The ABC’s of Teaching Letters

by: Andrea Howell Chouhan

The ABC’s of Teaching Letters

What is the first step in teaching a child to read? Letters and sounds instruction is the key! In simple terms, for a child to learn to read independently and construct meaning from text – he needs to be able to identify words automatically. He can do this after he decodes unknown words. In order to reach this point, children have to first learn the 44 speech sounds of letters and more than 100 spellings that are made.  Therefore, a child must first be able to identify letter names and then be able to produce letter sounds. Then, he will be ready to read! The next step is to implement a carefully planned and systematic presentation of explicit letter/sound teaching.

Which Letters Should Be Taught First?

The hardest question for researchers and professionals to answer is – “What order should the letters be taught?” Although there is not one universal answer to this question, there is great data to give professionals guidance in creating and/or implementing the necessary systematic order of instruction. Teachers everywhere successfully teach children to read. Children also learn differently. Quite honestly, there is no wrong order to teach letters. Many teachers follow the curriculum, which determines the letter order.

When deciding the order to teach the letters, please keep in mind what some research says.

What Does Research Say?

• Some letters are harder to learn than others: U, Q, V
• The following letters are most well-known by children, even if they have not been taught them: O, A, B
• Children are most likely to learn the first letter of a their name more easily and quickly
• Teach the letters in an order that allows a child to form many words with them (for example: C, M, A, T)
• Begin with letters that make “simple sounds” that are easiest to stretch out and are easier to blend: M, S, F, R, N, L
• Teach new sounds in small steps
• Review previously taught letters and sounds
• Introduce commonly encountered sounds before the infrequent sounds: For example, “A” occurs more commonly than “Q” or “V.”
• Teach the letters that occur more frequently in most words. The most commonly occurring letters are: E, T, A, I, N, O, S, H, R, D, L, C
• Introduce vowels early. A child must know the vowel sounds, in order to make and read words.
• It is suggested to teach graphemes together, like C and H, C and K, T and H
• Alphabetic order is not ideal because it does not address the needs listed above
• Do not pair and teach together letters that are auditorily and/or visually similar: E, I and D, B
• Introduce some continuous sounds early: M, S
• One study suggests introducing lower case letters first, unless upper case letters are similar in shape: (Similar: S, s, U, u, W, w; Dissimilar: R, r, T, t, F, f) Note: I have always taught capital and lowercase at the same time: Ss, Rr, Tt, so I do not disagree with this study, I myself and just unfamiliar with its effectiveness
• Do not teach similar looking letters together: b, d, p, q
• Introducing letters in isolation may confuse some children about the purpose of letters in relation to words and reading
• Some letters take longer to visually discriminate:  t, a, e, o, s, i

 Suggested Letter Order Instruction

 As a teacher, I always used the “letter order” sequence that was outlined by my school. I wondered what reasonings were behind teaching letters in a certain way. So, I set out and discovered that research proves that there are various effective methods for teaching letters in a systematic sequence. Below are the compilations of my finding. The last column is what I created based on the feedback that I received from other educators who used each of these systems.

Letter Order Suggestions

Public School in Houston (No More Letter of the Week Method by P. Lusche)	Montessori Method (Montessori Matters by M. Carinato et.al)	Another Montessori Method (How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way by T. Seldin)	Right Track Reading (by M. Gagen)	Combined Curriculums (Montessori & No More Letter of the Week)
Letters Overview	s, m, t, a, p, f, c	c, m, a, t	c, m, a, t	Letters Overview and 1st letter of childs name
Letters Overview and 1st letter of childs name	r, b, l, I, g, n, d	s, r, i, p	s, f, r. n	Capital to Lowercase comparisons
Pp, Aa	h, j, k, w, o, u, v	b, f, o, g	n, l, e, b	Mm, Aa, Tt, Ss, Cc
Bb, Ll	y, z, x, q, e	h, j, u, l	i, h, d, g	Rr, Ii, Pp, Ff, Bb
Ss, Hh		d, w, e, n	o, k, p, j	Ll, Oo, Gg, Nn, Dd
Nn, Ww		k, q, v, x, y, z	q, u, x	Hh, Jj, Uu, Qq, Ee
Ee, Cc			v, w, y, z	Vv, Ww, Yy, Kk, Xx, Zz
Qq, Uu
Rr, Yy
Gg, Zz
Dd, Oo
Ii, Jj
Ff, Xx
Vv, Kk

 Note: The first column shows how my school in Houston taught the letters. “No More Letter of the Week” was one resource, however, the letter order above was created by my school district.

The many resources below provide a plethora of suggestions for the sequence of teaching letters and sounds. So, glean what you will and happy teaching!

