Marina Santos

ECD 237 Small Group Teaching 1

Activity: Act out the Alphabet
Content Focus: Literacy
Date: 11/3/15
Location: Waccamaw Headstart Center, HGTC campus
Time: 9:15-9:45
Age of the Children: 4 Year Olds (6 children, 4 girls, 2 boys)
Notes:
I introduced myself to the children and asked them their names. Each child recited
to me their full names. (First, many middles, and last)
I then asked the children if they would mind sitting with me because I had a special
book to read and I needed some help finding the letters.
On the Pp page in my book the little boy said Pp is for pool. Thats the pool.
And he pointed to the picture. When then discussed the pool and the Pp sound. I
asked him to tell me about what you do in the pool and he said swim and moved his
arms in circles to show me.
When I asked the children to find the letter Cc in the book and one child said it
was a circle. Another child responded it was an Oo. I asked does an Oo have an
open or closed shape. They said closed. I asked if it was closed or open. (the shape
in the book) They said open. A little boy said it was a Cc because it is closed. He
used his hands to show me the Cc.
The children were unable to identify the Bb in the staircase picture.
The children on the Mm page identified it immediately and made the muh sound.
One child said Mm is for monkey and moved his arms like a monkey and made
monkey sounds.
For the Xx is for x-ray. One child said that she had been in an x-ray before when
her mom took her to the doctor and then they sent her home. She said she couldnt
move.
I introduced the cards to the children. I used the Bb card for bounce to explain
the process. I explained the parts of the cards and how we move to represent the
letters. I asked the children how we can represent the card and they began to jump
up and down. I modeled bouncing by not taking my feet of the ground. The children
then did the same.
I then let the children take turns pulling cards from the basket to identify the
letter, its sounds, the picture, and how we should move.
When I got to the Ff for fishing the little girl told every that when the fish
catches on the hook you have to pull. She then proceeded to pull her arms.
A little girl identified the jello picture by shaking her body and jiggling. She said
juh as she did it. Another child responded jiggly and another responded like
jelly.
With my snail card with a jet pack, the child said S is for slow and moved her
hands slowly. We then discussed that with adaptations snails can move quick like
Qq.

Marina Santos
ECD 237 Small Group Teaching 1

When I did the alligator card for Aa all of the child made ahh sound. They then
used their arms big from floor to ceiling to make alligator chompers. One child used
their hands to make a baby alligator she said it has small teeth. I copied her
motion and soon the other children in the group did too.
One child made a connection to the Cc card and said there is a C in her name,
she then told me the name and made the kuh sound to emphasize the first letter.
When I got to the Jj card the children began to all list names that begin with
Jj.
When a child drew a card for Vv is for vibrate the children did not understand.
They looked at me and one child said whats that? I told her it was an ear and
asked what we use our ears for. All of the children took their hands and cupped
their ears and yelled listening ears.
The children all identified the instruments on the Mm is for marching card. The
children then started to play instruments. I asked them if there was a way we could
move our legs while we play our instruments that would sound like Mm. One little
girl put her arms up and marched and said marching. Another child said that the
people were in the line as a march band.
I told the children we would do one last card.
When I asked the children to id the Dd card for dive. The children started
moving up and down, pointing their heads to the ground and they modeled my arm
movements of pointing them together like Im diving. One child said that we swim
while we dive. He then began to run around me and swim as he is diving.
I then thanked the children for teaching with me and sent them back to class.

Pictures:
Photo

Caption
Here I took out my book to transition the
children into my activity. The child in the
green shirt immediately said that an Aa
before I could explain my book and its
concepts.

Marina Santos
ECD 237 Small Group Teaching 1
On this page, despite numerous attempts,
clues, connections, blocking the Cc page and
tracing, the children were unable to identify
the Bb so we moved on to the Cc page.
The little girl in the pink shirt said that it
was a circle letter. When I asked to
elaborate all the children said it was an Oo
I asked if Oos were open or closed circles.
Again, together they said closed, I asked
what an open circle was, the girl in the pink
and both boys said with smiles Cc.
Here I am explaining the card parts to the
children and how the activity is going to work.
I told them that there is a word with the
first letter highlighted and a picture of that
word. I asked the children to identify it.

For the Xx is for x-ray. One child said that

she had been in an x-ray before when her
mom took her to the doctor and then they
sent her home. She said she couldnt move.
I let that child explain to the group. I
expanded on her knowledge to ask where her
body parts were, no response. I asked the
others with no response so I told them it
looks like this and showed them that we stand
still with our arms and legs out. A little boy
responded so we can see our bones. He
made a connection to the picture card.

Marina Santos
ECD 237 Small Group Teaching 1
Here the little girl has drawn a card for her
turn and is identifying the letter and the
picture. She first said a line, the
instruments. I asked her what they were
doing in the line and the little girl on my far
right told me they were in a march band and
then proceeded to show me how to march.

With the marching band I could see by the

looks on the childrens faces and lack of
responses they did not fully understand the
letter so I had them turn the card around to
see the back letter identification key. When
they say the Mm they made the muh
sound.

Here the children and I are surfing for Ss.

