KINDERGARTEN

Writing the Alphabet

Words Their Way for PreK-K

 

Writing a letter from memory (not just copying) requires that the student retrieve its visual representation and then coordinate the fine motor movements needed to produce it (Berninger, 1999).  There is good evidence that the motoric act of letter formation helps secure the visual representation of the letter in the brain (Bara & Gentaz, 2011), and children who can write letters with ease can give more attention to spelling and composing as they learn to read and write (Graham, Berninger, Abbott, Abbot, & Whitaker, 1997)

 

Practicing Letter Formation 

 

1. Draw letters with fingers in trays of flat box tops with a thin layer of sand, rice, salt or grits.  Color the rice or grits by shaking in a tablespoon of alcohol and a few drops of food coloring and then spreading it out to dry.  Ground-up colored chalk can be used to color sand and salt, or you can find colored sand at a craft store.  

2. Write letters in chocolate pudding, shaving cream, or finger paints.  A spoonful of finger paint can be sealed inside a zip lock bag for repeated use.

3. Shape letters out of play dough, clay, pipe cleaners, Wikki Stix, or other materials.  Laminated letter cards can be used as a template on which to form letters.

4. Look for textured letters in school supply catalogs or make them by cutting letters out of medium grit sandpaper, felt, or foam and gluing them to cardboard.  Students trace the letters with their fingers.

5. Do rubbings of sandpaper letters.  Use clothespins to clip lightweight paper in place while children rub with the side of a broken unwrapped crayon.

6. Paint letters with water using large brushes on chalkboards or sidewalks and watch them disappear on a sunny day.  

7. Write letters on someone's back using a finger to see whether they can guess it.