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Different types of letters

To keep your handwriting neat, it is important to form letters correctly and make each letter the right size.

Remember, there are different types of letters.

• Long ladder letters (l, t, i, j, u, y)

• One-armed robot letters (r, n, m, b, h, p, k)

• Zigzag letters (v, w, x, z)

• Curly caterpillar letters (c, f, a, q, o)

The different types of letter sit in different ways on the lines on your paper.

How to form letters correctly

Watch Mr McPartlin show you how to form and size your letters correctly.

You will need a pencil and some lined paper to join in.

Activity 1

Some letters are tall and reach the top line like b.

Other letters have a long tail like g.

Look carefully at the letters below and think about whether each one is a tall letter or a letter with a tail.

y, d, j, p, g, l, k, t, b, q, h

Now, draw two columns on a sheet of paper and sort the letters into two groups.

The first two have been done for you.

You can check your answers using this

If you want to practise your letter formation, watch these videos about:

• How to write long ladder letters
• How to write one-armed robot letters
• How to write zigzag letters
• How to write curly caterpillar letters

Activity 2

Some letters are taller than others and some letters have a long tail. We can show this by looking at the shape of the word.

Look at the example image. Can you see how the 't' is taller than the 'ea' so the shapes are different?

Now, try matching the words in the table below to their shapes.

You can copy the shapes out, or just point to the right answers on the screen.

You can check your answers on this

Activity 3

We know that some letters are tall like 'h'.

We know that some letters have tails like 'p'.

We know that some letters are curly like 'a'.

Look at the letters in each group below. Pay attention to the size and shape of the letters.

Spot the odd one out and write down or explain why it is different.

One has been done for you.

1. a s t u
   The letter t is different because it is taller than the other letters.

2. p e y j

3. h b d v

4. w o m q

You can check your answers using this