Handwriting without tears letter m

Why Our Handwriting Program Stands Out

Driven by the Science of Reading

With our clear, systematic instruction and child-friendly methods, we streamline the learning process, keeping students engaged from uppercase through to cursive letters.

Explicit instruction combined with guided practice to promote handwriting automaticity.
Developmentally appropriate sequence flows from Pre-K–6.
Seamlessly integrates with literacy curricula for effective handwriting instruction.
Hands-on tools build vocabulary and alphabet knowledge prior to writing.
Multisensory activities engage all learners and develop fine motor skills.
Reseach-back curriculum with an intuitive and customizable design.

How Handwriting Without Tears Aligns to the Science of Reading

Handwriting is one of the foundational skills that leads students toward automatic word recognition.

It falls in the bottom skills portion of Scarborough’s rope. As students practice letter formation with Handwriting Without Tears, they reinforce the alphabetic principle. This practice ensures automatic recall of symbols for sounds, facilitating knowledge transfer as they progress.

science of reading rope graphic

Modified from Scarborough, H.S. (2001).

TESTIMONIALS

The reason Learning Without Tears works well for us is that it is an integrated program that takes into consideration a child’s developmental needs and looks to meet the required state standards. The many different teaching methods incorporated into the curricula allow our teachers to meet each child’s individual needs and allow our students to succeed."

Holly Harrison Martinez, Director of Elementary Literacy

Always Improving. Still the best.

With 40 years of refinement, our Handwriting Without Tears program, designed by occupational therapists and enriched by teacher feedback, consistently meets educators' evolving needs and delivers proven results. This explicit, dedicated curriculum is developmentally appropriate and helps students build the motor and cognitive skills essential for success in school and beyond.

Intuitive Design Enhances Learning for Students and Teachers

Student Editions

Each page is thoughtfully designed to minimize cognitive load by offering clear instructions and design including large step-by-step models and intentional developmental progression.
Features friendly, easy-to-remember language and illustrations that are intentionally simple.
Children begin with size and how letters fit together. Then we place them on lines. Double lines serve as a pivotal element in our approach, aiding children in placing letters correctly and effectively.

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Kick Start Kindergarten cover

Transitional Kindergarten

Letters and Numbers for me short cover

Kindergarten

My Printing book short cover

1st Grade

2nd Grade

3rd Grade

4th Grade

Can Do Cursive Cover

5th Grade

Cursive and Beyond cover

6th Grade

Kick Start Kindergarten cover

Letters and Numbers for Me Teacher Guide cover

My Printing Book Teacher Guide cover

Printing power teacher guide cover

cursive kickoff teacher guide cover

Cursive handwriting teacher guide cover

Cursive Success Teacher Guide cover

Can Do Cursive Teacher Guide cover

Cursive and Beyond Teacher Guide cover

Teachers’ Guides

Designed to minimize teacher prep—everything a teacher needs is on the physical or digital lesson page.
Lessons include suggested scripting for explicit handwriting instruction to make it easy for all teachers.
Multisensory activities, differentiation strategies, ideas for multilingual learners, and progress monitoring are on the teaching page.
Reading Connections, Writing Connections, and Knowledge Building extend the lessons to ensure literacy success.

Print to Cursive with Ease

Developmental Progression of Skills from Print to Cursive

Help your Pre-K to 6th-grade students seamlessly transition to cursive with our developmentally tailored approach.

Starting in second grade, our clean, vertical cursive style mirrors print, making the shift from print to cursive effortless. With consistent practice, your students will master letter connections from memory, making cursive easy to learn, read, and write.

Cursive Resources

We keep cursive simple and allow students to develop their own personal style as they become confident in their writing skills. Say goodbye to fancy, hard-to-write cursive and hello to a functional approach to achieving speed and fluency. Handwriting Without Tears offers multisensory lessons, student edition, teacher’s guides, and hands-on materials to implement effective and engaging cursive handwriting instruction for grades 2–6.

New Products

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time to write poster

Poster Sets
New four-color poster sets -provide visual models of letters on double lines and help students with transitioning to other lines styles to ensure success on any style of classroom paper—one set for printing and one set for cursive.

lowercase print poster

Ready for writing lowercase print poster set
Help students with size and placement of letters on lines. Model spacing in words and sentences.

lowercase cursive poster

time to write poster

Connecting Cursive Poster Set
Help students with cursive letter formations and letter connection patterns.

lowercase cursive

time to write poster

letters to words blackboard set

Letters to Words Blackboard Set
Help children learn the sounds that letters and letter combinations make while practicing writing on double lines.

Effortlessly Integrate HWT into Your Classroom

Designed for maximum flexibility, Handwriting Without Tears effortlessly integrates into your literacy block. The program uses explicit teaching strategies that align with established learning methods. When paired with your literacy curriculum it boosts handwriting and cognitive development. Our straightforward approach ensures easy adoption and effective results for students' academic and life success.

Intuitive and Customizable Digital

The Interactive Digital Teaching Tool makes it simple for teachers to launch lessons without prep time. Teachers use the expanded explicit language for teaching, found both in the digital and print Teacher’s Guides. Adapt the lesson sequence or components to suit your classroom needs.

Multisensory Activities Develop Motor Skills

Our program incorporates hands-on materials and multisensory activities that help students develop fine and gross motor skills for handwriting. Each lesson includes a unique activity that is relevant to the particular lesson and pairs with other classroom materials.

Multisensory lessons, activities, and word choices align with grade-level ELA teaching.
Teacher’s Guides include multisensory activities, differentiation strategies, ideas for multilingual learners, and progress monitoring to that enhance your classroom teaching.
Includes resources like the Letters to Words Blackboard Set that pairs with learnings in your ELA curriculum.

Support for ELA Standards

Teaching handwriting significantly impacts brain development, especially in areas related to literacy (Berninger 2012, James 2012).

Today’s rigorous educational standards require strong reading, writing, and comprehension skills. Handwriting, though sometimes underestimated, is essential for meeting these standards, enhancing letter recognition, fine motor skills, and writing fluency.

Integrating handwriting into your ELA curriculum supports these standards and builds a strong literacy foundation. Structured lessons improve writing abilities and overall literacy skills, ensuring students meet and exceed benchmarks. This approach aligns with current standards, meets ESSA’s Tier 2 evidence criteria, and promotes long-term academic success.`

Engage Every Learner with Multimodal Handwriting Instruction

Handwriting Without Tears leverages multimodal components and strategies to create a dynamic and effective learning environment. By incorporating tactile, visual, auditory, and kinesthetic activities, our program ensures that every child can engage in a way that suits their learning style. This comprehensive approach not only enriches the handwriting experience but also reinforces broader literacy skills, highlighting the crucial role of multimodal learning in educational success.

Enhance Lessons and Develop Skills

Materials and activities are selected to enhance the lessons and develop motor skills.