Letter Lines

At a Glance

• Teaching handwriting often involves breaking down the structure of each letter into its parts, including Standing Tall Lines (vertical), Lying Down Lines (horizontal), Slant Lines (forward or backward), Clock Lines, Super C, and Smiles and Frowns.
• While some students struggle with all types of letter formation, others require extra assistance with straight letter lines.
• With tips to help students learn how to form each letter line at the correct size and in the correct direction, you can use special adaptive paper, taped patterns, and other tools. 

Learning Letters With Straight Lines

Letter lines are the lines that comprise each letter and number. Some letters have Standing Tall Lines that are straight up and down, many of which extend from the Top Line to the Bottom Line. Other letters with straight lines feature areas where the lines move horizontally across the page.

For each type of line, students must learn the directionality of letter formation, the height and length of each line, and how the different lines in each letter intersect. Learn more about letters with straight lines and how you can incorporate teaching them to your students during handwriting practice from the experts at Real OT Solutions®.

Some Letters Have Lying Down Lines

As we previously mentioned, there are several different types of lines used in letter formation, including:

• Slant Lines: These are letter lines that go forward or backward, depending on the direction the pencil moves in relation to the Go Line and Finish Line. Movement of the pencil toward the Finish Line is considered forward movement. Movement of the pencil toward the Go Line is considered backward movement. 
• Clock Lines: Writing these lines encourages you to wrap around an analog clock as if from 12 to 6. It’s actually a more natural movement for left-handed children, so for symmetrical-looking letters, this direction may be easiest and still produce the same result. 
• Counterclockwise: Some clock lines travel backwards, moving from 6 to 12, passing by 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1.
• Smiles Lines: These are letter lines that can either move down and up to the left or down and up to the right, thereby indicating a backward or forward smile, respectively. 
• Frown Lines: The opposite of smile lines, frowns move up and over to the left or up and over to the right, and similarly can be called backward or forward frown lines.

Once you’ve introduced and explained each of these letter lines, it’s time to ask the students to find letters that contain them. Have your students point out the letters with straight lines that go up and down or side to side. Ask them to point to the letters that use Clock lines. You can even create an exercise where you ask students to indicate how many straight lines are in each letter.

Tools for Letter Identification

You may already have many posters on the walls showcasing writing and letters. However, Real OT Solutions® prefers to offer efficient and tangible handwriting resources that ensure every student is on the right track. You can provide students with handwriting workbooks to keep on their desks, as well as incorporate educational posters and alphabet strips onto the walls.

Forming Lines Using Worksheets

On the Letterbox Worksheets, we have (what we call) the Letter Line Equations. This is our first step in helping preschoolers analyze each letter. We encourage teachers and therapists to explain how this works. Some examples for making explanations easy enough to understand include:

• The uppercase U is made up of one standing tall line, a smile, and another standing tall line.
• Upper Case R is made of one standing tall line, plus one clock, plus one slant letter line.

You get the idea!

After the children have completed all the printing and coloring tasks in their workbooks, they now have a second chance to review Letter Lines with an exercise that encourages students to cover the paper up to the Finish Line (although that is certainly optional), and a QUIZ!! 

• What letter lines are in an Upper-Case U?
• Which are the only letters with straight lines?
• What letters use Clock lines?

Students can prep for the quiz with the Letter Line Equations, which appear on all the worksheets.

Advanced Student Workbooks

With our handwriting program, your students are exposed to gradually more advanced exercises. The analysis of Letter Lines continues in our advanced Student Workbooks. Here, students are asked to count the number of letter Lines. In Upper Case F, how many Standing Tall lines? Lying down lines? Slant lines? Sometimes, the answer is none. We also continue to discuss different types of lines, culminating in the introduction of Super C.

Super C is our superhero because it’s a letter that acts as the starting point for five other letters. Once a student understands the letter “C”, they can more easily form other letters with this one as their base, including:

• C
• O
• Q
• G
• S

Just to make sure that children are clear on the directionality of stroke on these commonly reversed letters, all Super C letters come packaged with a little extra drama. A sound bite, if you will. So, while students are taught the sizes for each letter, they also learn to hear the refrain of the Super C letter formation.

Thoughts On Posters

So let’s talk about posters. At Real OT Solutions®, we firmly believe that posters are so much more than just decoration. Your posters should be an integral part of how you teach kids handwriting and must be brought to life by reading them aloud and pointing out the information they contain.

Ask your students if they like the posters and find them useful. And only after they say yes, should you actually hang them. Hanging the posters is also part of the lesson plan. Where would they like to place each poster? On the right wall, the bulletin board, a little higher, a little lower? 

Make a big deal about finding the exact right spot, certainly one of their choosing. For each poster, solicit a student’s help holding it and tacking it in place. Don’t hang the posters without the children’s input. Their role in the unfolding drama builds their investment.

This is the Super C poster. Pull it out only after the Super C lesson. And again, ask the children if they would like it? Would it help them? Then, only if they answer ‘yes’ should you make overtures to hang it. This poster serves as a clear reminder of which letters are Super Cs!

This is the poster for Letter Lines. As you can see, we introduce the common directional terms at this point as well. Standing tall lines can also be called vertical lines. Lying down lines are horizontal, and another name for a slant line is diagonal.

Make your poster hanging sessions dramatic! Suggest a ridiculously low spot, an obscured or hidden spot, and a clearly visible spot. The extra drama reinforces the buy-in.

Letter Lines & More at Real OT Solutions®

From teaching students how many letters have straight lines to which types of lines they need to write out specific letters, our writing program helps both students and teachers grow and thrive. Use the same terminology every time you teach, and reinforce your handwriting teaching methods with handy posters and workbooks!