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Why You Should Teach Using the "New Alphabet"

 What do you know about the "New Alphabet"?  Did you know that teaching the alphabet in the original order does not support students' understanding of letter/sound relationships?  Let's challenge the old alphabet and embrace the new to help give our students what they REALLY need.

Here is what you need to know SIMPLY...





The first letter/sound relationship I teach with my Kindergarten students is "c", hard "c" only.  We work on that sound and that grapheme all week long.  Once I have explicitly taught "c", "o", "a", "d", then we can start blending sounds and making words.  The goal is to get students to start blending as soon as possible but the key is that this is happening with sounds they have already been taught....NO GUESSING JUST SCIENCE!  

Here is a typical instructional sequence over the course of a week with "d" (meaning, "c", "o", and "a" have already been taught).  

Day 1
  • 3 Part Drill
    • sound cards of previously taught graphemes (c, o, a)
    • dotted letters for letter formation tracing (sand is not used yet)
    • blending board (not yet)
  • New Concept:
  • phonemic awareness
    • sound introduction, model proper articulation (clip the sound, do not emphasize with "duh")
    • phonemic awareness activity (words beginning with /d/)
  • auditory/visual
    • introduce phonetic card "d", pair with visual of "dog"
  • kinesthetic
    • using house paper, model proper letter formation and making connections to letter position in the house
    • for "d" make references to the drum and drumstick
    • sky write
    • write on house paper with crayon, trace with finger
    • /d/, "d" says /d/ as writing/tracing
Day 2
  • 3 part drill (repeat as above but add "d")
    • cards
    • dotted cards for tracing and saying
    • blending board, now active with "c", "o", "a", "d"...use words: cod, cad, dad, ac, oc (no open syllables)
  • phonemic awareness
    • review /d/
    • repeat phonemic activity with new words or phrases
  • auditory-visual
    • dog toy to make connection
    • literacy connection with dog story
  • kinesthetic
    • practice handwriting "d" on house paper (not as many)
  • word dictation
Day 3
  • 3 part drill
  • phonemic awareness activity
  • reread dictation words
  • practice making sentences with dictation words and explicitly taught red words (the, is, a, etc.)
Day 4
  • 3 part drill
  • phonemic awareness activity
  • red word instruction

Explicit, Deliberate, and Meaningful...this is the kind of instruction that all students deserve.  If it's not in your library,  grab Recipe for Reading: Intervention Strategies for Struggling Readers by Frances Bloom and Nina Traub.

Thank You!

Kristin

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