Page 13 - How to Teach Reading with Heart

moment right now and sing the alphabet song
out loud to yourself. Did you hear it? Did you

hear the spot where the confusion sets in for a
struggling reader? If you guessed, L, M, N, O,

then you are correct. I have had second and
third graders, who are struggling readers, try to
convince me that is one sound. Find your unique

song with the alphabet. Maybe use, ‘Mary had a
Little Lamb.’ The important aspect of learning the

alphabet is to involve all five senses. Coloring in
the letter “B” on a worksheet is not conducive to
learning letters and sounds.

Activities:

Use a set of plastic alphabet letters (use capital
letters, lower case come later). Sit at a table, place
your child’s elbow on the table and let his/her

hand drop to the table. Place the letter “M” at that

point, it is the middle of the
arc. You will create an arc of

the alphabet, not a straight
line. (There is a purpose for

the arc formation but I would
have to dig through boxes of
notes.) Now that you have the

alphabet laid out in an arc in
front of your child their job

is to touch each letter, name
the letter and say the sound
that it makes. Three senses

involved, touching the letter,
seeing the letter, saying the

letter, making the sound of
the letter.

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