Free Scaffolded Handwriting Worksheets for Kindergarten: Lowercase a-z

2K Shares

Teach how to form letters in kindergarten with scaffolded handwriting worksheets. Here are free worksheets to teach how to write lowercase letters from a to z.

Free Handwriting Worksheets for kindergarten lowercase a-z

There is an age-appropriate approach to teaching handwriting in kindergarten. It maybe a little different than you have learned. It’s all about teaching how to form the letters – and learning how to form a maximum amount of letters with a few basic strokes.

Related: A note about worksheets

Now, I have a confession. I loathe worksheets. Seriously.

But I also know that there are students who require additional practice with specific letters. That’s why I made these – to support your students so they can learn to form any specific letter consistently.

So, pick the one or two letters that each student in your small group needs to work on print it for them.

Alternative ideas to using these just as worksheets would be to:

  • laminate and use with watercolor paints (wipe and dry when done)
  • slide it into a dry-erase sleeve and use with dry-erase markers
  • print it onto an overhead and use it with a vis-a-vis marker (rinse and dry when done)
  • print it onto an overhead (trim the corners) and use it on a large Magna Doodle
Create reusable handwriting worksheets
slide it into a dry-erase sleeve and use with dry-erase markers

Let’s look at the design

These worksheets were designed to scaffold and guide students to forming these letters on their own.

Name writing

At the top, students write their name in a defined space – a rectangle. Students can see where their name should go, not go (as in outside of the lines) and learn more quickly appropriate letter sizing simply because it’s a “closed” shape.

Letter writing

The students see the letter in various fonts [as marked in yellow] which helps the brain to recognize the general shape of the letter and not focus on small variants.

There is sufficient practice of the focus letter – 12 times to be exact. The scaffolding goes from: a path to follow with a starting dot [green] — to a path to follow without a starting dot [blue] — to no path to follow and no starting dot [orange].

Scaffolded handwriting worksheets for kindergarten

And sandwiched right in between is a shift [marked in pink]. To keep the brain and hand from just going on auto-pilot, the student must shift to practicing other letters that are formed similarly.

This is key.

Before they try it with less support, they first have to apply what they’ve practiced in the first two rows to the letters in the third. Then they need to reset once again to what they practiced the most, this time with less and finally with no support.

Creative connection

Lastly, because I loathe the ‘closed’ nature of worksheets I wanted to throw in a creative aspect to connect to the way letters are formed.

Students use the lines of the letter to create something [as marked in purple] out of the letter’s shape. They can turn letters into anything – a monster, an animal, a vehicle, an invention, a person, an object, etc. It does not have to start with the letter!

Allowing students to think outside the box lets them make a personal connection to how this letter looks visually.

The way the letter looks and is formed is much more likely to stick with them if they have a personal connection to it.

Get the worksheets

These worksheets are free for personal use in your classroom. Download and print what you need.

[terms of use] [downloading help]

These worksheets feature the best handwriting font for kindergarten, but I’ve added additional starting dots for the letters that have multiple strokes to show where to start.

Let’s wrap it up

There you have it – free worksheets to teach how to write lowercase letters from a to z. I hope the scaffolded design helps your students learn to form their letters correctly quickly.

It’s my hope to make an uppercase set in the near future to add to this post.

If your students don’t really need to practice individual letters but need to work on their names, then you want these free name writing practice sheets instead.

You should also be sure to have these handwriting letter stroke posters in your teaching tool arsenal. They are extremely handy to teach what letters have strokes in common – and that allows you to teach smart handwriting.

Handwriting - Free Handwriting Strokes Posters

If you like what I do here on KindergartenWorks, then be sure to subscribe today. I look forward to sharing ideas with you weekly.

More Handwriting in Kindergarten

2K Shares

Similar Posts

5 Comments

  1. Why can’t I access and download the free resources. These are amazing. Thank you for sharing. It is our students that are winners!

    1. Hi Paula, I’m not sure why you’re not able to download. If you’re using a school computer, you might want to check in with a tech person in your building for support!
      – Leslie

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *