Letter V
Preschool · 3–5Color the big letter V, with Van, violin and volcano to name as you go. V is the gentlest of the diagonal letters: two strokes meeting at one sharp point, with capital and lowercase identical so there is only one shape to learn. Keep the bottom pointed or it drifts into a U, its neighbour in both the alphabet and in shape. The sound is F with the voice switched on. Filling a letter in at this size does something tracing does not: the child's eye follows the whole outline slowly, so the shape registers before a pencil ever has to reproduce it. Say the sound rather than the letter name while you color — the sound is what reading actually needs. Print it on A4 or US Letter, or color it online with tap-to-fill.
Two lines and a point
V is the simplest of the diagonal letters: two strokes meeting at a single point at the bottom. Capital and lowercase are the same shape, so there is only one thing to learn. It still lands later than the straight-line letters, because diagonals develop after verticals and horizontals, but it is the right diagonal letter to start with — easier than K, X or Z.
The usual wobble is a rounded bottom, a V drifting towards a U. Emphasising the point — stop, change direction sharply, go up — is what separates them, and it is worth doing because V and U are neighbours in the alphabet and in shape.
The V sound
V is F with the voice on: top teeth on the bottom lip, air pushed through, throat buzzing. Van, violin, volcano. It is a later-developing sound, and substituting b for it is common in three- and four-year-olds. Because V starts so few words, it is usually one of the last letters introduced in a phonics sequence.
Frequently asked questions
- How is V different from U?
- V comes to a sharp point; U has a rounded floor. It is worth making the point deliberately sharp when modelling, because the two letters are adjacent in both the alphabet and in shape.
- Why is V taught so late?
- Few common words begin with it, the sound develops later than most, and it is easily confused with F and B by ear. Nothing is lost by leaving it until the high-frequency letters are secure.