How to write the letter A

Forming the capital A

The spoken sequence is: start at the top middle, slant down to the left, back up to the top, slant down to the right, then hop to the middle and rule a short line across. A is a poor choice for a child's very first letter, because it needs both diagonal strokes and midline crossing, and both develop late. Uppercase A and lowercase a share no strokes whatsoever.

Start: Top line, at the centre of the letter space (the apex)

1. From the apex, pull a long slanted stroke down and to the left, landing on the baseline.
2. Go back up to the apex and pull a second long slanted stroke down and to the right, landing on the baseline.
3. Hop back into the middle of the letter and rule a short bar across, joining the two legs at about the midline.

Forming the lowercase a

a is simply the c curve carried round and closed, with a short line pulled down its right side. Keep the starting dot at the upper right so the pen falls naturally into the counter-clockwise direction; children who start at the top of the circle almost always travel the wrong way round it.

Start: Just below the midline at the upper right of the letter space, the same dot used by every counter-clockwise curve letter

1. Swing up and to the left until the pen meets the midline, then keep the curve running counter-clockwise over the top, down the left-hand side, along the baseline and back up the right until it seals against the point where you began.
2. Set the pen on the midline where it meets the right-hand edge of the circle and draw straight down, stopping on the baseline.

Common mistakes with a

These are the errors that actually show up on the page, rather than a generic list. Watching for them while a child writes is far more useful than correcting the finished sheet.

• Drawing the straight line first and hanging a circle beside it. Children who build the letter this way have to guess which side the circle goes on, and that guess is what later turns into a/d and b/d muddles.
• Running the circle clockwise, which breaks the movement a shares with c, o, d, g and q.
• Leaving a gap where the circle should seal, so the finished letter reads as u, or as c with a line next to it.
• Fixing the straight line to the left of the circle instead of the right.
• Copying the two-storey printed a seen in books rather than the single-storey shape used in handwriting.

And with the capital A

• A crossbar set too near the apex, or dropped almost to the baseline, instead of resting near the midline.
• Legs that miss each other at the top, leaving a gap or a small crossed X above the join.
• Ruling the crossbar before the two legs are in place.
• Legs drawn too close to upright, so the letter starts to read as an H.
• Beginning a leg on the baseline and pushing upward.
• Segmenting the letter, one slant, then a mark for the middle, then the other slant. That is a recognised sign the child is not yet ready for diagonals.

Letters that move the same way

Letters that begin with a counter-clockwise curve: The pen starts just below the midline at the upper right of the letter space and travels counter-clockwise, up and left to the midline, over the top and down the left side. c leaves the shape open, o closes it, a/d/g/q close it and add a line on the right, and s reverses direction halfway down. Teaching c properly buys most of this family for free.

Teaching these together is more efficient than working through the alphabet in order, because the hand is learning one movement rather than several unrelated ones.

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Practise A with words

Once the letter is reliable on its own, move to words that start with it. Letters learned in isolation often fall apart the first time a child has to join them to anything.