, u.

It is desirable to repeat preliminary exercises in the future, at least before writing each new group of letters.

Having finished the pre-alphabet period, the teacher moves on to writing letters, deliberately departing from the genetic method, i.e. from the order of passing the letters in order of increasing difficulty of writing them, and strictly follows the order of the alphabet. This is caused by the established sequence in learning letters, which are consolidated in handwriting lessons in the same order.

Since the principle of the genetic method is violated, children have to start writing with very difficult letters, for example with у, а. One of them belongs to the first group of lowercase letters (у), the other - to the third (а). Then the children have to alternate between learning to write letters of the first and second group, such as ш, м, н, р, л, sometimes including letters of the fourth group с, в and even the fifth - х.

To overcome these difficulties, the teacher should:

1. strive to ensure that students write letters correctly;

2. focus more on repeating preparatory exercises that contribute to the development of the wrist of the right hand and fingers;

3. during the lesson, not write too much, no more than 3-4 lines, but with special care (this will help improve the quality of writing);

4. prepare especially carefully for writing "difficult" letters: for example, you should practice writing such "difficult" elements as ovals before writing the letters а, о, д, б or semi-ovals before writing the letters е, с, в, з;

5. delay the mastering of such "difficult" capital letters as Е, З, Ж, К, Ф, В, Б during the alphabet period (you should not write phrases or names that begin with the above letters during this period);

6. carefully observe the seating of children during writing lessons, how they hold the pens, how they place the notebook.

The following are the most common shortcomings in seating observed in children while writing:

1. Children often tuck their legs under the seat, put one leg on top of the other, or stretch them forward instead of placing the entire foot on the floor.

2. Children often lean their entire bodies on the edge of the desk or table, thereby preventing free movement of the right hand.

3. Many children place both forearms on the table in a straight line, not at a right angle as they should. Therefore, the elbow of the right hand does not protrude beyond the edge of the desk but rests on the table, impeding free forearm movement.

4. Children often excessively tilt their heads towards the notebook, reducing the distance between their eyes and the surface of the notebook to 15 cm (instead of 30).

Now let's follow the course of writing lessons applicable to the primer books.

Let's take the primer of A.I. Voskresenskaya as an example.

1. Writing training in this primer begins with the writing of elements that prepare children for mastering the first letters: а and у. But this by no means excludes the performance of all preparatory exercises of the pre-alphabet period, necessary for the development of the child's hand.

2. In the primer of A.I. Voskresenskaya, the writing of many capital letters is given significantly later than children learn to write lowercase letters. For example, writing the first capital letter И is given to children only after they master the writing of 18 lowercase letters.

The writing of capital letters is arranged in an order that more or less corresponds to the genetic method. The children write the letters Г and П somewhat prematurely. At the very end of the first semester, they are given the writing of such difficult letters as Б, К, В, Р, Д.

It would be better to postpone the study of these letters until the second semester, when the children will be more prepared for their writing.

3. When writing lowercase letters, children will find it most difficult to cope with writing the letters а, х, з, о, с, в, ж, ч.

Firstly, these letters themselves are the most difficult to write. Secondly, students will start writing them much earlier than they will be prepared for it by the course of preceding lessons.

The difficulty of writing the above-mentioned letters obliges the teacher to seriously and timely prepare for their writing. For this purpose, in handwriting lessons, long before the passage of these letters, he should allocate special time for practicing their elements.

Take the letter а for example. It consists of two elements: an oval and a straight line - a stick - with pressure and rounding at the bottom. Children should learn to write an oval long before the teacher introduces them to the writing of this letter. Otherwise, the lesson of writing the letter а will fail.

Preparing for the letter х, the teacher should train the students in writing the right and left half-ovals at least a week in advance.

The same can be said regarding the letters о, с, в, з, ж, ч.

