Recognizing Letters and Print Symbols

You already know that books and signs are full of letters, numbers, and symbols. Now it is time to look even closer. In this lesson, you will find letters, numbers, and print symbols hiding inside real words and sentences, and you will learn how to tell them apart quickly.

Every mark you see in print fits into one of three groups. Letters are the shapes from A to Z, like \(b\), \(m\), or \(t\). Numbers are the shapes that tell how many, like 1, 2, or 7. Symbols are special marks that are not letters or numbers, like a period, a question mark, or an ampersand ( & ).

Sometimes these three kinds of marks sit right next to each other. A sentence like "I have 3 dogs!" has letters (I, h, a, v, e, d, o, g, s), a number (3), and a symbol (!). Learning to sort them helps you read faster and understand what a sentence is telling you.

A word is made of letters joined together. In the word "cat," you can point to each letter: c, a, t. Some letters are tall, like \(l\), \(t\), and \(k\). Some letters have a tail that drops below the line, like \(g\), \(j\), and \(p\). Looking at the shape of each letter helps you find it even when it is squeezed between other letters in a word.

You can also check if a letter is a capital or a lowercase letter. A capital letter, like the \(C\) at the start of a name, looks bigger and often different in shape from the lowercase letter, like \(c\).

Numbers show up in books too, not just in math class. You might see a page number, a date, or an amount, like "5 apples." Numbers stand apart from letters because they have curved or straight shapes that do not spell a sound the way letters do.

Print symbols do an important job. A period (.) tells you a sentence is finished. A question mark (?) tells you someone is asking something. An exclamation point (!) tells you a sentence is loud or excited. When you notice these symbols at the end of a sentence, you know how that sentence should sound when you read it.

Look at the row of print marks below. Try sorting each one into letter, number, or symbol before you check your answer.

Once you can sort marks like these quickly, try it inside a real sentence, such as "Where is my hat?" Can you point to each letter, and can you find the symbol that tells you it is a question?

Letter: A shape from A to Z that stands for a sound and joins with other letters to build words.

Number: A shape such as 1, 2, or 3 that shows an amount or a count.

Print Symbol: A mark that is not a letter or a number, such as a period, a question mark, or an ampersand.

Capital Letter: A tall letter, like A or C, used to start names and sentences.

Lowercase Letter: A small letter, like a or c, used inside most words.

Period: A small dot placed at the end of a telling sentence.

Question Mark: A curved mark placed at the end of an asking sentence.

Exclamation Point: A mark placed at the end of a sentence that shows excitement.

Pick a short sentence from a book and count how many letters, numbers, and symbols you can find. Circle the letters in one color, the numbers in another color, and the symbols in a third color.

Try writing your own silly sentence that has at least one letter, one number, and one symbol, then read it out loud and point to each mark as you say it.

Related lessons

• Print awareness letters and print symbols