Cursive letters chart
A cursive letters chart shows the whole cursive alphabet in the joined-up style taught in 2nd and 3rd grade, capital beside small letter, so a child who is learning cursive can look up any letter's shape before writing it.
Free printable PDF, 2nd grade to 4th grade.
One page, black and white, prints the same every time.
What is on the sheet
The table below is the sheet as it prints with these options: Capital and small.
| Aa | Bb | Cc | Dd | Ee | Ff |
| Gg | Hh | Ii | Jj | Kk | Ll |
| Mm | Nn | Oo | Pp | Rr | |
| Ss | Tt | Uu | Vv | Ww | Xx |
| Yy | Zz |
One page for every cursive letter
Each cursive letter also has its own page, with how it is formed in words and a sheet of that one letter, capital and lowercase, to trace.
Which cursive this is
The chart uses a traditional US school cursive: looped ascenders, the tall capitals with their flourishes, and the small letters with the entry and exit strokes that let them join. It is closest to the Zaner-Bloser and D'Nealian cursive families that most US programmes teach, and it is the same face that prints the cursive words and sentences sheets, so the chart on the wall matches the practice on the desk.
Capitals are the letters children find hardest in cursive, since several look nothing like their print shapes: G, Q, S and Z are the usual surprises. Having them beside the small letters on one page keeps the pairs together.
Using it while learning cursive
Most cursive programmes teach the small letters in stroke families rather than in order: the letters that start with an undercurve (i, u, w, t), the ones that start with an overcurve (m, n, v, x), the loops (l, h, k, b, f), and so on. Keep the chart in view while working through a family, and use it to check the join between two letters when writing a word. The capitals come later and are usually learned as needed, starting with the child's own initials.
Common questions
- Does the chart show the stroke direction with arrows?
- No. This chart is the finished letters, for looking up a shape. The cursive alphabet practice sheets in the handwriting hub are where the strokes are traced.
- Why does the cursive capital look different from the print capital?
- Cursive capitals kept flourishes from older handwriting styles so they could be written in one motion. A few, like G and S, are best learned as new shapes rather than as changed print letters.