Sunday, March 13, 2011

Letter-Sounds

I was recently introduced to The Letter Factory by Leap Frog.  Can I tell you how much I love it?  All of the letters are in “training”, learning how to make their correct sounds.  For example, the “A’s” are in a room and Professor Quigley comes in wearing a monster suit shouting, “Booga-booga-booga!”  All of the “A’s” shout, “aaaaaahhhh”.  The “E” is an elderly gentleman who cannot hear well and says, “eeeeeehhhh?”  I like how Leap Frog has introduced the upper case letters in a multisensory manner by allowing the child to attach the visual of the letter with its corresponding sound by a movement/action. It would be nice if the lower case letters were incorporated, but at this stage of development, I think all upper case are appropriate for my little one right now!!
I found these beautiful, printable cards for each letter from The Letter Factory on a great blog called, Running With Scissors.  Jessica handmade these and is very talented.  I thank her because my daughter loves them!!
This video also has classroom applications.  In addition to watching the entire movie, it allows you to watch each letter separately.  So along with the printable cards, I plan to bring the DVD to school to help some of my K students who are struggling to commit the more difficult sounds to memory.
~ Mrs. Mc