At the beginning of the year, I only work on letter names during interventions. Since about 1/3-1/2 of the class knows at least some letter names when they start school, I want to quickly give the others a boost, you know, try to give them the exposure they missed during their preschool years. During these letter name interventions, I find out soon enough who came in not knowing any letters because they just weren't exposed to them and who doesn't know any because they have a hard time learning and remembering letter names. Another reason I don't do letter sound interventions at the beginning of the year is because it's not TIME to intervene on that. It's time for tier 1 instruction. I don't expect anyone to know letter sounds coming in to kindergarten. All students will get hit hard with letter sound instruction throughout the day with tier 1 instruction and most students will pick up those sounds as we practice blending over and over and over again. I add in letter sound interventions later in the year if needed (if they haven't picked up on sounds after months of green zone instruction).
I love seeing this in action! Thank you! Do you mix capital and lower case letters you work on with the students? Also, are your clues on the back of the cards pictures of your key word students associate with the letters? Did you make your own cards?
Hi! All good questions! I start with the letters in their name, so that would be one capital letter and however many lowercase letters. I do not put out the corresponding other case letters YET. Next, I add in the letters I have taught. If it takes them a looooong time to learn the letters in their name then, after they learn those, I will just add a couple letters that I have taught, usually the ones we started with since we have been talking about those the longest. I do both capital and lowercase from here on out. Once they get a lot of letters going, I will go back and add in the lowercase for the first letter of their name and the capitals that correspond with the lowercase letters in their name. There is no real set pattern and it varies from student to student; eventually, they will get them all if you are able to stay consistent with working with them for a few minutes each day. As far as clues on the back, a FEW match the pictures on my picture alphabet, but remember--these are interventions and that usually means TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT with these kids. Therefore, I try to think of additional above-and-beyond cues. I will try to do a post that focuses on my cues since many people are asking about that. As far as the cards, I keep ten sets handy since I usually have 9-10 kids in letter name interventions at a time. Some of the sets are from an old reading program that we used to use; some I made from blank playing cards; and, some I made from card stock and then laminated. You can order "blank playing cards" and they are handy because they are slippery like real playing cards. Laminating also makes them slippery (as I'm sure you know).
At the beginning of the year, I only work on letter names during interventions. Since about 1/3-1/2 of the class knows at least some letter names when they start school, I want to quickly give the others a boost, you know, try to give them the exposure they missed during their preschool years. During these letter name interventions, I find out soon enough who came in not knowing any letters because they just weren't exposed to them and who doesn't know any because they have a hard time learning and remembering letter names. Another reason I don't do letter sound interventions at the beginning of the year is because it's not TIME to intervene on that. It's time for tier 1 instruction. I don't expect anyone to know letter sounds coming in to kindergarten. All students will get hit hard with letter sound instruction throughout the day with tier 1 instruction and most students will pick up those sounds as we practice blending over and over and over again. I add in letter sound interventions later in the year if needed (if they haven't picked up on sounds after months of green zone instruction).
Do you do something similar for students that don't know any sounds?
I love seeing this in action! Thank you! Do you mix capital and lower case letters you work on with the students? Also, are your clues on the back of the cards pictures of your key word students associate with the letters? Did you make your own cards?
Hi! All good questions! I start with the letters in their name, so that would be one capital letter and however many lowercase letters. I do not put out the corresponding other case letters YET. Next, I add in the letters I have taught. If it takes them a looooong time to learn the letters in their name then, after they learn those, I will just add a couple letters that I have taught, usually the ones we started with since we have been talking about those the longest. I do both capital and lowercase from here on out. Once they get a lot of letters going, I will go back and add in the lowercase for the first letter of their name and the capitals that correspond with the lowercase letters in their name. There is no real set pattern and it varies from student to student; eventually, they will get them all if you are able to stay consistent with working with them for a few minutes each day. As far as clues on the back, a FEW match the pictures on my picture alphabet, but remember--these are interventions and that usually means TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT with these kids. Therefore, I try to think of additional above-and-beyond cues. I will try to do a post that focuses on my cues since many people are asking about that. As far as the cards, I keep ten sets handy since I usually have 9-10 kids in letter name interventions at a time. Some of the sets are from an old reading program that we used to use; some I made from blank playing cards; and, some I made from card stock and then laminated. You can order "blank playing cards" and they are handy because they are slippery like real playing cards. Laminating also makes them slippery (as I'm sure you know).
Awesome! Thanks!