How to write a cursive s

Forming the cursive s

s shares its straight, uncurved lead-in with r and differs only in what happens at the top, so teach the two together and name the difference out loud. Check the bottom of the belly on every attempt, closure, not shape, is what makes or breaks this letter. Lead-in is a straight undercurve, exit leaves from the baseline.

Start: On the baseline, at the left

1. Undercurve lead-in rising on a straight slant to the midline, finishing in a sharp point
2. Turn back on yourself, curve down and to the left, then round to the right to close the belly on the baseline
3. Undercurve exit at the baseline, swinging away toward the next letter

How it joins

The cursive s finishes on the baseline with an undercurve, which is exactly where the next letter begins. That is why cursive can be written without lifting the pencil: the exit of one letter is the entry of the next. Practise s inside a word rather than on its own as soon as the shape is reliable, because the join is the part that actually needs practice.

Common mistakes

• The belly is left open at the bottom, so s reads as r or i. Unclosed s is one of the quickest ways to lose word-level legibility.
• The top is rounded rather than pointed, and s reads as e.
• The belly is drawn too deep or too wide and crowds the letters on either side.
• The closing curve is reversed out of print habit, so the letter faces the wrong way even though the path felt right.

Letters that move the same way

Pointed lead-in letters: A straight, uncurved rise from the baseline that finishes in a sharp corner rather than a rounded turn. The point at the top is the whole identity of both letters, and rounding it is what turns r into n and s into e.

r

Print first, then cursive

Cursive is usually introduced once print handwriting is automatic, typically around third grade. If a child is still thinking about how to form printed letters, adding a second script makes both harder. Theprinted s page covers that form, andwhen cursive is usually taughtexplains why the timing varies so much.