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Writing for Learning Series (formerly Universal Handwriting 2nd Ed.)
Formerly the 2nd edition of Universal Publishing Handwriting, this series has been relaunched as "Writing for Learning." These straightforward, no-nonsense handwriting workbooks are 8.5" x 11" with the first seven in landscape format. The series consists of 11 books, designed to help students all the way from learning the basic strokes to mastering cursive. Books feature color covers, but are black-and-white inside.Reading/Writing Readiness gets students ready to write by engaging them in a series of prewriting activities including tracing and drawing lines (up and down, left to right, and slanted), tracing and drawing shapes, matching letters, numbers and shapes, coloring, and completing mazes. In the PK/K level, children are ready to learn how to write their manuscript letters from Aa to Zz. Many pages also offer an activity such as a matching or maze exercise. Thegrades K and 1 levels feature slightly smaller writing lines and review all of the manuscript letters A-Z and guide students toward writing short words and sentences. Students begin the transition to cursive in book M/C (2nd grade). The first part of this book reviews manuscript. Students then learn the additional strokes for cursive and the cursive alphabet, practicing individual letters and short sentences. The third grade book is similar to the cursive part of the transition book, offering review of each cursive letter with individual letters, words, and sentences.
The last four books in the series are portrait format and feature smaller lines. These continue offering cursive practice, with most pages progressing from letter practice to word practice to practice writing a sentence or a paragraph. The sentences and paragraphs to copy are always very educationally-focused, including facts about plants and animals, tidbits on geographical places and famous people, and other interesting pieces of information. Between practice on individual letters, there are occasionally opportunities to practice "real-life" writing, such as writing an address on a postcard or filling out a job application form. Overall, a solid choice for learning traditional style handwriting that offers plenty of cursive enrichment. 80 pages each, pb. - Melissa
