How to write the letter S

Forming the capital S

S asks for a change of direction halfway through, which is why it stays wobbly long after C and O have become reliable. Use the midline as the landmark for the switch, curve back, then change your mind at the dotted line. Capital and lowercase s are the same shape at different sizes.

Start: Top line, just right of the centre of the letter space

1. One unbroken double curve: curl back and to the left across the top, sweep counter-clockwise down to about the midline, then change direction and curve clockwise down, out to the left and around, finishing on the baseline with the tail opening up to the left.

Forming the lowercase s

s opens with the same counter-clockwise movement as c, which makes c the natural prerequisite; the genuinely new skill is reversing direction halfway down. Given how often it reverses, an explicit starting dot at the upper right earns its place here more than almost anywhere else.

Start: Just below the midline at the right of the letter space, the same dot as c

1. Swing up and to the left to touch the midline and begin travelling counter-clockwise as if starting c, then reverse the curve halfway down, swing clockwise down and to the right, and finish by curving back to the left just above the baseline.

Common mistakes with s

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. After b and d, s is the letter children reverse most often.
• Making the top and bottom curves the same size; the upper curve should sit slightly smaller than the lower one.
• Building the letter from the bottom upward.
• Flattening the change of direction, which makes the letter read as z or as a squiggle.
• Turning the two curves into corners.

And with the capital S

• A full mirror image, backwards S is among the most persistent reversals.
• Confusing S with Z, a documented reversal pair.
• A top curve much larger than the bottom one, or the reverse.
• Beginning on the baseline and working upward.
• Turning the change of direction into a sharp corner instead of a smooth switch.

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.

coadgq

Practise S 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.