Crazy Alphabet

Family Workshop Literacy Outline #4

Standards, Outline,Standards, Outline,

and Materialsand Materials

Program Goal: To foster school success and promote resiliency of young children by encouraging home/school partnerships and active participation of families in the education of their preschool children. Session Objectives:

• Participants will learn strategies for scaffolding an activity to meet the needs of their preschool-aged children.

• Participants will gain an understanding of the complexity of the alphabet from the perspective of the young learner.

Literacy Standards:

• Differentiate between and match upper- and lowercase letters. • Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

Outline for Literacy Learning:

• 5 minutes Starter Activity: Marching Around the Alphabet • 10 minutes Family Literacy Lesson: Learning Letters • 10 minutes Activity One: Fun with Fun Facts • 10 minutes Activity Two: Letter Match • 10 minutes Practice with Child: Letter Match

Materials:

• Book: Flower Garden • CD: Learning Basic Skills through Music by Hap Palmer • CD player • Alphabet cards • Pointer • Marching Around the Alphabet word sheet (per participant) • Crazy Alphabet handout (per participant) • Writing utensil (per participant) • Index card (per participant) • Snowman wingding book, Snowman alphabet book • Chart paper and fun fact cards with Velcro • Family Literacy Bag (per participant)

Crazy Alphabet ScriptFlorida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida ©2009

Title of Starter Activity: Marching Around the Alphabet Length of Time for Activity: 5 minutes Format of Activity: Participants will be invited to stand and will need room to move around. Note for Presenter: Prepare the Learning Basic Skills through Music CD to play song #5 (Marching Around the Alphabet). Materials: Learning Basic Skills through Music by Hap Palmer, CD player, alphabet cards, pointer; per participant - Marching Around the Alphabet song word sheet Procedure: Place the 26 alphabet cards randomly around the room (on the floor or tables). Pass out

words to Marching Around the Alphabet so participants can sing along.

Say,

o “I am going to play the song Marching Around the Alphabet. The song invites us to march

around the alphabet by walking around the letters that are on the floor (or tables).”

o “When the whistle blows in the song, we are invited to stop, bend down, and pick up a

letter. I will then point to one of you and ask a question about the letter.”

Play the song as participants march around.

When the whistle blows and each participant picks up a letter point to one participant at a

time with the pointer and ask different level questions such as:

o “What is your letter?”

o “What sound does your letter make?”

o “What is something that begins with your letter?”

o “What is something that ends with your letter?”

Consider asking a different level question each time the whistle blows.

When the song has ended invite participants to sit back down, collect the cards, and say,

o “The purpose of this activity is to stimulate thinking about literacy – one part of which is

letters of the alphabet.” Crazy Alphabet Script

Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida ©2009

Title of Family Literacy Lesson: Learning Letters Length of Time for Activity: 10 minutes Format of Activity: Participants need to be seated at a table so they can write. Note for Presenter: Be patient with participants as they work through this activity. Materials: Snowman wingding book, Snowman alphabet book; per participant – index card, writing utensil, Crazy Alphabet handout Procedure: Say,

o “Speaking of letters of the alphabet, we are going to pretend there is a new alphabet.”

Give each participant a copy of the Crazy Alphabet handout, an index card, and a writing

utensil and say,

o “I want you to write your name (first name only) using the new alphabet. The new

alphabet goes in the same order as the alphabet you are used to using.”

Provide time for participants to write their names using the crazy alphabet. Provide

assistance as needed.

When participants have completed the task, ask,

o “How did this experience make you feel? Frustrated? Slow?”

o “Why was it frustrating (or other feeling)?”

Wait for responses.

