Formation of b and p

I can form the letters b and p.

New

Year 1

I can form the letters b and p.

Slide deck

The letter b has an ascender.
The letter p has a descender.
The letters b and p are formed by "going down and back up and around".
The middle part of the letters b and p are x-height letters and sit in the middle set of the tramlines.

Children can become confused about which of the tramlines to start and end b and p on.

Explicit naming of the start and end points and modelling of this.

Ascender - the part of a letter that extends above the level of the top of an "x"
Baseline - this is the line that most letters sit on
Tramlines - straight, parallel lines that we can use as a guide to help us write neatly and keep our letters the same size
Descender - the part of a letter that descends below the level of the bottom of an "x"

Remind children to place a starting dot on their tramlines. Linking to your phonics scheme can support with the formation of the letters.

Teacher tip

Adult supervision required

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