How to write the letter E

Forming the capital E

Cue the bars by the line each one sits on, top line, dotted line, bottom line, rather than by counting to three; position sticks better than number. Uppercase E and lowercase e share nothing structurally, so expect children to import the top-left start into e until you show them the difference.

Start: Top line, at the left edge of the letter space

1. Pull one tall stroke down the left side, from the top line to the baseline.
2. Lift and set the pencil back on the exact spot where stroke one began, then travel rightward along the top line for the upper bar.
3. Lift to the point where the stem crosses the midline and travel rightward for the middle bar, stopping a little shorter than the outer two.
4. Lift to the foot of the stem on the baseline and travel rightward for the bottom bar.

Forming the lowercase e

e is the only lowercase letter that starts with a horizontal stroke in the middle of the space, so give it its own starting dot and its own lesson rather than folding it into a block with c and o. Once the bar is placed, the rest is the familiar counter-clockwise sweep.

Start: Roughly halfway between the midline and the baseline, at the left of the letter space, the only lowercase letter that opens with a horizontal stroke floating in mid-space

1. Draw a short flat stroke to the right across the middle of the x-height space, then curve the same unbroken line upward to touch the midline and carry it counter-clockwise over the top, down the left side and round the baseline, finishing just above the baseline on the right.

Common mistakes with e

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.

• Mirroring the whole letter so its opening faces the wrong way.
• Pulling the opening bar from right to left, against the direction every horizontal stroke should travel.
• Setting the bar too high, which squeezes the loop shut so the hole fills in.
• Starting the letter like c at the top and adding the bar last. This adds a pen lift and makes the shape come out differently every time.
• Shrinking the loop until the enclosed space vanishes and the letter reads as a blob at small sizes.

And with the capital E

• Mirroring the letter so all three bars sit to the left of the stem, E is one of the capitals children most often flip.
• Miscounting the bars and producing two or four instead of three.
• A middle bar set too high, set too low, or run out as far as the other two.
• Ruling the bars from right to left, back toward the stem.
• Three bars of visibly different lengths, giving the letter a ragged right edge.

Letters that move the same way

Letters with a one-off starting point: Neither letter starts where anything else does, e begins with a horizontal bar floating in the middle of the x-height space, f with a small curve just below the top line. Each needs its own starting dot and its own lesson rather than being folded into a family block.

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.

f

Practise E 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.