Cursive Letter O Practice

Trace a big circle in the air, then close it at the top and swing out. Trace the solid rows, then dashed, then dotted, and finish with the blank lines. Seven or eight minutes covers it. Lowercase o needs a bridge to the next letter that leaves from the top rather than the baseline, so write words like on, or and one. Look at whether the circle actually closes before moving on.

Lowercase o is a closed circle that finishes at the top with a small bridge heading right. That bridge makes o different from every other letter, since it joins high instead of low. Capital O is a larger oval with a loop where the stroke crosses itself. Children start from the wrong place and fail to close the circle, or make the bridge shaky. It follows N and leads to P, which also has a bowl.

Medium is a good starting point. Large lets young writers see where the circle should close. Small is for steady hands. The same page works as a quick warm-up before harder letters. Switch Style to Print to compare a plain circle, which has no bridge, so the join in cursive is easy to notice.

Why does o join differently from other letters?

The bridge leaves from the top of the circle, not the baseline, so the next letter has to start higher. That is why words like one and now look a bit different. Start at the top, go counterclockwise and stop where the stroke began. The dashed rows show the end point, so trace them slowly and lift there.

My child's o never closes. What helps?

Start at the top, go counterclockwise and stop where the stroke began. The dashed rows show the end point, so trace them slowly. Lift there, not past it.

How big should the circle of o be?

About the same height as a, reaching the waist line. Anything taller starts to look like a d or l. About the same height as a, reaching the waist line. Anything taller starts to look like a d or an l, and the bridge to the next letter suffers.