2nd Grade Handwriting Practice

Days, months, dates, contractions and letter lines in 14 mm print: type yours or pick from 86 in More options.

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NameDateThirty days hasThirty days hasSeptember, April,September, April,June and November.June and November.Made at homeroomtools.com

1 2nd grade line on 1 page, Letter portrait.

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Pick from the 86 2nd grade lines

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All 37 2nd grade words

The 7 days 7

  • Monday 6 letters. Mon is the short form, and the y tail at the end finishes every one of the 7 day names.
  • Tuesday 7 letters. After the capital T comes ue, not just u.
  • Wednesday 9 letters, the longest day name. Say Wed-nes-day while you write so the first d is not lost.
  • Thursday 8 letters. It starts Th and has ur in the middle, not er.
  • Friday 6 letters, 1 tall letter and 1 tail letter. The last school day of the week.
  • Saturday 8 letters. The middle is tur, with a u.
  • Sunday 6 letters. Sun plus day, and the capital S is the same shape as the small one, only taller.
Show all 37 2nd grade words (30 more)

The 12 months 12

  • January Month 1, 7 letters. It ends uary, the same 4 letters that end February.
  • February Month 2, 8 letters. The r after the b is the letter most often skipped.
  • March Month 3, 5 letters, 1 tall letter at the end.
  • April Month 4, 5 letters. It ends il, not le.
  • May Month 5 and the shortest month name, 3 letters.
  • June Month 6, 4 letters. It ends with an e that is not heard.
  • July Month 7, 4 letters. Capital J, then a tall l and a y tail side by side.
  • August Month 8, 6 letters. It starts Au, 2 vowels together.
  • September Month 9 and the longest month name, 9 letters. It has 3 e's.
  • October Month 10, 7 letters. It has 2 o's, one capital and one small.
  • November Month 11, 8 letters, with v and m in the middle.
  • December Month 12, 8 letters. It has 3 e's, and the c sounds like s.

Contractions 10

  • don't do not, with the o of not swapped for an apostrophe. 4 letters and 1 mark.
  • can't cannot, short. The apostrophe sits between the n and the t.
  • won't will not. The spelling changes to wo, which is why it is the hard one.
  • didn't did not. 5 letters, 3 of them tall, and the apostrophe goes before the t.
  • isn't is not. Only the o drops out, so there is 1 apostrophe for 1 letter.
  • I'm I am. 2 letters and an apostrophe, and the I is always a capital.
  • it's it is. Leave the apostrophe out and it turns into its, a different word.
  • we're we are. Without the apostrophe it reads were, so the mark matters.
  • they're they are. 6 letters, 2 tall letters and 1 tail letter.
  • let's let us. The only common contraction made with us.

Compound words 8

  • backpack back plus pack, 8 letters. 3 tall letters and 1 tail letter, the p.
  • lunchbox lunch plus box, 8 letters with no space between them.
  • playground play plus ground, 10 letters. 3 tail letters hang under the baseline: p, y and g.
  • homework home plus work, 8 letters, 2 tall letters.
  • notebook note plus book, 8 letters. It has 3 o's.
  • sidewalk side plus walk, 8 letters. The l in walk is written but not heard.
  • bedtime bed plus time, 7 letters, 3 tall letters.
  • weekend week plus end, 7 letters. It has 3 e's.

How this list was compiled: Written for this site on 2026-09-18: the 7 day names, the 12 month names, 10 contractions and 8 compound words. The apostrophe in contractions follows Common Core language standard L.2.2c (use an apostrophe to form contractions and frequently occurring possessives), read on 2026-09-18 in the standards document at https://learning.ccsso.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ELA_Standards1.pdf. Letter counts, tall letters and tail letters were counted. The Common Core State Standards are the copyright of the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers; this site is not affiliated with or endorsed by either. No entry names a real person, a handwriting program or a character from a book, film, show or game. Licence: own work

All 86 2nd grade lines

Days of the week 11

  • Monday Tuesday Wednesday The first 3 school days, each with a capital. Wednesday is the longest day name at 9 letters, and the d after We is easy to forget.
  • On Monday we have music. 5 words with 2 capitals: one to start the sentence and one for the day.
  • Saturday and Sunday make the weekend. 6 words, 2 capitals. The word weekend is not a name, so it gets none.
  • Saturday Sunday The 2 weekend days. Both start with a capital S, and like all 7 day names both end in day.
Show all 86 2nd grade lines (82 more)

