any cute little tricks to help b and d confusion?

[creekmom]

My 6 year old is having a really hard time with this - any suggestions?

[Pongo]

My 6 year old is having a really hard time with this - any suggestions?

 

 

 

B and d trick

[Ravin]

We've just been putting b = B and/or d = D up on the board (she likes doing phonics on the dry erase or chalk board), or on the side of her paper, so she can glance at it when she needs to check.

 

I figure she'll get it straight eventually, so I'm not worrying about it.

[christielee7278]

here is another idea.

[lionfamily1999]

Baby b is always running away, little d loves his Daddy :)

 

I don't know why they worked so well, but my dss remembered them.

 

ETA, because little b "runs away" from big B (Bb) and little d looks at big D (Dd). Thought I might want to clarify, I mean we all know I'm a couple marbles short, but I didn't want to leave TOO much room for more speculating on my mental stability ;)

Edited September 11, 2009 by lionfamily1999

[Pamela H in Texas]

We are doing a lot of practice. I really think that and time will make the biggest difference.

 

One thing we're doing is that our hwing program says that d is made with a mystery C so he can use that as a clue.

 

I figure he'll get it. I'm not worried. We'll just keep practicing.

[MyLittleWonders]

here is another idea.

We use the "bed" for b and d confusion. I printed a very similar picture off of Publisher - it hangs next to the chalkboard in the dining room for easy reference. I also taught my two older boys to make a "b" with their left fist (make a fist and stick up the thumb; if you hold your fist with your fingers towards you, it looks like a "b") and a "d" with their right fist (same idea as "b"). Put your two thumbs-up fists together in the shape of a bed (minus the "e") and you have an easy, portable way of telling the two letters. My boys will often make their fist b's and d's if we are reading on the couch and they need to sound out a word with either a b or d in it.

[MamaSheep]

here is another idea.

 

We use the "bed" for b and d confusion. I printed a very similar picture off of Publisher - it hangs next to the chalkboard in the dining room for easy reference. I also taught my two older boys to make a "b" with their left fist (make a fist and stick up the thumb; if you hold your fist with your fingers towards you, it looks like a "b") and a "d" with their right fist (same idea as "b"). Put your two thumbs-up fists together in the shape of a bed (minus the "e") and you have an easy, portable way of telling the two letters. My boys will often make their fist b's and d's if we are reading on the couch and they need to sound out a word with either a b or d in it.

 

We've just started this (making the "bed" with the hands) in the past couple of days and I already see an improvement in dd's ability to discern the difference. I think her mind just needed a hook to hang it on.

[Doodle]

here is another idea.

 

Thanks for this link. I saved and printed the poster.

[eternalknot]

My 6 year old is having a really hard time with this - any suggestions?

 

:o maybe this won't work for everyone, but it sure cleared things up here!

 

b has a big booty/bum.

 

d is like Daddy (and has a big belly).

 

My 3 year old hasn't confused them ever since her older brother came up with this um, gem.

[Ellie]

I would expect a little 6yo to still have trouble with this. :-)

 

This is how Spalding does that:

 

Those two letters are not taught at the same time, or even *talked* about together, KWIM?

 

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 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 a circle.

 

Using prompts like this all the time, especially connecting the physical, writing part with the auditory part, really does help

[ElizabethB]

I do all uppercase for the first year!

 

Here are some ideas and exercises that have been helpful for my remedial students:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/dbdb.html

[lisasaysto]

When you say /d/, your lips make a circle.

 

I can't say a pure /d/ sound with my lips in a circle. In fact, I don't seem to use my lips at all to say /d/. :confused1:

 

We have used the b-d trick with our hands and it seems to work really well for my kids.

[Snickerdoodle]

I say, "b is like h but closed at the bottom. d starts with a magic C"

[Jumping In Puddles]

We used what HWT recommended:

 

honey bee. You start by making an h, but you turn it into a b.

 

So my dc look at the letter d and see if it is a "honey b" if not, then it is a d!

[Guest pkec99]

My dd also had this problem. I am not sure where I found it...somewhere on line, but I taught her if the stick is first it is a b and if the circle is first it is a d. I would ask her what came first when she got confused. It really worked for her.

 

Karla

 

DD 5

DS 2

[EKS]

If you put the b and d close together (bd) it makes a bed between them. What I used as a kid (and I made this up myself I'm pretty sure) is that b goes forward and it comes first in the alphabet, d goes backwards and it comes second.

