Connecting the letter name and symbol

Connecting the symbol and letter name (and letter sound) activities available are overwhelming.  There are no quick ways to learn just be patient and persistent in practice.
Let the children know that it is their responsibility to learn.  

NOTICING letters everywhere. 
Name Cards - Using the students' names is the most personal way to hook into "it's important" because they are important.  
Cheer the letters in their names.
Sing the letters in their names.

Find letters on:
Cereal Boxes

Clothing

Posters and Cards
Use posters to look at while singing the ABC song in order but also point to the letters out of order.  Singing the song can help as a hook to 'figure out' unknown letters out of order.  Mini posters and alphabet lines can be used for students to keep close when trying to remember the letter names.

'Flashing' (flipping) cards  to say it fast.

Sentence strips made with letters in uppercase and/or lowercase form to read the letters.

Students can be the 'teacher' to help and encourage each other. 

Letter naming challenge - Divide students into two teams, showing a letter card to first students in each line.  The team who names the letter first gets a point.

Alphabet arcs -Students match plastic letters to an outline on the card. 

Letter manipulatives can be:
Plastic letters
Magnetic letters
Foam letters
Wooden letters
Felt letters
Letter tiles
Letter blocks
Write letters on bottle caps
Magnetic letter cards

Something to do with letters:
Put it in a sock-  Put plastic, wooden or foam letters in a sock.  Students reach in and 'feel' the letter trying to guess what it is.  Use letters that the form can be guessed more readily.  T,  X,  C,  E, O.  A mat could be made so as student pulls out a letter, they can match it to a letter (traced) on the mat.  Limiting the selection and giving a hint what the letters in the sock are, helps students focus and be successful.

Varying the hands-on items keeps the children's curiosity.  Remember this age just loves to touch!

Technology
I found a free ipad app called ABCSound-Lite .  It is a phonics visual song that follows the Discovery Toys Sounds Like Fun CD song "Letter Sounds" by Barbara Milne.  "apple, apple, /a/-/a/-a/"  The online and current Discovery Toys song has changed some of the pictures from when I originally purchased.  

• Starfall.com uses alphabet blocks that when selected by the student, helps practice identifying the letter and hears the letter sound while clicking.  Some activities match initial sound and letter form.

 

• Reading Eggs.com  is a subscription site that assesses and moves the students along a program of lessons for developing phonemic awareness and phonics skills for reading progress. 

Games (there are so many)
Calling an activity a 'game' intrigues most children to play with letters.  

alphabet recognition:

• memory match
• letter lotto
• Go fish with letter cards
• matching magnetic letters 

These games can be adapted to vary practice for:
identifying the lowercase form,
identifying the uppercase form,
matching uppercase to lowercase,

Walk the halls searching for the letters.  
Take a walk and ask the children to find an A a,  B b,......  In order and out of alphabetical order.

I Spy
Make pages with random letters in various fonts, sizes and pictures.  Children can use a bubble wand and spy the letters with a partner or as a small group practice.  I made these, if you're interested leave me a comment. 

Writing Letters
Write in alphabetical order.  Write letter pairs.
Select a letter  "make a Dd"
Say the letter name while writing.  D  d 
Model 
-write it in the air (large to smaller)
-write with dry erase boards

Include stories to read and point out letters. 
Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom  by Bill Martin, Jr.  
(a separate post coming with more ideas)
Dr Seuss' ABC


Singing and body movements connect with letter sound.
Dr. Jean's  "Phonercise" and "Go Letters: Cheer" are on YouTube or in CD.

The more they practice (right),

the better they get!