Monday, May 4, 2009

Edible Alphabet

We have started our adventure into phonics! We now have at least three days a week in which we work with letters and sounds. It has already been more fun, (for both of us) than I could have imagined.

About three weeks ago, we began a regular game of "I spy" using the sounds of the letters. Rose Marie caught on very quickly, and it became a fun game to play at almost anytime of the day, most especially in the car. :)

Then we began working with this book. The plan is to work on three letters a week (or a little longer if necessary). Thanks to advice from a very dear friend of mine, we are learning the letters according to their sounds, as opposed to their names. Because of the "I spy" game, this seems to make a lot of sense to Rose Marie.

During the week, we practice tracing the letters with our "feeling fingers" and then do various letter themed works. Today was a particular favorite for her. We matched foods to the letters and she LOVED this one. She spent a good part of the morning doing this work over and over (until it made her hungry and then she decided it was snack time) Because we already had all of the food in the pantry, this didn't cost a penny extra, so I thought I would share.

For the letters:

a: Apple slices, Apricots, Almonds (although, I don't think I would do this one again, it is not an easy sound to identify)
b: Banana Chips, Brownie Bite, Buttered Bread
c: Cookies, Crackers, Carrot





4 comments:

Elizabeth said...

HOW NEAT! What a great idea! I am so glad she's loving it (and you too!). Yay, Mommy!

M. T. said...

Awesome! That sounds so fun! What a great mommy you are! :)

Wife of a Soldier said...

What a great idea! :) Jax and I have been using scrabble letters to go over phonics. I'll have to try this too! :)

A. T. Wallace said...

Letters are symbols for sounds. It is rather ridiculous to learn our Anglophonic names for the letters of the Roman alphabet.

Doing what you are doing is very Classical. In Greek, for example, all the letters have names, but they express the sound of the symbol.

Alpha="Ahh-lpha"

Omega="Aw Mega"=Big Aw, i.e. Long O

Omicron="Aw Micro"=Little Aw, i.e. Short O

etc...