BMUFSD: Fifth Graders Use Cursive To Write Positive Messages

Press release from the Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District:

For many, cursive is a lost art. In fact, there is a generation of children who do not know how to write in cursive.

Leave it to Todd art teacher Paul Villanueva to rectify that.

Recently, fifth graders in Jennifer Case and Stephanie Grace’s class worked on Illuminated Positive Script Messages and used cursive or script to write them.

“I wanted students to write at least one word in cursive in these messages,” Mr. Villanueva said. “They can look up different types of cursive styles and different types of fonts online and they should be able to do cursive just from observation, and copy what they see.”

Students began by first using the Sketch-a-School app in their iPads to create a digital version for this project and then used paper and paint.

They looked up ideas online for messages they could write, as well as various fonts and script.

“Find your favorite font and practice it on scrap paper first,” Mr. Villanueva told the students. “Take a ruler and draw lines for where you want to position your messages. And think of something you would like to hang in the school, to encourage the younger students. What message would you want them to see?”

Julia chose the message ‘Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.’

‘Teamwork makes a dream work’ was Matthew’s message.

Next, it was time to create the background.

“A long time ago, artists created something called Illuminated Manuscripts,” Mr. Villanueva told the students. “The artists would take the letters at the start of stories or chapters and place focus at the outset of a story or manuscript. For our artwork, we will write in scrip and other font and we will create a beautiful background with watercolors and your words.”

Mr. Villanueva encouraged the students to embellish the words by making swirls or circles around them and by dripping watercolors directly onto the paper and splattering paint, to help the words stand out.

Once the background was dry, students used a sharpie to go over the messages they had written.

Brook used cursive to write ‘always try your best,’ ‘never give up’ and ‘you got this.’

“I learned cursive in second grade, so I still remember how to write in it,” she said.

This press release was produced by the Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.