Alphabetic Knowledge

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Alphabetic Knowledge
Presented by Cherry Carl
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• Most early attempts at literacy start out as
  barely recognizable drawings and doodles. Until
  children have learned to perceive the attributes
  and characteristics of letters, they will
  continue to use and confuse them. The purpose of
  this presentation is to provide teachers and
  parents with an assortment of concrete activities
  and strategies to facilitate the development of
  letter knowledge and recognition.

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What is Alphabetic Knowledge?

• Recognition of the shape of the letter
• Ability to name the letter
• Knowledge of the sound of the letter
• Automaticity in naming letters
• Ability to print the letter

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What Does Research Say?

• Letter knowledge has been identified as a strong
  predictor of reading success (Ehri Sweet,
  1991). 
• While teaching children letter names does not in
  itself result in success in learning to read
  (Jenkins, Bausell, Jenkins, 1972), it can
  facilitate memory for the forms or shapes of
  letters and can serve as a mnemonic for
  letter-sound associations or phonics (Adams,
  1990).

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What Does Research Say?

• Knowledge of the alphabet is essential in early
  reading instruction. It provides teachers and
  students with common language for discussing
  graphophonic relationships. Assessment of
  alphabet knowledge should occur in two contexts
  letter recognition within words and sentences,
  and letters in isolation. (Reutzel and Cooter,
  1996)

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Classroom Implications

• Promote knowledge of letters
• To promote flexible learning of letters,
  children must acquire knowledge of letters in
  many different ways. A simple rule is to begin
  with the easiest letters- those letters with
  maximum contrast (for example, m, b, f, s, r) -
  and promote overlearning with these letters.

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Classroom Implications

• Opportunities to explore
• Children need opportunities to learn about
  and manipulate the building blocks of written
  language. Knowledge of letters (graphemes) leads
  to success with learning to read. This includes
  the use, purpose, and function of letters.

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Classroom Implications

• Sharing Reading of the Alphabet Chart
• The chart is read daily until the children are
  able to read the chart independently. The chart
  becomes a familiar resource for associating
  letter and sound cues during reading and writing
  events.
• The teacher points to each letter (upper and
  lower case) and each picture as she leads the
  children in a shared reading activity.

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Ways of Looking at Letters

• The name of the letter
• The way the letter looks
• The sound of the letter
• The feel of the letter in the mouth
• The movement of the letter as it is written
• A word associated with the letter
• The way the word looks embedded in a word

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Activities

• Partner Puzzles
• Work Mats
• Little Readers
• Class Big Books
• ABC Sticker Book
• Dominoes
• ABC Go Fish
• Search for Letters
• Alphabet Stories

• Peek Over Flip Books
• Songs
• Skill Wheels
• Alphabet Sorts
• Font Sorts
• Picture Sorts
• Letter Lotto
• Shape Books

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More Activities

• Playdough Letters
• Alphabet Charts
• Environmental Print
• Power Writing
• Literacy Centers
• Alphabet Avenue
• Magnetic Letter Center
• Sort City
• Names Nook

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Alphabet Peek Over Flip Book
A Peek Over Flip Book provides the format for
students to explore and record beginning, ending
and medial sound pictures and words. See
directions and samples in handout.
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Songs

• The Old Red Rooster(Tune The Old Gray Mare)
• The old red rooster isnt what he used to be, No
  cock-a-doodle-dee,In the morning, waking me!The
  old red rooster doesnt even make me stir,With
  his /r/  /r/  /r/!
• The old red rooster isnt what he used to be,I
  think he ate a bumblebee!Perhaps Ill make him
  drink some tea.The old red rooster doesnt say a
  single word,Except his /r/  /r/  /r/!

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Alphabet Skill Wheels
Skill Wheels provide the opportunity for students
to have independent practice (using manipulatives
to hear and identify beginning sounds).
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Alphabet Sorts

• by color
• by upper-case and lower-case forms
• by letter name
• by attributes (tall/short, round/straight)
• same/different
• letters in known words
• first, last, middle letters in known words
• alphabetical order

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Font Sorts
Font Sorts are important because of the diversity
in print that children will encounter in picture
books and in environmental print. Sorts also
provide independent practice.
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Picture Sorts

• Use one or two sets of pictures for sorting in a
  pocket chart, on the floor, or at a desk.

