Personally, I find letter knowledge one of the more difficult skills to highlight in storytime. Many alphabet books just don't have enough of a story to make them good read-alouds, and since I only see my storytime kids once a month, highlighting a specific letter for every storytime won't work for me. But I have found a few ways to highlight letters:
- Shape stories: learning about shapes also helps with letter learning, as children become able to distinguish between the different letter shapes. I really like Shape by Shape by Suse MacDonald. What are your suggestions?
- Adding words/letters to flannelboard pieces: This helps with both print awareness and letter knowledge. I add words to my flannel pieces whenever possible, usually with puffy fabric paint. We read the word and I run my finger under it. Also, when we sing "B I N G O" we identify each letter and talk about the sound it makes too (the letters have pictures of dogs on the back, and we turn them over and bark instead of clapping).
- There are some alphabet books that DO work for storytime: K is for Kissing a Cool Kangaroo by Giles Andrae, and, of course, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, jr. I'm also looking forward to trying out LMNO Peas by Keith Baker, and, for my Spanish-language storytimes, Mi día de la A a la Z by F. Isabel Campoy.
What are your strategies for developing letter knowledge in your young storytime-goers? Inquiring minds (and storytime providers) want to know!
Comments
Letter Knowledge in Baby Storytimes
I mostly do baby storytimes, and so instead of letters, I do talk a lot about how playing with and talking about shapes can help get babies ready later on to work on their letters. In addition to shapes, I do storytimes where we talk about "same and different" and "opposites" to also work on that telling-things-apart skill.