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Sitting and holding a pencil

Sit correctly at a table holding a pencil comfortably and correctly; form lower-case letters in the correct direction starting and finishing in the right place

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What a learner can do afterwards

  • Hold a pencil with a comfortable tripod or near-tripod grip
  • Write all 26 lowercase letters with correct starting points and direction
  • Maintain consistent letter size on lined paper

The lesson

Sit up straight in your chair. Put both feet flat on the floor. Hold your pencil with your thumb and first two fingers. This is called a tripod grip. Do not squeeze too hard.

Feet flatSit tallTripod grip
Getting ready has three steps: feet flat on the floor, sit up tall, then three fingers on the pencil.

Most lowercase letters start at the top. Then your pencil moves down or around. Starting in the right place helps your letter look right. Going the wrong way can make it look backwards.

Try it together

Mia writes the letter l. She starts at the top line. She moves her pencil straight down. Her letter stands up tall and neat.

Good to know

Keep your letters resting on the line. Try to make them all about the same size. This makes your writing easy to read.

Sit tall, hold your pencil gently with three fingers, and start each letter the right way.

Watch it

Where it sits

Then practise

8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.

Sitting and holding a pencil · English, ages 4 to 6 · LightMySky