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Cursive Sentences
Cursive sentences to trace and copy: print a free practice sheet with sample sentences, or type your own. Pick the line size, tracing rows and paper size.
Grades 2–4Cursive handwritingNot a Common Core standard
Name: ____________________ Date: ______________
Grades 2–4 · Cursive handwriting
Answer key
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Grade levels and Common Core standards for this tool
The grade and standard on each sheet follow your settings. Here is every combination this tool can make:
| Grade | Skill | Common Core |
|---|---|---|
| Grades 2–4 | Cursive handwriting | None |
- Cursive is not in the Common Core standards; many states teach it separately in Grades 2–4.
Standards text quoted from corestandards.org. K5Print is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Common Core State Standards Initiative.
© Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.
Cursive sentences give a child a full line of joined writing with a meaning, which is the step after letters and single words. This page makes printable cursive sentence practice sheets in a traditional school cursive font. It opens with four sample sentences, and you can type your own. It runs in your web browser, it is free, and nothing you type is uploaded.
Each sentence gets a dark model line, light gray letters to trace and a blank row to write on. The first sample, The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog, uses every letter of the alphabet, so one line reviews them all. Choose the line size, the rows and the paper size.
You can use what you make here in class or in things you sell, such as Etsy printables and Teachers Pay Teachers, with no credit needed.
How to make cursive sentences practice sheets
- Check the Practice menu. It is already set to Sentences.
- Read the four samples in the Sentences (one per line) box. Keep them, change them, or replace them with your own, one sentence on each line. The box takes up to 40 lines.
- Set Line size: Extra large (pre-K–K), Large (K–1st), Medium (2nd) or Small (3rd and up). It starts at Small so that four sentences fit on one page; a bigger size gives longer rows to write on but wraps long sentences.
- Set Tracing rows (0 to 6) and Blank rows to write on (0 to 4). Each sentence gets one dark model line, then the tracing rows, then the blank rows.
- Choose Tracing letters: Light gray, or Dotted outline to use less ink.
- Leave Show descender line on. The tails of g, j, p, q, y and z drop below the baseline.
- Look at the sheet preview. It shows how the pages will print and updates each time you change a setting, so you can fix the size before you print.
- Select Print or save as PDF. Use New worksheet to make another sheet with the same settings, and Reset settings to return to the defaults.
Choose US Letter or A4 in the print dialog and print at 100% scale (called Actual size in many dialogs) so the lines keep their true height. The page address stores your settings, so a bookmarked or shared link opens the same sheet again.
What are good cursive sentences to practice?
Start with short sentences made of words the child can already read, such as The cat naps in the sun. Short sentences let the child focus on joining letters and spacing words instead of decoding. Move to longer sentences, a line of a poem or a short note as the writing becomes steady.
A pangram such as The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog is useful as a review, because it contains every letter of the alphabet. It is not an easy first sentence: it is long and has several tails below the baseline.
What does a cursive sentence teach that single words do not?
A sentence adds three things. It starts with a capital letter, it ends with a period, and it needs a space between words. A child who writes cursive words well can still run the words together, so tracing a sentence once and then writing it on the blank row shows the spacing the page is asking for. Leave a space about the width of a small o between words.
How do you choose the line size for sentences?
Match the size to the grade: Extra large for pre-K to kindergarten, Large for kindergarten to 1st grade, Medium for 2nd grade and Small for 3rd grade and up. A sentence that is too long for one row wraps onto the next row, and each wrapped row gets its own model and tracing rows, so use a smaller size if you want the sentence on one line.
What does the cursive font look like?
The tool draws the letters in Playwrite US Trad, an open source font (SIL Open Font License) modeled on traditional American school cursive. Its letters sit on the same top line, dashed midline and baseline the child writes on, so the model and the page match.
Questions teachers and parents ask
Can I write my own cursive sentences?
Yes. Type or paste them in the Sentences box, one sentence on each line, up to 40 lines. Letters, spaces, hyphens, apostrophes and common punctuation are drawn.
Can I use a poem or a quote?
Yes. Put each line of the poem on its own line in the Sentences box. Only use text you have the right to copy, for example a poem in the public domain or words you wrote yourself.
How many sentences fit on one page?
It depends on the line size and on the number of tracing and blank rows. The preview shows how many pages the sheet takes. Choose a smaller line size or fewer rows to fit more sentences on one page.
Which line size should I choose?
Use Extra large for pre-K to kindergarten, Large for kindergarten to 1st grade, Medium for 2nd grade and Small for 3rd grade and up. This page starts at Small so that four sentences fit on one page.
How do I save the sheet as a PDF?
Select Print or save as PDF, then choose Save as PDF in your browser's print dialog. Pick US Letter or A4 first and print at 100% scale so the line heights stay correct.
Can I sell the cursive sheets I make here?
Yes. The sheets you make here are royalty-free for personal, classroom and commercial use, including Etsy printables, Teachers Pay Teachers and Amazon KDP workbooks. You do not need to give credit. The only limit is that you may not copy the generator itself to run a competing service; see the [terms](/terms/).
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