4. The second principle of the genetic method is not very strictly adhered to in the primer by A.I. Voskresenskaya: the writing of elements is given in it only before the writing of lowercase letters, and not all of them. But in handwriting lessons, the teacher must start with writing elements and studying such letters, which are given in the primer without prior preparation, such as the lowercase letters ь, в, з, е, ч, э, я, ю, ц, щ.

The teacher should also know that when teaching the writing of capital letters, with the exception of О and С, one must start with the writing of elements, despite the fact that this principle is violated in the primer. In this case, one should be guided by the table (see appendix) in which the decomposition of capital letters into elements is given.

Then we draw the attention of the teacher, teaching by this primer, to the fact that in it a lowercase letter is sometimes given after the capital one, but this should not be understood that the capital letter is written before the lowercase. In the lesson from each pair of letters Гг, Пп, Зз, Яя, Юю, Нн, Цц, Щщ, Бб, Кк children write the lowercase first, and then the uppercase (capital), and even first not the letter, but primarily the elements of this letter.

Children, for example, under all conditions, just cannot write the letter ц correctly before they master the method of writing a dropped loop. The forms of letters given in the primer of A.I. Voskresenskaya correspond to the generally accepted samples established by the Ministry of Education.

The exceptions are the lowercase letters ч and ъ. According to the instructions of the Ministry of Education, they should consist of an initial knot and a half-oval, not a straight line with pressure and rounding at the bottom, as shown in the primer. Therefore, the letter ч is included in the letters not of the second group, as it used to be, but the fourth. The same applies to the letter ъ, whose main element is not a straight line with pressure, but a half-oval with pressure on the left side, as can be seen from the program.

In view of the fact that there have been fluctuations in the writing of the letters ч and ъ, the teacher needs to know why these letters, according to the long-established rule, are made up of an initial knot and a half-oval, not a straight line with pressure and rounding at the bottom. This is done so that these letters, when distorted, do not coincide with the letter г, as is quite often the case in practice for those who write the same straight line with pressure in the letters г and ч.

It was also necessary to establish a sharp edge in the writing of the letters ь and ъ, which play a very important role in spelling.

For this reason, the depiction of ъ without a half-oval was replaced with a modern depiction of this letter with a half-oval.

In the primer by A.I. Voskresenskaya, in the lowercase letter б, the wavy line is not brought to the intermediate (above the line) line for some reason. This disrupts the correct appearance of the line.

The primer period is very difficult for children. Therefore, the teacher should prepare for the lesson very carefully, considering every detail, every movement.

By this period, children have already well mastered and distinguish what is called a line and a line. They know what is called above the line, below the line, top, middle, and bottom horizontal lines, what is called a diagonal line.

They have already practiced a lot in determining the directions "up" and "down", found where the right and left corner of the cell is, where its middle is. Therefore, by this time they already understand all the teacher's instructions regarding lines, directions, and strokes.

SAMPLE LESSON ON WRITING THE LETTER IN THE PRIMER PERIOD

Lesson Topic: Writing the letter р.

Lesson Plan

1. Review of the new sound learned in the literacy lesson.

2. Announcement of the lesson's theme.

3. Comparison of the handwritten letter with the printed one using a poster and a cut-out alphabet.

4. Decomposition of the letter р into elements (using a poster).

5. The teacher writes the first element on the board with explanation.

6. Preparing the children for writing: repeating the rules for sitting, positioning the notebook, and holding the pen.

7. Gymnastic exercises for the development of the forearm, fingers, and wrist.

8. Children writing the first element in notebooks.

9. The teacher writes the second element on the board with explanation.

10. The students write the second element in their notebooks.

11. Physical activity break.

12. Writing the letter as a whole.

13. Writing words with the letter р.

14. Summing up the work.

Course of the Lesson

Teacher: What new sound did we study in the last lesson? Come up with words that have this sound at the beginning, middle, and end. Find the letter р in the cut-out alphabet. This is the printed letter. Now we will learn to write the letter р.

