Letter Cycles in Kindergarten (Cycle #1)

1.   What is the name of the letter? (letter id)

2. It is important that the students learn the sound and the name of the letter at the same time.  What is the sound of each letter?  This is nice because instead of hearing /buh/ for the letter b, the students hear /b/.
http://www.edina.k12.mn.us/cornelia/classrooms/kindergarten/pilcher/Meet_Alphafriends.htm
 

3. How do you form the letter? How do you make the letter? Uppercase? Lowercase? Heidisongs has excellent resources for this! (This is a gentle introduction of letter formation instead of mastery.)

4. What is the song? The actual song is posted.  The music so you can click and let the kids sing along AND the words are posted so the kids can see the words! I like #3 the best personally.

Song Site #1. 
http://www.chambersburg.k12.pa.us/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=22702&PHPSESSID=5a806a13b0604bdbe889e1e152c5978b
 

Song Site #2. 
http://www.myteacherpages.com/webpages/KristinHall/alphafriends.cfm

Song Site #3. 
http://teacher.ocps.net/janet.cahill/page7.html

These are examples of alphafriends from Alphafriends: 

       

 

#5        Teacher reads a 8-16 page that has a single picture on each page. Each letter book has a picture that starts with each letter. For example, reading a to z has these.  The letter Aa Book might have a picture of an ant, and the word ant under it. The next page might have a picture of an apple and the word apple under it. The next page might have a picture of an ax, and the word ax under it.  The next page might have a picture of an acorn, and the word acorn under it. Etc.

#6. The teacher then leads a discussion of generating a list of words which is why the HM Card that is attached to the song and the book read (#5) is helpful.

 

Alphafriends Songs!!!!!

Every song for the Alpha Friends is already typed and you can download here:

http://laura-armstrong-martinez.blogspot.com/2011/07/alphafriends-songs-printable.html

The song of EVERY ALPHAFRIEND is posted on this website!!!!!!!! What a blessing and a gift for our children and to us as instructors! Click on the name of the character. Click on the words Sammy Seal to hear the Sammy Seal song. 

http://teacher.ocps.net/janet.cahill/page7.html

Click on the picture to hear the sound: 

http://www.edina.k12.mn.us/cornelia/classrooms/kindergarten/pilcher/Meet_Alphafriends.htm

More Alphafriend Support:  (Each letter links to Starfall for your students)

http://www.chambersburg.k12.pa.us/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=22702&PHPSESSID=5a806a13b0604bdbe889e1e152c5978b

Phonemic Awareness: Noticing

Read the poem several times.  Ask the students what they notice.  Teacher says sounds. Students count how many sounds.  Teacher says sounds.  Students repeat sounds. 

/g/ /m/  /t/  [3]

Teacher says sounds.  Students repeat sounds.  Students blend sounds into a word.  Students draw a picture of the word.  After all the students draw, they hold up their picture and show everyone else.  Then one child says the word for everyone else.  Do we agree?  How do we know? 

/d/ /o/ /g/

/c/ /a/ /t/

/f/ /r/ /o/ /g/  – Do your students realize there are 4 sounds in frog?

/h/ /a/ /t/

Vocabulary Support for Houghton Mifflin

Houghton Mifflin Vocabulary

http://teacher.ocps.net/valerie.fluhr/

Houghton Mifflin Alphafriends Link

http://eduplace.com/state/ca/alfamigos/

Houghton Mifflin songs

Houghton Mifflin introduces the letters with an animal. They have songs that support the students’ learning.

A teacher I know is supporting the students’ learning by putting clipart with the words.

The same teacher decided to make up her own “MMMMMMMM” poem/song.