What it is. Down-stroke letters pull straight down from the top; the c-family all begin with the same curve to the left.
Why our test works. Nearly every badly formed letter is a correctly shaped letter drawn in the wrong order — usually bottom to top. Asking where the pencil STARTED catches the fault while it is still a habit rather than after the letter is finished and looks acceptable.
Leans on. Lesson 1's grip. A poor grip makes a correct stroke almost impossible.
Watch for. c, o, a, d, g and q all start in the same place. A child who starts one of them differently will get the shape but lose the speed.
Form the down-stroke letters and the c-family, starting every one at the top. The worked example is the one you build on the board: Teacher forms l, i, t saying 'top, straight down, stop', then shows that c, o, a, d, g and The class reads the teaching page printed at the top of the sheet — our own writing, so a child who was absent can still get the lesson.
You open by saying where this sits — what it follows and what it is part of — in one sentence, and then you give them the reason it matters, in your own words, for about ten seconds.
Then you do one yourself, building it on the board and leaving it up: Teacher forms l, i, t saying 'top, straight down, stop', then shows that c, o, a, d, g and q all begin with the SAME curve — around to the left — and that a, d, g, q are just c plus one more stroke. Both families stay on the board. The board copy is what they look back at when they stall, so it stays there for the whole lesson.
The We-do is the main whiteboard moment of the lesson — short answers, boards up on your signal, every child visible at once. Class air-writes each family with the teacher's words, then traces. Teacher checks two things only: every stroke starts at the top, and every c-family letter starts with the same curve. If the answer is a whole sentence rather than a word, take it on the printed sheet instead, because a sentence written on a whiteboard is written once and destroyed.
They read the teaching page — printed at the top of today's sheet — with you, either read-aloud or FASE, never round robin. Stop at the worked example and let them look at it.
Exit directions in full, standing still, before anyone moves. Then they work alone: Trace then copy a row of each letter. Circle the one letter in each row you formed best.
You close on the exit direction — Hold up one letter that starts with the c curve. — taken from every child before anyone stands, and then the line you want them to still have tomorrow: Every letter starts at the top.
c, o, a, d, g and q all start in the same place. A child who starts one of them differently will get the shape but lose the speed.