Letterland Literacy Program

By: Jenna Sexton Tonya Denny

History• Lyn Wendon - originator of the

pictogram system on which Letterland is based.

• Lyn is a well-known reading specialist who lectures to schools and teachers.

• She has a degree in languages from Wellesley College in Massachusetts.

• Devised Letterland as a remedy for reading failure. She saw that a style of teaching was needed to explain letter behavior and fired imaginations.

What is Letterland?

Letterland is a fully multi-sensory program:• Letterland pictograms provide strong visual mnemonics for letter behavior.• Auditory learning is stimulated by song, rhyme, alliteration and storytelling.• Kinesthetic learners benefit from action songs, role play and crafts.• Children interact with the Letterland characters, activating intrapersonal and interpersonal relationships.

Goals & Objectives*The goal of the Letterland Literacy Program is to provide a “realistic parallel world” bridging the gap for abstract print.

*This program provides a secure learning environment where children can happily develop cognitive, language and literacy skills which include:

* Phonemic Awareness* Alliteration & Symbol/Sound Links* Letter Formation* Blending & Segmenting* Word & Sentence Building* Vocabulary & Language* Imaginative Play & Creative Writing “

Early Years Phonic Patterns

•Phonemic awareness

LETTERLAND CHARACTER

SLETTER

SHAPES & SOUNDS a-z

a - z

•A-Z and a-z shapes and sounds

CAPITALS A - Z

•Language development

LONG VOWELS

a,e,i,o,u

Primary Years Phonic Patterns•Alphabet proficiency FAST TRACK a-z

•Word building BEGINNINGS, MIDDLES & ENDINGS

a, e, i, o, ush, th, ch-nk, -ng-ff, -ll, -ss

•Onsets & rimes CONSONANT BLENDS

DIGRAPHS

bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl,br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, tr,sc, sk, sp, st, sm, sn, sw,scr, spl, spr, squ, str,shr, thr

•Beginnings, middles and endings

LONG VOWELS a-e, ai, ay,e-e, ee, ea,i-e, ie, y, igh,o-e, oa, o¯w,u-e, o¯o, ew, ue,

•Blends & digraphs VOWEL DIGRAPHS ar, or, ow, ou,oy, oi, er, ur, ir,oo, u, aw, au

•Advanced spelling TRIGRAPHS AND ADVANCED PHONEMES

air, ear

Advanced Phonic Patterns

•Word building •Advanced

spelling patterns•Irregular

vowels, more digraphs and

trigraphs

a (as in America/father)all/al (as in all/always)are (as in scare)al/el (as in musical/angel)ce/ci/cy (soft c stories)ch (as in school)ed/ing (Magic sounds)e (Silent letter)e (as in they)ea (as in head) ear (as in bear) ei (in receive/height/eight)en/est (Magic endings)er (Sometimes Magic)ere (in here/there/where)ey (as in donkey)full/ful (as in useful)dge/ge/gi/gy (soft g stories)gh (as in bought/laugh)ie (as in lie/field)

k (the ‘k’ sound) kn (as in knee) le (as in table)able/ible (suffixes) ly (as in lovely)less/ness (suffixes)mb/mn (as in thumb/Autumn)o (as in love/one/who)ous (as in famous)ph (as in photograph)que (as in antique)tion (as in action)ture (as in picture)wh (as in when/who)wr (as in write)y (as in very/bicycle)y to i (as in cry/cries)y (Sometimes Magic)

Letterland Kit Products

Letterland Kit Products

Grade Kits• Kindergarten: Teacher’s Guide,

student reproducible workbooks, CDs, Onset& Rimes Flipchart Book, Phonics Chart, Letterland Character Story Books, Flashcards, videos, Puzzles, Big Books, Magnets, and Frieze

• 1st Grade: Letter cards, Posters, Puzzles, Teacher’s Guide, Reproducible workbooks, CDs, Alphabet frieze

• 2nd Grade: Teacher’s Guide, Letter cards, video, workbook, literature books based on the characters, and sing-along CDs.

Kindergarten: What teachers like/dislike about Letterland

Likes• Captures students’ attention• Stories help students’ learn new

concepts• Students’ are excited about the

stories and characters• Students’ use their imagination to

venture into an imaginary worldDislikes

• Students’ become too dependent on the characters

• Program is not focused enough on the letter sounds

First Grade: What teachers like/dislike about Letterland

Likes• Students love it• Gives the students a memory-link that

they need• Fun phonics• Colorful• Easy lessons

Dislikes• Doesn’t provide all the phonemic

awareness needed for 1st grade• Students’ become dependent upon the

characters (often do not carry the phonics knowledge over to decode and encode)

• The program is harder to incorporate over into the aspects of other literacy programs (Rigby, Basal, Open Court)

Second Grade: What teachers like/dislike about Letterland

Likes• High quality materials and the

stories that explain why various combinations make specific sounds when put together

• Stories and materialsDislikes

• Picture-coding becomes cumbersome and in some ways unnecessary by the 2nd grade level

Exceptional Children’s, Reading Specialist and Resource: What teachers like/dislike about Letterland.

Likes• Captures students’ attention• Students learn new concepts• Students learn the sounds

Dislikes• Students are too dependent on the

characters• Program does not focus enough on

letter name and lacks a strong reading program that connects using letter sounds to read words

• No leveled books to coincide

Surveyed Teachers were ask: Does Letterland meet

the North Carolina Standard Course of Study? “Yes, it helps teach children how to learn the sounds of each

individual letter and how to blend those sounds to make words.” (T. Kearley, 2006)

Kindergarten1.02 Develop phonemic awareness and knowledge of

alphabetic principle: • demonstrate understanding that spoken language is a

sequence of identifiable speech sounds. • demonstrate understanding that the sequence of letters

in the written word represents the sequence of sounds in the spoken word.

