I have a student that is having a hard time writing a lower case d and b. She is getting them confused most of the time. Does anyone have a cute way to teach the difference? I used to know a saying, but I can't remember anymore. It may have something to do with ducks. Any suggestions?
I use a picture of a bed and one side I write a d and other side a b and students get a copy taped to their desk or crayon box. I also use fingers for students who do well with that if you make the "ok" sign using your right hand you make a d and if you make it with the left hand you make a b. Hope this helps!
If you close your fists and point your thumbs up... you can have the children look and say b comes before d..
I don't have pictures to show you, but if you try to visualize a little it might help. I made a large size "b" and large size "d". for the "b": I made the line part into a baseball bat. I made the round part into a baseball. for the "d": I made the round part into a dog's face. I walk my fingers across the board from left to right, the direction that we read, and told the class "when your reading, if you see the bat first, you know it's a b. If you see the dog's face first, you know that it is a d. I had them practice making their own visual aides, so that they would remeber which one had the bat and ball, and which had the dogs face. I got this from the Wilson Program I hope this helps There is another helpful thread as well - try searching within these forums using the word "reversals"
Here's the same discussion- you can get ideas there- different thread: http://forums.atozteacherstuff.com/showthread.php?p=297547#post297547
my teacher just gave us the idea of a d is a c and add a line. (a..b..c..d). I thought that was a cute way to learn d.
I once saw a teacher make a picture of a face with ears. The left ear was a lower case d and the right ear was a b. The man's name was Mr. db.
One way to remember-the letter 'b' starts with a straight line. When you form the sound /b/, your lips are together in a straight line. The letter 'd' starts round, and when the mouth produces the /d/ sound, the lips are more rounded. Note a cutesy way to remember the difference, but the cue is physical and felt, and can offer support along with visual cues.
Lowercase b - bat and ball - you make the bat first and then the ball! If you know lowercase b, you'll know the other way is d!
My sons are having a hard time with this as well. My husband came up with the b's belly bumps the other letters in the word. d doesn't.
I use this also, but I tell my students to say a b c d with their fists up. There fists form the letters b and d and if they say a b c d it seems to help.
We (my student teacher and I) were asked this question at conferences earlier this year, and she said that in one of her classes they were taught to OVER teach only one of them....either b or d. I guess the theory is that if they know one of them, say b, really, really well, when they see a d they'll automatically know that that is NOT the one they know, so therefore must be the d? Interesting approach.
yeah i've been told the same overteach b then don't teach d immediately after thats how kids get confused keep em seperate! once they know one v well they'll figure it out! it sounds strange but it works!
My daughter is in 4th grade now, but I wish I had some of these ideas when she was in K. I especially love the fist with the thumb up! Fabulous! Her K teacher used the bat hitting the ball for b. And the letter d looks like a doorhandle. I can't say that it worked very well though. She stuggled with it for years! I think the overteaching of b sounds like it would work.
I teach kinder and these ideas are wonderful!! I have one idea, although it's not as great as all of yours. I have a picture of a duck that is in the shape of a d, with the letter d written over the duck. Then for b I have a picture of a bear. When I first introduce d and b, I say look at the duck, see how the circle is in the duck's tail and the bears stomache makes the circle in the letter b. So, in the beginning when we practice writing b and d and we need to figure out which one, I say, are we making the bears stomache or the ducks tail? This has really worked for my kiddos.
Several of my own children had trouble with this. I never worried a bit, they grew out of it. They are extremely intelligent. I think you should reassure the parents that this is a common mistake that their child will outgrow. I'm not a teacher, but as a parent I would say, don't worry. I also wouldn't stress the child out by making a big deal about it, actually. It might frustrate them.
There's a fairly good reason why kids have trouble with b and d - and with p and q. Note first that one of the major cognitive advances of early childhood is learning that whether something - say, a picture of a hamburger - is flipped top to bottom or left to right or even hidden, it still exists and it's still basically the same thing. The trouble is, that doesn't work with the lower-case letters b, d, p, and q. Flip a b left to right and you get a d; flip a b top to bottom and you get a p; flip it both top to bottom and left to right and you get a q. Fortunately, q it a little disturbing.
