Cursive Letter I Worksheets

Cursive i is the shortest letter in the alphabet and the one most teachers start with. Run an undercurve up from the baseline to the midline, come straight back down to the baseline, exit forward, and then, only when the whole word is finished, go back and place the dot directly above the downstroke. Two strokes, one of them delayed.

The dot waits for the word

This is a real handwriting rule and not a nicety. Stopping mid word to dot an i breaks the continuous movement that joined writing exists to create, and children who dot as they go tend to develop a stop start rhythm that shows up in every line they write. Finish the word, then go back and dot every i and j and cross every t and x in one pass.

The letter that teaches the join

Because i is nothing but the standard undercurve entry and exit with a downstroke in between, it is the cleanest way to introduce the connecting stroke itself. That is why most sequences begin with i, t, u and l: the letters are almost incidental, what is being learned is the up and over motion that binds every word together. Writing ii, iii and then it and in makes the join visible.

Three worksheets, and what is on them

The big letter page prints I and i at 88 point, a solid model followed by three dashed copies per band, so the dot has to be placed accurately in a large space first. The guided page pairs capital and lowercase, then gives rows of seven and four Ii pairs on three line guides with two free lines at the end. The words page traces ice, ink and imp.

When should the dot on cursive i be added?

After the word is complete, not while you are writing it. Cursive is built on one unbroken stroke per word, so the pen finishes the last letter, lifts once, and then goes back to dot the i letters and cross the t letters. Placing the dot mid word is the single most common rhythm fault in early cursive.