Teaching the alphabet involves teaching letter sounds, letter recognition, and letter writing. Use this guide to discover creative and fun ways to teach the alphabet (while building phonemic awareness and phonics skills!)
At some point in the science of reading instruction, we must teach the letters used to symbolize sounds. Initially, we begin with single letter graphemes (a, b, c). Eventually, the children will be ready to work their way to the various 2-letter graphemes (think digraphs, blends, diphthongs), and beyond to other multi-letter graphemes. This post focuses on how to introduce single-letter graphemes in engaging ways for students.
Note: There are many other components toward building literacy than are discussed in this post, such as more in depth phonemic awareness. A well-balanced approach will not focus exclusively on one area at the exclusion of others! (As if we didn't have enough to do...!)
I am a fan of taking my favorite aspects of various teaching strategies and merging them to develop my own curriculum. I like to consider what is going to produce the best results in the most engaging way -- I choose activities that will produce the biggest dividends, whether the benefit is learning progress, engagement, a sense of wonder, or the ultimate goal: all of these combined.
Below, I've outlined my own approach to letter learning that I've done with my own child. The roots of my instructional practice have emerged from the science of reading and also what I have learned about the Waldorf school's approach to introducing letters. Note: Throughout this post, I have included affiliate links to products I have purchased and used with my own child.
Stick to the end for a visual that summarizes these steps for a quick reference sheet!
Learning the Letters: My Personal Scope & Sequence
Step 1: Review the phonemes
Begin each day with a review of all single-letter sounds. Use a resource such as this Alphabet and Sounds Chart to go over with your child. This provides your child (or your students) with a visual that allows them to see the framework of the whole alphabet before focusing on individual letters more in depth. (While reviewing this chart, be sure to focus on the letter sounds.)
For extra fun: The author of The Science of Reading in Action Malia Hollowell provides those who purchase her book with access to a video of her doing a similar activity -- only she adds fun gestures for each letter sound, too!
You can also hang or display Waldorf style letter cards to do this activity. Why opt for these? Notice that each image below uses a visual to create the letter. (Bonus is that each card in this set displays the capital and lowercase together!) Forming the letters in this way is a beautiful opportunity to connect meaning with the shape of each letter, which is otherwise arbitrary.
Providing a visual way to indicate which letters you've specifically reviewed already can be helpful to the child. For instance, you could blandly write each letter on the back of the cards and have these face out, and then flip each one to reveal the illustrated side as you review each. The child then gains an awareness of how many letters he or she has studied, and how many remain.
Step 2: Tell a story
As I explain in my post on Waldorf teaching, when diving into single letter focus, the key is to begin with a story that will feature your letter in some way. Here is a wonderful video that demonstrates this principle.
Ideally, the intention is not for you to read a story to your child, but to remember it and deliver it orally. Props are highly encouraged! Act out your memorized story with stuffed animals, figurines, or whatever props you can find or create. This makes the story experience more captivating and engaging for your child.
During your storytelling, use a sound motif to feature your letter's sound within your story. For instance, while telling the story of the winter solstice in the above example, repeat the sound "mmmmmm" to make "yummy" sounds while the animals eat. Have the child repeat it to incorporate them into the storytelling.
Step 3: Illustrate the letter
From your story, create an illustration or picture of your letter. This can be a simple sketch or a fully developed illustration.
Option 1: Have the illustration already done at the start of your story. When you're done telling the story, ask the child if they can find the letter in your picture. Then draw the illustration together for the child to practice writing the letter.
Option 2: Create the picture after your story is done. Then draw the illustration together for the child to practice writing the letter. Use a chalkboard or simply use some paper and draw the sketch together. Help to provide instruction to your child while he or she draws, as needed. If desired, use blank homeschool books to create your child's own letter book.
Note: I highly recommend illustrating both the upper and lowercase letters together. If you are investing this much time by reviewing each letter individually, get the biggest bang for your buck by working on both cases simultaneously.
Step 4: Practice the letter sound
Have the child make the letter's sound. Ask the following questions for the child to build sound awareness. (Bonus points if you use a mirror!)
What are your lips doing when you make this sound?
What are your teeth doing?
What is your tongue doing?
What is your voice box doing? (Does it vibrate or is it silent?)
How is your air flowing when you make this sound?
This can even be done while you both are working on your letter illustrations! Integrating it in this way will feel extra natural for your child.
Step 5: Forming letter rhymes
Provide many opportunities for the child to write the letter (both upper and lowercase).
You can find rhymes that describe how to form each letter online. (I purchased the example shown in the image here from Teaching Mama.) This printable was nice because the child can trace right over the letters using a marker. And if you place them in sheet protectors, you can redo this activity endlessly!
You could also make these up yourself as you go. Here's an approximate rhyme example I made up for an uppercase letter A: Teepee side goes up, teepee side goes down, add a bridge from left to right, and the letter A you've found!
Giving my own instruction to my child while he was writing letters (and numbers!) made me highly aware of all the movements involved. I hadn't given this so much thought before! I found myself adjusting the rhymes we were using in order to fit his needs based on where he would get off track (such as knowing when to stop the bottom curve of a 5).
Say the letter forming rhyme while the child uses a "magic wand" to draw the shapes in the air, or uses his or her finger to write the letter in sand, form it with playdough, shaving cream, etc. It can be a good idea to draw the shape in the air first while saying the rhyme, and then move on to the tracing sheets above.
I was pleased with this sand tray purchase, which included the alphabet cards pictured here. Capital letters are displayed on one side and lowercase letters on the opposite. My little one dove right in and enjoyed creating his letters in the sand! (I highly recommend placing this sand tray inside another tray to catch all the overflowing sand, which is inevitable.)
