Letter Formation Guide A-Z

Both cases, seven letters to a row

Capitals across four rows, lowercase across four more, on the standard four-line ruling with a model row and a copy row for each.

Short rows are the design. Seven letters is a line a child can finish with the same care they started with; twenty-six is a line where the last six are scribbled.

Formation is not the same as shape

Two children can produce identical-looking letters and only one of them has learned to write.

A letter drawn in the correct sequence, in the correct direction, from the correct starting point becomes automatic and eventually fast. The same letter drawn bottom-up, or in two disconnected halves, looks fine at five and falls apart the moment speed is required — which is usually around the time writing starts being assessed.

So watch the pencil, not the page. It is the only way to see this, and the finished sheet cannot tell you.

The two rules that cover most letters

Start at the top. Almost every letter in both cases begins at or near its highest point, and a child who defaults to that gets most letters right without being taught each one.

Anticlockwise for the round ones. c, a, d, g, o, q and s all begin with the same anticlockwise curve, and a child who forms circles clockwise has to relearn seven letters rather than one.

Where reversals fit

b and d, p and q, and to a lesser extent n and u. These are the letters children mix up, and mixing them up is developmentally normal well into Year 2.

They are worth practising apart rather than together. Teaching b and d on the same sheet, side by side, gives a child two competing shapes at exactly the moment they are trying to fix one, and the standard result is that the confusion gets stronger.

Secure one. Wait. Then introduce the other.

Use it as a check, not a lesson

All fifty-two letters on one sheet is a lot to work through in one sitting, and grinding through it produces tired handwriting rather than better handwriting.

The better use is diagnostic. Hand it over and watch, marking which letters come out hesitant or wrongly formed. Then print a sheet of only those, using the practice text field.

Settings: practice text, font, trace style including arrows for stroke direction, rows per line, character boxes, ruling colour. A4 or US Letter at 100%.