Rationale: To be able to read children must be able to say and recognize all the letters of the alphabet. This activity will give children practice recognizing and saying individual letters. Looking at the letter, saying it, and thinking of a word that starts with the letter will help ensure children know the letters of the alphabet. Once the children are familiar with the letters and sounds of the alphabet they will then be ready to learn to read. Children will be able to look at a letter, say the letter, say the sound the letter makes, and a word that starts with the letter.
Materials: a circle of chairs with one for each student, marching music, a C.D. or tape player to play the marching music, 26 cards with each letter of the alphabet written on one (it might be a good idea to underline the letter so similar letters are not confused), some kind of container to place the cards in, Alphabet Letters by Rolando Merino, chalkboard
Procedure: 1. Introduce the lesson by saying that we are going to play an alphabet game. Have each child take a seat in one of the chairs in the circle. Tell the students that we are going to practice our letters by saying them, then saying the sound they make, and thinking of a word that starts with them.
2. Before we get started we are going to read a book to give us some ideas of words we can use. We are going to read Alphabet Letters by Rolando Merino.
3. Before we start the game lets review how to write a letter we have already learned. Watch the board as I write the letter "i". I go from the fence to the sidewalk and make a straight line. Then I simply place a dot above the line.
4. Now lets play the game. In this container I have all the different letters of the alphabet written on different cards. I will pass the container around and you will pick one card out. Let me show you how to do it. I picked out the letter "D". "D" makes the dddd sound. Let's try fog. Does fog start with dddd. No. How about dog? Yes, the word dog starts with the letter "D". Note: if the student have not learned the difference between short and long vowels then accept either sound. Just make sure the word corresponds with the sound given. If they have learned the difference, you could make two separate cards for each vowel, and use stress marks to indicate which is long and which is short.
5. Now that everyone has picked a letter we will start the game. We will start with the person who is sitting to the left of me and then go clockwise. Now that everyone has had a turn stand up and put your card in your chair. I will now turn on some marching music. I want you to march around the chairs until the music stops. Once you have stopped pick up the card that is in the chair in front of you and sit down.
6. They will then repeat the procedure in number four using the card that was in their new chair. The procedure can be repeated as many times as time permits.
7. This game can also be adapted to pin point trouble areas. If there are only certain letter that the class is having trouble with then only put those letters in the container. Just make sure to put enough for everyone to have one. It would also be okay to put two of one letter in the container. That would challenge the student to think of more creative words because words would not be allowed to be repeated.
8. For assessment I would simply take some notes during the game. I would make a record of who was having trouble recognizing the letter, who was having trouble saying the letter, and who was having trouble thing of words that start with their letter.
Reference: Van Osdol, Julie. Academy Curricular Exchange. Website address: http://ofcn.org/cyber.serv/academy/ace/lang/ceclang/ceclang034.html
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