Early literacy—letter recognition and tracing, activities we do in the classroom 


It is significant to introduce literacy to young children even though they might not be able to “read” or “write” yet. It covers different aspects, including reading, letter recognition, tracing the letters and pre-writing. Most of the young children start showing their interests in letters around the age of 2 to 3 and keep “playing” and “practicing” with letters more through the age of 4 and 5. That’s a crucial time to enhance this skill and form a better foundation of reading since they would continue and develop this skill throughout the early years of the school. Here are some of the activities we do in the classroom.


1.  What letter does_______  begin with?


Have the felt story items or real objects on one side and line the alphabets  that are associated with the beginning letters with the items on the other side. 


First, review the letter names and then the items. Ask a child to choose an item and place it under the letter that the item begins with. For example, child A picks broccoli. Ask the child which letter the broccoli starts with and place it underneath letter B. If the child is struggling with the answer, other children can surely help. Also, I usually have a poster with the items and names on the side as a visual aid. So they can use it as reference, providing additional support and reinforcement of learning. 




2. Matching the picture with the beginning letter


Draw the pictures and write down the names. Have the child match the letter that matches the picture starting with. With some more encouragement, the young children usually demonstrate great interest in this activity and are fully engaged. 


3. Spell and go


In order to create an early-literacy exposure classroom, I usually have a few pictures with the names related to the theme for the week on the whiteboard. Before we go for a washroom break, my little friends take turns to pick a picture and we spell the word together. When I tried this game for the first time, I was worried that it might be too challenging for the age of 3 to 5 and they would lose interest. However, they seemed to enjoy it and even reminded me of doing it. 



4. Trace a letter with Q-tip and water paints


Instead of tracing the letter with a finger, I made it slightly challenging and more interesting for my little friends. They used Q-tip to trace the letters on the poster. I purposefully scattered the letters on a big poster paper so they could “I Spy…..” as well.


5. Read, trace and erase


This activity is perfect for multi-level class. I usually draw a picture on a whiteboard and write down the name. We usually spell the word aloud as a group and then the individual can come to pick a letter from the naming word. Here comes the fun part. They can choose to just read a letter and erase it or read the letter, trace it and erase it. This approach provides options and challenges for each child in order to meet their own needs. Also, I write down each letter on the dot line to enhance their understanding of the position of the letter in print. 



Overall, my approaches to introduce literacy to young children have to tailor their developmental stage as well as to be fun and actively engaging. In order to promote their motivation and enhance their understanding, the tasks should be well-designed with clear goals and challenges. I also observe their reactions closely and adjust my activity as needed. 


Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 5, 2024 at 7:41 PM

    Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousApril 5, 2024 at 7:43 PM

    I also wanted to ask about how you work on children's phonological awareness as well as phonemic awareness. I recently came to an understanding how the importance of them in teaching word recognition.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. agnesApril 7, 2024 at 5:59 PM

      Usually both of. phonological and phonemic awareness are introduced in the kindergarten and grade 1 when they have basic foundation of letter recognition. Based on my teaching experience, the phonics wall is a great resource to facilitate their phonics skills. I have a post about how my young learners benefit from it and how we create it together.-----agnes

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