ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

Action Research

Initial Meeting with Teacher

Student Chosen:
Student A- Mrs. Collins chose this student to be part of this action
research project because he cannot spell the letters of his name, yet
he is a bright student in many other aspects of the classroom. He
cannot recognize his name, and he cannot spell out the letters to form
his name. Mrs. Collins thinks that intervention with him to have more
practice and one-on-one time with him involving the letters of his
name could really help him in the long run.

The Question:
Our Meeting:
I discussed with Mrs. Collins what exactly my action research project
was. Immediately she named a certain boy, student A, who is a very
smart student. Student A cannot spell or recognize his name, and Mrs.
Collins has been trying to work with him on it since the beginning of
the year. He understands many other things that the other children do
not understand, but he just cannot recognize or spell his name. As I
contemplated this, I started to form a question:
How do I get Student A to recognize and spell his name?

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

Second Meeting:
I came back to speak with Mrs. Collins further about Student A
and what exactly he did know in terms of letter recognition. She said
she has observed that letter recognition is something he really
struggles with, and that should be where I can focus my study. She told
me to do general letter recognition, but to mainly focus on the letters
of his name. She goes over letter recognition in her classroom, but she
doesnt go over letters of how to spell names as often as she would
like. After my second meeting with Mrs. Collins, I formulated this
question to focus my action research on:
How do I get student to increase letter recognition, specifically
focusing on the letters of his name?

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

Timeline
Timeline for Meeting with Student A

Pre-Session
Initial Meeting with Mrs. Collins
choose which student/students to work with
identify what to do research on based on the student/students
2nd Meeting with Mrs. Collins
identified strengths and weaknesses of Student A
Identify first essential question
Session 1

Initial Assessment
Marie Clays Letter/Sound Identification Assessment
Session 2
The Virginia Department of Education, The Pals Office at the
University of Virginia Curry School of Education, and the Prince
William County Public Schools video activity (name on paper and
letters on squares of paper but I will use wooden letters
matching)
What letter is missing in your name? (write his name with one
letter missing and see if he can guess)
Session 3
Act like a pirate and dig for the letters in his name in a bowl of
uncooked rice
Second Assessment
(give letter identification assessment again and see if there is
improvement)
Session 4
Put a sticker on the letter I say on the toilet paper roll
Play games on iPad (pbskids.org letter games Lickety Letter
Bingo)
Session 5
Trace letters of name and other letters in rice with finger
Write name if possible at this point3 times

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

Final Assessment: (give letter recognition assessment a third

time and see final improvement)

Initial Assessment Reflection

Administered: October 6, 2015
Student A
I gave the Marie Clay Letter/Sound Identification Assessment to
student A, and I discovered that his letter recognition abilities are
extremely lower than I originally believed. When Mrs. Collins talked to
me about his struggles with letter recognition, she did not tell me that
he really has no recognition at all. When we first went out into the hall
so that I could administer the test, Student A did not quite realize what
was going on. He was confused why I was bringing him out in the hall,
but I told him we were just doing a little activity together. He seemed
to understand, and I handed him the page of letters with the capital
letters. I had the scoring sheet in my lap, but I tried not to look at it
because I wanted him to not be intimidated. He has never been graded
before, and he did not really understand the concept, so I think thats
why initially he did not understand what we were doing. I pointed to
each letter and asked what letter it was. I went through every letter of
the alphabet, and the only one he could reproduce was the letter J. A

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

lot of times Student A would just blurt out a random letter without even
thinking about it. Sometimes he wouldnt even guess, he would just
shrug his shoulders indicating he did not know the answer. I did not do
the sound portion of Marie Clays test because I wanted my main focus
to be recognition and not the way a letter sounds. The initial test had a
shocking result of 1/54.

Tracking Data Collection and Student Progress

Date

Strategy/Skill

Assessment
or
Activity

10/6/15

Letter Recognition- Marie Clays

letter/sound
initial observation

Observations

Next Steps
(Instruction
for next
session)

The student
only knew the
letter J during
the
assessment,
which was not
what I was
expecting.
The students
needs were a
lot higher than
originally
perceived.

