Cursive I

How to use the Cursive I practice sheet

1. Open Letters and choose Capital I and lowercase i, Capital I only, or Lowercase i only.
2. Leave Big model of the letter at the top on, or turn it off to save space.
3. Pick a Line size for your child: Extra large, 1 inch (pre-K–K); Large, 3/4 inch (K–1st); Medium, 5/8 inch (2nd); or Small, 3/8 inch (3rd and up).
4. Set Rows to trace the capital and Rows to trace the lowercase (0 to 4 each).
5. Set Rows of letter pairs (joins) (0 to 3) and Practice words (Off, or 1 to 8 words).
6. Optionally type up to 3 words in Your own words.
7. Set Blank rows to write on (0 to 6).
8. Choose Tracing letters (Light gray or Dotted outline), Lines, and Color.
9. Check the preview, choose US Letter or A4, and click Print or save as PDF.

Use Reset settings to return to the defaults, or New worksheet for a different sheet with the same settings. The page address stores your settings, so a bookmarked or shared link opens the same sheet.

The built-in practice words for i are igloo, ice, insect, ink, pig, fish, pink and kitten. Choose how many of them appear on the sheet, or type up to three of your own words, such as a name that contains the letter.

How do you write a capital I in cursive?

Trace the gray model on the sheet, then compare it with the chart your school uses, because stroke order differs between US handwriting programs such as Zaner-Bloser and D’Nealian. In the finished letter, the capital I reaches the top line and sits on the baseline, so it is as tall as the tall lowercase letters b, d, f, h, k, l and t. It is a capital, so you use it at the start of a name or a sentence.

On the sheet, one dark model is followed by 7 gray copies in the capital trace row by default.

How do you write a lowercase i in cursive?

Trace the gray model, then check the chart your school uses for the strokes. In the finished letter, the lowercase i is a small letter that sits on the baseline and does not reach the top line. Its dot sits above the body, between the dashed midline and the top line.

Unlike the lowercase letters f, g, j, p, q, y and z, the lowercase i does not go below the baseline. The default lowercase trace row shows one dark model followed by 15 gray copies.

What does the cursive letter i look like?

The cursive letter i is a small letter with a dot above it, and the capital I is a tall letter with no dot. The two are easy to tell apart on the sheet because the capital reaches the top line and the lowercase stays below the midline, with its dot in the space above.

The capital I is often confused with the capital J, which is a similar-looking letter. The capital I stays on the baseline, while the capital J goes below it. In the big model row and the trace rows, the capital and the lowercase letter are placed one by one, not connected.

Which letter pairs and words practice the cursive i?

The letter pairs row uses each two-letter piece in which i sits next to a neighbor in a word. The pairs for i are ig, ic, in, pi, fi, is, ki and it. The default row shows four of them, ig, ic, in and pi, each once as a dark model and once as a gray copy to trace.

The practice words are igloo, ice, insect, ink, pig, fish, pink and kitten. Four of them start with i, and the rest have it later in the word. In the word rows, the letters connect the way the cursive font joins them, so the i is joined to the letters around it.