Learning the ABC's

Reading Readiness Skills

For Kindergarten and First Grade

This project was developed as part of the Title III Technology Literacy Challenge Grant’s

Capital Region Collaboration for Technology Education

2002

I Love My A B C 's

"The two best predictors of early reading success are alphabet recognition and phonemic awareness."

- Marilyn Jager Adams

Patricia Kirshenbaum

kk2mom@nycap.rr.com

Marian Academy/Schenectady

Introduction

This provides some sites for primary age children that are learning alphabet and other reading readiness skills. The sites are divided into three categories -- ones that are most appropriate for teachers looking for ideas, worksheets, and activities; ones for parents that are willing to help their child at home; and sites that have enough variety that they are good for both teachers and parents.

Parent Sites

1. Alphabet Soup: A WebQuest for Kindergarten Language Arts

This is a great web quest. It starts with some very simple activities and builds up to much more challenging activities.

http://teach.fhu.edu/technology/EDU506/WebQuests/alphasoup/asoup.html

2. Kid's Carnival -- Memory Game

This is a fun memory game for kids. Click on the squares to find the matching upper and lower case letter partners. **Children need to have some proficiency with a mouse since they need to be both accurate and fairly quick to play this game successfully.

http://www.kidscarnival.com/ABCMemory.html

3. Free Educational Games and Flashcards from tjgames.com

This is a good site for family use, but not for classroom use. It involves printing out letter and number cards and playing some games with them. This has great game ideas for the family that is willing to try some reinforcement at home.

http://home.netcom.com/~hexchex/

Teacher Sites

4. Alphabites: Activities for All Letters

5. DLTK's Alphabuddies Alphabet Activities

This is a good site with a wide range of activities. Many things can be printed out for either home or school use. It also includes some more advanced activities such as sentence sequencing and story sequencing. This has many literacy-based activities such as crafts to go along with books (Cat in the Hat, Chicka, Chicka, Boom Boom, and many more).
http://www.dltk-teach.com/alphabuddies/index.htm

For Parents & Teachers

6. Mrs. Gingrich's Web Page

This has stories, printable pages, and songs that are fun for home use. The stories and songs actually

play! It is also a good site for teachers to get quick ideas related to letter recognition.

http://westcler.org/wv/geigerj/

7. The Virtual Alphabet

Each letter has a song to sing about an animal and then corresponding sites to learn more about the

animal and/or the letter. For example, the letter Uu has a song about a unicorn and then has connecting

sites to teach about umpires, baseball, and a chance to play an interactive game of brickball.

http://www2.minot.k12.nd.us/classrooms/madden/virtual_alphabet.htm

8. Surfing for ABC's

This is a site created by Kindergartners and 1st Graders. Students learned how to surf the web and find

sites to go with each letter of the alphabet. For example, the letter Bb takes you to Major League

Baseball and Barbie sites. Also included are lesson plans for how the teacher implemented this project.

http://www.siec.k12.in.us/~west/proj/abc/

Teacher Notes

Process

As with any grade level, students come into school with a wide range of understanding of the alphabet, sound correspondence, and reading readiness skills. This list is designed for two major purposes: it gives teachers some quick ideas of sites for their own use, sites to use on classroom computers, and sites to recommend to a computer teacher; it also gives sites to parents that are looking to age appropriate sites for their children. This list can be used at any time during the school year.

NYS Learning Standards and the National Technology Educational Standards

NYS Learning Standards

Learning Standards for Math, Science, and Technology at Three Levels

Standard 1: Analysis, Inquiry and Design

Students will use mathematics analysis, scientific inquiry, and engineering design, as appropriate, to pose questions, seek answers, and develop solutions.

Learning Standards for English Language Arts at Three Levels

Standard 1: Language for Information and Understanding

Students will read, write, listen and speak for information and understanding.

Standard 2: Language for Literary Response and Expression

Students will read, write, listen and speak for literary response and expressions.

Standard 4: Language for Social Interaction

Students will read, write, listen and speak for social interaction.

Technology Foundation Standards for Students

Basic operations and concepts

· Students demonstrate a sound understanding of the nature and operation of technology systems.

· Students are proficient in the use of technology.

Social, ethical, and human issues.

· Students practice responsible use of technology systems, information, and software.

· Students develop positive attitudes toward technology uses that support lifelong learning, collaboration, personal pursuits, and productivity.

Technology productivity tools

· Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity.

Technology research tools

· Students use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of sources.

Credits and References

"I Love My ABC's" from: http://www.proteacher.com/cgi-bin/outsidesite.cgi?external=http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hollow/1213/abc.html&original=http://www.proteacher.com/070170.shtml&title=I%20Love%20My%20ABC's
"Alphabet Soup" from: http://teach.fhu.edu/technology/EDU506/WebQuests/alphasoup/asoup.html
"K the King" from: http://www.dltk-teach.com/alphabuddies/index.htm
"ABC123" from: http://westcler.org/wv/geigerj/
Graphic Images used on this page courtesy of Microsoft Design Gallery Live