Page 5 - THE CAMBRIAN SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

t he Camb rian Sch oo l
the Cambrian School

Handwriting Workshop

H andwriting activates the brain more than keyboarding because it involves more complex motor

and cognitive skills. Many standardised assessments are based on written work, particularly in
time-limited written examinations. Without fast and legible handwriting, students miss out on
learning opportunities, under- achieve and may fall behind. Keeping this in mind, our School provided an
opportunity to the students of classes IV to VI to attend a handwriting workshop on 23 April 2022.
It was a one-hour online workshop that started at 11 am. It aimed at enabling the children to write with
clarity and speed. The trainer started the workshop by enumerating the importance of good handwriting.
As a warm up exercise, the children were given five minutes to replicate text printed on the activity sheet
in their own handwriting. Some children were quick to finish in 2 minutes, others took 3-5 minutes and
some longer. The ones who finished writing in less than two minutes and neatly, received appreciation
as a ‘Fast Writers’ card from the trainers. The children were then given a practice session on stroke
formation for letters ‘c’ and ‘d’, using three zones- the upper, middle and lower zones, using the cursive
style of handwriting.

Body posture and the surface used for writing plays an important role in determining the neatness and
speed of handwriting. For example, a left-handed child should keep the arm and sheet in a slanting position
for better results. The grip of the pen is also important to determine the speed with which you write. Children
were shown how to use the thumb and index finger to hold the pen and use the middle finger only to
support it.
The session approached its end by a demo of simple exercises for the fingers and hand to strengthen the
muscles to help improve speed.

THE CAMBRIAN POST 5 5
THE CAMBRIAN POST