Any neat little tricks to identify 'b' and 'd' easier?

[3flowers]

My daughter is having trouble telling 'b' and 'd' apart. I can't seem to think of any neat tricks to help her out.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

[Aletheia Academy]

Phonics Pathways uses a little picture of the word "bed" with a mattress being supported on top of the word. They suggest keeping it nearby on a post-it or index card.

[Peek a Boo]

the best i know is to focus on only one for a long solid while --lots of activities and words that do not have the other letter in them. crafts decorating the letter: mosaics, collage, print an outline and color it like stained glass, then color that w/ black and let her scratch the black off, make the letter w/ food or bread/cookie dough, etc.

but she'll get it sorted out eventually. how old is she? --even my 10yos still reverses the letters ocassionally.
good luck!

[Audrey]

'b' makes a belly; 'd' a derriere. It used to make my ds laugh, but he remembers it every time!

[WTMCassandra]

This is what we used. I mounted the picture on a 3x5 card and used it for our PP bookmark. It worked well for us.

[WTMCassandra]

Now, that's one I've never heard before!

[Pensguys]

'b' has a belly and 'd' has doughnut first.

[Teresa in OR]

Here's a cute picture for the "bed" trick, which helped my dd:

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/bed%20poster.pdf

[3flowers]

I think I've seen the 'bed' picture before. Hmm.. I'll try and make my own little picture of that.

''b' makes a belly; 'd' a derriere' This made me giggle! :D I tried telling her that b was a belly but I never thought of derriere for d. I can see how it would work, especially if they find it funny.

[3flowers]

Here's a cute picture for the "bed" trick, which helped my dd:

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/bed%20poster.pdf

Oh, thank you Teresa! Now I won't have to draw it myself. yeah!

[Ester]

Write a big "B", then trace the small "b" inside the big B with bold color.

[Sue G in PA]

That's how I tell my son. Lowercase b is hiding in uppercase b. Lowercase d just stands alone. Not real original, but it helps him.

[Ellie]

the way that Spalding teaches b and d is this:

"b" is a tall letter with a short part. It begins with a line (the tall part) and ends with a circle (the short part). When you say /b/, your lips make sort of a line.

"d" is a short letter with a tall part. It begins with a circle (the short part) and ends with a line (the tall part). When you say /d/, your lips make sort of a circle.

Dc do remember these better when the sounds and the writing of the letters are so clearly connected.

[OceanBreeze]

'b' makes a belly; 'd' a derriere. It used to make my ds laugh, but he remembers it every time!

Love this! I think I'll use it.

Jenelle

[Testimony]

Hold up your left hand, make a circle with your pointer and thumb, then hold up all the other fingers together. What letter do you see? b

Do the same for your right hand. What letter do you see?d

Blessings,
Karen
www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

[Emmy]

I make up an index card with Bb on the left and Dd on the right. My kids call this their B&D card and they use it when working on workbooks or reading for as long as they need to.

[Nan in Mass]

That all those tricks depend on your ability to be able to tell which direction you are supposed to be reading. The bed trick will work ONLY if the child is already reading something and knows which direction to go. If you present me with a d or a b with no other writing around to compare it to to determine which direction I am going, I may or may not (depending on the day) be able to tell you which letter it is. The worst part is that I don't know that I've gotten them backwards when I've gotten them backwards. Sometimes my left and right are just switched.

My advice is to teach the bed trick, make sure you teach a different looking b and d (cursive helps), and then not worry about it. This affects my adult life almost nil. I just am careful to tell someone giving me directions in a car to point and not just say "turn right". My wedding ring has been the biggest help GRIN.

-Nan

[Kuovonne]

In "The Reading Lesson" which I am using with DD, they put a dot in the middle of the circle of the "b". Then they fad out the dot. It helped her, and it would be easy to add to "b"s in other simple readers.

-Kuovonne

[Sandy in Indy]

'b' makes a belly; 'd' a derriere. It used to make my ds laugh, but he remembers it every time!

I picked this up last week, and my ds thinks it's a hoot. All I have to do is ask "is it a belly or..." and he starts chuckling. It's really helped him with b and d.

[K&Rs Mom]

A trick I learned from someone here: make two fists with "thumbs up" and the finger parts to the inside. See the "b" and "d" shapes? Imagine the "e" in-between to spell "bed." I'd tell K "make the bed" and she could look at her hands and know by the sounds which end said "buh" and which end said "duh." She's definitely a visual learner, and this worked almost immediately. Thanks again to whoever mentioned this on the old boards!

[Sasharowan]

I told my son that the b is the bat hitting the ball and the d comes after c so it is a c with a stick. I'm not sure how much it helped; it was only a cople days ago.

[Rod Everson]

Hi,

I've worked with about 200 struggling readers over the past 10 years. The method I describe in Telling b from d (http://ontrackreading.com/tidbits/telling-b-from-d) worked for all of them, and quickly.

Actually, Ellie already mentioned it, but I go into more detail on how I implement it. As Ellie said, credit goes to Romalda Spalding.

Rod Everson
OnTrack Reading (http://ontrackreading.com)

[Oak Knoll Mom]

The way I taught my boys is that b starts with a baseball bat and d starts with a donut. I drew little pictures of a b where the line at the beginning was a bat and a d where the circle at the beginning was a donut. Now when my 6 year old gets to a b or d and can't remember, I just prompt him with "is that a bat or donut." The whole bed thing didn't work for us because you really need to be able to read somewhat for that trick to work.

[ArwenA]

'b' makes a belly; 'd' a derriere. It used to make my ds laugh, but he remembers it every time!

:smilielol5:

We've always done the bed thing, but this is way better.:)