Letters and Words

Learning to read is a complex process. So many skills are needed to be able to crack the code and translate the lines and squiggles on the page into words and messages that convey meaning.

We have been exploring with letters and words, the building blocks of what we find in the books we read. We have become very familiar with a rhythmic and repetitive stories. So familiar, that the children can recite some simple stories from memory, and are now beginning to connect the words they have heard to the words they see on the page in a book.

Here are two students, listening to the familiar story and reading along with a familiar story:

We are learning the difference between letters and words. Letters are the parts that make up words, this is not always obvious to children. Often, we need to teach the concept explicitly. Using the familiar story, we are learning what words look like. Here we are deciding whether each strip of paper is one word or two words:

A very easy way to start learning about the differences between letters and words is to use a very familiar word, a child's name. We can call the name a "word" and then count the number of letters that are in that word:

To solidify our ability to quickly identify letters and talk about the sounds letters can make, we work together and individually to sort and classify letters:

Another way the children are inspired to talk about letter sounds, the shape of letters, expand their English vocabularies, and explore with spatial awareness (a little math never hurt anyone!) is through the use of puzzles:

We will continue to hone our letter and word awareness as we move into reading by ourselves, with a partner and with the teacher in the coming weeks.
Stay tuned!
Ms. Gladman