How to write the letter K

Forming the capital K

One landmark fixes nearly every K problem: both arms meet the stem at the midline. K usually comes first among the diagonals because it pairs a familiar full-height line with two short slants. Capital and lowercase k are the same shape at different heights, one of the few pairs where nothing changes.

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 to the top line on the right and slant down and to the left until the stroke touches the stem at the midline.
3. From that touching point, slant down and to the right to land on the baseline.

Forming the lowercase k

The arm starts at the midline, never the top line, that one detail is the whole difference between a lowercase k and a small capital. Teach it with the diagonal letters, since both the arm and the leg are true diagonals.

Start: On the top line, at the left of the letter space

1. Draw one straight line the full height of the letter, from the top line down to the baseline, then lift.
2. Set the pen on the midline to the right of the stem, slide diagonally down and left until it touches the stem about halfway between midline and baseline, then change direction and slide diagonally down and right to the baseline.

Common mistakes with k

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.

• Letting the arm and the leg meet each other out in space rather than on the stem, which leaves a visible gap beside the stem.
• Starting the arm up on the top line, which produces a shrunken capital K instead of a lowercase k.
• Drawing the leg too long or too flat, so it reads as a stroke of its own rather than part of the letter.
• Writing the whole letter at midline height instead of giving it a full-height ascender.

And with the capital K

• The two arms touching the stem at different points, leaving a fork or a gap.
• Arms so short the letter reads as a stem with a tick on it.
• Reversal, with both arms on the left of the stem; k is a commonly flipped letter.
• Drawing the lower arm upward from the baseline.
• The upper arm meeting the stem at the top line instead of the midline.

Letters that move the same way

Diagonal-stroke letters: Straight slanted strokes rather than curves, every one of them travelling top to bottom. v is the anchor: w repeats it, y extends its right arm below the baseline, x and k cross diagonals against another stroke, and z hangs two diagonally joined horizontals off the same movement.

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.

vwxyz

Practise K 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.