Do you do a letter of the week program in your Kindergarten classroom? We start out with "Letter of the Day", and then continue with "Letter of the Week". During Letter of the Day, one letter is briefly introduced each day. After we have made it from A - Z, then we begin our "Letter of the Week" program.
During the letter of the week, each letter is taught in much more detail. On day one, I introduce the letter with a
sound box book. I discovered these a few years ago, and I absolutely LOVE them!! They are so helpful and my students love listening to them! They even use them as a resource throughout the year. In Kindergarten, sometimes it is difficult for students to get their minds thinking about words that start with a specified letter, without first having a model. These books work perfectly as a starting point for introducing the sound of the letter and listening for it at the beginning of words.
For example, this week, we are learning about the letter Mm. So, on Monday, we read
My "m" Sound Box. (The books I have, in the above image, are an older version. The
Amazon link below is a newer version. The text is the same, but some of the images differ slightly.) After reading the book, the students have a starting point for thinking of words that start with Mm. We begin creating our word list. (I included the links below for the
chart paper and
markers I use.) Some students are able to think beyond the book and generate their own ideas for Mm words. However, some students still rely heavily on the text, and it helps to revisit the text and recall images from the story in order to finish up our word list.
It's amazing how listening to the book first, can really get their ideas flowing. After listening to the story, they are usually able to produce many words beyond what was in the text!
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