Primary 1 Yester Primary School 2014/2015 

The children have been working very hard on their sounds and numbers……however, as lots of children (and adults) know, the letters b,d,p and number 9 can be very confusing because they all look nearly the same.

Don’t worry….we have a plan!

Today, we looked carefully at the letters b and d. When we see them in the word “bed,” the word makes the shape of a bed.

We know that the first sound in bed is “b” so we can look for the letter shape at the start of the word.

We know that the last sound in bed is “d” so we can look for the letter shape at the end of the word.

We have these little picture cards in our pencil tubs to use whenever we need them.

Another little trick is to make a bed shape with your hands…..

The first hand makes a “b” shape for the first sound in bed and the other hand makes a “d” shape for the last sound in bed. The children can check their hand shapes to help them decide how to write the letter.

Letter p and number 9 also cause lots of confusion. Again, we have little picture cards at our pencil tubs to look at if we are stuck.

When we write letter “p” we need to make the long POST first, just like a fence post!

Number 9 makes the same shape as Naughty 9, the elephant in our number zoo – remember to make his round head first!

Hope this all helps if you are working with your child. If you would like a copy of the little picture cards to use at home, please let me know. 🙂