Step 6: Write the letter
I love the fun activities, but our ultimate goal is to have the child apply the writing to "pen" and paper, so it's important to have the child practice writing both cases on lined paper. (This Alphabet and Numbers pad is handy for this.)
The first time we went to do this, I realized my child needed to understand the proper way to hold a pencil, which was tricky because I don't hold mine correctly! (This video was very helpful). With these suggestions, he adjusted his grip, though reluctantly at first. He enjoyed having the bottom illustrations on the letter pages to use as little coloring breaks (if you can't tell, his favorite color is red).
Step 7: Beginning sound awareness
The letter and numbers writing pad above also provided the perfect segue into the next instructional element: building phonemic awareness.
We identified each item in the illustrations at the bottom of the page and drew out the initial letter sound. The Waldorf Alphabet Book below provides more opportunities for this practice, too, as each page incorporates many images beginning with the focus letter. This book combines this with the practice of using an object beginning with the sound to form the letter, too. This is nice exposure because the illustration could be different from the illustration you chose to do with your story, so it provides more examples for the child to see.
After identifying the objects beginning with the focus letter in the illustrated book, make a general list of words that begin with the letter. I like to use this magnetic dry erase board, which we also use for other spelling activities, to do this.
When the child is ready, add words to the list that feature your letter at the end of the word for building ending-sound awareness. (When making a list of "T" words, I was one proud mama when my little one exclaimed, "Airport! That has a 'T' at the end!") It's likely that they won't be ready for middle-sound awareness for a little while, as that's a more difficult skill.
Another suggestion: Make your first list with words that include your letter at the beginning. Circle back to this letter for a review day in the future, and focus on the ending or middle sound locations then.
Step 8: Scavenger hunt
Take your letter list to the next step! Create a "letter bag." Gather objects from your home that begin with the letter you are focusing on. Include your child in selecting these objects. You can build phonemic awareness by having the child sort out these objects. For "t" you can pick up a tennis ball and a basketball. Then, name both and let the child identify which begins with the sound /t/. Do this until you have a good pile of "t" items.
Then create a scavenger hunt by hiding all the objects in one room, such as the child's room. Explain the activity to the child - each time they find an object, have them name the object to practice words starting with that letter. (Practice drawing out that initial letter sound.) Then, forgive me when your child asks to repeat the scavenger hunt all day long!
Step 9: Cross-curricular activities!
As much as I love activities that engage my child's phonemic awareness and phonics skills, another aspect I like about focusing on one letter at a time is the cross-curricular content it opens us up to.
Each letter provides learning opportunities into a wide range of topics. For instance, if learning the letter "M," you can make cross-curricular lessons focusing on mountains, money, music, etc. With the letter "H," we learned about habitats, hibernation, and harmony.
This is great if you are a parent with a little one at home, and you're wondering how to engage him or her each day, or if you're trying to build a homeschool curriculum -- all while building awareness of each letter's sound. For cross-curricular ideas, see each of my upcoming posts on individual letters.
Step 10: Alliterative letter poem
To add a bit of "magic," have the child perform an alliterative verse to "unlock" each activity. Resources such as Phonics through Poetry provide alliterative poems for each letter. These can be fun and silly to recite. Have the child say the poem to earn the new activity you wish to present. (As an alternative, you could also have the child write the letter 3 times before revealing the new activity.)
Regardless of how you incorporate such poems, these are helpful tools for building literacy. In particular, reciting a poem to the point of memorization works on the complex literacy skill of fluency -- reading in a confident and fluid manner.
Step 11: Application: Word Forming
Since the purpose of studying each letter is to get to the end goal of reading and writing, allow time to practice word building. Work on spelling words using the specific letters you've focused on to give your child practice with application.
Once an initial subset of letters are introduced (m, p, t, s, f, and short a), you will be able to have the child practice writing and reading a number of words.
Write appropriate words that include the letter. When you're just beginning, these likely will be words using the short "A" vowel, such as "map," "hat," etc. These are called CVC words (consonant, vowel, consonant words).
On a dry erase board, draw Elkonin boxes, which are used to practice phonemic awareness. Important: Each box is used for a phoneme (not a letter!). For example: To write the word "sheep," you would place "sh" in the first box, "ee" in the second box, and "p" in the third box.
Always have the child practice sounding out the letters individually (/h/ /a/ /t/) and then blending them together ("hat") to build reading and writing skills while doing this activity.
Step 12: Reading practice with decodable texts
This last step can be introduced after a subset of letters have been introduced (again, such as m, p, t, s, f, and short a). Read a brief decodable passage that includes these words for the child to practice reading. Examples of these can be found online for free. (Perhaps you can try writing a couple lines yourself for a creative exercise!)
Decodable books are available as well. These texts are written with phonics skills in mind. This means each text will feature word patterns that the child has been exposed to in their study so far. For example, in a decodable text on short "a" CVC words, you will not find words with digraphs or diphthongs.* Each text will feature a story focusing on a new skill.
*Occasionally, one or two of these words will be included in order for the writer to write a story. For instance, a story with dialogue cannot avoid the word "said" very easily. You can teach these words to the child individually, as necessary, before they try to read the text.
Keep in mind, decodable books are not traditional children's picture books. To adults, they will be overly simplistic and naturally... boring. But providing a child with a text that is appropriately scaffolded to their reading level creates an opportunity for them to have a highly successful reading experience, which is quite fun and rewarding!
What's next?
Science of reading instruction tells us that teaching reading should be systematic and explicit. After children have a strong understanding of reading and writing single-letter graphemes, they are ready for more complex instruction that will focus on digraphs, blends, diphthongs, etc.
Enjoy this time of discovery and creativity with your children!
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