Trace Standing and Sleeping Lines

Before letters come lines. Nearly every capital letter is built from a vertical stroke, a horizontal stroke, or both — teachers call them standing lines and sleeping lines, and this page gives each one its own practice rows on proper four-line handwriting guides.

Each row starts with a solid model stroke, then dotted versions to trace. The dots matter: a child tracing dots has to aim for targets, which trains the wrist and finger control that plain copying does not.

Two or three rows a day beats the whole page in one sitting. Stop while it is still fun, and expect wobble — straightness comes from repetition over weeks, not from one determined afternoon.