Draw and write paper
A drawing box on top and six primary ruled lines underneath. The ruling is the three line kind an infant classroom uses: a light top line, a dashed midline for x-height and a solid baseline to write on.
Curated by 
Willa Fern
What is draw and write paper?
Draw and write paper pairs a blank picture box with primary ruled handwriting lines on the same page. The child draws the scene first and then writes about it, which gives the writing something concrete to describe.
Why the picture comes first
Asking a young child to write about nothing is the hard version of the task. Drawing the scene first gives the sentence a subject that already exists on the page, so the writing turns into describing rather than inventing. That is why the box sits above the lines rather than beside them.
Reading the ruling
The three line ruling is not decoration. The solid bottom line is the baseline every letter sits on. The dashed middle line marks x-height, the top of a lower case a or e. The faint top line is where tall letters like h and l reach. Letters that hang below, like g and y, drop under the baseline into the gap.
How to use the sheet
Print one per child per session. Younger writers usually fill two or three lines and that is the right amount; the six lines are there so the same sheet still works later in the year. The picture box is deliberately large, because a cramped drawing produces a cramped sentence.