I had just been hired as a reading specialist. New state, new city, new school. Entering my spacious new classroom, I found the filing cabinets crammed full and the closets overflowing with materials left behind by the teacher who had just retired. I sighed, picking up the first thing on the table in front of me. An alphabet worksheet? Letters of the alphabet were arranged in the shape of a rainbow. Trash or keep? Little did I know that this alphabet arc would turn out to be the answer to teaching letter recognition to students!
What is an alphabet arc?
An alphabet arc is multi-sensory intervention that uses plastic letters along with an alphabet mat to help improve:
- Letter recognition
- Letter orientation
- Letter sequencing
Using this alphabet arc helps students learn to name and identify each letter by placing a plastic letter over the matching letter on an arc. It also helps build automaticity.
Why should I use an alphabet arc in my classroom?
Research shows that letter-name knowledge is one of the most powerful predictors of learning to read and of later reading achievement (Caravolas, Hulme, & Snowling, 2001; Leppanen, Aunola, Niemi, & Nurmi, 2008; Schoatschneider et al., 2004). Every child must know the shapes, names and sounds of all the letters to be a good reader. In fact, good word reading ability starts with well-established letter reading.
In Marilyn Adams’ well known book Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning About Print she states that:
“skillful readers visually process virtually every individual letter of every word as they read, and this is true whether they are reading isolated words or meaningful, connected text.”
Did you even realize that you were doing that while reading this post? This research definitively supports the idea of teaching letters to automaticity! Not sure how to implement this in the classroom? Keep reading and I’ll show you that it’s as easy as a, b, c!
Easy as A, B, C?
Alphabet Arcs are super easy to use in your classroom! Here are the materials you’ll need:
- FREE Alphabet matching mat (11×17 mat that has the outlines of the letters arranged from the lower left corner to the lower right corner in the shape of an arc)
- A set of plastic letters
- Alphabet arc activity cards
These alphabet arc materials are inexpensive and can even be sent home for long distance learning or homework.
3 Letter Recognition Games Using the Alphabet Arc
Your students will love these letter recognition games using their alphabet arcs! First, spend some time introducing your students to the letter mats. Then let the fun begin!
Runaway Train
Have students place their finger on the letter A and begin naming each letter. To prevent the train from running away hold up a stop sign during the activity. The students will stop, providing the letter name. At this point, you could follow up with such questions as, “What letter comes before ____? What letter is after ______?” The students will begin touching and naming the letters when you lower the stop sign.
Speedy Arc
Randomly place the plastic letters below the arc. Use a timer to see how quickly the students can match the letters. You could match lower case letters to lowercase letters or even match upper case to lower case depending on the student’s skill level. Students can see if they can beat their own record each time. Initially, the goal is “accurate naming and placement of all letters in less than 5 minutes, with an ultimate goal of 2 minutes or less.”
Missing Letter Sleuth
Have students complete the alphabet arc. Then students will close their eyes while you remove 3-4 letters. See how fast they can determine the missing letters!
Do Alphabet Arcs Really Improve Letter Recognition?
Yes! Those alphabet arcs I found several years ago really were the answer to many of my kindergarteners and 1st graders deficits. In fact, I still use alphabet arcs daily in my letter recognition small group time. At the beginning of each lesson, I set aside a five-minute block where we focus on either uppercase letter recognition or lowercase letter recognition. It’s important to remember that while…
“some children may need only 10-20 exposures to a letter to recognize it automatically, other children may need 20 times that amount of exposure to over learn the letters to the point of automaticity” (Berninger, 2000).
Because of this, incorporating the alphabet arc into your daily routine is essential! It provides your struggling readers with the instructional time needed to learn their letters.
Is an Alphabet Arc Right For You?
You Might Need to try an Alphabet Arc STAT if you:
- have students who need letter recognition instruction or intervention
- need fun ways to engage student while learning their letters
- want to use explicit, research based instruction to ensure your students can rapidly and accurately identify all uppercase and lowercase letters
If you’d like to try out the alphabet arc I use in my small group sessions, CLICK HERE to grab yours for FREE.
Looking for other ways to improve student’s letter recognition skills? Check out these blog posts:
- 3 Creative Ways to Use the Alphabet Song to Teach Letter Recognition
- 7 Simple + Fun Activities that Improve Letter Recognition in 5 Minutes
REFERENCES:
Adams, M.J. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print (A summary). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Berninger, V.B. (2000, Nov.). Language based reading and writing intervention: Findings of the University of Washington Multi-Disciplinary Disability Center. paper presented at the meeting os the International Dyslexia Association, Washington, DC.
Caravolas, M., Hulme, C., & Snowling, M.J. (2001). The foundations of spelling ability: Evidence from a 3-year longitudinal study. Journal of Memory and Language, 45(4), 751-774.
Leppanen, U., Aunola, K., Niemi, P., & Nurmi, J.-E. (2008). Letter knowledge predicts grade 4 reading fluency and reading comprehension. Learning and Instruction, 18, 548-564.
Schoatschneider et al., (2004). Kindergarten prediction of reading skills: A longitudinal comparative analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96(2), 265-282.
