Waffle Letters butter drip shows the direction of handwriting

Capital and lowercase letters with start spot butter drip alphabet

Match up the letters in the waffle maker, or trace them out with marker or playdough. The important thing is to always start your letters at the top. The butter dip shows the direction in which your pencil should start to draw these letters. It is a great way to sort the letter too. Which ones curve, which letters slide, and which letters are straight?

This is a fun way to add play with practice in a dramatic way.

C-shaped letters, c, g, d, a, s, all have the same start. © Pure Joy Teaching

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This can be printed out for all kinds of fun play, matching, or tracing.

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Pirate Letters Handwriting Storybook By D. Passmore

This makes handwriting a fun adventure with easy-to-trace images that follow a logical pattern. Orton-Gillingham Style letter grouping.

Less letter confusion with b and d reversal problems solved.

The colorful bird points out the all-important vowel sounds.

Four books in one. The complete lowercase letter handwriting storybook collection.

Treasure-seeking pirates find things in the sand to trace around. This is how they learn the new skill of handwriting. Pirate-themed word-play helps create a memorable and fun storyline, with playful use of the letters: r, i, c, and x. The similar grouping of letter shapes makes it easy for them to learn the four-letter groups quickly. Special attention is shown to the importance of the vowel letters. With the help of a chatty parrot, the story has incorporated a few vowel sounds. Each letter has a specific visual cue to demonstrate the correct letter starting point. The letters are organized in clusters to help correct letter reversal errors. Each book in the series shares a close relation to Orton-Gillingham’s Style of handwriting instruction groups.
Handwriting is an adventure to treasure.

The four titles included in this book: R’s Pirate Letters, C Pirate Letters, I Pirate Letters, X Pirate Letters.

Posters and cards for this writing lesson that match this book.

1. r, n, m, h, b, p – Letter r is seaweed on the sand, the pirates trace the /r/ shape and that helps to make the other letters in this group. These are the dive down, slide up, and hook letters. Dark blue water on the bottom of the cards.

2. c, a, g, d, q, o, s, e – Letter c is half a coconut. The pirates trace around it in the sand to make the curved letters in this group. These are the /c/ curved letters that share the same starting point. Letter e was added to this group. (funny story in the book for letter /e/) Tallgrass on the bottom of the cards.

3. i, j, l, t, f, k – Letter i, are tracks made by turtle-hatchlings. The pirates copy the straight line letters in the sand. Light blue water on the bottom of the cards.

4. v, w, y, x, z, u – Letter v, traces around a shark’s tooth. These are the slanted line letters. Letter u was added to this group. (funny story in the book for letter /u/) Tree trunks on the top of these cards.

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© Pure Joy Teaching

Handwriting Cards 4 sets Pirate Letters

Easy letter formation instruction with four sets of illustrated card and posters.

Orton Gillingham Style Illustrated Handwriting worksheets and cards.

Lower case letter support to stop letter reversal errors.

© Pure Joy Teaching

1. r, n, m, h, b, p – Letter r is seaweed on the sand, the pirates trace the /r/ shape and that helps to make the other letters in this group. These are the dive down, slide up, and hook letters. Dark blue water on the bottom of the cards.

2. c, a, g, d, q, o, s, e – Letter c is half a coconut. The pirates trace around it in the sand to make the curved letters in this group. These are the /c/ curved letters that share the same starting point. Letter e was added to this group. (funny story in the book for letter /e/) Tallgrass on the bottom of the cards.

3. i, j, l, t, f, k – Letter i, are tracks made by turtle-hatchlings. The pirates copy the straight line letters in the sand. Light blue water on the bottom of the cards.

4. v, w, y, x, z, u – Letter v, traces around a shark’s tooth. These are the slanted line letters. Letter u was added to this group. (funny story in the book for letter /u/) Tree trunks on the top of these cards.

© Pure Joy Teaching

Starting the r letter set is what the pirates do. This is the best letter to set kids up for the correct starting and stopping pencil strokes that they will need for good writing habits. This letter needs to start at the top. It has the same common pattern as the often tricky letter b. (r, h, b, they all go the same way)

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Get your set of cards and worksheets HERE!

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X Pirate Letters: Handwriting Storybook for learning the lowercase letters v, w, y, x, z & u.

Orton-Gillingham Style Handwriting in a storybook to make learning the letters a fun adventure.

This is the fourth book in the handwriting series.

The pirate’s lower case letter adventure is coming to a close with one of their favorite letters the X.

In this book they will learn the slanted letters: v, w, y, x, v and surprise the last vowel the letter u. The letter u is a very funny part of the story and it includes the vowel sound in the story. Thanks to the helpful parrot that flies by.

In this storybook, the lowercase letters are grouped to help improve muscle memory and indicate a common starting point. The pictures illustrate a sensory experience of writing in the sand to stimulate the brain for learning. With letters grouped by similar starting points and slanted downstrokes, it can speed up the handwriting process and improve letter print recognition for reading. Images of the letters share the same shape to help avoid common letter reversal errors. Special attention to made to the vowel letter, by a colorful bird. Paired with a fun and memorable story to engage the interests of young students.

