Family Child Care Home. Instructional Unit: LETTERS

Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit: LETTERS

Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit: LETTERS AUTHOR Dr. Janice Wood Crawford Early Literacy Faculty Fellow The Instructional Units presented here were funded in part by the U. S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement, Fund for the Improvement of Education as part of the Virtual School Readiness Incubator Project, the, and the Early Learning Coalition of Duval, Inc. These materials are still in the refinement phase and should be used with this caution in mind. The content of these units does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of or imply endorsement by the U. S. Department of Education, the University of North Florida, and/or the Early Learning Coalition of Duval, Inc. No claim is made on those materials that are in the public domain. 2013 Reproduction of these materials for resale or distribution is prohibited. University of North Florida University Center 12000 Alumni Drive Jacksonville, Florida 32224 2678 (904) 620 2496 FAX (904) 620 2454 http://www.unf.edu/fie/family_childcare_homes_instructional_units_(fcch).aspx

Family Child Care Home Instructional Units The Family Child Care Home Instructional Units are curriculum resource units for Family Home providers and teachers. The Instructional Units are standards-based and are strongly rooted in an evidence-based framework. The Instructional Unit topics were determined by the needs of professional development providers and teachers. They are easily adaptable to the needs of children, ranging in age from two years through four years, in a variety of learning environments and inclusive settings. Instructional Unit Topics Colors Letters Counting All About Me - My Feelings Weather Transportation Plants Opposites Air Animals Shapes Numbers All About Me - Body Parts/Senses My Family and Friends My Community Care of the Earth Day and Night Water Animals Land Animals 3

Letters Ages 2 + 3 Oral Language Experiences Listens to and responds to songs and books about letters Says letters Uses vocabulary words Recognizes familiar people, objects, and toys Learning Experiences Identifies familiar people and objects Recognizes picture of self and name Recognizes some letters in name Identifies some letters of the alphabet Matches uppercase letters with lowercase letters ABC By Eric Carle Core Vocabulary Words letters Rich Vocabulary Words alphabet Additional Children s Books Alphabatics, Suse MacDonald I Spy Little Letters, Jean Marzollo My First Book of Lowercase Letters, Kumon The Alphabet With Wild Animals, Mélanie Watt 4

Oral Language Activities Materials Needed Book: ABC, by Eric Carle Familiar toys Activity Pictures #1 Come Along Sing the Alphabet Song CD Activity Pictures #3 Cheerios Upper- and lowercase letters Index cards Child name card Lunch bag Activities Tell the children they are going to be learning about letters. Tell them when all of the letters are put together, it is called the alphabet. Show the children the ABC book. Tell them they are going to say a poem about the alphabet. Use the book while saying the poem. The Alphabet Poem This is a book about letters. (show the cover of the book) Right here we see A, B, C. (point to A, B, C) A is for ants; (open the book and point to the first page) B is for birds; (open the flap and point to the B and the bird) C is for a great big crocodile. (point to the C and the crocodile) The letters in this book are cool, So we re going to learn about the alphabet, Starting with the letters A, B, C. Come and sing with me. Take a photograph of each child. Cut out the photographs and mount them on the left side of an index card. Print each child s first name on the card. Tell the children that their names are made up of letters. Point to and name the first letter of each child s name. Say each child s name. Play the Come Along Sing the Alphabet Song CD a couple of times for the children. Sing along with the Come Along Sing the Alphabet Song CD with the children. As you sing the song, use a pointer to point to the letters on Activity Pictures #1. Continue to sing the song throughout the week. 5

First Reading of the Book Display the book ABC by Eric Carle. As you show the children the cover of the book, tell them that they see letters of the alphabet. Point to the A, B, and C and say the name of each letter. Use the uppercase A, B, and C from your group of magnetic letters and match them with the letters on the cover of the book. Open the book and point to the uppercase letter A. Point to the ants and tell them that a is the first letter of the word ants. As you read through the story, point to each letter and the corresponding animal. Second Reading of the Book Read the book again and as you read, trace each letter with your finger. As you go through the book, ask individual children to trace the letters. As they are tracing the letters, help them say the name of each letter. Randomly go through the book and point to some pictures and names of the animals. As you point to the words, tell the children that these are the words that make up the names of the animals, such as, This is the letter H, this is a picture of a horse, and this is the word horse. Point to familiar animals such as birds, dogs, frogs, horses, and tigers to help the children understand that letters are used to make up words. Reread the book several times throughout the week. Read the books suggested in the Additional Children s Books section. Give each child a Take-Home Bracelet from Activity Pictures #3. Activities Gather several familiar toys and place them on the table. Ask the children to select one of the toys and tell you the name of the toy, such as, This is a blue ball. As the children progress with this activity, change the toys. 6