The teacher writes the letter р.

Teacher: Look at what elements the letter р is made up of. (The children examine the letter р on the poster.) The letter р consists of a long straight line (stick) with pressure and a straight line (stick) with a curve at the top and bottom. The first stick starts slightly above the line and reaches the bottom (intermediate) line. Watch how I write the first element of the letter р. I put the chalk slightly above the top horizontal line on the slanted line and draw the line (stick) with pressure down the slant. I bypass the middle and bottom horizontal lines and bring it to the intermediate (bottom) line. The straight line (stick) must be guided exactly along the slanted line, with the same pressure from top to bottom.

Before writing this element in your notebooks, answer, how should you sit when writing? How should you put your legs, how should you put your hands, how should you hold your chest, shoulders, and head? (The students assume the correct position.)

Put your elbows on the edge of the table. Join the fingers of both hands together. Put both hands on the table. That's how they should lay during writing. (Shows.) Which fingers should hold the pen? How is this done? At what distance from the nib should the fingers be? Let's check if you hold the pen correctly. On the count of one raise the end of the index finger of your right hand, on the count of two lower it.

Students raise and lower the index finger. The pens are freely held by the thumb and middle fingers, regardless of whether the index finger is lowered or raised.

Teacher: Place the notebook obliquely, so that its bottom left corner is against the middle of your chest. Dip the nib in ink and start writing the first element of the letter р — a long line. Guide it slowly, carefully watch where you are guiding. Write as I have written in your notebooks. Write the second stick in the next square, then the third. After writing 3 sticks, stop.

The teacher quickly checks how the children wrote and gives additional instructions if necessary. After that, the children write the element of the letter to the end of the line.

Children write the second element in their notebooks.

When writing the letter р, the teacher repeats the explanations he gave when writing the elements. In addition, he adds that after writing the first element, you need to lift your hand and place the pen at the intersection of the slanting and middle lines of the string.

The second line of the letter р is written by the children on the count of one and two. The teacher himself first writes it on the board to the count.

Then the teacher takes a word with this letter, for example, рана, нора, and, breaking it down into sounds, writes it on the board.

The writing is accompanied by explanations of ways to connect letters.

Teacher: I wrote the letter н and, lifting my hand from the board, I start writing the letter о on the next slant. Having written о, I apply pressure at the end of it and lead the connecting line to the next slant, from which, without lifting my hand, I start the letter р. Having written the letter р, I lift my hand from the board and start writing the letter а on the next slant.

After each written line, the lesson is interrupted by exercises for the fingers and wrist, the correct posture is restored, which was violated under the influence of fatigue.

Nothing helps maintain the correct posture as much as short but frequent rest periods that alternate with children's work.

The lesson ends with a summary. The teacher notes the students who have achieved the best results, reveals typical shortcomings, and gives homework, which can consist of writing a letter or a word with it.

Instructions on what requirements to set and what didactic techniques need to be applied when writing each letter are given in the following chapter, which discusses the issue of teaching handwriting in the first grade in the second semester.

Systematic work on penmanship begins in the first grade in the second semester.

Penmanship lessons become one-hour lessons, not half-hour lessons as in the first semester. The study of the correct writing of lowercase and uppercase letters proceeds systematically, determined by the genetic method of writing. When writing, students use the same notebooks with slanted lines and a line width for writing of 8 mm, as in the first semester.

In the second semester, demands on students and teacher control over posture, notebook position, and pen holding increase. Students must clearly know these rules and strictly follow them.

Now the rules are repeated directly before writing, not at the beginning of the lesson.

The teacher must vigilantly ensure that no student deviates from these rules not only in penmanship lessons but also in all other activities where written work is practiced.

In addition to the basic program requirements for the quality of writing in the first grade, the teacher also seeks to some extent its continuity. This is done to create the prerequisites for a transition to speed writing.

Writing to a count begins to take up more time in each lesson.

