Parts of the Body: Write the Word

Six numbered coral discs sit on the figure that fills the left of this 1st grade page, and six numbered rows of letter boxes run down the right. There is no word bank. The child finds the part that disc four is on, decides what it is called, and writes the name one letter to a box. The sheet shown marks the mouth, the arm, the elbow, the hand, the knee and a toe, so the rows ask for five, three, five, four, four and three letters in that order.

Taking the bank away turns a copying page into a spelling page, and the letter boxes are what keep it fair: the count tells a child how long the word is before they start, which is enough support at six without giving the word itself. Two markers sit on the same arm again, one for the limb and one for the joint, and the elbow row asks for five letters while the arm row asks for three, so the boxes settle the pair.

One sheet, six markers, twenty-four boxes. Print the labelling page alongside it if the words are still new: that sheet supplies the bank this one withholds. Be ready to point at the mouth and the knee on the figure, since the numbered discs are printed on top of the very features they name and cover the smile and one knee crease.