How to get a yr1 to distinguish between b and d?

[OneLieIn]

Does anyone know a trick or tip to help my ds in yr1 distinguish between b and d. He nearly always gets them confused and the more he thinks about it the harder it becomes. Is there a trick like kissing shoes to help him?

'bed' is the best one I saw as the work makes the shape of the bed, so b is the beginning of bed in sound and shape iyswim!

I think it's very common and they will sort it out eventually anyway so don't worry too much.

(work = word)

My DD does this as well and a trick DH came up with is that b looks like a lady with a baby in her tummy. Seems to work some of the time, at least we can see the cogs working at the moment

Try Bat and Ball for B.

If it's any consolation, I teach secondary and many of them still get this muddled.

Yes I use bed and dog with my ds - bed starts with b, and dog has a little tail (like a dog) when you write it down, so I tell him to think of a dog wagging his tail! Also you could say the b bumps the other letters with his big belly?

yes...like Zoe said get ds to hold up his hands so that his index fingers and thumbs make the round bit of the b d and his fingers stick up like the sticks. Put them together to make a bed.

I've also made sandpaper (or other textured)b's and d's. Get him to feel them under the table and decide whether they are b or d. He could match them to groups of objects beginning with b's or d's.

Think of the shape the lips make.

b = lips FIRST makes a striaght line just as b starts with a straight line

d = lips are open in a circle shape first, just as d starts with an open circle.

Oh you are all fab! I think Berrie's might work as we do the L for left. I will try all of them.

Florence, I am not encouraged that in secondary they are still getting it muddled. Do they call them conboms them in school?

I taught my LO that to draw a 'd', she had to do daddy's face (the round bit) and then go up and down.

For 'b', it's a lady with a baby in her tummy.

Unfortunately, OneLieIn , they don't call them anything at school. That is why they are all having babies and abortions.

Many of them still write their own names with lowercase letters.

The other day, a sixteen year old asked me how to spell "Taunton."

Why, I enquired, was he going there?

No, came the reply: "it's my address. Taunton Close."

Had he only just moved there, I wondered.

No, he had lived there FOR EVER and no-one had taught him how to spell his address.

Sorry, total hijack. I'm just pleased that some parents of littlies are focusing on the basics of literacy now.

Hiya, My DS (reception) is exactly the same - we have told him that a b has a big tummy and a d has a big bum.... it seems to be working though.....

I teach my reception class a similar method to Berrie

We make a fist with both hands then pop up the thumb ~ the left hand makes a b the right a d

we also say the rhyme
To make a bed for baby
First you need a b
e comes in the middle
finish with a d

b e d

FlorenceDaphne I spend most of the year teaching them not to write their name in Capitals!

Does he form the letters correctly when writing? Is he being taught pre cursive writing like most state schools in our area?

"b" starts at the top and then you draw the bump.

"d" start like curly "c" and then you draw the line upwards.

I have made cue cards for some of the children at the junior school I work at to keep on their desk - some of them like this and and others prefer this one.

I used the method that Mrz mentioned with ds. Saying the story of putting e to bed and then writing the letter and then actually drawing a bed around it seemed to instill it into his head.

I have always used bed for b's and d's in my classroom, but have learnt some great new methods as well...not heard of a lot of the ones you have suggested so thanks!