What's the Best Sequence to Learn Writing Letters? - Developing Hand (2024)

FAQs

What's the Best Sequence to Learn Writing Letters? - Developing Hand? ›

Start with letters that contain only vertical and horizontal lines (L, I, E, F, H, T). Slowly introduce letters with curves (C, O, Q). Finally end with letters with diagonal lines (A, N, M, etc). Children learn best through play based learning, so make sure to have fun while teaching!

Teach letter formation using 'families of letters: e.g. start with the easiest first (long letters): l, t, i, u, j, y. Then go onto the next easiest letters (curly letters): c, a, g, q, o, e, f, s. Then the 'bouncing ball' letters: r, n, m, p, h, b, d. And finally the 'zig zag letters: v, w, x, k, z.

Letters that occur frequently in simple words (e.g., a, m, t) are taught first. Letters that look similar and have similar sounds (b and d) are separated in the instructional sequence to avoid confusion. Short vowels are taught before long vowels.

We follow the recommendation of reading experts in the Daily Lessons in Preschool Phonics Curriculum in that letter-sound relations that occur with high frequency get introduced first. Letters are taught in the following order: m, s, r, t, n, p, o, c, a, d.

In general, the 'basic code' of the primary letters and short vowel sounds and common digraphs such as th, ch and sh should be introduced and taught before the 'advanced code' of vowel combinations, r-controlled vowel combinations and (example teach m, t, s & short vowels before adding in the vowel combinations, r- ...

Research verifies learning letters out of order allows children to more deeply understand that each letter symbol is unique and represents a specific sound. Children will revert back to the letter name rather than the sound of the letter makes when attempting to identify letters.

Writing is a process that involves at least four distinct steps: prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing. It is known as a recursive process.

How do children learn to write letters? ›

To learn handwriting, children need to combine fine motor skills, language, memory and concentration. They also need to practise and follow instructions. Handwriting starts with scribbling and drawing then moves on to forming letters, words and sentences.

Point out letters in the child's name and ask them to point to letters in a book or on a sign. Children can first begin with recognizing upper case letters of their name, then moving onto the lowercase letters. Working first with uppercase letters is best, because capital letters are easier to discriminate between.

Expert answer

Many people feel that the most natural way to introduce the alphabet and the letter sounds is to go straight from A to Z, but there is a more logical and systematic way that introduces letters based on the type of sounds that they make.

Upper case letters have more starting points and require more strokes/pencil pick ups, so are actually harder than lower case to draw. There are more diagonals in upper case letters, which is developmentally challenging. Consequently, it makes perfect sense to start writing with lower case letters.

There is no one “correct” order in which to teach the letters, and different phonics programs use different sequences.