LITERACY/LANGUAGE: Letter Awareness

A print rich environment that allows children to practice literacy skills in real-life experiences, combined with explicit teaching of key concepts, is the foundation of literacy learning in the early years. We develop literacy by continually exposing the Cardinals to oral and written language, and by building on prior knowledge and language experiences. Read alouds, storytelling, songs, thought-provoking discussions, journals, and dramatic play are just a few of the many fun and engaging strategies we use in the Cardinals’ classroom to develop literacy. 

The Cardinals were introduced to the idea of Literacy Workshops.  As a means of adding a tactile component to practice shaping the letters of the alphabet with different materials, three stations were set up for the Cardinals.  

Here we see Noel in the playdough station where he was encouraged to “shape” a name, not just his but a friend’s or a teacher's name.

The same concept was applied in the alphabet stamping station were Noel used the letter stamps to “write” a friends’ and/or teachers’ name.

And, in the final station the Cardinals were provided with wood pieces as an activity to make capital letters. These wood pieces are a component of the Handwriting Without Tears program. Without any formal introduction to the program, the children are first invited to explore the wood pieces and use them to create as many letters as they could. The four wooden pieces are the basis for teaching children the skills of creating letters.  The pieces are referred to as big line, little line, big curve, little curve. Using only these shapes, the children learn how to form letters.

All of these activities help Noel internalize the shapes of letters, while developing motor skills but, in his mind .... he's just playing!  

Noel has solid letter recognition skills. He confidently recognizes both lower case and upper case letters and on some, Noel is able to associate the sounds they represent. He is able to hear and identify rhymes and can generate his own, e.g., sit-mit, fun-cun, hog-nog. Using the name cards, Noel is able to practice name recognition skills as well as sight vocabulary.