Up and Away - National Council for Curriculum and Assessment

192
Stage 2 – Speaking and reading
Names and letters
Class organisation
Whole class.
Theme
Myself.
Aims
Learn correspondence between
letters of the alphabet and
their sounds.
Become familiar with left to
right directionality.
Materials needed
Blank sheets of A4 paper.
Preparation
Photocopy and cut up two sets
of letter flashcards (pupils’
names may contain the same
letter twice).
Notes
The letter flash cards are an
excellent resource (see notes
on page 189) and will receive a
lot of classroom use. Laminate
them or glue them to card.
Asking how many letters are in
the name is an important point
in the activity. It changes the
focus from the name (i.e. the
word) to the separate letters.
Work with names that are
relatively short. Working with
4-6 letters at a time facilitates
the aim of the activity –
learning sound-symbol
correspondence.
Focus Time
40 minutes.
Type of activity
Reading.
Matching letters.
Approach
1. Review first names from the previous class using the flash cards.
2. Write two or three names on the board. Count the number
of letters in one of the names and ask the group, “How many
letters?” Repeat with the other names – see ‘Notes’ below.
3. *Read out the first name on the board. Isolate, elicit and
then practise saying the names of each letter in turn. If the
pupils don’t know the name of any of the letters, supply it
yourself.
4. Read out all the letters two or three times and then ask the
class to read them with you. Ask individual pupils to read out
the letters.
5. Group the class around a table. Write the name onto a sheet
of A4 and put it on the table. Spread out the letter flash
cards, face up. In turn point to each letter in the name and
ask pupils to find the letter amongst the cards.
6. Working with the name flash cards, point to different letters
in the names and ask, “What letter is this?”
Spelling the name
1. Ask the pupil whose name is on the A4 sheet, “What is your
name?” Then ask, “Can you spell it, please?” Point to the first
letter on the sheet for guidance. The pupil says the letter,
finds the card on the table and puts it under the letter on the
sheet.
2. Do the same with the other letters in the name. When the
name is complete, ask him/her to spell it.
3. Repeat the above two steps with other pupils in the class.
Use another name from the board. Repeat the process from
here*.
Extension
There are many ways to practise sound-symbol correspondence:
One pupil spells out words. The rest listen and spell using the
cards.
Design a bingo activity based on letters rather than numbers.
Write letters on board. Class calls out letters for one pupil to
circle.