The children made the Ss sound to support
the card and one child made a comment that
it sounds like crashing waves.

When I asked the children to surf, the little

boy in the black shirt began to move around.
When I asked him to explain his surf move to
others me told me he was walking on the
water. He changed stability skill surfing to
locomotor skills surfing.

Marina Santos
ECD 237 Small Group Teaching 1
Here the children and I are hula hooping for
Hh. The children related it to the hula
dancer on the card and shook their hips side
to side but one child related the picture to a
hula hoop and shook her hips in a circle. I
encouraged the children to try both ways and
they did.

Here we did Aa for alligator. Most all the

children made an alligator with their arms
high and low-chomping together. One little
girl used her hands to make a baby alligator
she used her hands to make the alligator. She
is modeling for me. The other children are
doing their big alligators and you can see a
few of the children are copying that girls
way to make an alligator for Aa.
Here the children and I are talking about the
different levels we dive on for Dd is for
dive. The boy in the black shirt is swimming
while he dives. He incorporated a locomotor
motions to bump up the representation for
the letter Dd.

Marina Santos
ECD 237 Small Group Teaching 1
The childrens learning:
What did you notice about the childrens development related to the learning
outcomes?

1. PD-3K-1.1: Move with some balance and control while walking, running,
jumping, marching, and hopping.

The children were able to move and control their movements to match the cards. In
addition to this standard, the children were able to show me multiple ways to move
to represent that particular letter. The children were able to complete full
movements without help. They also were able to move by modeling and copying,

2. ELA-3K-3.13: Recognize a few letters.

The children were able to identify the letters when I showed them the back of the
card where just the letter was. They were able to make the sound as well. This
often happened, naturally before I had time to do so. One child, was able to
identify the letters Mm and Ff from the images on the card alone. Some of the
children were able to identify the letter when I verbalized the word and/or its
sound.

3. ELA-4K-3.12: Begin identifying some letter sounds and matching them to

letters.

The children were able to identify the letters when I said the words to them.
When I asked the children what sound they made they were able to immediately
respond and make the sound. One child even related the sound to the word and an
action. I used that as a natural transition. He related M to monkey to moving like a
monkey.

4.

ELA-4K-3.14: Begin to understand that letters can represent speech sounds .

The children were able to identify the sounds and make them and tell me what the
sound was for each letter but I do not believe I had enough time with these
children to assess this standard.
Self-evaluation:
What connections can you make between class instruction/readings/planning and what
actually happened?
I have learned from this observation that powerful interactions are so very important and
exist everywhere! My children has such budding language skills and were making so many
connections that lead to building upon my activity. They were making connections to other
words and things that began with that letter that we could represent! With one child, he
said that his moms name starts with J and then proceeded to show me how she acted.
Another child then built upon that and said their friends name was J and that that
starts with J and did a movement to show that. Had I had more time and a stronger

Marina Santos
ECD 237 Small Group Teaching 1
relationship with these children I could have taken much more advantage of powerful
interactions. Powerful interactions really do always exist.
I also saw and made a lot of connections to childrens physical development and creativity.
The children were able to model the movement to match the letters and the sounds. They
were also able adapt the movements and be creative with them. They did not all move the
same way and that made me very happy. It was nice to see the children be creative and do
movements smaller or larger or on different levels and in different ways. Some of the
children even turned the intended stability skills into locomotor skills.
I also made connections to how children are all on different developmental levels,
something we have read in intentional teacher and PI. When I got the some cards, like
marching, only a few knew what that was and needed extra explanations. The same goes
for the v for sound vibration. The children did not understand that. So children need to
have some previous life experience in order to understand the cards and the words/letters
they represent.
What went well and why?
I love how engaged my children were!! All were active participants in all facets of the
activity! They were engaged and made so many connections to their personals lives. You
could see from their words and body language just how proud they were to share about
their families and life experiences. All six of the children participated in this at some
point during the discussion.
Another thing that went well was my time management, I paced myself and did not feel the
need to rush nor was I nervous. My activity was timed out perfectly. I did have more cards
left to do but I could see the children were starting to get antsy so I transitioned them
by telling them we were each going to do one more and that was enough to grasp their
attention to finish the activity before I sent them back to class.
Another thing that went well was my planning and the appropriateness of my activity. My
standards for the most part were developmentally appropriate for the children and, as you
can see from the notes and questions below and above, the children were able to do them
and in some cases expand upon them and make many connections to bump up the activity a
level. That was something else that went well, my childrens ability to expand on the
movements and be creative. I love how they made the activity so open-ended and creative.
What you would change and why?
I would change the book I used as a transition. I need a book that shows the letters a bit
more concrete. My book had much merit but it is something that should be used to
transition once I am sure my children can identify all of their letters first. Though the
children knew some of them, not all of the children grasped this concept, let alone finding
them hidden in the cityscapes. I would like to use a book that has more visible letters and
focuses more on the sounds or integrating movement. The ABC song also would have
sufficed.

