Lesson Plan : Alphabet Match
Teacher Name: | Kelsey Hasler |
Grade: | Kindergarten |
Subject: | Language Arts |
Topic: | The alphabet |
Content: | The structure for this cooperative learning lesson will be two students working together. I selected this structure because the students in the resource room really need the benefit of working in very small groups. Each student needs to work with a peer to be able to ask and respond to questions, but too many people in one group would provide over stimulation, and might keep the teacher from determining who needs help, and in which area. The vocabulary for this activity includes: uppercase, lowercase, alphabet, sound and description. |
Goals: | K (b) Knowledge and skills. (1) Listening/speaking/purposes. The student listens attentively and engages actively in a variety of oral language experiences. The student is expected to: (D) listen critically to interpret and evaluate (5) Reading/print awareness. The student demonstrates knowledge of concepts of print. The student is expected to: (E) know the difference between capital and lowercase letters (7) Reading/letter-sound relationships. The student uses letter-sound knowledge to decode written language. The student is expected to: (A) name and identify each letter of the alphabet |
Objectives: | When given 26 magnet letters (either uppercase or lowercase), the student will be able to orally describe what the letter looks or sounds like to a partner, and be able to match the letter with its respective partner with no more than two errors. When given 26 index cards, the student will be able to draw each letter's upper- and lowercase counterparts on the back of the each card, and a picture that depicts the letter's sound on front with no more than two errors. When orally given at least fifteen letters, the student will be able to write down the upper- and lowercase versions of the letter and orally say the sound of the letter with no more than two errors. |
Materials: | Two cookie sheets, one set of 26 uppercase alphabet magnet letters, and one set of 26 lowercase alphabet magnets, 52 index cards, markers |
Introduction: | The teacher will read "Dr. Seuss's ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book!" to a pair of students. The teacher will ask the students to pay careful attention to the formation and the sound of each individual letter. |
Development: | The teacher will pull out a box of uppercase magnetic letters. The teacher will then choose one letter from the box. The teacher will describe what the matching lowercase letter looks and sounds like, and will ask one student to find the matching letter. The teacher will then do the same thing again, asking the other student to find the matching letter. |
Practice: | The teacher will then hand each student a cookie sheet and a set of magnetic letters. The teacher will explain to the students that they will take turns pulling a letter from the set of letters and placing it on the cookie sheet. The student whose turn it is will describe to the other student what the corresponding letter looks and sounds like. (For example, if a student pulls out an uppercase B, he will say something like, "The lowercase version of my letter looks like a stick with a balloon on the front and on the bottom. It sounds like this: 'buh'".) If the other student is able to pull out the right letter based on the description, the student who did the describing gets to keep that pair. If the student does not pull out the correct letter, the first student will have to return his letter to the box, and will lose his turn. |
Accommodations: | If the students do not respond to the activities, the teacher will work with each student one on one. The teacher will have flash cards available if the student needs to see a visual, and will have a tape recorder and a tape of a person saying the alphabet very slowly if the student needs an oral reinforcement. |
Checking For Understanding: | To check each student's understanding, the teacher will pull each over separately. The teacher will say at least 15 different letters. The student will have to write down the correct uppercase and lowercase letter, and then tell the teacher what the letter sounds like. The teacher will have a checklist on hand to mark down the student's performance. |
Closure: | To close the lesson, the teacher will have an "Alphabet Idol" contest. Each student will sing the ABC song, but each will make up their own ending instead of singing "Now I know my ABC's, next time won't you sing with me?" |
Evaluation: | After completing this lesson, I feel that the students made some progress. I gave each student sixteen letters for their assessment. One student was able to correctly write and say the sounds for fourteen of the letters. The other student was able to correctly write and say the sounds for fifteen of the letters, and for the sixteenth, he wrote down a "D" instead of a "B" on his lowercase letters. |
Teacher Reflections: | I believe that this was a really worthwhile lesson. I found the idea of using alphabet magnets and cookie sheets in Debbie Diller's book, "Literacy Work Stations: Making Centers Work." I also received guidance from my mother, Sharon Hasler, who is a kindergarten teacher. She recommended doing a lesson that involved matching uppercase and lowercase letters. When I taught this lesson, I was in a resource room designed for students who are two academic years below their peers. Both of the boys that I worked with are in second grade, but read on a kindergarten level and come to the resource room for extra attention to their reading. They have very consistent problems with remembering their alphabet. I think that all of the ideas detailed in this lesson plan really helped them. They were able to work with concrete manipulatives, and having to describe the letters helped to cement for them what each letter looked like. I think it also helped for them to match the letter with a drawing that showcased the sound of the letter. I can also testify that each boy better remembered his alphabet the next day when they came in. In their reading group, each boy read aloud. On most days, they stumble over words and are consistently asked, "What does that letter sound like? What do those letters say together?" The day following these activities, both students actively said things like, "That's an S. It says, "Ess." |
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