Book excerpt: The Big Book of Cursive Handwriting Practice, provides extensive focus on cursive letter and sentence formation. This cursive tracing book contains more than 18,000 cursive tracing units. It contains individual cursive letters as well as cursive sentences from the classic Aesop's Fables. The introduction section features a full-page format that focuses on one uppercase and lowercase cursive alphabet per page-a method that allows for thorough practice when learning to write each letter correctly. Students will have a minimum of 200 opportunities to trace each cursive letter before being presented with freehand cursive practice pages. Once a student has adequately mastered each cursive alphabet they may then move on to the next cursive letter or skip around as comfortable. This cursive writing penmanship workbook will help increase your student's ability to print uppercase and lowercase cursive letters in addition to increasing their fine motor skills. This cursive handwriting practice workbook is perfect for use in 1st-3rd grade traditional, private, and homeschool classrooms. This workbook is for beginner and intermediate level cursive learners. Practicing cursive handwriting on a daily basis will expand a student's understanding of the concepts of written language. When cursive handwriting is practiced daily, spacing between words becomes more consistent. Teachers and parents can use the Big Book of Cursive Handwriting Practice to utilize hand-over-hand guidance techniques that will help students make correct cursive letter strokes. Guided lines have been provided in this handwriting workbook to teach correct cursive letter formation and word spacing quickly and effectively. Cursive handwriting practice doesn't have to take place on paper only. Everyday objects can be used to help students create cursive letters. Students should be encouraged to write cursive letters in the air, sand, clay, shaving cream, etc. to make learning cursive fun. Why is the Big Book of Cursive Handwriting Practice an important addition to your student's curriculum? A 2013 New York Times article states that, "Learning to write in cursive is shown to improve brain development in the areas of thinking, language and working memory. Cursive handwriting stimulates brain synapses and synchronicity between the left and right hemispheres, something absent from printing and typing. As a result, the physical act of writing in cursive leads to increased comprehension and participation. The College Board found that students who wrote in cursive for the essay portion of the SAT scored slightly higher than those who printed." This handwriting book is perfect for improving cursive penmanship. The Big Book of Cursive Handwriting Practice is a great resource for the homeschool classroom as well as public and private 1st grade, 2nd grade, and 3rd grade classrooms. It's a great companion to printed alphabet handwriting programs such as Zaner-Bloser and Kumon. It's superior to one-page online cursive penmanship worksheets because it gives students a chance to get used to using a workbook format-the same type used in classrooms.