Picture Sorts provide the opportunity to see,
say, and hear sounds of letters. They are a good
vocabulary builder and work well for second
language learners.
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Letter Lotto
Materials playing cards, pictures, letters,
markers
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Shape Books

• Children draw several small pictures on each page
  of things that begin with v. (Use colored pencils
  instead of marking pens.) The teacher or aide
  should label pictures for kindergarten students
  and/or at risk first graders. This becomes an
  open ended picture dictionary of their
  vocabulary. This works especially well with
  second language learners.

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Partner Puzzles
Partner Puzzles provide the opportunity for
independent practice that is self-correcting.
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Work Mats
Use clay and other textual materials for building
letters on work mats.
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Little Reader Practice Books
Little Reader Practice Books facilitate the
development of phonemic awareness, sound/symbol
knowledge and automaticity in letter recognition.
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Class Big Books
Class Big Books facilitate the development of
phonemic awareness and serve as picture
dictionaries. Great for ESL.
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ABC Sticker Books
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ABC Dominoes
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ABC Go Fish
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Search for Letters

• Give each child a magazine and let him search the
  pages for each letter of the alphabet. Have him
  cut out one letter for each letter on the chart.
  After he has found each letter, have him glue the
  letters in the correct order on a sheet of
  construction paper.

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Alphabet Touch

• Use this tactile activity to help children review
  letter names. Have children work in pairs. Ask
  one child to write a letter on another child's
  back, using his finger. The child who is being
  written on must point to the letter on the chart.

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Alphabet Picture Books

• Check out alphabet books from the library, such
  as Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, by Bill Martin, Jr.
  and John Archambault (Simon Schuster Books for
  Young Readers, 1989), and On Market Street, by
  Arnold Lobel (Greenwillow books, 1981). Share
  these stories with the children and then place
  them in an ABC center.

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Playdough Letters

• Give children small pieces of play dough and let
  them use it to form each of the letters on the
  chart. The children may wish to take turns
  selecting letters from the chart to make with the
  play dough. You may also substitute lengths of
  yarn or string for the play dough.

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Alphabet Charts
Keep a wide variety of alphabet charts in your
ABC Literacy Center along with child-friendly
pointers.
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Flexible Practice

• After you have modeled and rehearsed together the
  way to write a letter or letters with specific
  oral and visual directions, students can practice
  these letters independently using an assortment
  of media until they are able to do it in a fast
  and fluent manner. See it, say it, and do it in a
  variety of ways in the air, on the back of a
  neighbor, on the floor with their foot. It also
  is valuable to create those same letters with a
  variety of media.

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Flexible Practice Materials

• White boards
• Chalk boards
• Magna Doodles
• Templates
• Tactile letters
• Finger paint
• Variety of writing tools
• Textured materials

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Suggested Alphabet Materials

• Colorful magnetic letters
• Letter cards
• Sandpaper letters
• Salt trays
• Chalkboards
• Stamps and Stencils
• Dry erase boards
• Wikki Sticks

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More Alphabet Materials

• Alphabet books (commercial or teacher created)
• Letter lotto
• Alphabet placemats
• Alphabet rugs
• A variety of charts
• Blocks
• Board games
• Letter walls
• Matching games

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More Alphabet Materials

• Names Nook with student names and pictures
• Names Chart
• Alphabet attributes corner
• Pocket charts and/or shoe bags
• Desktop alphabet charts
• Stuff for sorting
• Pointers of assorted sizes and types
• Butcher paper
• Shaving Cream

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Recommended Reading

• Clay, Marie (1993). Reading Recovery A Guidebook
  for Teachers in Training. Portsmouth, NH
  Heinemann.
• Dorn, Linda, French, Cathy, and Jones, Tammy
  (1998). Apprenticeship in Literacy Transitions
  Across Reading and Writing. York, Maine
  Stenhouse.

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• Please note that materials for all activities
  outlined in this presentation can be downloaded
  from the authors Alphabet Avenue web page
• http//teachers.santee.k12.ca.us/carl/alphabet_ave
  nue.htm