b and d Reversal Poster

About this resource

Help children tell b from d with one picture they can remember: the bed. b and d are the two bed posts, and your two thumbs make the same bed. This is 20 pages: a bed poster, a b poster, a d poster, a bed hand trick card, word cards to cut and sort, desk strips so the trick stays close, a sort mat and a fill-in page. Print what you need, or type into the pages first.

EVERYTHING INSIDE (20 pages)

• 3 big posters, one to a page: the bed poster (the word bed with b and d as the posts), the b poster (the ball, with bat, bear, bus and book) and the d poster (the dog, with door, doll, duck and donut). Every word has its own picture.
• 1 bed hand trick card: two fists, thumbs up, curled fingers toward you, thumbs on the outside. The left fist looks like b, the right fist looks like d, and the thumbs are the bed posts. Four numbered steps with the hands shown.
• 16 picture word cards to cut, each in color and in ink-saver: 8 b words (ball, bat, bear, bus, book, banana, boat, bee) and 8 d words (dog, door, doll, duck, dinosaur, donut, dolphin, drum). Each card has a picture and its word, set edge to edge, 4 across and 4 down, so each cut is one straight line.
• 8 desk strips to cut on each sheet, in color and in ink-saver: the ball with b, the bed, and the dog with d, with a short reminder under each. 48 pieces across four cut sheets in all.
• 1 sort mat with a home for b and for d and lines to write each word.
• 1 fill-in page with 10 items, each with a picture: write b or d to finish the word, then write the whole word on the line.
• Teacher pages: Start Here with a which-page-when chart, five short steps to teach it, an answer key, a class roll-up, a note to families, and a binder cover with spine and 4 tabs.
• Contents, terms of use and a thank-you page.

How To Use It

Hang the bed poster, then the b and d posters, and read the words together. Teach the hand trick: two fists, thumbs up, thumbs on the outside; the left fist is b and the right fist is d. Cut the word cards and let children say each word, check the first letter with the trick, and sort it on the mat. Children then fill in b or d. Give each child a desk strip to keep the trick close, and use the roll-up to see which words to practice again.

Built For The Child Holding The Page

Every student page has a big "My name" line, one short direction with a picture, and room to write. The b is blue and the d is red on every page, and everything reads in black and white too. Cut pages come in a color set and an ink-saver set.

Type In, Or Print

The name lines, the sort mat, the fill-in page, the class roll-up, the family note and every notes area are type-in fields in any PDF reader. You can also print any page and write by hand. Print at 100 percent with fit-to-page turned off. This is a fillable PDF; it is not a Google Slides or PowerPoint file.

Who This Is For

Kindergarten to 2nd grade classrooms, self-contained and resource rooms, phonics and handwriting centers, paraprofessionals, substitutes, and families who want to practice the same trick at home.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

Classroom posters, cards and working paper for telling b from d. The bed trick is a memory aid. It is not a full phonics or handwriting program, it does not replace your own reading curriculum, and it makes no claim about any child.