Will need to
do
something
exciting and
not as
overwhelmi
ng to help
student with
letters

The student
was
very good at
matching
wooden letters.
He had trouble
getting started,
but once he
understood,
the task came
naturally to
him. I asked
him questions
along the way
like Are those
the letters of
your name?

Does well
when he
has options,
so do
something
with options
for next
time.
He likes
objects, so
maybe
something
with
objects.

identification
assessment

10/20/1
5

Letter Recognitionmatching and what

letter is missing

What letter is
missing in
name
Match letters

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

11/3/15

Letter Recognitionletter search and

midway
observations

Letter search
Marie Clays
letter/sound
identification
assessment

and What
does that
spell?
It seems as if
student does
well with
physical
manipulations
He liked to
handle the
wooden
letterswill
use again
Student did not
do well with
figuring out
which letter
was missing in
his namehe
did not
understand
concept.
Student A
loved the letter
search! He
wanted to keep
playing. I
asked him if he
knew what a
pirate waswe
acted like he
was digging for
treasure. He
loved the thrill
of the game. I
made sure to
made it
instructional
(stopping after
every letter to
ask what letter
he had just
found and
what letter we
were going to
find next
helped when
he needed
prompting) We
played game
multiple times
Assessment
student knew a
few more
letters, which
was progress!
Today he knew
A, B, C, J, and
K

Loves
games!
Remember
for next
time

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

11/17/1
5

Letter Recognitiontechnology and

hands on

7
Find sticker
with letter
iPad games

12/1/15

Spelling- practice
with writing name
and final
observations

Letters of
name in rice
Write name
Marie Clays
letter/sound
identification
assessment

Student did
okay with
finding
different letters
via stickers to
put on toilet
paper roll. I
think he just
got
overwhelmed
with all the
choices, so
couldnt
choose. If I
were to do
activity again I
would only
give him like
ten letters to
choose from.
iPad games
were greathe
didnt quite
understand
directions at
first but after a
few rounds of
Lickety Letter
Bingo, he
seemed to
understand.
This helped
with overall
letter
recognition,
not just the
letters of his
name.
Could not trace
letters of name
in rice. He
would just do
random things
with finger in
riceI had to
manipulate his
finger to write
out letters.
Maybe not the
best
assessment
since it was
writing and not
just straight
recognition.
Student
attempted to
write name
with pencil and
paper but got
distracted

Technology
was good
with games
onlyneeds
to be
physically
doing
something,
not just
watching
something

For future,
dont do
anymore
writing
things. Work
more on just
manipulatin
g the letters
and
recognition.

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

easily with the

task. I
manipulated
hand again to
help.
Assessment
went wellI
asked him the
letters of his
name first
before the
other letters of
the alphabet.
He knew them
all! It might be
because we
had just gone
over, but at
least he
recognized
them. He knew
B, C, D, K, F,
and J as well.

Strategies Used:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Physical Manipulations
Games
Technology
Matching
Letter Searching

Lessons/Assessments Used:
1. Marie Clays Letter/Sound Identification
2. Questioning so that student seems to be teaching himself

Necessary Instruction Changes

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

1. Student A gets overwhelmed easily, so I had to make sure I was

taking things in sections and not just expecting him to
understand what I was talking about. I made sure that I
explained things, but that we tried it out before I let him do
things on his own. Student As first reaction to things is to shut
down, but I learned that I need to just stick with it in a fun way. I
needed to make sure things were fun in general.
2. After session 2, I observed how much he loved physical
manipulations and games. I needed to incorporate this in every
lesson and a lot of the practice. He needed to have something to
hold to make it fun for him. This made me speculate that Student
A might be a mix between a visual and kinesthetic learner, or it
might just be because of his age.

