Letter sizing

Neat, consistent writing is quicker to read and reads as "ready" in a written task. James forms letters well — this is about making the sizes consistent.

In kid words

Letters live in three "houses" on the line:
🏠 Tall letters reach the roof: b d f h k l t (and all capitals).
🚪 Small letters fill the middle floor only: a c e i m n o r s u v w x z.
🕳️ Tail letters hang down into the cellar: g j p q y.
Every letter should sit on the line — not floating or sinking.

Worked example

Use paper with a baseline (the floor) and a dotted midline (the middle ceiling). The word "hop":

h — tall, goes up to the roof.
o — small, fills the midline floor only.
p — small body, with a tail dropping below the line.

The trick: small letters all touch the dotted midline and no higher. If his o and e are as tall as his h, that's the thing to nudge.

Exercises

📄 Printable: Guided handwriting paper.

Warm-up · sort the houses

Say a letter; he says "tall, small, or tail?" Try: a, l, g, e, t, y, o, h.

Answers

a-small, l-tall, g-tail, e-small, t-tall, y-tail, o-small, h-tall.

Core · on the lines

On midline paper, write each word and check every small letter stops at the dotted line:
cat dog sun play hop

Then he circles his own neatest letter and his wobbliest one.

Stretch · a tidy sentence

Write: My dog can hop. Aim for: capital M tall, small letters at the midline, the tail on "g" dropping below. One sentence, done carefully, beats a whole page rushed.

Play it

Games that build this Rainbow trace: write a word lightly, he traces over it 3 times in different colours, keeping inside the houses.
Sky-ground-grass: colour three stripes (sky/grass/ground = roof/middle/cellar) and write letters into the right stripes.

Watch for (grown-up note)

James's slip: small letters drawn nearly as tall as tall letters. Keep sessions short (a few lines) so his hand doesn't tire — fatigue is when sizing slips. Match the pre-cursive style NSB uses so school and home agree; ask his teacher which scheme if unsure. Printable midline paper goes in printables (coming).

Words we used

Baseline, midline (added to the glossary as we go).

Note for the log

In log/, jot: are small letters now stopping at the midline? Which letters still need work?