Activities Give each child either an upper or lowercase letter. Place a lunch bag on the table. Begin with the first five letters of the alphabet. Sing the Give a Laugh song with the children. Give a Laugh Tune: If You re Happy and You Know It If you have the letter, give a laugh. (Ha-Ha) If you have the letter, give a laugh. (Ha-Ha) If you have the letter, come and put it in the bag. If you have the letter, give a laugh. (Ha-Ha) Continue singing the song throughout the week. Gather simple pictures and photographs of children. Show the children one picture and ask them to point to one prominent item in the picture, such as, Point to the green tree in the picture. As the children progress, add additional photographs. Ask them to find pictures of the children in your classroom. Say, Find the picture of Angela and her family. Give each child a card with the first letter of his/her name printed on the card. Say the name of the letter and the sound that the letter makes with the child. Place several uppercase letters in front of the child and ask him/her to match the letter with the letter printed on the card. Ask the children to draw a picture of themselves on a piece of paper. Print the first letter of each child s name at the bottom of the page. Say the name and the sound of the letter with the child. Give each child a letter. As you give each child a letter, say the name of the letter and the sound the letter makes. Tell the children you are going to call out the names of letters and when they hear the name of their letter, they hold the letter up and say the name of the letter and the sound the letter makes. As the children progress, change the letters. Give each child a piece of paper. Print the first letter of the child s name on the paper. Place small containers of Cheerios on the table and ask the children to glue the Cheerios on the outline of the letter. Select one letter per day and complete the following activity. Place one letter of the alphabet on the table. Look through magazines with the children and draw a yellow circle around the specific letter. Change the letter daily. 7

Learning Activities Materials Needed Child name card with photograph of child Cut out the letters from Activity Pictures #2 Several familiar items and toys (enough items for all children) Upper- and lowercase letters Cardboard tubes Cookie sheet Activities Give each child his/her name card while saying the name of each child. While saying the child s name, point to the photograph of the child. Ask the children to place their name cards on the table. Mix up the name cards. Say the name of one child and ask her to find her name card. Continue this activity until all children have found their name cards. Ask the children to place their name cards in a pocket chart or in a basket. Each morning, ask the children to find their name cards. As the children make progress, hide the name cards around the room and ask the children to find their own name card. Use the letters from Activity Pictures #2 for this activity. Begin this activity by using the first letters of the children s names. Gather the children around the table and spread the lowercase letters on the table. Hold up one uppercase letter and ask the children to find the corresponding lowercase letter. When they find the letter, ask them to say the name of the letter. Start with just the first letters of the children s names. As the children learn the letters, add additional letters. A variation of this activity would be to ask the children to make the sound the letter makes as they say the names of the letters. Gather several familiar items and toys. Spread the lowercase letters on a cookie sheet. Ask each child to select one item and name the item. Ask him/her to look on the cookie sheet and find the beginning letter of the word. As the children make progress, add additional items and letters. (ball, block, crayon, paintbrush, puzzle) 8

Activities Take a Letter Walk. Go outdoors and ask the children to search for letters by looking at signs, trucks, and buildings. Follow a route that offers opportunities for the children to see letters. As the children see the letters, write them down on a piece of paper. When you get back indoors, review the letters with the children and make the sounds of the letters. Use cardboard tubes for this activity. Cut the tubes into 2 inch sections. Print the first letter of the children s names on the tubes. Place the tubes on the table so that each child can find the tube with the first letter of his/her name printed on it. When the child finds the tube, ask him/her to say the name and the sound of the letter. Sing the Letter Song with the children using the names of the children in your classroom. Letter Song Let s sing about the letter A. (one of your children s names) Letter A, A. Let s sing about the letter A. A says the name of Anthony. Continue until all of the children s names have been used. Randomly place five letters on the cookie sheet. Call out the name of one letter at a time and ask one child to find the letter on the cookie sheet. When the child finds the letter, tell him/her to name the letter and make its sound. Repeat this activity while changing the letters. 9

Letters Ages 3 + 4 Oral Language Experiences Listens to and responds to songs and books about letters Names all of the letters Uses vocabulary words in conversations Learning Experiences Identifies own name Names the first letter and its sound in own name Says sounds of most letters Independently writes most letters Names all letters in own name ABC By Dr. Seuss Core Vocabulary Words letters alphabet Rich Vocabulary Words uppercase lowercase Additional Children s Books A is For Salad, Mike Lester An A to Z Walk in the Park, R. M. Smith Chicka Chicka, Boom Boom, Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault The Letters Are Lost, Lisa Campbell Ernst 10

