ECED4080 Creating Materials for Use by Young Children

Sample Album of Learning Task Documentation Entry

Learning Task: Sandpaper Letters

Description:Students move their fingertips over the sandpaper letters and numerals to ‘get a feel’ of them. Single letters and numerals can be used as stand alone cards to start with. Later combinations of numerals or letters can be used to practice specific number or phonetic skills.

Learning task adapted from:http://www.Volumes/External%20Hard%20Disk/1.%20SQU%20courses/6.%20Creating%20Classroom%20Materials/7.%20Sandpaper%20Letters/Sources/Sandpaper%20Letters%20-%20FamilyEducation.com.html

Age Group:3.5 to 5.5 years

Subject Area:Language

Subject Strand:Writing

Subject Topic:Letter Formation

Background Information:Children need many experiences working with letters of the alphabet before they can actually begin to print letters using a pencil or marker. Understanding can begin in a receptive manner with activities such as having children move their fingers over the shapes of sandpaper letter. In this learning task, sandpaper numerals and letters are cut out and glued on laminated cards. Once students can recognize and name letters and numerals, they could attempt to match upper and lower case letters. Letter combinations can placed on cards as letter chunks. Numeral combinations can be used to introduce ‘ten’ and the other ‘teen numbers.’

Student Learning Outcomes:

Writing:Prints letters of the alphabet

Prerequisite Concepts, Skills, & Values: follows class routines for selecting,

using and returning individual learning tasks

adopts class routines for obtaining teacher support to demonstrate learning tasks and to obtain assistance

small muscle control to trace the sandpaper letters

recognizes and names letters and numerals

recognizes tactile shapes from work with three dimensional shapes

concepts about print – differentiating between upper and lower case letters on a printed page

ECED4080 Creating Materials for Use by Young Children

Learning Theory & Instructional Strategy:

the activity follows the constructivist theory of learning in that the child learns about letter formation by actually tracing the letters themselves.

the instructional strategy is independent learning with self-correction

the teacher demonstrates the learning task for the child initially, then the child works on its own perhaps working with the same task for several days to reach the mastery level.

Student Characteristics Accommodated: accommodating both bodily

kinesthetic, spatial, and naturalistic intelligences underlie the design of this activity as student enjoy the texture, and sight of the sandpaper and observe the shapes and patterns of the letters.

the activity provides concrete experience leading to the more abstract recognition and formation of printed letters.

visually impaired students are aided with the tactile feel of the letters and their large size

children only engage in this activity when it is developmentally appropriate for them and are not forced to move along with the entire class or through the forced progression inherent to printed workbooks

Introduction of the Learning Task: Show the child how to remove the

activity tray from the shelf noting the placement of each item.

Take the learning task to an open space at a table.

Demonstrate how to trace the shape of a letter while saying the sound that the letter makes.

Show the child how to trace the shape of numerals while saying the quantity, which they represent.

Say that letters can be models to use while forming them with a thick pencil or paintbrush.

show the child how to move the play dough to the tray.

Preparation:Cut out enough cards of each colour to match the number required for the letters and numerals in both Arabic and English. Laminate the cards before attaching the sandpaper. Employ the template sheets to cut out the sandpaper letters. Note that the letters are flipped so that you can cut from the smooth side of the sand paper. Glue the letters to the laminated cards using Super Glue.

Tools and equipment needed: letter and numeral sheets cards for laminating sandpaper Super Glue scissors

Laminated Letter Sheets: associated file of English and

Arabic letters and numerals computer printout each of the

pages of the file letter cards laminated sandpaper letters glued to card

ECED4080 Creating Materials for Use by Young Children

Checklist of Tray Items: tray container of Arabic letters container of Hindi numerals container of English lower case

letters container of English upper case

letters container of Arabic numerals containers of combinations

Extension Activities:1. Students could go on to use

paintbrush strokes to form letters of their names including a capital letter at the beginning.

2. Students could use a wet sponge to form letters on concrete or a chalkboard.

3. Students could use a large, thick pencil to form letters and print their names.

Enrichment Activities:1. Students could be provided with

specific letter combinations chunks to address specific phonics skills

2. Students could be provided with specific numeral combinations as an aid to the letter of place value with double-digit numbers.

Assessment Techniques: Student compares play dough letters

with printed models and self corrects. Instructor observes student while

working and provides formative feedback.

Instructor examines and analyzes finished product.

Feedback Suggestions: How could you make the letters the

same as what you traced with your finger?

What is different about this letter from the one on the sandpaper card?

What are the upper/lower case letterforms for this letter?

Alternate Tactile Letter Activity:Students can look at a sheet of laminated letters and attempt to draw various letters in a tray containing sand.

Evaluation Rubric:1. Has difficulty keeping

finger on the sandpaper letters. Transfers only a few letter strokes to paper.

2. Forms letters with reversal and/or missing strokes.

3. Forms most letters matching the models provided.

4. Form all letters correctly matching the upper and lower cases.

Vocabulary:letter, upper case, lower case, sandpaper, numerals, print, model, & trace.

References:http://www.Volumes/External%20Hard%20Disk/1.%20SQU%20courses/6.%20Creating%20Classroom%20Materials/7.%20Sandpaper%20Letters/Sources/Sandpaper%20Letters%20-%20FamilyEducation.com.html

Comments, Hints, & Suggestions:Use different coloured backing for each set of letters and numerals.

Key Words:writing, letter formation, upper case, lower case, sandpaper, trace, self-correct, & matching.