Days of the week, continued

  • Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat The 7 short forms from a wall calendar: 3 letters each, 21 letters in all, and still a capital on every one.
  • There are seven days in a week. 7 words and no day name, so only the first word takes a capital. Count the capitals: 1.
  • Thursday Friday 2 day names, 2 capitals. Thursday starts with Th and Tuesday with Tu, a pair that is easy to mix up.
  • Tuesday comes after Monday. 4 words, 2 day names, 2 capitals. Swap in any two days that sit side by side.
  • We have art on Friday and gym on Monday. 9 words with 3 capitals. Trade art and gym for the specials on your own timetable.
  • Wednesday is the middle of the school week. 8 words. Count Monday to Friday and Wednesday is day 3 of 5, with 2 on each side.
  • Yesterday was Thursday, so today is Friday. 7 words and 1 comma. Yesterday and today are not names, so inside a sentence they stay lowercase.

Months and dates 12

  • April May June Months 4 to 6 and the 3 shortest names in a row: 5, 3 and 4 letters, 12 in all.
  • February is the shortest month. 5 words. February has 28 days, and 29 in a leap year.
  • January February March Months 1 to 3. February has 8 letters and hides an r after the b: say Feb-ru-ary while you write.
  • July August September Months 7 to 9. September is the longest month name at 9 letters.
  • May is the shortest month name. 6 words. May has 3 letters, and as a month it keeps its capital even in the middle of a sentence.
  • Monday, October 5, 2026 A full date with 2 capitals and 2 commas: one after the day name and one after the number. October 5, 2026 is a Monday. Type today's date in the box to swap it.
  • My birthday is in August. 5 words, 2 capitals. Swap August for your own month and keep the capital.
  • October November December Months 10 to 12. All 3 end in ber, and so does September just before them.
  • See you Wednesday, December 2, 2026. A full date inside a sentence: 2 commas and 3 capitals. December 2, 2026 falls on a Wednesday.
  • Seven months have 31 days. 5 words. The 7 are January, March, May, July, August, October and December.
  • Thirty days has September, April, June and November. The opening of an old rhyme for the 4 months with 30 days. 8 words, 5 capitals and 2 commas.
  • We plant bean seeds in April. 6 words, 5 tall letters and 2 tail letters. The only capital inside the sentence is on the month.

Contractions with an apostrophe 14

  • cannot, can't cannot is 1 word, and can't drops 2 letters from it, an n and the o.
  • do not, don't The apostrophe stands where the o of not used to be. 1 apostrophe, written up high and never on the baseline.
  • I am, I'm 1 letter drops out, the a. The word I is a capital every time, alone or in I'm.
  • I can't find my left shoe. 6 words, 1 apostrophe. Read it with cannot to check that the contraction fits.
  • I'll bring my lunch, and he'll bring his. 8 words with 2 apostrophes. Each apostrophe stands for the wi of will.
  • it is, it's 1 letter drops out, the second i. With no apostrophe, its is a different word that means belonging to it.
  • It's raining, but I don't mind. 6 words, 2 apostrophes and 1 comma. It's here means It is.
  • She didn't see the puddle. 5 words, 1 apostrophe and 2 double letters: ee in see and dd in puddle.
  • she will, she'll Here the apostrophe stands for 2 letters, the w and the i.
  • they are, they're 1 letter drops out, the a. they're, their and there sound the same, so check which one the sentence needs.
  • They're sure that it isn't far. 6 words, 2 apostrophes. Say it the long way first: They are sure that it is not far.
  • we have, we've The apostrophe stands for 2 letters, the h and the a.
  • We're late, so let's run. 5 short words with 2 apostrophes: We're is We are and let's is let us.
  • will not, won't The odd one out of the 8 pairs: the letters change from will to wo, they do not just drop.

Possessives: whose is it? 6

  • The bird's nest has three eggs. 6 words and 3 words that end in s. Only bird's owns something, so only it gets the apostrophe.
  • The cat licked its paw, and it's clean now. 9 words. its with no apostrophe owns the paw, and it's with one means it is. Just 1 apostrophe in the line.
  • the dog's bone 3 words. The apostrophe and s say the bone belongs to 1 dog.
  • Mom's keys are on the hook. 6 words. Mom's owns the keys and takes the apostrophe. The s on keys only means more than one, so it takes none.
  • my sister's bike 3 words, 1 apostrophe. Without it, sisters would just mean more than one sister.
  • That is the teacher's desk. 5 words, 1 apostrophe, 8 tall letters.

Holidays and places with capitals 13

  • Earth Day is April 22. 5 words, 3 capitals. Earth Day was first kept in 1970.
  • Groundhog Day is February 2. 5 words with 3 capitals. Groundhog is 1 word with no space inside.
  • Halloween is October 31. 4 words. Halloween has 2 double letters in the whole line, ll and ee, both inside the holiday.
  • Independence Day is July 4. 5 words. Independence has 12 letters and 4 of them are e.
  • Juneteenth is June 19. 4 words. The name blends June and nineteenth into 1 word of 10 letters.
  • Labor Day is the first Monday in September. 8 words, 4 capitals. The date moves each year, but the day is always a Monday.
  • Lake Michigan looked as big as a sea. 8 words, 2 capitals. Lake is part of the name. The word sea at the end is not a name, so it stays small.
  • Memorial Day is the last Monday in May. 8 words with 4 capitals: the holiday has 2, the day 1 and the month 1.
  • New Year's Day is January 1. 6 words and 4 capitals. The apostrophe sits before the s in Year's.
  • Ohio, Texas, Maine, Utah 4 state names, 4 capitals and 3 commas. None is longer than 5 letters, so the row is about even spacing.
  • Valentine's Day is February 14. 5 words, 3 capitals and 1 apostrophe, before the s.
  • Veterans Day is November 11. 5 words, 3 capitals and no apostrophe: the name of the holiday is spelled Veterans, plain.
  • We crossed the Mississippi River at noon. 7 words. River is part of the name, so it takes a capital too. Mississippi has 11 letters: 4 of them s, 4 i and 2 p.

Friendly letter: greetings, closings and body lines 10

  • Dear Aunt Rosa, A greeting with 3 capitals. Aunt takes one here because it is part of what you call her.
  • Dear Grandma, A greeting: 2 capitals and 1 comma at the end. The comma sits on the baseline, close to the last a.
  • Dear Grandpa, I lost a tooth today. A greeting and a first sentence together: 7 words, 3 capitals, 1 comma.
  • Dear Mr. Lopez, A greeting with 3 capitals, 1 period after Mr and 1 comma at the end.
  • I hope you can visit us this summer. 8 words. The season summer is not a name, so the only capital is the I.
  • Love, The shortest closing, 4 letters and 1 comma. Your name goes on the row under it.
  • Please write back when you can. 6 words to end the body of a letter, just before the closing.
  • Thank you for the birthday card. 6 words, 10 tall letters. A good line to open the body of a thank-you letter.
  • Your friend, A closing: 2 words, a capital on the first word only, and a comma before you sign your name on the next row.
  • Your pen pal, A closing of 3 words with 1 capital. pen pal is 2 words.

Sentences that fill two rows 12

  • A ladybug landed on my notebook. 6 words. ladybug and notebook are compound words, 2 small words joined with no space.
  • A squirrel buried an acorn by the fence. 8 words. squirrel has 8 letters, and q is followed by u as it nearly always is.
  • The bus stops at the corner store. 7 words, 7 tall letters and 1 tail letter. Every t needs its cross.
  • I traded my apple for an orange. 7 words. It is an orange, not a orange, because orange starts with a vowel sound.
  • The library closes at five o'clock. 6 words. o'clock is short for of the clock, so it takes 1 apostrophe.
  • My backpack is under the bench. 6 words that wrap onto 2 rows at Medium. 8 tall letters, 2 tail letters.
  • My cousin can whistle very loudly. 6 words. The t in whistle is written but not heard.
  • Our class planted beans in a cup. 7 words in 26 letters, with 2 tail letters, both of them p.
  • Please sharpen both of my pencils. 6 words in 28 letters, and a sentence worth obeying before you start.
  • The puddle froze during the night. 6 words, 10 tall letters. The z in froze sits between the baseline and the dashed line.
  • Recess is the best part of my day. 8 words in 26 letters, with 3 tail letters.
  • We read a chapter after lunch. 6 words in 24 letters. The second row starts partway through, so line it up under the first.

Letter size and spacing reminders 6

  • A capital starts every sentence. 5 words, 1 capital. In a line about days or months, count the extra capitals before you write.
  • Every sentence ends with a mark. 6 words. The 3 end marks are the period, the question mark and the exclamation point.
  • Leave a finger space between words. 6 words, so 5 spaces to leave. A finger laid flat after each word keeps them the same width.
  • Small letters stop at the dashed line. 7 words. At Medium the dashed line sits about 9 mm above the baseline, under a top line at 14 mm.
  • Tails hang under the baseline. 5 words with only 1 tail letter, the g in hang. The 5 print letters with tails are g, j, p, q and y. Under More options, tick Add a fourth line to see where a tail ends.
  • Tall letters touch the top line. 6 words with 11 tall letters to prove it. At Medium the top line is 14 mm above the baseline.

Pangrams: every letter in one sentence 2

  • Five dozen jolly pups quickly grabbed the wax mitten. Uses all 26 letters in 9 words. It fills 3 rows at Medium, so with 2 traced rows it takes most of a page.
  • Pack his fuzzy brown jacket, six gloves and my quilt. Uses all 26 letters in 10 words, with 1 comma. One careful copy shows which letters still need work.

How this list was compiled: Written for this site on 2026-09-18. The groups follow three second grade conventions in the Common Core language standards, read on 2026-09-18 in the standards document at https://learning.ccsso.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ELA_Standards1.pdf: L.2.2a (capitalize holidays, product names, and geographic names), L.2.2b (use commas in greetings and closings of letters) and L.2.2c (use an apostrophe to form contractions and frequently occurring possessives). No product name is used. Holiday dates were checked on 2026-09-18: New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day and Veterans Day (spelled with no apostrophe) at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_holidays_in_the_United_States, Groundhog Day at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day, Valentine's Day at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_Day, Earth Day at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day and Halloween at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween. The month lengths and the opening of the Thirty days rhyme were checked at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Days_Hath_September on the same day. The weekday of each full date was computed. The two pangrams were written for this site, checked to hold all 26 letters and checked against the list at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangram on 2026-09-18. Counts of words, letters, tall letters and tail letters were counted, and counts of capitals, commas and apostrophes were made one by one. The Common Core State Standards were published in 2010 and are the copyright of the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers; this site is not affiliated with or endorsed by either, and the sheets follow no single curriculum. Revised on 2026-09-20: one dated line no longer says Today is. Place names are ordinary geographic names and state no fact. People in the letter lines (Grandma, Mr. Lopez, Aunt Rosa) are made up. No line names a real person, a handwriting program or a character from a book, film, show or game. Licence: own work

How it works

2nd grade handwriting practice sticks when the words are ones the class already has to spell: the days, the months and full dates, contractions, possessives, holidays, places and friendly letter lines. There are 86 lines in 9 groups.

Read the full guide

Capitals, commas and apostrophes

Pick by the mark the class is learning. Capitals: the days, months, holidays and places. Commas: full dates and the greeting and closing of a friendly letter. Apostrophes: 8 contraction pairs and the possessives. Try will not, won't, the one pair of 8 where the letters change.

Two rows fill six, a pangram fills nine

At Medium a printed page holds 9 rows: 3 rows of text, each traced twice with an empty row under it. A sentence that wraps onto 2 rows fills 6, and a pangram or Thirty days has September, April, June and November. fills all 9. For single words, open More options and set What to practice to 2nd grade words: 37, from the 7 days to 8 compound words.

  • Hand out a month row on the first school day of that month, while the word is on the board.
  • Before tracing a contraction, say the long form aloud. It shows which letters the apostrophe replaces.
  • Once the two-row sentences come out even, set Rows to trace to 1 under More options.

Questions and answers

Is this handwriting practice for 2nd grade free to print?

Yes. Press Print worksheet for paper, or choose Save as PDF in the print window to keep a file. Share link reopens the same sheet, so a teacher can send one line home. The link holds whatever was typed, so clear any names first.

What letter height suits second grade?

The sheet opens at Medium: tall letters are 14 mm and small letters stop at the dashed line, about 9 mm up. Large, 19 mm, gives a child more room. At Small the letters are 10 mm tall and the rows sit 16 mm apart.

What should 2nd graders practice in handwriting?

Words they must write without a model: the date at the top of a page, and don't, can't and it's in any story. The Common Core language standards for grade 2 add capitals for holidays and places, commas in letter greetings and closings, and apostrophes.

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