Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Letter Recognition & Name Identification

In addition to our weekly "Jolly Phonics" (phonics/sounds of the letters), we have also been working with the “little friends” on recognizing letters of the alphabet.  We are also working on spelling our names - an important skill for children moving onto the JK classroom next school year.  This is part of the communication, language and literacy curriculum published by ELECT.  Through our “cookie sheet” activity shown in the photo, children are learning to recognize letters and were required to spell their first names.  We are encouraging the children to look around the room and in books to see if they can find word that begin with the same letter as their first name.  At home, you can play letter and sound games.  An example is the adult says “Pat plays with purple paint.  Pat, how many p’s did I use?” (ELECT).   This kind of game gives children an opportunity to identify initial consonants in context.

If you are interested in learning more about the "Jolly Phonics" songs, please check out the link below:

We have also been encouraging reading and literacy awareness.  Children learn so much through a simple reading activity.  Did you know that children should spend at least 20 min a day reading?  Children learn how to hold books, turn pages and basic literacy principles when parents and caregivers read to them on a regular basis.  When children read a familiar story over and over again they will begin to “read” the story themselves by memory.  We have also been encouraging our “big friends” to point out individual words on the pages of a story book to teach the children that the scribbles on the page have meaning and that we read from left to right.  All of these are important literacy tools that children should be exposed to before they enter school.


If you have any questions about the above information please as one of the playschool teachers.  We would be happy to explain in more detail. 

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