Crazy Alphabet ScriptFlorida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida ©2009

Say,

o “The letters in the crazy alphabet are just symbols – lines and shadings – written in a

certain way to form a letter.”

o “What is the difference between the f () and the g ()? (Wait for responses.) That’s

right, they are both arrows but they are pointing in opposite directions.”

o “This is exactly how our “real” alphabet is. What is the difference between the letter b

and the letter d? (Wait for responses.) That’s right, they both have a stick and a circle

but where we draw the circle determines which letter it is.”

o “The frustration you just felt with the ‘new alphabet’ is how young children feel when we

first introduce them to our ‘real alphabet.’”

Say,

o “The purpose of this activity is to get us thinking from the perspective our preschool-

aged children. We need to think about this experience when our children are struggling to

recognize or write letters. “

Show participants the cover of the Snowman wingding book and say,

o “Now that I have ‘taught’ you the new alphabet who can read this word?”

Crazy Alphabet ScriptFlorida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida ©2009

Pause for a moment. (Oftentimes participants will look at their crazy alphabet handout to

find the letters. Interestingly the first letter in the word Snowman is NOT on their handout

because their handout only has lowercase letters and this is an uppercase letter since it is

the first word in the title. When someone questions the first letter tell them it is

uppercase.)

After a few moments add the snowman picture to the page and ask,

o “Now, who can read this word?”

o “Why were you able to read the word?” (Wait for responses concerning how the picture

clue helped the reader.)

o “Using the picture clues is important for your young readers as well. We need to teach

them how to use the picture clues when reading and allow them to use the picture clues.”

Show participants the cover of the Snowman alphabet book and say,

o “Who can read this word?”

Crazy Alphabet Script

Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida ©2009

Ask,

o “What would your 4- or 5-year-old children say if we asked them to read this?” (Listen

for responses.)

Add the snowman picture to the page and ask,

o “Now what would your 4-or 5-year-old children say if we asked them to read this?”

Say,

o “We need to encourage your young readers to use the picture clues.”

o “Also, in thinking about the letters of the alphabet, if I were trying to teach you the new

alphabet, it would be best if I created activities to work on only 5-6 letters at a time

with you.”

o “The same is true for activities that you may be doing with your young children. Do not

work on all 52 letters at the same time. Instead, choose 5-6 letters to focus on during an

activity.”

o “It is important that we have realistic expectations for our children – challenging BUT

realistic!”

Crazy Alphabet ScriptFlorida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida ©2009

Title of Family Literacy Activity One: Fun with Fun Facts Length of Time for Activity: 10 minutes Format of Activity: Participants should be seated so they can clearly see the materials being demonstrated. Note for Presenter: Tell participants you will teach this activity to them as if they were you young children. Materials: Flower Garden book, magnetic letters g, l, and t, fun fact cards for garden, trowel, and ladybug (with Velcro), chart paper (with Velcro) Procedure: Say,

o “As you can tell – one focus for this session is letters of the alphabet.”

o “The letter standard for your child to practice is recognizing letters of the alphabet.”

o “We are going to do another activity right now – the standard for this activity is to learn

new words every day and use them in conversation.”

o “I am going to read you the story Flower Garden. I want you to think about words your

child can learn from this story as I read.”

Read the story Flower Garden to the group.

After reading ask,

o “What words stood out to you that your child could learn from this story?” (Allow

participants to respond.)

o “We are going to do an activity right now that is in your Family Literacy Bag.”

o “This activity practices a few of those new words.”

o “The girl and her father were planning a surprise for the mother.”

o “I have a surprise for you right now.”

Velcro the fun fact cards to the chart with the picture side out. Then say,

• “Who can identify these three pictures for us?” (Allow participants to respond.)

• “Yes – these three pictures are a garden, trowel, and ladybug.”

Crazy Alphabet ScriptFlorida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida ©2009

Hold the three letters g, l, and t in your hand but do not let participants see them. Say,

• “I need one volunteer to come up to the front and be my ‘child.’”

Say to the volunteer,

• “Close your eyes and take a letter from

my hand.”

• “Look at the letter and tell me its

name and its sound.”

• “Yes – it is a (insert letter name) and it makes the (insert letter sound) sound.”