Marina Santos
ECD 237 Small Group Teaching 1
I would also suggest doing my activity in an area with room. I think this opens the door for
more creativity and would have allowed me to take better advantage of powerful
interactions.
Another thing I would change is making sure I have a consistent pattern for presenting
the letters. This will make sure emphasis is put on the letter sounds and their
identification and not just the movement.
Another thing I would change is to take the time to discuss more in-depth what the images
on the cards are so that when the children see them they can identify the letters. Some
of the children spent more time trying to identify the cards like Xx that it took away
from the focus-letters identification and letter sounds. Had the children know what the
image was beforehand this would have enhanced the experience and kept the focus.
With small group activities, I also need to work on closing transitions. It feel a little
awkward. I told the children we would each do one more card and then thanked them and
sent them to class. It felt a little cold and I wish I could have done more or a review of
some sort. This is most definitely something I will implement during student teaching and
in my classroom.

What have you learned about methods and materials?

I have learned that with your methods you need to keep your focus on one concept. Though
my lesson integrated movement my focus was literacy. I often caught myself getting so
excited, because of the childrens reactions, to do the movements that I forgot about
putting emphasis on the letter sounds. When I did catch myself I tried to stop and state
that and discuss the letter sound or do it after. I think that had I used a consistent
pattern (read the card, id the picture, id the letter, id the letter sound, move to
represent) that the overall activity would have gone much smoother.
Also, because of the nature of the situation, I would make sure that there was more room
to move. My activities primarily focused on stability skills but I had one child who adapted
the stability skill to become a locomotor skill. If he had had more room he could have been
more creative with his movements to represent the letters. This may also inspire the
others to bump up the stability skills to locomotor skills to represent the movements. It
would have fostered creativity.
My materials and the organizational pattern I used worked perfectly with these children.
All were able to see and id the card by its feature and having two buckets to sort the
cards by used and not used keep things organized. The children quickly picked up on this
pattern and were putting the discarded cards in the correct bucket on their own. The
children were also able to show the card to their friends on their turn to draw so that all
could see it. They copied my modeling.
I also liked that during my teaching I asked the children if they wanted to show the card
to all or if they wanted me to show the card to all. I gave them a choice and respected it.
This method worked very well and allowed my activity to flow smoothly.

Marina Santos
ECD 237 Small Group Teaching 1
Another thing I learned about my methods and materials is that sometimes smaller/fewer
materials sufficed. For my activity, the cards were a guide, the real important materials
were our bodies and our minds. The children used their bodies to represent the
letters/cards and their minds to decide how to move. Until this lesson, I never really
viewed out bodies/minds as materials but I can now attest to the fact that they most
certainly are!
I have also learned that you need a consistent, by flexible, method to present and teach
the information/learning pattern. This makes the activity flow much smoother and the
childrens sense of autonomy is fostered as well.
What have you learned about teaching and learning?
Having done many observations, I have learned that they do get easier and less scary in
time. This was my best observation yet and I have learned so much from it! Even though
the overall flow of my lesson went very smoothly I now know many ways I can bump it up
and take it down to meet the needs of the children. I have learned that even the best
lessons have room to improve. There is no such thing as a perfect lesson. There are always
ways you can bump things up or take them down. There is always room to improve.
I also have learned that while you can teach something one way, it does not necessarily
work for all children. Teachers and children both have various styles of learning and
teaching. I feel it is extremely appropriate to plan activities that balance and touch on all
learning styles so that the interests of all children are grasped and no-one gets lost in the
shuffle. I have also learned that when teaching, it helps to have a plan and practice it. My
lesson went so much smoother because I was prepared and had a thoughtful plan
developed.
I have also learned that children are the best teachers there are for teachers. When
doing my lesson, I saw so many ways I can bump up or bring down my lesson to meet the
individual needs of the children. I also saw ways that I can adapt or modify my lesson to
benefit others for future teaching. Seeing how the children reacted and what they were
able to do and were not able to do really benefitted by teaching and taught me so much.
Teaching is not one-size-fits all.

Marina Santos
ECD 237 Small Group Teaching 1
Family Info Page:

Bringing the Alphabet

to Life
Did you know that learning the alphabet is more than just the ABC song? Children
need to be able physically interact with and experience the letters of the alphabet
in order to learn them. When children use their bodies to learn, information sticks
with them longer and makes a bigger impact. Combining learning the letters of the
alphabet with movement activities, like dancing or acting, is an ideal way to expand
on the learning and really ensure the children are learning and not memorizing. The
letters of the alphabet represent words, so what better way to expose our
children to learning letters than to bring them to life-act them out and model
them? After all, children do learn by doing and moving!

Alphabet Activities:
Write letters on pieces of paper and place them on the floor. Play some
music or sing and freely dance around the letters in your home. Stop the
music or singing and pick up the letter closest to you and identify it.
Go through random objects in your home and identify them and their first
letter. You and your child can together act like that object. For example, you
find a flag and say fuh for the Ff sound and flap/wave your arms like a
flag.
Act out the Alphabet- choose words and identify their letters then act out
that letter. You could say Bb is for ball and bounce to represent that Bb
word.
Sing the ABC song-but take it a step further and dance along with it to

represent each letter. Act like monkeys for Mm or tigers for Tt.
Visit your local library or our classroom library and check out some alphabet
books for more ABC activity ideas and information.