Author: Trisha Saldanha | May 26, 2020
As occupational therapists we see quite a few children who have difficulty understanding sizing and placement of lower-case letters while writing. Lower case letters (unlike upper case letters) have three different points where they might start, and this can be confusing for a child.
Once children have learned correct letter formations of upper-case and lower-case letters, it is important to teach the next skill of ‘letter sizing awareness’. Age 5-6 years is an ideal time to introduce the concept of correct sizing and placement of the lower-case letters.
This can be taught in the following way:
Step 1 – Introducing the concept: Dividing the letters into three categories based on their size and starting point. The categories are middle letters (a, c, e, i, m, etc.), tall letters (b, d, l, h, etc.) and tail letters (g, j, p, q, etc.). To make this concept more visual and easier for the child to understand, the sizes of the three categories can be associated with a chicken (middle letters), a giraffe (tall letters) and a monkey hanging from a branch (tail letters).
Step 2 – Strengthening the concept: The ‘Letter Sorting’ activity can help to reinforce this concept. The child must sort and place the letters into the three animal categories based on their size . Flashcards or magnetic letters can be used for this activity.
Step 3 – Putting it into practice: The next step is helping children to use this concept in practice, i.e. practicing writing the letters within the red and blue lines using the correct sizing and placement that they have learnt.
Using this fun way of learning we can teach children the concept of correct letter sizing and letter placement within the red and blue lines.
Please download and refer to the aid (llnk given below)
http://sethu.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Middle-Letters_Chicken.pdf
http://sethu.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Tail-Letters_Monkey.pdf
http://sethu.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Tall-Letters_Giraffe.pdf