[Emmy]

We've just been putting b = B and/or d = D up on the board (she likes doing phonics on the dry erase or chalk board), or on the side of her paper, so she can glance at it when she needs to check.

 

I figure she'll get it straight eventually, so I'm not worrying about it.

 

That's pretty much what I do except I write it on an index card for them to use throughout the day. Eventually they stop needing the card. All 3 of my oldest boys have had this issue.

[DianeJM]

I would teach d and b separately, including the d in the "circle" lettlers. So, you make the circle first. That's the way the Spalding and Sanseri people do it, and it makes the most sense to me. Those letters are o, c, d, g, and so on. You teach them in a bunch. The b is nowhere to be seen, until later, when the stick letters are taught, such as l, h, b, etc. For my kids that was a giant help.

 

And now when my son still may get confused and start to write b instead of d, I will just say, make the circle first, then he knows exactly what to do.

[creekmom]

Thanks for all the great ideas! :001_smile:

[Ellie]

I can't say a pure /d/ sound with my lips in a circle. In fact, I don't seem to use my lips at all to say /d/. :confused1:

 

We have used the b-d trick with our hands and it seems to work really well for my kids.

Your lips are open, aren't they? Otherwise, you'd be saying /b/. They make *sort of* a circle. It's a way of helping the dc connect the sound, the physical, and the visual together.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

DD already knew left and right so I told her that b's have a bump on the right and d's have a bump on the left. It also helps to focus on the formation of the letters. With b you start with a line and with d you start with a curve.

[LoveBaby]

We use the "bed" for b and d confusion. I printed a very similar picture off of Publisher - it hangs next to the chalkboard in the dining room for easy reference. I also taught my two older boys to make a "b" with their left fist (make a fist and stick up the thumb; if you hold your fist with your fingers towards you, it looks like a "b") and a "d" with their right fist (same idea as "b"). Put your two thumbs-up fists together in the shape of a bed (minus the "e") and you have an easy, portable way of telling the two letters. My boys will often make their fist b's and d's if we are reading on the couch and they need to sound out a word with either a b or d in it.

 

 

That's how I've taught my oldest 2 and it's worked really well.

[Evergreen State Sue]

We use the "bed" for b and d confusion. .. I also taught my two older boys to make a "b" with their left fist (make a fist and stick up the thumb; if you hold your fist with your fingers towards you, it looks like a "b") and a "d" with their right fist (same idea as "b"). Put your two thumbs-up fists together in the shape of a bed (minus the "e") and you have an easy, portable way of telling the two letters. My boys will often make their fist b's and d's if we are reading on the couch and they need to sound out a word with either a b or d in it.

 

That's what we did here. :thumbup:

[Aloha2U]

any cute little tricks to help b and d confusion?

 

Not cute, but I taught my little man cursive first and I believe that to be a huge help. ;)

[Sandy in Indy]

b has a belly; d has a derriere.

 

DS loved this and it made him laugh. After a short time I'd say, "Does it have...?" and before I could say belly, he'd shout out the answer.

[kls126s]

I made an index card that said "Bb Dd" on it and stuck it on the fridge next to where we did school work. She was free to look at it anytime she needed to double check and eventually she had it figured out.

[littleWMN]

We love this one!

 

http://boostforreaders.com/mrbeadyeyes.html

 

We also used the bed trick and the hands.

[Earth Angel_79]

I do all uppercase for the first year!

]

 

HA! I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one. I generally steer clear of programs that teach lower-case first.

I like the bed and hand tips!

[ElizabethB]

HA! I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one. I generally steer clear of programs that teach lower-case first.

 

 

I like to write things out on the whiteboard at that age, so you just re-write in uppercase.

 

It holds attention better and reinforces the L to R direction of writing and reading.

[Annabel Lee]

I'd never heard of any of these tricks, so I just made up my own when my 13-yr. old was little:

For b: "The bat hits the ball" (because we read from L to R, the stick hits the ball, and both start w/ "b")

For d: "The dog chases the stick" (again, look at the parts of the letter from L to R, the little ball of the d is the "dog" and that starts w/ "d")

Wish I had known about some of these others when I needed them!

[robsiew]

I haven't read all your responses, so maybe this is a repeat... I have a card with "bed" written on it (and put it in front of them when they read or write). Helps them to remember the "b" is at the beginning, the "d" at the end (forming the mattress with the e). My K still needs this prompt... my 2nd grader has it down after struggling last year.