Formation of b and p | English | Quizalize & Oak National Academy

Starter quiz

Select the correct formation of the letter h.
Select the correct formation of the letter k.
Select the letter b.

b ✓

g

h

b ✓

h
Select the letter p.

g

b

p ✓

p ✓

b
Why do we use tramlines when practising our handwriting?

to keep letters straight ✓

to distract people when writing

to keep letters the same shape and size ✓

they look nice
Place the line names of the tramlines in order from top to bottom.

1

⇔

ascender line

2

⇔

x-height line

3

⇔

baseline

4

⇔

descender line

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The letter b has an ascender.
The letter p has a descender.
The letters b and p are formed by "going down and back up and around".
The middle part of the letters b and p are x-height letters and sit in the middle set of the tramlines.

Children can become confused about which of the tramlines to start and end b and p on.

Explicit naming of the start and end points and modelling of this.

Ascender - the part of a letter that extends above the level of the top of an "x"
Baseline - this is the line that most letters sit on
Tramlines - straight, parallel lines that we can use as a guide to help us write neatly and keep our letters the same size
Descender - the part of a letter that descends below the level of the bottom of an "x"