Learning the Names and Sounds of the Letters

Each year I begin by challenging my kindergarten students to learn all the names and sounds of the letters by Halloween.  I remember way back when this was a task I devoted the entire year to accomplishing.  Then I went to a workshop presented by Michael Heggerty, author of Phonemic Awareness: The Skills That They Need to Help Them Succeed!  He challenged teachers to raise the bar and get as many students to learn the names and sounds of the letters as early as possible in the year.  It doesn't have to be 100%, but we should be working towards that goal.  It really makes perfect sense.  How can we ask a kid to sound something out, if they don't know the names and sounds of the letter?

This year I had an epiphany when I realized how important it is to use just one picture for students to associate with each letter, at least in the beginning.  As they start to pull away from using the pictures, they can still visualize the image and can use the cue to help remember the name and sound.  When I first started teaching kindergarten, I was left with a wealth of resources by an excellent teacher.  The philosophy was to bombard the students with as many examples of the sounds in as many ways as possible.  I now think this was not the best approach.  AFTER kids know most of the names and sounds is certainly the time to bombard the senses though.

This is the alphabet that I used this year.  I have printed individual sheets that are kept ready at hand and the alphabet strip over the chalkboard also uses the same pictures.  My students have learned the names and sounds of the upper and lowercase letters in record time this year.

Amanda Richardson 2014  Graphics & Fonts Dianne J. Hook www.djinkers.com