More and more teachers have been talking about how they are seeing student letter formation getting worse and worse. Is this due to missing in-school handwriting instruction? Or maybe it’s due to the large amount of tech being used in daily life? Whatever the reason, teachers are searching for tips and tricks to help their students fix letter formation. Below is a list of tried and true letter formation practice ideas to help your students get those letters fixed (even ideas for b and d reversals!)

Letter Reversals

“Hands On” Idea

One of the most common letter formation struggles is letter reversals. Reversals can happen with any letter but two that happen A LOT in 2nd grade are bs and ds. Brainspring has an AMAZING idea using a visualization technique to help kids remember how to write those two pesky letters!

Lesson Videos & Verbal Cues

Our Lucky to Learn 1st Grade Writing curriculum includes handy letter formation modeling videos, focusing on common reversals like ‘b’ and ‘d’. Plus, we offer half sheets for extra practice, making it easy for kids to master those tricky letters.

Also, Lucky to Learn Writing offers verbal cues to help students learn to form letters properly!

Songs & Videos

Try these engaging songs for some b & d formation practice!

Letter Formation Practice

Once students have their reversals fixed (or are working on it) it is time to have them start perfecting their letter formations. There are several ways to practice this skill. Here are some teacher favorites!

Handwriting with Jokes

We all know students LOVE a good joke. (The cheesier the better!) One of Lucky Little Learner’s newest products is Jokes and Facts Handwriting Pages. These handwriting pages look more “grown up” than simply practicing one letter per page. Plus, it gives students a joke to bring home to share at the dinner table!

One fun way to incorporate this resource into your classroom would be by using the joke from the selected handwriting page as part of your morning message. Then, later give students the handwriting page. They will love that it is the same joke! Jokes are just one way to make morning meetings great! Check out this blog post for even more engaging morning meeting ideas: 10 Morning Message Ideas.

Editable Handwriting Practice

Teachers looking for something specific may opt to create their own handwriting worksheets. These sheets can feature the letters students are struggling with, or even their names, a school name or geography locations (hello cross-curricular). One website that is used frequently by teachers is Worksheets Works. What a great way to differentiate and individualize letter formation practice! They have a free handwriting worksheet maker so teachers can customize sheets for the specific needs of their class.

Lucky to Learn Writing

Combine letter formation practice with your writing lessons for a winning combination. A new curriculum, Lucky to Learn Writing has everything you need to not only fine tune writing self-regulation skills, but to teach writing for the entire school year.

Your writing lessons are all prepped for the school year:

• Teaching slides
• Lesson videos
• Student printables
• Research-based
• Student friendly
• Scope & sequence
• Pacing guide
• Guided lesson plans
• Daily Self-regulation tasks
• Independent activities

Back to the Basics

For students who truly struggle with letter formation, it is important to take it back to the basics with explicit instruction on each letter. Teachers can do this during a small group or writing conference if it is not a whole class need. With this one-on-one practice, students and teachers are sure to get results! If students will be working on letter formation as an independent station, these videos will be super helpful for them to follow along with! Here are more activities for daily fine motor practice.

Hopefully these strategies will get students forming letters correctly, and laughing along the way! Happy teaching!