Where have we been???? That's a good question...by now you've probably moved on and forgotten about us over here at TwoCanDoIt. (And well, we can't blame you!)
Teaching lowercase "b" and "d" this year has been a challenge to say the least...Once I think they got it, they are back to using the guessing strategy! Back in the day I taught these two letters with my handy old "bed" chart, but later realized this technique was not appropriate for many struggling readers. I don't have them use the "give yourself two thumbs up trick" because that sometimes can get tricky if they are writing and have a pencil in one hand!
Because
kids tend not to confuse the uppercase versions of the letters "B" and "D," using them to learn the lowercase "b" and "d" can be helpful. Here's how! When a child is
unsure about whether the letter they are looking at is a "b" or a "d" have them write an uppercase "B". If you erase the top bubble off, you are left with a lowercase "b".
I keep a poster in my room as a visual if they need a reminder...as shown below.
When kids are reading and get stuck trying to determine which is which, I give them a little scrap of lamination that I have left over to place on top of the word. If they can draw a bubble on top of the letter, and it makes an uppercase "B"...Then they know they are dealing with a lowercase "b".
Over spring break I stumbled upon a new trick that I found on, none other than Pinterest! Common Core Connection has taken Matchbox bulldozers to show kids how you can only bulldoze the letter "b". If you try to bulldoze the letter "d" it won't stay in a straight line. So naturally, I went to the dollar store and snagged a few bulldozers to keep in my classroom! I made a quick poster (nothing fancy) that you can download here!
Keeping my fingers crossed that this does the trick! What ways do you have to teach these letter reversals?
