Tricky b and d
It’s quite common for first graders to mix up the lowercase letters b and d when reading as well as when writing. We’re always looking for ways to help our students successfully differentiate between the two letters. We’ve tried a variety of b/d ideas over the years and presently favor the bat and donut visual. When children encounter a b or d, we have them walk their fingers across the page, heading for that b or d. If their fingers first bump into a tall bat, the letter is b and the sound is /b/. If their fingers first bump into a round donut, the letter is d and the sound is /d/.
So, if your child is stuck when reading a word with a b or d, have him or her walk his or her fingers across the page toward that letter and ask him or her to look at the shape that he or she encounters. We’ve found that once the child recognizes the bat of the letter b or the donut of the letter d, he or she produces the correct sound. When writing the lowercase b, children start at the top and dive down, drawing the bat first followed by the round part, the ball, in a clockwise motion. In contrast, when writing the lowercase d, children start by drawing a donut counter-clockwise, followed by the straight line. There’s an excellent handwriting app called LetterSchool that can help to support proper letter formation habits. You can download a free version called LetterSchool Lite or buy the app for a few dollars. Be sure to select the HWT font under the Settings page. The HWT font (Handwriting Without Tears) is the font we use for manuscript writing instruction in first grade. |