Overview
Letter/Sound association is necessary to learn to read and write.
Increased letter/sound knowledge will allow children to develop greater flexibility and automaticity in reading and writing.
Competent readers and writers can:
- name letters, both upper and lower case
- match letter to sound
- match sound to letter
Competent readers and writers:
- know some letters have multiple sounds
- respond automatically to letter symbols
Direct instruction is a necessary component to letter/sound identification. It is important to remember to connect these activities to real reading.
Some activities that provide letter/sound identification awareness are
- reading and making alphabet books with children.
- finding pictures that start with certain sounds and /or letters.
- playing "I am thinking of something that starts with (letter/sound)".
- tracing/writing the letter shapes in a variety of mediums (sand, shaving cream, rice, etc.).
- matching, pairing, or grouping letters by common characteristics (capital/lower case, shape (sticks or balls).
- participating in shared reading.
Intervention activities must be repeated continuously. The letter work must come from current reading or writing materials. The teacher must provide the students with a variety of experiences to ensure automatic responses to letters and sounds. This will allow students to move into more complex reading work.
Macomb Intermediate School District Early Literacy Committee
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Macomb Intermediate School District Early Literacy Committee © 2003