• demonstrate understanding of the sounds of letters and understanding that words begin and end alike (onsets and rimes).

1.03 Demonstrate decoding and word recognition strategies and skills:

• recognize and name upper and lower case letters of the alphabet.

• recognize some words by sight including a few common words, own name, and environmental print such as signs, labels, and trademarks.

• recognize most beginning consonant letter-sound associations in one syllable words.

Surveyed Teachers were ask: Does Letterland meet the North Carolina Standard Course of Study?

“Yes. The children learn the letter sounds and relationship with one another.” (D. Hess, 2006)

“This program helps children make connections between the letters and sounds..” (C. Mock, 2006)

First Grade:1.02 Demonstrate decoding and word

recognition strategies and skills: • generate the sounds from all the letters

and appropriate letter patterns which should include consonant blends and long and short vowel patterns.

• use phonics knowledge of sound-letter relationships to decode regular one-syllable words when reading words and text.

“Letterland, alone, does not. I see it as a part, albeit even a small part, of my whole literacy program. (M. Wright, 2006)

Does Letterland meet the North Carolina Standard Course of Study?

“Yes, it helps with the phonics-related objectives and goals by stressing various letter/sound combinations and giving students “tricks” to help them remember the sounds.” (A. Weaver, 2006)

“Yes. It uses characterization and stories to help students remember the sounds made that certain letters use together.” (S. Johnson, 2006)

2nd Grade1.03 Self-monitor decoding by using letter-sound knowledge of all consonants and vowels.

Does Letterland meet the North Carolina Standard Course of Study?

“Yes! Letterland aides students in connecting the grapheme – phoneme connection.” (C. Wells, 2006)

Mrs. Wells is a Exceptional Children’s Teacher at Blue Ridge Elementary

See NCDPI link below for areas of exceptionality:

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/ec/exceptionality/

Special Needs StudentsLetterland has been used in Special

Needs environments to aid early literacy development in children with a range of complex conditions, such as: • Dyslexia• Autism• Dyspraxia• Cerebral Palsy• Apraxia• Down's Syndrome• Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)• Speech and Language Disabilities

Official Opinions of the ProgramBob Schlagal, Ph.D., Professor of Reading, Graduate Faculty

and Senior Clinician, Appalachian State University “Letterland is the most effective of all the synthetic phonics

programs for children that I have observed or worked with. This program is not only extremely well-thought out, it is highly imaginative and distinctly and usefully memorable.  As a result, teachers and children alike take pleasure in carefully exploring the terrain in which letters and groups of letters live and interact. As a long term student of young children’s writing and spelling development, I have been singularly impressed at the early start that children get with the aid of Letterland instruction. (This is something that teachers comment on with regularity.) I have consistently observed earlier, more accurate and more complete phonemic analysis in children’s spelling under this system—Letterland’s dramatic “live spelling” may be a powerful help in this--as well as a willingness to write among even the most shy and least secure children. Although I have focused my comments on children’s writing, I see the same kind of excitement and progress in their reading”.

Official Opinions of the Program

Rebecca H. Felton, Ph.D. Reading Consultant, Author, Dyslexia Researcher and former Faculty member, Neuropsychology Department, Bowman Gray School of Medicine  

"Many children who are at risk for reading difficulties have serious problems learning the names and sounds for the letters of the alphabet. Letterland, with its engaging characters, stories, songs, gestures for each letter, provides a rich and effective system of cues for letter-sound associations.   Use of these multiple cues as part of the Letterland reading program should ensure that all students develop mastery in this critical component of reading."

Bibliography

Letterland International Ltd. (2006). Retrieved March 6, 2006, from http://www.letterland.com/index.html

Wendon, L. (2006). Letterland Teacher’s Guide. UK: Letterland International Ltd.

BibliographyDenny, T. & Sexton, J. (2006). [Survey of

Annabel Bennett, Kindergarten Teacher at Blue Ridge Elementary School].

Denny, T. & Sexton, J. (2006). [Survey of Casey Bowen, Literacy Specialist at Blue Ridge Elementary School].

Denny, T. & Sexton, J. (2006). [Survey of Debra Buchanan, First Grade Teacher at Blue Ridge Elementary School].

Denny, T. & Sexton, J. (2006). [Survey of Deborah Hess, First Grade Teacher at Blue Ridge Elementary School].

Denny, T. & Sexton, J. (2006). [Survey of Amanda Hipp, Resource Teacher (1-3)at Blue Ridge Elementary School].

Denny, T. & Sexton, J. (2006). [Survey of Sheila Johnson, Second Grade Teacher at Blue Ridge Elementary School].

BibliographyDenny, T. & Sexton, J. (2006). [Survey of

Tamara Kearley, Kindergarten Teacher at Blue Ridge Elementary School].

Denny, T. & Sexton, J. (2006). [Survey of Jada Mast, Kindergarten Teacher at Blue Ridge Elementary School].

Denny, T. & Sexton, J. (2006). [Survey of Carolyn Mock, First/Second Grades Teacher at Blue Ridge Elementary School].

Denny, T. & Sexton, J. (2006). [Survey of Allison Weaver, Second Grade Teacher at Blue Ridge Elementary School].

Denny, T. & Sexton, J. (2006). [Survey of Cindy Wells, Exceptional Children’s Teacher at Blue Ridge Elementary School].

Denny, T. & Sexton, J. (2006). [Survey of Martha Anne Wright, First Grade Teacher at Blue Ridge Elementary School].