- letter card “Yy”
- lowercase
- straight
- uppercase
MA Standards:
Foundational Skills/RF.PK.MA.1.d: Recognize and name some uppercase letters of the alphabet and the lowercase letters in one’s own name.
Head Start Outcomes:
Literacy Knowledge/Alphabet Knowledge: Recognizes that the letters of the alphabet are a special category of visual graphics that can be individually named.
Literacy Knowledge/Early Writing: Copies, traces, or independently writes letters or words.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Reading and Literature 7: Develop familiarity with the forms of alphabet letters, awareness of print, and letter forms.
Learn About Letters Together: Letter Shape (“Yy”)
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
ELA Focus Skills: Letter Recognition, Listening and Speaking, Vocabulary
Tell children they are going to continue to learn about the letter “Yy.”
Hold up the letter “Yy” card. Trace over the uppercase and lowercase letters to review how to form the letters. Have children come up one at a time to trace the letters with you.
- Point out that both the uppercase and lowercase “Yy” are made of straight lines.
Now, tell children they are going to use their bodies to make the letter "Y." Ask a volunteer help you demonstrate.
- Have the volunteer hold up one arm. Help him or her turn a palm up so it faces the ceiling. Help him or her do the same with the other arm.
- Put the child's two forearms together to make the base of the letter "Y."
- Trace the child's arms and say, This is the letter "Y." Have all children shape the letter with their arms. You may need to help children by moving their palms up or their arms together.
Have children march in a "Y" parade around the room or the hallway.
Educator Tip: Guided and independent letter, sound, and word practice continues to take place in center activities. It is helpful to set up the literacy center immediately after the direct instruction and repeat instruction before children work in the literacy center identifying letters.