Strict responsibility of the student for the design of his notebook is established: for maintaining margins, for starting all lines at the same distance from the left edge of the page, for having an even distance between words. It is also necessary to ensure that the student takes good care of the notebook.

The correct, successful solution of the specified task largely depends on how rationally the teacher can use the time allocated for penmanship, how effectively he can organize and interest the students.

For the second semester, the teacher should teach first-grade students to correctly and beautifully write 33 lowercase, 30 uppercase letters, and 9 digits.

During the same period, students should master the main types of letter connections and the arrangement of words in a sentence.

The penmanship work plan for the first grade in the second semester consists of the following points:

1. preparatory exercises — 2 hours;

2. writing lowercase letters of the first group — 4 hours;

3. writing the numbers 1, 4, 7—1 hour;

4. writing lowercase letters of the second group — 3 hours;

5. writing lowercase letters of the third group — 4 hours;

6. writing lowercase letters of the fourth group — 2 hours;

7. writing the numbers 6 and 9 — 1 hour;

8. writing lowercase letters of the fifth group — 2 hours;

9. writing the numbers 3, 5, 2, 8, 0 — 2 hours;

10. writing uppercase letters of the first group — 3 hours;

11. writing uppercase letters of the second group — 3 hours;

12. writing uppercase letters of the third group — 4 hours;

13. writing uppercase letters of the fourth group — 3 hours;

14. writing punctuation marks — 1 hour.

The goal of preparatory exercises is to develop free movements of the fingers, wrist, and forearm in children. These types of training exercises will help the teacher to develop the necessary movements for writing and a correct, beautiful handwriting in students.

The first thing a teacher should teach a child is to draw all the lines of exactly the specified length, the second is to perform these movements in a strictly defined direction, and not chaotically, the third is to do this while sitting correctly at the table.

First lesson.

Exercise 1. It involves drawing long arched strokes with the forearm movement from left to right and from right to left.¹⁰

The student, while doing this exercise, must precisely fit into 10 cells and write lines parallel, as close to each other as possible. In addition, each line must start and end at a specific point.

Before performing this exercise for the first time, it is necessary to set the initial and final point for each line.

Exercise 2. It consists of writing straight lines (sticks) without pressure, one on each sloping line. Then three and five in each cell. In addition to this, it is very good to write straight sticks without pressure, connected by oblique lines.

Exercise 3. Writing a quadrangle. It will accustom the student to combine finger movements when writing sloping lines with wrist movements when writing horizontal lines so that one line does not break away from another. By giving a sample of a quadrangle on the board, the teacher tells the children where he begins the quadrangle, where he leads the line along and next to (parallel to) the previous one, and at what point he crosses the previous line.

Doing these three exercises with a break for rest, with reminders about posture, with exercises for the forearm, fingers, and wrists performed in the air, can be limited to the first handwriting lesson.

Second lesson.

Exercise 4 is performed on the second lesson and involves writing a serrated border consisting of sloping and horizontal lines. The teacher, strictly following the lineation, draws segments of sloping and horizontal lines on the board, connecting one to another without detaching the hand. Having done this once, he leads a second broken line parallel, telling the students where it will cross the first one and where it will run parallel to it.

Exercise 5 consists of drawing ovals 18 mm high and 1.5 cells wide, moving the pen several times over the same spot. Before writing this exercise, it is necessary to first explain to the children the dimensions of the oval and tell them that the main thing in this exercise is to accustom the right hand's wrist to free rotational movements.

Writing ovals should be preceded by exercises performed in the air first with one brush, then together with the pen. The outlining of already written ovals can be done no more than three times, applying lines going from top to bottom and from bottom to top, parallel to each other. At the top and bottom, it is necessary to make a crossing of lines.

Exercise 6. It differs from the previous one in that here the oval is drawn with movement from left to right.

Other exercises that develop a child's hand can also be incorporated into the preparatory exercises.