Joely's been learning to read, and as is typical for children her age, she was having trouble differentiating between lower-case "b"s and "d"s. I'd been trying to figure out a good way to solve the problem, so I came up with this little illustration to help her remember which way "b" and "d" face. Associating the direction of the letter with the simple illustration has really helped her recognize the difference between "b" and "d."
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I've also seen phonics programs teach the kids to read and spell the word "bed" and draw a person sleeping in the bed where the b is the headboard and the d is the footboard.
HTH
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Love these buddies. I teach K5, using A Beka Book and have been using the "bed" illustration, but it isn't working for all my kids. It is nice to have something different to try. Another tip that I have picked up is to hold your hands in the thumbs up position and and touch your bottom knuckles. It makes a bed and then they can see the b and d. Just thought I would share that.
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I hope I can explain this in writing well. I had the putting b's and d's to bed poster on my wall for the most of the year when a friend of mine suggested they use their hands. She was right when she pointed out that they have them with them everywhere they go, unlike the poster. When you point your index finger out in front of you and bring the rest of you fingers together behind to form a circle, your left hand makes a b and your right hand makes a d. Since b comes before d in the alphabet, you remember the b sound comes first and goes with the left hand and the d sound goes secod with the shape of your right hand. It seems to have really helped them to check their own reading and writing and improved the frequency that they get it correct the first time before checking.
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