Sandpaper Letters
Materials:
The lower-case letters of the alphabet, preferably in cursive script, made with sandpaper and mounted on separate thick cards or wood. The consonants are mounted on pink or red and the vowels are mounted on blue.
A set of sandpaper phonograms representing certain key phonograms for English. They are mounted on green with the cursive letters joined (ch, sh, th, qu, oy, ai, ee, er, au, oo, ue, ou, oa, ie, ar, or)
A box for each set of letters
Green Letter Boards – letters are grouped according to their initial writing stroke. Four to six letters, not connected, may be placed on each thick card or on wood.
Finger sensitizing exercise
Purposes:
To make the child aware of the phonemes in words
To give the child the symbols for the phonemes of their language utilizing three senses (tactile, visual, auditory)
To support the visual and muscular memory of each letter
Direct preparation for writing and reading
Age: 2 ½ - 4
Preparation:
Work with Rough and Smooth Boards 1 & 2
Sounds Games Level 2
Presentation:
Invite the child for a lesson on Sandpaper Letters and sensitize the first two fingers of the dominant hand.
Select three letters, one of the first letters of the child’s name (if phonetic) and a vowel, and have the child take them to a table.
Lay the stack upside-down.
Turn the top card, introduce the sound, and offer three words that start with the sound.
Model how to trace the letter by stabilizing the card with your left hand and tracing the letter with your first two fingers. Say the sound of the letter.
Repeat two more times.
Invite the child to trace the letter and say the sound.
Place it upside-down on the left.
Repeat for the other two letters.
Lay the sounds out, right side up in a line across the table, and begin a three-period lesson. Incorporate lots of tracing in the commands.
When you are finished, offer to do three more or invite the child to trace the letters as long as they would like.
Fade and observe closely. If the child is unable to trace the letter correctly, do not let them work with it independently. We don’t want the child to imprint in their muscle memory the wrong way of writing a letter.
Note: if the child can’t trace properly, some helps we can give are:
Emphasize the starting point with the child in the next lesson.
Remonstrate the part the child is struggling within the next lesson.
The child’s hand can ride on top of yours while you trace.
Offer a sand tray to practice.
Do not move the child’s hand for them-if you control their hand, there will be no muscle memory.
Continuation:
Once you have started the child on this material you MUST continue presenting DAILY. A typical learner should be able to get through all the letters of the alphabet in 2-4 months.
Before each lesson, review all the sounds the child had been presented. Represent any that are forgotten.
Children who struggle to remember, or retain, the sounds needs more repetition and frequency. Consider also including more memory games in the child’s day, and additional ways to connect the sounds to something they remember.
Control of Error: When the child’s fingers slip off the sandpaper onto the smooth board.
Following Exercises:
Sandpaper Phonograms: The child needs to have been introduced to the two letters individually and knows their corresponding sounds.
Present in the same manner as the Sandpaper Letters.
Practice in Tracing: Stack all the known Sandpaper letters on the table. Have the child turn the top card, say the sound, and trace. Repeat for the pile.
Tracing the Letters Blindfolded: Repeat as in Practice in Tracing but blindfolded. No lesson is necessary, just suggest the option to the child.
The Connection Lesson: Done only with cursive after the child has been presented many sounds and some phonograms.
Bring all the sounds that the child has been introduced to.
Put the consonants the child knows in one pile and the vowels in another pile upside-down.
Place a vowel to the left flush with a consonant.
Trace the consonant while saying the sound then drag the finger to the vowel-say the sound and trace. Drag out the sounds (hhhhhhhhaaaaaaa).
Repeat and invite the child. Modeling one is enough.
Fade and observe.
The Green Letter Boards (large boards with cut letters out of sandpaper glued on grouped by similar form. Example a, c, d, g, o, q): Place the boards leaned against the left side of the table.
Move one to the tabletop.
Trace and say the sound for each of the letters.
Lean the board against the right side of the table. Model one and then fade and observe.
Other Ways to Extend the Child’s Practice:
Bring Me Game: Sitting at a distance from the material, ask the child to bring the letter representing a sound you say. Each time the child brings it to you, have the child trace the sound and then put it away.
Group Games: Good for the older child who enters the class not knowing the letter sounds. Pile all cards upside-down in the center of the rug. One child pics a letter says the sound and traces. Then passes it to the next child to say and trace until all have a turn. The next child gets to pick a letter and repeat.
Or each child picks a card, traces it, and then displays it for the rest saying the sound. All rotate taking turns.
Or place all letters upside-down. Each child (small group) picks one. If they can name it, they get to keep it and place it in their pile. If they cannot, they turn it back over and return it to the pile.
Pedagogical Notes:
Sandpaper Letters are presented to the child while they are passing through the sensitive period for both movement and refinement of the sensory perceptions. Both of these start to fade around the age of four, so it is critical that time is made daily for these presentations.
Any activity that involves writing needs to be done at a table to encourage good writing posture.
There is no order in which to present the letters. The vowels and key consonants are a great place to start.
Do not leave the child with letters they cannot trace. This is where poor letter formation can begin. If a child creates inaccurate muscle memory, they will write their letters in that same way, and it can be difficult to correct.
Use record-keeping cards to track which sounds each child is working on.
The group games help the older child internalize the sounds through hearing them multiple times. This is better because their sensitivity to trace is almost gone.