Penmanship Pals: Cursive Handwriting & Fine Motor Skills Practice (Ages 8-12)

Each time we meet, we will work on a project. This will include making lists; creating correspondence; and copying poetry, song lyrics, quotes, and other materials -- in their entirety or portions thereof -- in cursive handwriting. Learners will also have an opportunity to suggest material to be copied or listed. Most of the projects will be completed in print handwriting; but for fun and variety, we will sometimes exercise fine motor skills by writing in a different font, a language other than English, or codes and symbols.

Projects for each class are listed below but may also be customized based on the interest and suggestion of the learners in attendance that day.

Week of Feb. 3
We will copy the poem “In the Field Filling Up with Snow” by Korean poet Seo Jeong-ju (1915-2000).

Week of Feb. 10
We will make a list of notable jazz musicians and composers.

Week of Feb. 17
We will copy the lyrics -- in English and Spanish -- of “Laugh and Cry,” a song sung by Cuban-American icon Celia Cruz (1925-2003).

Week of Feb. 24
We will copy the quotes by award-winning Nigerian author and humanitarian Chimamanda Adichie.

Week of March 3
We will copy the poem “Rain” by award-winning Argentine poet Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986).

Week of March 10
Copy a list of 21 or more birds taken from the book “Around the World in 80 Birds” written by Mike Unwin and illustrated by Ryuto Miyake (The Orion Publishing Group, 2022).

Week of March 17
Copy the lyrics of the gospel song “We Shall Overcome,” which is associated with nonviolent civil rights activism during the U.S. civil rights movement (1954-1968).

Week of March 24
Copy the quotes of suffrage leader and labor advocated Frances Perkins, who served as U.S. Secretary of Labor, 1933-45.

Week of March 31
Fine motor skills practice will be writing each letter of the Arabic alphabet and a few simple words.
 
SPRING BREAK: No Penmanship Pals classes from Mon., April 7 to Sun., April 13.
 
Week of April 14
Copy the poem Canção do Exílio (“Song of Exile”), a poem by Brazilian poet Antonio Goncalves Dias

Week of April 21
Copy a timeline of household inventions (vacuum cleaner, frozen food, pocket calculator, and so on) and their inventor.

Week of April 28
Copy the lyrics of folk song “Blowin’ in the Wind” (1962) by Bob Dylan, recipient of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature.