The Georgia Historical Society released a free teaching kit to help students learn cursive by working with original state documents. The Decoding Histories kit gives K-12 teachers hands-on materials that teach cursive through primary source investigations.

Teacher guides come with the kit. Primary source investigations do too. Cursive practice worksheets and curated collections from GHS archives round out the package. All materials match up with state English Language Arts and Social Studies standards.

Students across the state struggle to read handwritten records because many never learned cursive. This resource fills that gap by connecting penmanship instruction to actual historical materials.

"When you read old handwriting, history feels personal," said LaPortia Mosley, Community Engagement Officer at GHS, according to The Georgia Sun. "The Decoding Histories Inquiry Kit gives teachers and students a fun, hands-on way to explore cursive, work with primary sources, and connect with the past."

Many states dropped cursive requirements over the past two decades. This left students unable to read letters, diaries, and official records that document the state's past. Without cursive literacy, primary sources become inaccessible to them.

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission funded the Community Archives Initiative, while Georgia-Pacific provided support for the Decoding Histories kit.

Teachers can download the kit for free from the Georgia Historical Society website.

Download the app to LISTEN LIVE wherever you are and connect with us like never before!