Sources:

http://www.readingrockets.org/blog/53818/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Hootsuite&utm_campaign=RRSocialMedia

http://livingmontessorinow.com/2010/09/07/in-what-order-should-you-introduce-letters-to-your-preschooler/

http://www.righttrackreading.com/teachphonemiccode.html

http://reading.uoregon.edu/big_ideas/au/au_programs.php

http://www.ciera.org/library/presos/2001/2001nrc/01nrcstahl/01nrcsta.pdf

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/104134/chapters/phonics-and-word-study.aspx

Related articles

• Should Letter Sounds be Taught with Letter Names? (skypingreadingtutor.com)
• What is the Best Website to Teach the Alphabet? (skypingreadingtutor.com)
• How to Practice Preschool Letter and Name Writing (education.com)

Kindergarten Lesson Plans are Here! Free!

 

 

 

 

 

I have spent alot of my free time developing a Kindergarten Curriculum, which can be used in School or for home-schooling teachers. It is unique in that I have created it based on how I taught in the Kindergarten classroom, which was standards-based. I have also weaved some Montessori methods into the construction of the order of teaching letters and sounds. I do not feel right “selling” it online, however, I also want to protect what I have created. Therefore, I am posting most of the curriculum and it is organized by month. If you would like the complete set of lessons, just feel free to e-mail me. All I ask is that you let me know how it is working for you. You are free to share it with other teachers and moms, providing that you reference my website.

I hope that you enjoy it! I would love to see it in action at your school or home. Feel free to send pictures and I’ll be sure to post it here and then you will be famous (hehe!).

NEW! Kindergarten Lesson Plans Outline and Overview for- Months 1-4

Lesson Plants for Month 1

Week 1 LP 1-1 with worksheets

Week 2 LP 1-2 with worksheets

Week 3 LP 1-3 with worksheets

Week 4 LP 1-4 with worksheets

Head over to the tab at the top of this webpage and click on “Lesson Plans” for the rest……

 

My Top Ten Children’s Book Recommendations

We all have our favorite books. Here are mine! The reason that I love them…because my students and my own children love them. Reading and books somehow open the imagination and funny bone!

1. “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” by Felicia Bond is a well loved children’s book by many teachers. Why? It is a story that goes around and around and it shows what happens when you do something-anything! The little mouse is also reminded of his family in this story. This is a great story to read with your child as you enjoy some family time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. “Go Dog, Go” by PD Eastman. – This is one of the first books that my Pre-K son learned to read and loved to read at bedtime. It has many 3-letter words and lots of rhyme, which makes it fun to read!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Skippy Jon Jones by Judy Schachner is such a funny book. When, I read it, I change my voice into a Mexican accent. The kids laugh and end up reading along with me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. “Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister – This book teacher such simple and important concepts - sharing, social skills and making friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. “Jake Starts School” by Michael Wright – This book shows a silly kid who insists that his parents stay at school with him all day. It helps children become more at ease with school as they watch the mom and dad on the playground and in the kiddie chairs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. “Go Away Big Green Monster” by Ed Emberly – This book “tricks” children into reading along. Its also a great book to read before nap or bedtime. I love how it is a simple story line that emphasizes color words and facial features, as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. “Bad Kitty” by Nick Bruel is such a funny book about a really bad cat that constantly is getting into trouble!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. “Elmer” by David McKee teaches about uniqueness and how everyone is special.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. “Alice the Fairy” by David Shannon, shows a how little girls imagination can come to life!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!” by Mo Willems – A cute little bird sneaks into the driver seat and has so much fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There you have it!

 

 

Using Colorful Books to Capture a Child’s Curiosity…..A Color of His Own by Leo Leoni

Colorful books capture children’s curiosity! Even adults are led to choose books based on thier cover. Literally-judge a book by its cover! It’s ok-go ahead and choose a book to read based on what you see. I teach my students that when they write and make illustrations, they should keep in mind that someone else will be reading their work. This encourages them to work harder and more carefully, instead of quickly. Did you know that most people’s strongest sense is thier sight? What we see leads us to investigate. Investigations lead to learning. Learning leads to creating and creative thinking leads to new ideas! Isn’t that amazing-a book has the power to open up our imagination and creative thinking! I love books for this reason.

Even fictional characters portray creative thinking. The chameleon in the story, “A Color of His Own” by Leo Leoni lets his curiosity lead him to colorful transformations. After reading this story to your students, have then create their own chameleon.

Download this color matching activity sheet at: http://www.4shared.com/photo/vAvPP_M5/color_of_his_own_leo_lionni.html

What is the Best Way for Teaching Reading?

