Early Literacy Project--Letter Recognition

Your Name

(Tune: Do you know the Muffin Man?)

If your name begins with ____,

Begins with ____, begins with ____,
If your name begins with ____,
Stand up, please.

Variations: Sit down, please; jump up, please

Schiller, P., Lara-Alecio, R., and Irby, B. J. (2004).The bilingual book of rhymes, songs, stories and fingerplays. Beltsville, MD: Gryphon House, Inc.

Fun with Old McDonald

When singing “Old MacDonald had a Farm”, change “E-I-E-I-O” to“A-U-A-U-O”. Try other letters. For older children point to the letters on chart paper so they can see the letters when they are singing. (p. 133)

Schiller, P. and Moore, T. (2006).And the cow jumped over the moon!Beltsville, MD: Gryphon House, Inc.

Old Black Fly by Jim Aylesworth; illustrated by Stephen Gammell

Not only does this book go through the whole alphabet highlighting each letter, but there is a story to it.  “Old black fly been buzzin’ around” causing all kinds of trouble in the house!  From dancing on the edge of the garbage sack and getting sweet honey on his dirty back it’s no wonder that after every two letters it says, “Shoo fly! Shoo fly! Shoo!”  But the fly gets what’s coming to him in the end!

Aylesworth, J. (1992). Old black fly (S. Gammell, Illus.). New York: Henry Holt and Company.

Poor Puppy by Nick Bruel

Poor Puppy just wants to play with his best friend, Kitty, but Kitty refuses.  So Puppy has to have fun on his own.  He proceeds to play with objects around the house that start with each letter of the alphabet, in ever increasing amounts.  He plays with one airplane, two balls, three cars, ending with 26 zoo animals!  And what a mess Poor Puppy makes!  After all that playing Puppy is ready for nap and he dreams about his adventures with Kitty around the world in alphabetical order!  First they are “apple bobbing in Antarctica” and playing “baseball in Brazil” ending in Zimbabwe where they “run zig-zag with a zebra, a zebu and a zorilla”.    Each letter that is being highlighted is larger and printed in bright red.

Bruel, N. (2007). Poor puppy. New Milford, CT: Roaring Book Press.

A Isn’t for Fox:  An Isn’t Alphabet by Wendy Ulmer; illustrated by Laura Knorr

Instead of a traditional alphabet book this book first tells the reader what the letter of the alphabet isn’t for, “A isn’t for box, it isn’t for fox” but the illustrations give a clue to the child about what the letter is for, “A is for ants that crawl over your socks”.  The book is filled with rhyming phrases that adds to the fun of the story.  “O isn’t for docks, it isn’t for rocks.  O is for octopus knitting four pairs of socks.”

Ulmer, W. (2008).A isn’t for fox: An isn’t alphabet (L. Knorr, Illus.).  Chelsea, MI:  Sleeping Bear Press.