Oral Language Activities Materials Needed Book: ABC, by Dr. Seuss Activity Pictures #1 Activity Pictures #2 Activity Pictures #4 Child name cards Magazines and newspaper ads Come Along Sing the Alphabet Song CD Upper- and lowercase magnetic letters Soft ball Activities Take a photograph of each child. Cut out the photograph and mount it on the left side of an index card. Print each child s first name on the right side of the flash card. Display all of the name cards on the table. Sing the Name Song with the children using each child s name. Ask the children to refer to the child name cards for the correct spelling of the names. Name Song Tune: Bingo We have a friend that we like best And Joel is his name, oh, (use child s name) J o e l, J o e l, J o e l And Joel is his name, oh. Make a name book for each child. Cut 8 ½ x 11 paper in half and staple the pages together on the left-hand side. Use as many pages as there are letters in each child s name. Print one letter of the child s name on each page of the name book. Ask the children to use old magazines and newspaper ads to cut out pictures of items that begin with each letter of the child s name. Help the child glue the pictures on the corresponding pages. While working with the children independently, ask each child to say the names of the letters in their name and the sound each letter makes. 11

First Reading of the Book Show the children the cover of the book ABC, by Dr. Seuss. Ask them to tell you the name of the letters they see on the cover of the book. Tell the children that this is a book about the letters of the alphabet. Tell them that the title of the book is ABC and the author of the book is Dr. Seuss. Turn to the first page of the book and tell the children that the big letters they will see are the uppercase letters and that the little letters are the lowercase letters. Begin reading the book and point to the letters when you see them. Sing the Come Along Sing the Alphabet Song with the children. Point to the pictures while singing. Give each child a letter of the alphabet from Activity Pictures #2 and, as their letter is sung, ask them to hold their letter in the air. Read the book to the children. Hide several letters around the room. Randomly say the name of the letters and ask the children to find each letter. When they find the letter, ask them to tell you the name of the letter and the sound the letter makes. After reading the book, sing the Come Along Sing the Alphabet Song with the children. Show them the alphabet page from Activity Pictures #1 while singing. Second Reading of the Book As you read the book for the second time, ask the children to repeat with you all the objects and animals that begin with the letters on the page. While reading the book, ask the children if they can think of additional words that begin with the corresponding letters, such as, What other words can you think of that begin with the letter B? Sit on the floor and gather the children in a circle. Roll or toss a soft ball to a child and call out the name of one letter. Ask the child to say the name of an animal that begins with the letter that was called out. The child rolls or tosses the ball to another child while calling out the name of one letter. A variation of this activity would be to ask the child to tell you the name of the letter that comes before the called out letter and/or the letter that comes after the called out letter. When reading the book, highlight the Core and Rich Vocabulary words. Reread the book several times throughout the week. Read the books suggested in the Additional Children s Books section. Give each child a Take-Home Bracelet from Activity Pictures #4. 12

Activities Gather the children around a table. Place the lower case letters on the table. Select one lowercase letter and ask the children do find the letter that comes after. Continue to randomly select letters and ask the children to find the following letter. Ask the children to identify the letter and the sound the letter makes. Give each child a letter from Activity Pictures #2. If you have a small number of children, start with the first 10 letters of the alphabet. Ask the children to put the letters of the alphabet in order, starting with the letter A. Refer to the letters in the book if the children forget the order of the letters. Sing the Letter Practice song with the children. Letter Practice Rabbit starts with the letter R, Letter R, letter R. Rabbit starts with the letter R, Can you think of one more word? Continue this activity by changing the letters and the words. Sing only 3 5 letters at a time. Show the children the alphabet from Activity Pictures #1 during this activity. A Apple J Jar S Sock B Ball K Key T Tooth C Cake L Leaf U Umbrella D Door M Moon V Violin E Egg N Nail W Wagon F Fish O Octopus X box ends with X G Gate P Pencil Y Yarn H Heart Q Quilt Z Zipper I Igloo R Rainbow Tell the children you are going to ask them to tell you a word that begins with a specific letter. Sing the Tell Me a Word song with the children. Tell Me a Word Tune: Ten Little Indians Tell me a word that begins with t Tell me a word that begins with t Tell me a word that begins with t Who can tell me a word? Sing several verses of this song, changing the letters for each verse. 13

