Lesson Three (Section Two)

HOW TO USE THE CREATIVE STORIES AND DRAMATIZATIONS:

Be dramatic! Exaggerate!!! Put your hand over the student's hand and point to the letter, or letters, that the drama emphasizes. Make G, g, H, h, I and i separately with marker on six index cards. Otherwise you may purchase your own set of flash cards. Be careful that your student does not become distracted.

1. Remember to find a quiet place for just you and your student.
2. Remember to have the flash cards prepared ahead of time for A, a, B, b, C, c, D, d, E, e, F, f, G, g, H, h, I and i.
3. Don't forget to be already familiar with the stories you are about to relate.
4. Be sure to capture your student's attention even if you have to offer a small reward following the lesson (i.e. cookies!).
5. Did you practice telling the story to yourself in the mirror? Should you have?

STORIES AND DRAMATIZATIONS OF ALPHABET LETTER NAMES:

Using dramatic exaggeration, relate the following stories and have the student point to the letters emphasized.

Gg

Gee-Gee is always sad. He doesn't know why. One day Gee-Gee lost his shoe. (Cry!) One day Gee-Gee just couldn't stop crying. (Cry! Cry!) Gee-Gee cried when he lost a tooth.

Hh

Happy H always laughs. (Ha Ha Ha Ha) Happy H is standing in front of the mirror laughing at himself as he wiggles his ears. Happy H wiggle those ears! (Ha Ha Ha Ha)

Ii

I, I, I, I am a turtle. I, I, I, I am very slow, but I, I, I, I, I could beat you in a race. Want to try? I, I, I do! (Move your feet in place, without moving around the room.)

GAMES
PREPARE FOR THE GAMES

1. Prepare enough room to play the games.
2. Try to be alone with your student so there are no additional distractions.
3. Be familiar with the content of the games.
4. Be familiar with the game directions and instructions.
5. Understand the goal of each game: To teach the Alphabet A, a, B, b, C, c, D, d, E, e, F, f, G, g, H, h, I and i by name
6. If a reward is necessary, have you prepared ahead of time to make the offer?
7. A reward should not be given unless all the expectations are met.
8. The expectations should not exceed the abilities of the student.

Make the letters of the Alphabet: A, a, B, b, C, c, D, d, E, e, F, f, G, g, H, h, I and i. Create these letters with masking tape on the floor. Dance around the outline of the letters by tip toeing and singing its name repeatedly. The student and you, the supervisor, take turns dancing around EACH letter and singing.

ALPHABET TRAIN

The student is asked to say all the names of the alphabet (A through I) independently. If correct, he or she may ride the Alphabet Train.

The supervisor and student make train and whistle sounds as the student crawls around the room. (The supervisor may want to crawl too, if so inclined.)

You may have to help your student remember the Alphabet names.

SKIP ALONG THE ALPHABET

Designate certain letters as hoppers. Say the alphabet: A, a, B, b, C, c, D, d, E, e, F, f, G, g, H, h, I and i. When a Hopper is said, the student hops on one foot towards a preselected area.

Designate certain letters as butterflies. Say the alphabet: A, a, B, b, C, c, D, d, E, e, F, f, G, g, H, h, I and i. When a Butterfly is said, the supervisor flies (by flapping arms and slowly tip toeing) towards the same preselected area.

Designate certain letters as cats. Say the alphabet: A, a, B, b, C, c, D, d, E, e, F, f, G, g, H, h, I and i. When a Cat is said, the student claws and scratches into the air and crawls towards the same preselected area.

Designate certain letters as asleep. Say the alphabet: A, a, B, b, C, c, D, d, E, e, F, f, G, g, H, h, I and i. When a Sleeping Letter is said, the supervisor snores (Make loud snoring noises) and sleepily moves towards the same preselected area.

Designate certain letters as pigs. Say the alphabet: A, a, B, b, C, c, D, d, E, e, F, f, G, g, H, h, I and i. When a Pig is said, the student snorts and oinks his or her way towards the same preselected area.

Continue to take turns. Make up what your letters represent and then do the actions or make the noises appropriate to what is imagined. You may have to help your student think of things to do. Remember each time you do an action you have designated certain letters to portray something from your imagination. Each time you and your student should say the Alphabet from the beginning or where you left off. In other words, if C, D, f and G are bells. Then you and your student say the names of A, a, B and b. Stop and ring your bell for C. Continue saying the name for c. Stop and ring your bell for D. Continue with d, E, e and F. Stop and ring your bell for G. Continue with g, H, h, I and i. After that, designate different letters to be something else.

