Beginning Letter Sounds
The Diary of a First Grade Teacher
Beginning letter sounds are taught in preschool and in Kindergarten, but to make sure every student has retained and mastered them, we first grade teachers know to review the letters and their sounds, if needed.
Letter People Alphabet
I told the children, “There are 26 letters of the alphabet, and we have a song for every letter ... That means we’ll sing a lot of fun, new songs!"
Holding up a doll that came with the letter M video, I said, "Last week we learned our first song, from The Letter People Alphabet. Remember? It was the Mr. M song.”
I sat the Mr. M doll down and picked up the Mr. T doll.
“Look, this doll represents the letter T. Listen, I’ll teach you the words to our new song.”
Obviously, Joe Joe hadn’t heard a word I said because when I started singing the Mr. T song, he sang too. Only he was happily singing the Mr. M song.
When he realized I was singing a different song, he scrunched down in his seat and plopped his elbows on his desk.
"Aaaaargh!" he roared. "WHERE’D SHE GO AND LEARN THAT ONE?!”
lol - I was thinking ... Sweet child there are many MANY more to come, so I hope I can help you learn to relax and truly enjoy learning!
After we listened to the Mr. T song, we named some more words that also start with the t sound. Then, I asked the kiddos to write down three words that begin with t.
Joe Joe, who is still struggling with learning some of the beginning letter sounds scowled at the wall. “I tried and tried, but my pencil can’t know HOW to spell!”
Then, later …
I heard Joe Joe ask Loegan, “Where’s Mr. M? Where’d she HAUL him off to?”
Loegan said, “Why? Did you like him? Me too! I did! I like Mr. M … He’s got a GOOD personality!”
Loegan was so happy because – for the first time since school started - Joe Joe had spoken a civil word to him. He rushed to my side.
“Teacher, DID YOU SEE THAT? Joseph talked to me – just like I’m REGULAR!”
A-B-C Order
In Language today, I taught another lesson on a-b-c order. I reviewed some reasons WHY we should use a-b-c order and HOW it can help us.
For one example, I showed the class how my assistant and I file their class work – under their last names.
As another example, we looked in the telephone directory. “These names of people are listed in alphabetical order, according to their LAST names.
"If I want to call my friend, Lou Wills, I would look under what letter, class?”
The students responded in unison, “W.”
I continued, using several different names of people. Then, it was their turn.
“Look under B for Bounds,” Loegan said, smiling at Gena Bounds. She glanced back at him, a smile hovering over her lips.
“Got it!” Stevie said. “B for Ben.”
I shook my head. "Last names."
Rubbing his little jaw, he made a taut, thin line of his lips. He seemed determined to understand it. Then ... “Oh, I know! D for Davis … my teacher.”
"That's right!" I said, admiring how hard he tries, and at how charming he is, of course!
Learning Beginning Letter Sounds
How some of these children come up with their answers, I’ll never EVER know … And I won’t dare guess!
As I was giving Stevie the thumbs-up sign for his answer, Ben slowly raised his hand.
Good, I thought. I love it whenever there's lots of participation!
“And look under q,” he said, frowning as if he were concentrating really hard, “for qu-qu-quiet qu-qu-queens and qu-qu-quick qu-qu-quacks.”
* * *
My firsties impress me daily, but I truly love seeing them work with beginning letter sounds! They are too cute!
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