Activities Give each child one letter from Activity Pictures #2. Ask the child to tell you the name of the letter and the sound it makes. Ask the child to tell you a word that begins with the letter. Repeat this activity several times while changing the letters. Play the Musical Alphabet game with the children. Have the children stand in a circle and place an alphabet letter in front of each child. When the music starts, ask the children to walk in a circle. When the music stops, have each child stop and name the letter that is in front of him/her. Continue this activity until the children are able to identify all of the letters. Continue this activity throughout the week and change the letters each day. Take a Letter Walk. Go outdoors and ask the children to look around for letters. Remind the children that they will see upper and lowercase letters. Follow routes where the children will see many signs, buildings, and vehicles that will display letters. When the children see a letter, help them say the entire word and identify each of the letters in the word. Give the children many opportunities to write letters with different instruments. Give each child a piece of paper with the first letter of his/her name written on the top of the page. Place crayons, pencils, pens, markers, and chalk on the table. Ask the children to write their full name with each of the writing instruments placed on the table. Tell the children that they will be saying the letters of the alphabet with you. Start with the letter A and as you tap the children on their shoulders, continue with the next letter. Continue until you go through the alphabet. This is an activity that can be done each day of the week. Give each child a few Alphabet cereal pieces. Ask them to name each of their letters and tell you the name of a word that begins with each of the letters. Alphabet Touch. Call out letters and have the children find and touch the called-out letters in the classroom. Remind them to look at charts, posters, and books. Show the children one letter of the alphabet and ask them which letter comes before that letter and which letter comes after that letter. Give each child one alphabet letter. Ask the children to look around the classroom and find an object or a word that begins with the letter. Ask the children to go to the object and place their letter on the object. Alphabet Shout Out. Use Activity Pictures #2 for this activity. Randomly show one alphabet letter and point to the first child that shouts out a word beginning with that letter. Continue until all children have had a chance to succeed. 14

Learning Activities Materials Needed Cut out letters from Activity Pictures #2 Child name cards Magazines, newspaper ads White shower curtain Activities Give each child his/her name card. Ask each child to name the first letter of his/her name. Give each child a piece of paper and ask him/her to print the first letter of his/her name in the middle of the paper. Using old magazines and newspaper ads, ask the children to find items that begin with the first letter of their name and cut them out. Help the children glue the pictures on the paper. Ask each child to point to and name all of the items on the page. Use the children s name cards for this activity. Hold each card up in the air, point to the first letter of the name and ask the children to identify and name the letter and make the sound that the letter makes. Say the child s name. Give each child a piece of paper and ask the children to write their names. Use a large piece of paper and print the letter of each child s name randomly on the paper. Hang the paper at the child s eye level. Give the children markers and ask them to find their names and draw a circle around the first letter of their name. The older children can print their names on the paper Ask each child to write his/her name on a piece of paper with a marker. To play Name Bingo, the teacher randomly calls out the letters one at a time. When a letter comes up that is in the child s name, the child crosses through the letter in his name using his marker. When all of the letters are crossed out, the child wins! Repeat this activity throughout the week. Make an Alphabet Line around the classroom. Use a clothespin to clip the letters on the line. Each day point to 3 5 letters and ask the children to find objects that begin with those letters. Ask the children to place the objects under the letters. 15

Activities Place cereal boxes and books on the table. Show the children one of the letters from Activity Pictures #2 and ask them to find the letters on the items placed on the table. Continue showing the children the letters throughout the week. Write letters on a white shower curtain. Say the beginning sound of a letter and ask one child to step on the corresponding letter. Continue this activity throughout the week. Sing the Shout It Out! song with the children. Shout It Out! Tune: If You re Happy and You Know It If your name starts with /T/, shout it out. (Thomas) If your name starts with /G/, shout it out. (Ginger) I would be so proud, if you said your name out loud, If your name starts with /A/, shout it out. (Angela) Continue until all of the children have had a turn. Play the Letter Sound game with the children. Give the children the following clues and ask them to name the rhyming word that you are describing: This r word rhymes with bed. (red) This b word rhymes with clue. (blue) This y word rhymes with fellow. (yellow) This b word rhymes with clack. (black) This g word rhymes with bean. (green) This b word rhymes with frown. (brown) This w word rhymes with bite. (white) This p word rhymes with sink. (pink) Give each child either an upper- or lowercase letter. Randomly select letters of the alphabet. Sing the Give a Laugh song with the children. Give a Laugh Tune: If You re Happy and You Know It If you have the letter, give a laugh. (Ha-Ha) If you have the letter, give a laugh. (Ha-Ha) If you have the letter, come and put it in the bag. If you have the letter, give a laugh. (Ha-Ha) 16

Letters Activity Pictures #1 17

Letters Activity Pictures #2 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O 18

Letters Activity Pictures #2 P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 19

Letters Activity Pictures #2 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 20

Letters p Activity qpictures #2 r s t u v w x y z 21

Letters Activity Pictures #3 Sing the Alphabet song with me. Sing the Alphabet song with me. Sing the Alphabet song with me. Sing the Alphabet song with me. Sing the Alphabet song with me. Sing the Alphabet song with me. Sing the Alphabet song with me. Sing the Alphabet song with me. Sing the Alphabet song with me. 22

Letters Activity Pictures #4 Ask me to spell my own name. Ask me to spell my own name. Ask me to spell my own name. Ask me to spell my own name. Ask me to spell my own name. Ask me to spell my own name. Ask me to spell my own name. Ask me to spell my own name. Ask me to spell my own name. 23