Basic Letter Shapes.

The basis shapes shown below were originally designed by the author when she created her own font.
This set of letter shapes illustrate how some letters have one letter shape and others are a combination of more than one written shape produced consecutively.
Where to enter and exit the letter is marked in green and the red line represents a stop barrier. The black line shows where each individual shape sits on the base line. These shapes were made of plastic adhesive tiles stuck back to back then cut out and sandpapered to make a set of flexible flat durable shapes. These 3 dimensional shapes provide a medium that bridges the difference between 3D objects and 2D symbolic representation. The shapes are stacked in the order that they are written to produce cursive handwriting as shown in the illustration below:-

The two options for writing a cursive ‘b’ are presented as individual pieces. When teaching the author tries to establish if a particular style appears to be favoured. Then only the shapes that match are presented to support further exploration and understanding. If there are no signs that the second form of script is preferred the author presents and teaches the first example.