Arthur Read (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

     Dolch words vs. Sight Words. Which method proves to be the best way for teaching reading? Are they even the same thing or are they different? As a Kindergarten teacher, who has taught sight words, I was curious about the answer to this question. Other Kindergarten teachers across the world teach dolch words. So, are we both up to part with the teaching of reading? Is one method better than the other?

     According to Edward William Dolch, there are 220 most commonly used words in the English language. This list was first published in 1948 in his book “Problems in Reading.” Dolch called these words “service words” meaning-words that must be quickly recognized to be able to read successfully. Words that must be recognized and read quickly are also called “sight words.” Many of the Dolch words are sight words (the answer to my original question)! In fact, any general text contains about 50-70 % of the 220 dolch words which are sight words. Therefore, sight words are vital to reading successfully.

     The other 30-50% of the words in most general text is phonics-based. Phonics based reading (the sounding out of words) is also vital to reading successfully. One could read with only sight words, or read by only sounding out words. However, if that were done, the person could not read successfully-or would be reading on a K-1st grade level. In order to read by phonics, a child must have phonemic awareness-the realization that letters make sounds. Then, the child must be able to know the name of each capital and lowercase letter, and the sounds that each makes. When letters are recognized within a word, such as “man,” the child should be able to think about the name of the letter and the sound it makes, and then sound out each sound slowly. By “reading” and practicing “sounding out” simple 2-3 letter words, a child will eventually sound out the letters more quickly and read more successfully. Therefore, phonics-based reading, sight word and dolch word reading are vital toward being a proficient reader.

The list of Dolch words can be found all over the internet via Google searches. The easiest to print list (found below) can also be found on Wikipedia. Below is the list, from Wikipedia, in alphabetical order. They are separated into categories by grade level and by noun/non-noun.

Dolch list: Non-nouns Pre-primer:

a, and, away, big, blue, can, come, down, find, for, funny, go, help, here, I, in, is, it, jump, little, look, make, me, my, not, one, play, red, run, said, see, the, three, to, two, up, we, where, yellow, you

Primer:

all, am, are, at, ate, be, black, brown, but, came, did, do, eat, four, get, good, have, he, into, like, must, new, no, now, on, our, out, please, pretty, ran, ride, saw, say, she, so, soon, that, there, they, this, too, under, want, was, well, went, what, white, who, will, with, yes

1st Grade:

after, again, an, any, as, ask, by, could, every, fly, from, give, giving, had, has, her, him, his, how, just, know, let, live, may, of, old, once, open, over, put, round, some, stop, take, thank, them, then, think, walk, were, when

2nd Grade:

always, around, because, been, before, best, both, buy, call, cold, does, don’t, fast, first, five, found, gave, goes, green, its, made, many, off, or, pull, read, right, sing, sit, sleep, tell, their, these, those, upon, us, use, very, wash, which, why, wish, work, would, write, your

3rd Grade:

about, better, bring, carry, clean, cut, done, draw, drink, eight, fall, far, full, got, grow, hold, hot, hurt, if, keep, kind, laugh, light, long, much, myself, never, only, own, pick, seven, shall, show, six, small, start, ten, today, together, try, warm

Dolch list: Nouns

apple, baby, back, ball, bear, bed, bell, bird, birthday, boat, box, boy, bread, brother, cake, car, cat, chair, chicken, children, Christmas, coat, corn, cow, day, dog, doll, door, duck, egg, eye, farm, farmer, father, feet, fire, fish, floor, flower, game, garden, girl, good-bye, grass, ground, hand, head, hill, home, horse, house, kitty, leg, letter, man, men, milk, money, morning, mother, name, nest, night, paper, party, picture, pig, rabbit, rain, ring, robin, Santa Claus, school, seed, sheep, shoe, sister, snow, song, squirrel, stick, street, sun, table, thing, time, top, toy, tree, watch, water, way, wind, window, wood

References: Dolch, W. E. (1948). Problems in Reading. USA: Garrard Press.

Internet Source: www.wikipedia.com

Published June 17, 2012 at my professional website: http://greenbeankindergarten.wordpress.com

Related articles

• Dolch Word Worksheets: Pre-Primer (thethoughtfulteacher.wordpress.com)
• Sight Word Worksheets (thethoughtfulteacher.wordpress.com)

Skippyjon Jones fun!

“The Mitten” Puppet Show and Song

I want to inspire my students to retell a story in a fun and exciting way! I was inspired when I stumbled upon a real puppet show based on one of my favorite stories, “The Mitten,” by Jan Brett. Check it out by clicking on this video!

This would also be fun to do at home with your own children. My plan is to show the above video to my students, so that they will be inspired and see that they can also help produce a video!