ALPHABET PUPPETS

Make puppets with paper cups and a marker. Use glue and yarn for hair. Print an Alphabet letter on the front and back of a cup. Make one cup for each of the letters in this lesson.

Use a string to hang several puppets from a stick and watch them dance as the stick is moved from side to side.

Mix up your flash cards and have the student match them to the cups. Tell the student to mimic the voices of the puppets. You are the voice of the puppets. Speak in different pitches. If the puppet has letter A printed on it, then say the name of A in a high or low pitched voice while your student responds with the letter name in the same high or low pitch as if he or she were an echo. Vary your pitches. You may want to take turns. Let the student play the roll of the supervisor and you play the roll of the student.

Cautiously make an error here and there to see if your student will correct you. If he or she understands that an error was made but hesitates saying anything about it, tell the student to point out the mistake. If your student is unaware of an error, point out the fact that you purposely made an error. If your student then can catch the mistakes, proceed! However, if your student does not know the difference, then make no more mistakes.

PIN THE ALPHABET ON THE BOARD

Some FELT letters (made or purchased by you) are put on a board covered with FELT. The letters are put up in alphabetical order, but some are missing. The student must find the missing letters from a pile of other letters left on a table close to the board, until the entire Alphabet (Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii) is placed in correct order.

VARIATION: Instead of felt letters on a felt board, you may want to cut out the letters and roll a piece of masking tape on the back of each letter. The letters on a felt board may be made on paper taped to the wall.

As the student looks for the missing letter he or she shouts "Give me a ___!" When the letter is found the supervisor (You!) echoes the letter name or sound that the student just shouted out.

When there are no missing letters, the teacher (You!) says "Give me an A!" The student responds with "A!" The supervisor says "Give me a B!" The student responds "B!" etc.(all the way to I.) As the letters are shouted out, they are removed from the board (or crossed out if the board is a paper chart). Each time the supervisor gets to I: "What did you say?" The student responds with "a b c d e f g h i".

RHYTHMIC ACTIVITIES

Let your student develop his or her own style of rhythm to the fast pronunciation of the names or sounds of the letters, as you lay out the entire index (or flash) cards (A, a, B, b, C, c, D, d, E, e, F, G, g, H, h, I and i) on a table or on the floor.

Pronounce the letters together as fast as you can while pointing to them at the same time. Say, "aaa bbb ababc abacdaefg abc dihg" while looking at the cards for A, a, B, b, C, c, D, d, E, e, F, f, G, g, H, h, I and i.

Point to each letter as you say the name. Now do it again. Say, "aaa bbb ab ab c aaa bbb ab ab c ccc baba bbba ccc baba bbba ccc baba bbba efg efgh hgfe igfa etc.".

Do this while looking at the cards for A, a, B, b, C, c, D, d, E, e, F, f, G, g, H, h, I and i while pointing to each.

Continue the same way for the following letters: Say,"ddd eee fgfg ffg ddd eee fgfg ffg ddd eee fgfg ffg efghhig efghijij hgfeijh ijh igfa etc." while looking at the cards for A, a, B, b, C, c, D, d, E, e, F, f, G, g, H, h, I and i while pointing to each.

Make up your own rhythms and prepare your rhythm chart ahead of time. Be sure to practice pronouncing the letters and pointing to them. Your student should try to be fast but accurate.

HOW TO USE THE SONGS PRODUCTIVELY, FOR THE PURPOSE OF BENEFITTING THE STUDENT:

Exaggerate, through the melody, the sound or names of the letters that the student needs to review. Exaggerate through facial expressions. Become animated whenever possible. (i.e. sway, move your arms and hands in the air, etc.) The student should have in front of him a chart of the letters being expressed in song. He should focus on the letters that are being dramatically described. If necessary, put your hand over his hand and point to the proper letters. Use the flash cards you made or purchased. At no time should the student be allowed to become distracted. The student should have his or her hand at all times pointing to the alphabet letter referred to, as he or she sings each song:

SONGS

The songs for this week will be a repeat of the songs for last week. The songs will continue to repeat until we name the letter Z. Then there will be a separate song for each individual sound of the Alphabet letters A through Z.

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Copyright © 1997 by Bill and Janae Cooksey, All rights reserved. No part of this material may be published in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.