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

10

Final Assessment Reflection

Administered: December 1st, 2015
Student A
After all the time spent with student A, I think that his letter
recognition skills regarding his name have improved tremendously. I
was able to focus mainly on those four letters, which was manageable
for the time I had with him. It was exciting to see Student A improving
when we played fun games, such as digging in the rice for the letters
of his name. I learned that practice doesnt have to be monotonous,
but rather having something fun helps more. I do not believe his letter
recognition as a whole improved due to my lessons and activities,
though. It improved slightly, but I believe that was because Mrs. Collins
had been reviewing and going over letters all semester. Letter
recognition as a whole would have been too large of a task to
accomplish in the small amount of sessions I had with Student A. I feel
that continuing to talk about the letters of Student As name and doing
activities with his name will keep those letters in the letter order at the
forefront of his mind. During the final assessment, he knew all the
letters of his name when I asked him to find them on the sheet, which
is a huge success.

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

11

Progress Monitoring Chart

For the Progress Monitoring Chart, I filled it out
myself. Student A is not capable of understanding or
filling out the chart himself. I asked him questions,
such as Did you have fun today or not? or Did you
learn anything? to gauge how he was feeling and the
progress he felt he was making, if any. I also took
mental notes of his mood and his behavior in order to
fill out the chart.
Date

Today,
we

I feel

10/6/15

Completed
Marie
Clays
Assessmen
t to figure
out what
Student A
knew in
terms of
letter
recognition
.

Overwhelm
ed,
confused

10/20/15

Matched
wooden
letters of
name to
letters
written on
piece of
white
computer
paper. We
also tried
to figure
out what
letter was
missing

Excited
when I have
physical
manipulatio
ns such as
wooden
letters

Miss Ann
feels that
I.
Really
need help
with letter
recognition
and that
student As
difficulty
with letter
recognition
goes much
deeper
than she
originally
thought.
Did a great
job with
the
wooden
letter
matching
and that
things that
are fun
help me to
learn!

I improved
in

I need to
work on

N/A

Not
shutting
down when
I get
overwhelm
ed but
rather
asking for
help

Recognizin
g four
letters that
make up
my name

Knowing
the letters
without
having
them right
in front of
me

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

11/3/15

11/17/15

12/1/15

from
Student As
name.
Dug for the
letters of
my name
in a bowl of
rice, and
spelled out
my name
once we
found each
letter. We
also did
letter
recognition
Assessmen
t again to
gauge if I
have made
any
progress.
Searched
for the
sticker of
different
letters and
stuck them
on a toilet
paper roll.
We also
played a
fun game
called
Lickety
Letter
Bingo on
the iPad to
practice all
the letters
of the
alphabet.
Traced
letters of
my name
in rice and
tried to
write my
name on a
piece of
paper. We
also did
the final
assessmen
t, which

12

Happy and
Playful! I
had so
much fun
acting like a
pirate and
finding the
letters in
the rice. I
wanted to
play it as
much as I
could!

I learned a
lot during
the pirate
game
because I
was having
fun while I
was
learning.

Knowing
the letters
before
actually
seeing
themalso
comparing
that A
was not
the letter I
was
looking for
and does
not look
like that.

Taking less
time to
notice that
A is not
the letter
X, for
example
so
recognizing
more
fluently
which
letters are
which.

Average. I
was a little
bit
distracted
today, but I
liked being
able to play
with the
iPad.

Still need
help with
letter
recognition
as a whole
but is
doing
much
better with
recognizing
letters of
name!

Listening
to
directions
before
starting

Actually
thinking
before
answering

Not focused
on
attempting
to trace
letters, but
enjoyed it
once Miss
Ann helped
me. I got
bored doing
the
assessment
again.

Happy to
be playing
with the
rice but
bored
because
we had to
do the
assessmen
t again.

Letter
recognition
as a whole,
but mainly
letters of
name.

Writing
(but wasnt
sole
purpose of
project)

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

13

was doing
letter
recognition
assessmen
t again to
see how
much I
have
improved.