• “Now – can you find the picture that begins with that letter and point to it for me?”

• “What is in that picture?”

• “Yes, it is a (insert picture name).”

• “Let me read you some fun facts about a (insert picture name).”

Read the four fun facts to the group.

Give the book to the volunteer and say,

• “Can you find the word (insert picture name) in the book?” (Allow participant to

browse through the book and find the picture. Provide assistance if needed.)

• “Thank you for being my volunteer for this activity.”

Say to all participants,

• “Can you see how this fun birthday story can be used to teach new vocabulary words?”

• Do you think your kids already know the word ladybug? I bet they do! Do you think

they already know the word trowel? Maybe not. This is a good activity to reinforce

what they already know while also teaching them something new.”

Crazy Alphabet ScriptFlorida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida ©2009

Title of Family Literacy Activity Two: Letter Match Length of Time for Activity: 10 minutes Format of Activity: Participants should be seated so they can see the book. Note for Presenter: Have a number of participants respond to the questions; do not let one participant monopolize the conversations. Materials: What Mommies Do Best, color-your-own-mom bookmark, crayons

Procedure: Hold up the book What Mommies Do Best and say,

• “The second book you will receive in this session’s Family Literacy Bag is What

Mommies Do Best.”

• “We are going to walk through a letter activity now that you will do with your pre-

school aged child in a few minutes.”

• “First of all – let me tell you that the activity directions say to read the story first.”

• “For the sake of time tonight – you can do this activity without reading the story

first.”

Show participants the first story page showing the kangaroo mom and her joey. Say,

• “Some of the words on this story page are written with uppercase letters and some

with lowercase letters.”

Hold up a color-your-own-mom bookmark and ask one volunteer,

• “Can you point to a letter on the bookmark and tell me if it is uppercase or lowercase?”

(Allow participant to respond.)

Give the volunteer a crayon and say,

• “Now you can color the bookmark while identifying the letters on the bookmark.”

As the volunteer identifies a letter on the bookmark, challenge him/her to find the same

letter in the book – both uppercase and lowercase.

Crazy Alphabet ScriptFlorida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida ©2009

Title of Practice with Child Activity: Letter Match Length of Time for Activity: 10 minutes Format of Activity: Participants should be spread out around the room so that when preschool-aged children come in to do the activity they all have plenty of space. Note for Presenter: This time of practice is very important. Encourage participants to take this very seriously. Materials: Family Arts and Literacy Bag (per participant) – take out: activity cards, What Mommies Do Best book, color-your-own-mom bookmark

Procedure: Say,

o “Now we are going to distribute this session’s Family Literacy Bag.”

o “In a minute, the preschool-aged children will come to join you and together you will

engage in the activity we just completed –Letter Match.”

Give a Family Literacy Bag to each participant.

Say,

o “Take out the activity cards, What Mommies Do Best book, and color-your-own-mom

bookmark from your bag.”

o “Turn to activity card #11 in your activity cards.”

o “Remember to let your children play calmly with the bookmark before beginning the

activity. Save the coloring portion of the activity for at home.” Invite preschool-aged children to come in with their family members to engage in this

activity.

As family members are engaging in activity with their children, walk around the room

observing and listening to the activity implementation – make comments as appropriate (for

example, “Remember to expect your children to use the prepositions.”)

Allow family members to ask questions or make comments if needed.

The modules presented here were funded in part by the Office of Postsecondary Education, U.S. Department of Education as part of the Virtual School Readiness Incubator Project, the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youthand Families as part of the Early Learning Opportunities Act/Bringing Education and Support to Teachers, Parents and Children(ELOA/BEST) Project, and the Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida. These prototype materials are still indevelopment and refinement and should be used with this caution in mind. The content of these modules does not necessarily reflect the views or policies or imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, and/or the University of North Florida.

Crazy Alphabet ScriptFlorida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida ©2009