SPECIAL EDITION: LETTER RECOGNITION EXERCISE

Last week we received a really good question from an experienced volunteer who is finding that some of her little readers are having difficulty with letter recognition and retaining what she has taught them from week to week. She would like some tips on how to move these children forward.  She has kept the sessions fun using all the tools available: magnetic letters, alphabet books and helping them practise writing the letters.

In September, during the Returning Volunteers Workshop I featured a book, There’s Research for That by Heidi Messner and Kate Hilden.  I am very enthusiastic about this book because their advice on teaching letters is evidence based and backed with good research.

The take away for us is that it’s best to teach the letter and its sound together and to teach a few letters at a time. The sequence of letters and sounds introduced in the Bob Books are a great place to start.  Years ago, we did not teach the short vowels, a, e, i, o and u until later in grade one.  This made it difficult for a child to sound out and blend a whole word as all words contain vowels.

The following is the sequence taught in the early Bob books; m, a, t, s, c, d, o, h, g, r, b, n, p, I, j, w, e, l, k, x, y, z.

The following is a suggestion on how to teach a letter and its sound:

Let’s look at the letter T.  You can print this letter, both upper and lower case on the white board, name the letter and point to it.  Say the sound and name a word that starts with it e.g. “tuh-tuh-turtle”.  Invite the child to write upper and lower case T on the white board.  Once the four letter sounds M, T, S and A are known you can teach how to blend them to make words (e.g., MAT, SAT).

Giving the child opportunities to use all their senses to learn a letter and its sound is very helpful especially for children struggling with learning difficulties.  By hearing the sound, seeing and writing the letter, the child has a better chance of remembering what they have learned. It is important to move slowly and make sure that your reader experiences success.

After you have taught the first four sounds you can make use of Elkonin Boxes.  You make the boxes for three letter words by drawing three boxes together. Let’s make the word mat.  First ask them to put a token (coin or piece of cardboard) in the box as they hear a sound.  Then, “what is the first sound you hear? The last sound? The middle sounds?” To finish off you can have the child tell you and write the first letter to match the sound, second and third.

Another idea that I have had much success with is to start a sound book with the child. Gradually as they learn the sound, you can add another letter to your book. Each page has the letter, upper and lower case with a picture of one thing that begins with that letter and the word written beside it. This word becomes a mnemonic for the child.  A good example of this is using the child’s name, e for Emma or a for Amelia.

I use mnemonics all the time with most of the children for teaching the short vowels which are so difficult due to the slight difference in their sound.

I have a sheet of paper with a picture of an iguana, elephant, octopus and an umbrella on it and I point it out when we are sounding out a word to help them remember the letter.

Having the child look at your mouth when you are making a letter sound is also very helpful.  I’ve attached some pictures of the mouth making the short vowels along with pictorial example of each sound. This is from the University of Florida Literacy Institute Foundation (UFLI). I just discovered this as the teachers at Rawlinson are using their programme. You might want to check this out although there is much more detail than we need in our program.

I have just scratched the surface for ideas on how to teach letters and their sounds and would love to hear from you on how you approach this learning!

Marjie Calla