Student Assessment Progress ChartLetter Recognition

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

14

Data Analysis & Additional Reflection

According to the results of the Assessments, Student A has
improved on letter recognition. The first time he did the assessment,

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

15

he received a 1/54. The second time he received a 5/54. The last time
we did the assessment, he received a 9/54. He increased over time the
amount of letters that he knew when he was asked to point to a letter
named. What the assessments didnt show was the overall increase of
the familiarity of the letters of his name. We did many activities that
came from all different angles in exposing Student A to recognizing his
name. We did matching, searching, spelling, drawing, and games all
centered in practicing the letters of his name. I believe these activities
stuck with him based on how well he did on the activities. There was
no score to the activities, but rather this was based on observation
alone. Overall, Student A has improved on recognizing the letters of his
name, which was the original intent of the entire research project. I am
proud of the way he handled himself during our time together, and I
am excited that he has learned something from my efforts.
I believe it is extremely important that the upcoming generation
of teachers as well as the current generation of teachers incorporate
fun into the activities they do. I reflected on watching how much fun
Student A had when he played the pirate letter searching game I
created, and I realized how important fun is while we teach. As the
children get older, it is harder to make things fun, but it is so
necessary. I would encourage teachers of all ages, even teachers
teaching college age students, to make activities exciting. I think the
results of our efforts will be advantageous to learning overall. When

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

16

there is fun incorporated, learning sticks so much better in the brain. I

think finding the balance between teaching and fun is a necessary
component of what makes up a classroom.
One thing I would have done differently is to take things in
smaller chunks for Student A. I noticed he got overwhelmed easily, and
I believe this was due to his age but also who he is as a child. I should
have taken things in smaller chunks, such as the assessment. His
attention span is only so long, and the assessment was tedious. I think
next time I would have adapted the assessment to be some type of
game to make things more manageable.
Overall, I am pleased with the results of my research, and I wish I
had more time to work with Student A. He was a joy to be with, and I
loved to see his progress. I think continuing to practice with his name
will solidify what he was learning all along. If I could do it over again, I
absolutely would because I loved helping Student A learn something
that will be necessary for him to know for the rest of his lifehis name!

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

Literature Review and Research

Teaching Letter Recognition and

the Importance it has on Future Learning
Ann D. Robertson
Samford University

17

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

18

Abstract
Letter Recognition is the basis for everything to come next in learning how to
read. Without letter recognition, alphabetic principle and phonemic awareness cannot be
established, which are the building blocks of reading. There are multiple activities for
teaching letter recognition, and some of those activities are discussed here. When a child
has mastered letter recognition, their brain no longer has to focus so hard on that. The
child can move on to more complex ideas when letter recognition is rapid, automatic, and
fluent. The following discusses the importance of letter recognition as well as activities
to teach letter recognition directly and indirectly.
Keywords: letter recognition, alphabetic principle, phonemic awareness

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

19

Teaching Letter Recognition and

the Importance it has on Future Learning
Alphabetic principle as well as phonemic awareness can only come with letter
recognition. Letter recognition is the first step in making sure that further skills develop
within reading (Griffith and Klesius, Dec. 92, p.1). Once the alphabetic principle is
established, children can go on learning phonics and other reading necessities. When a
child learns alphabetic principle, meaning children understand that specific letters or
combinations of letters represent speech sounds in spoken words, then a child can put
together that sounds in spoken words are connected in specific ways (Cooter and Reutzel,
2013, p. 92). Accurate letter naming is not extremely beneficial until the abilities of the
letter naming are automatic, rapid, and fluent. When a child is hyper-focused on letter
recognition, then it is hard for that child to focus on more advanced skills such as
comprehension (Cooter and Reutzel, 2013, p.104). An initial assessment is necessary in
determining which letters the child already knows.
Marie Clay invented a test in 1993 to determine whether or not children can
identify the upper and lower case letters of the alphabet. Beginning with this test is an
appropriate way to determine further steps that need to be taken to help a child who is
struggling with letter recognition. DIBELS Letter Naming Fluency Test is another way
to see what letters a child knows, however it is only in the span of 1 minute. The
DIBELS test might not get the full result of what letters a child knows because of the
rapid speed of the test. Marie Clays Letter Name Accuracy Test might be more beneficial
in determining the overall picture of letter recognition (Cooter and Reutzel, 2013, p.104105).