Here is a sweet little song about “The Mitten” that I found on YouTube. It is also a play that other Kindergarten students performed. I am amazed at how the internet can be so inspirational for new teaching methods. I can totally see my students participating in such a fun activity!

http://youtu.be/oUHW4GbJG30

I also love the name plates that these first grade students are wearing. It is a great way to bring in text and visuals.
http://youtu.be/7JFwZir8M8M

Gingerbread “No Cook” Play-dough fun!

My good friend Bethany (and a great teacher!) inspired me to make my own play-dough infused with the wonderful smell of gingerbread! My own children loved playing with it and using cookie cutters to make thier own pretend cookies. I made three batches of the recipe below (for less than $10!) and placed a little gingerbread man into a little plastic container. I made one container for each of my students. This will my Christmas present to them! Along with a cookie cutter and the play-dough, I will wrapping it in a little plastic bag and tie with curly ribbon. I love being able to make something for my own children and my classroom kids at the same time!

This is a great way to incorporate team work, recipe reading and following, and responsibility for cleaning up. Reading and following a recipe is a great way to teach sequencing and the skills of “first, next, last,” which is always a skill needed for any reading lesson. So, not only is making play-dough fun, it is also educational!

GINGER BREAD PLAYDOUGH Recipe
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup salt
1 tbsp. of each: cinnamon, allspice & ginger (this is a nice dark brown)
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 cup water

Mix with a wooden spoon until well mixed. When it is too hard to mix, take out of the bowl and knead on the counter. For an extra special touch, add multicolor glitter. It makes it sparkle nicely! This is a “no-cook” recipe!

Here are some great ideas of how to wrap up and “gift” the play-dough:

littlebunnyfeet.blogspot.com

homeschoolblogger.com

meandmarielearning.blogspot.com

shabbychiccrafts.blogspot.com

First, we made sure that we had all the ingredients.

This is why you “need” to knead the dough. It looks pretty gross during mixing.

Here it is! Isn’t it nice! And it smells so good!

Here are the kids using cookie cutters to make their own things.

These are the cute and cheap containers I found at Wal-Mart. Instead of rolling the dough into a ball, I cut out the shape of a gingerbread man.

Now they are stacked and ready for labels. Click below to print the label which contains the recipe and directions. You can also edit and change it in Microsoft Word and add in your own name.

Gingerbread play-dough labels

Gingerbread Houses – Homeade, Easy and Inexpensive!

This is the second year I will be making Gingerbread houses with my own children and my Kindergarteners. This is a fun way to incorporate Recipe reading and following directions step-by-step. Thanks to some other wonderful teachers, I was able to learn the basic rules of gingerbread mastery! Granted, it was a little stressful the first time, I am now ready to take on this tradition yet again. I also found so many other teachers & parents who are doing the same thing! It can be done with fun!

from: vipurple123.blogspot.com

from: http://www.rigandt.blogspot.com

from: http://www.themotorstory.com

Gingerbread House building Directions:

You will need 1 small paper plate for each house (or a box cut into 4×4 squares). You will need 7 graham cracker squares for each house, one square is for the bottom, 4 for the sides and 2 for the tops. Allow time for the bottom to dry before creating and adding the roof with the icing.

You will need about 2 batches of icing (see recipe below). You also need a decorator tip and an icing bag or cut a corner off a ziploc bag (after filling with icing).

Icing Recipe:

1 lb. powdered sugar

3 egg whites

1/2 t. Cream of Tartar

Beat egg whites until frothy (with hand blender). Gradually add sugar and Cream of Tartar. Beat on high for 7 minutes.

Recipe & Directions, compliments of J.Thomas

To see more step by step directions and photo’s, check out this website: http://www.themotorstory.com/The_Motor_Story/Blog/Entries/2010/12/18_Activity_of_the_Week__Easy_Gingerbread_Houses.html

The Gingerbread Man

Cover of Gingerbread Baby

 

I love Gingerbread cookies! I love to make them, eat them and read about them in with my students and own children. Today we read “Stop that Pickle” which was a twist on the traditional tale. The Gingerbread Baby is one of my favorites because it has a happy ending. Story comprehension is an important skill in school. By putting stories in order of events, by sequencing the characters, it helps kids to retell the story. This also helps with summarizing a story too. Here is a fun way to sequence the Gingerbread story. First I print out the large cards and glue to construction paper and laminate them. I pass them out to some of the students. Whoever doesn’t have a card gets a turn to help put the characters in order. Then, after reading many versions of the story, I have the students cut out the mini-picture cards and glue in the correct order onto a sentence strip. I let them draw the ending.

The Gingerbread MAN Story Sequence large cards

The Gingerbread MAN Story Sequence-mini student cards