This is a perfect book to use with sand tray letters.

The whole pirate adventure is available in one storybook on Amazon. The Pirate Letters: Lowercase Handwriting Storybook.

This is a wonderful way to teach handwriting in the Orton-Gillingham style letter groups.

Handwriting worksheets and cards for this book are available HERE on Teachers Pay Teachers.

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I Pirate Letters Storybook for handwriting lowercase letters

Orton-Gillingham Style Handwriting in a story book to make learning fun.

This is the third book in the handwriting series.

The adventure continues, the pirates think that someone has been digging for treasure on the island. A huge surprise in the sand leads them to learn the next set of straight-line letters.

These letters are the third handwriting group they learn: i, j, l, t, f, k.

In this storybook, the lowercase letters are grouped to help improve muscle memory and indicate a common starting point. The pictures illustrate a sensory experience of writing in the sand to stimulate the brain for learning. With letters grouped by similar starting points and straight downstrokes, it can speed up the handwriting process and improve letter print recognition for reading. Images of the letters share the same shape to help avoid common letter reversal errors. Special attention to made to the vowel letter, by a colorful bird. Paired with a fun and memorable story to engage the interests of young students.

This is a perfect book to use with sand tray letters.

The next book in the series is “X Pirate Letters.

The 4 book series can be purchased on AMAZON

Enjoy! Have Pure Joy Teaching

C Pirate Letters Handwriting Storybook

The second book in the series Pirate Handwriting letter formation

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C Pirate Letters: Handwriting Storybook Lowercase Letter Formation

This is the second book in the series Pirate Handwriting.

The lowercase letters are grouped to help improve muscle memory, picture a sensory experience to stimulate the brain for learning, and avoid common letter reversal errors. In a storybook style, the letters are grouped by similar starting points and curved strokes to speed up the handwriting process and improve letter print recognition for reading. Presented with a fun and memorable story to engage the interests of young students.

This is the second group of letters that they learn: c, a, g, d, q, o, s, e.

These letters all share the common c shape.

They also start to recognize vowel sounds, with the help of a colorful bird and a curious monkey they find on the island.

Vowels a,o, and e.

By D. Passmore

The next book in the series is: I Pirate Letters

R’s Pirate Letters Handwriting Storybook

The first book in the series Pirate Handwriting letter formation

R’s Pirate Letters: Handwriting Storybook Lowercase Letter Formation

This is the first book in the Pirate Handwriting series.

The letters in this book all share a similar ‘r’ shape and fine motor direction with a common downstroke and slide-up hook.

Letters: r, n, m, h, b, p

Treasure-seeking pirates are distracted by a new adventure. That leads them to start learning the valuable skill of handwriting. 

The lowercase letters are grouped to help improve muscle memory, picture a sensory experience to stimulate the brain for learning, and avoid common letter reversal errors.  With letters that are grouped by similar starting points and down strokes to speed up the handwriting process and improve letter print recognition for reading.  Paired with a fun and memorable story to engage the interests of young students.

The second book in the series is: C Pirate Letters, By D. Passmore

Letters: c, a, g, d, q, o, s, e

Awesome Animal Alphabet Poems: ABC – Book

Created to help children learn the correct starting points for the lower case letters, and create an auditory link between the visually related objects that make the correct letter sound. Each page has color animal actions to follow.

This book can be found on Amazon HERE

The students really like the letter u page. they laugh at the word underwear. Uncle umbrella bird flies under the underwear, these are all short u vowels sounds. This is important because bossy r words block the short u sound and the long u words like ukulele do not help students with the short vowel decoding of CVC words. (consonant vowel consonant)

Ukulele is also a Hawaiian word, so the long e sound at the end of word does not follow the normal English spelling rules.

Letter tracing cards can be found on my Teachers Pay Teachers shop – Pure Joy Teaching

Link to my shop HERE

You can download and print these cards, that are based on the my book. Use them in your classroom or home to help students with handwriting.

Air Writing ABC Book

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Download and print the flashcards for this book. Teachers Pay Teachers


For play-based learning; with Air Writing

Students can pretend to be an airplane, and mirror the letter movements of the teacher. This exercise can help them learn the correct starting and stopping points of the capital letters. The helpful green dot shows the starting point of the letter, with numbered steps for letters that have more than one step. Valuable teacher instruction pages and Flash Card pages that can be cut out of the book to use in class. The reversed alphabet chart on the back cover of this book, helps to remind the teacher in which direction to make the letters. Very helpful when the book or the card is facing the students.

Mirror image; Why does it look backwards?

Remember my right is your left, when we are facing each other. This book will help teachers so the students will NOT be seeing the reversed Image by mistake. It can aid and support future handwriting success, while learning feels like play.

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