Don’t teach “letter of the week”!
I know that sounds like a bold statement but trust me when I say there is a better way that you can teach letters, the sounds they represent, and alphabetic knowledge, in general.
The new way to teach alphabet knowledge skills is through Letter of the Day!
I first learned about this concept while reading “Comprehensive Literacy for All ” (which, by the way, if you don’t have that book – grab it!) and it completely changed my way of thinking about this topic.
The idea is simple, you cycle through six cycles of the alphabet, teaching each letter one at a time, one day at a time. Through this cycle, you can introduce, teach, and highlight each letter of the alphabet more frequently throughout the year than when you focus on a letter for an entire week.
I have seen students flourish while using this method of teaching alphabet knowledge, developing deep knowledge and understanding of letters and the sounds they represent – plus, it keeps things interesting and fun!
Letter of the Day Cycles
Here are the six different cycles, rotated through every 26 days, and the suggested order of introduction:
Sequence #1: Letters are taught, one per day, beginning with the letters that appear most frequently in the names of students.
Sequence #2: Letters are taught in alphabetic order.
Sequence #3: Start with the letters that represent sounds that are in the letter names (i.e., b, p, f, m) and move to letters that represent sounds that are not in the name (i.e,, h, q, w, y) or represent more than one sound. (e.g., possible order could be: b, f, m, p, j, d, k, t, v, z, l, n, r, s, h, q, w, y, c, g, x, i, a, e, o, u)
Sequence #4: Teach letters based on the frequency of use in written English, beginning with words that appear least frequently. (e.g., possible order might be y, q, j, z, x, w, k, h, g, v, f, b, m, p, d, c, l, s, n, t, r, u, o, e, a, i)
Sequence #5: Teach letters in the order that typically developing children learn to say sounds in spoken English. Begin with sounds that children articulate earliest and move through the sounds for which articulation develops last. (e.g., possible order might be: n, m, p, h, t, k, y, f, b, d, g, w, s, l, r, v, z, j, c, i, a, e, o, u, x, q)
Sequence #6: Teach letters based on visual features that make letters easier or more difficult to distinguish from one another. Clusters of letters that are visually similar are taught across several adjacent days. (e.g., possible order: c, g, o, b, p, d, q, a, m, n, w, r, h, t, l, f, i, j, g, y, v, u, e, z, s, k)
Summary
While it seems like introducing a new letter each day, seems like it might be a lot more work. Initially, it might be, but the benefits of being able to target letters more frequently throughout the year and provide increased opportunities for learning about each letter, greatly outweigh the initial time investment. Also, once you start implementing these cycles, you can begin building a library and collection of activities that you can use with each letter.
Now that we know what the recommendations are for the sequences of introducing the letters each day, the next step is to learn how to introduce and run alphabet knowledge lesions right? Stay tuned for more information on that coming soon!
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