view a plan
ABCs teach students how to learn to read in this lesson
Title – ABC with learning styles
By – Gisela Hausmann
Primary Subject – Language Arts
Secondary Subjects – Art
Grade Level – Pre-K, K, ESE
Time: 20 minutes per letter
Materials: alphabet book “obvious LETTERS” + one copy of the relevant page per child (don’t forget spare copies)
Objective: To reinforce the memorization of the letters via auditory, visual, and kinesthetic methods.
1) Since most children are visual learners you begin by showing off the letter, example “Q” as in “QUIET”. Discuss what the page shows: an index finger held over the lower lip of a slightly opened mouth. Ask the children if they can guess what the person is trying to say … aha … “QUIET”
2) Hand out the copies and ask the children to put their index fingers under the word, which is written under the illustration. Together “read” the word while slowly moving the fingers from letter to letter.
3) Discuss whether you think that the person on the picture is a man or a woman. Conclude that the person is probably a woman wearing lipstick. Ask if the children have ever seen somebody applying lipstick.
4) Instruct the children to use crayons and pretend to “color” the lips.
5) When the children are finished ask them to stand up and do the as the picture shows. Have them all (relatively) “quietly” sounds out “QUIET” while putting the emphasis on the “Q” sound.
Please note that while quite man of the associative pictures in “obvious LETTERS” can be “acted out” not all of them can be used like that.
Other associative pictures have “hidden” associative words such as “R as in RAINCOAT”. The children might recognize that the raincoat in the picture is “red”, or the picture could also be interpreted as “Red Riding Hood”
Closure: Ask the children to cut out the associative picture (remove the word underneath), take it home and to ask their parents if they can recognize what letter the picture depicts. This is to keep the parents informed what their children are doing as well to create a sense of pride in the children that they “created” a letter.
E-Mail Gisela Hausmann !