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

20

David J. Chard and Jean Osborn discuss in their article that when a childs
knowledge of letters is not well developed when they start school, then sensibly
organized practice is extremely important to learning how to identify, name, and write
letters (2015). There are some guidelines for alphabetic knowledge instruction,
according to Chard and Osborn. Children need to have a wide variety of the alphabet, so
having activities to reinforce this is very necessary. These activities need to with upper
and lower case letters, so that the children are aware that letters look differently but can
still be the same letter. Games, songs, and fun activities are necessary to instill quick
knowledge of letter names. Writing also solidifies letter recognition, so having the child
write the letters they are learning along the way will help benefit them. Lastly, being
aware of the needs of the children during the learning process will be extremely helpful
in the long run. Following these steps is the basis for teaching children letter recognition,
so that they can build on that to further their reading skills (Chard and Osborn, 2015).
A video produced by The Virginia Department of Education, The Pals Office at
the University of Virginia Curry School of Education, and the Prince William County
Public Schools discusses and shows different activities for helping children learn
uppercase and lowercase letter recognition, letter naming, letter writing, and letter
sounds. Alphabetics activities need to first occur in small groups. Once directions are
established and children understand what is expected, they can be placed in centers to
work independently or with a partner. The activities should always include multiple
letters, and not just focusing on one letter. The video discusses five activities that are
important to establishing the basis of alphabetics, which include Teaching the alphabet
song, learning childrens names, alphabet matching, alphabet puzzles, alphabetize letters,

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

21

and handwriting. With the alphabet song, the teacher and students sing the song together
while the teacher points to the letter being sung. Music is a good reinforcement of the
concepts that are being taught.
One activity in the video was having the child interact with the letters of his name.
For this activity, the teacher should have the childs name written out on a piece of paper.
Have the letters of the childs name also written on little squares of paper. The child is to
match the square to the letter on the piece of paper as the teacher calls out what letter to
do. This is a great way to help develop recognition while keeping interest peeked by
using the childs own name. For alphabet matching, create a colorful puzzle that allows
students to match upper and lower case letters together. When writing letters, children
need to be given direct instruction on holding the pencil as well as how to write the letter.
The video tells teachers to make sure to model correct formation of letter writing when
writing on the board or showing children something on their paper. Letting students
practice in the air is a beneficial way to get the idea of the letter formation before actually
writing it down on paper. All of these activities that the video discusses will help to
further benefit letter recognition for a child.

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

22
References

Chard,DavidJ.,andJeanOsborn."PhonicsandWordRecognition
InstructioninEarlyReadingPrograms:GuidelinesforAccessibility."
ReadingRockets.WETAPublicBroadcasting,2015.Web.
EarlyLiteracyInstructionalVideos.Perf.TheVirginiaDepartmentof
EducationandThePalsOfficeattheUniversityofVirginiaCurry
SchoolofEducationandthePrinceWilliamCountyPublicSchools.
AlphabetMatching.WETAPublicBroadcasting,n.d.Web.2015.
<http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/alphabet_matching>.
Griffith,PriscillaJ.,andJanellP.Klesius.KindergartenChildren's
DevelopingUnderstandingoftheAlphabeticPrinciple.Rep.no.ED
353571.N.p.:n.p.,1992.Print.
Reutzel,D.Ray,andRobertB.Cooter.TheEssentialsofTeachingChildren
toRead.3rded.N.p.:PearsonEducation(US),2013.Print.