Action Research

STUDENT A
PRESCHOOL
LETTER RECOGNITION

All About Student A

He loves fire trucks, loud noises, the color red, a

certain bike on the playground, and anything that his

best friend loves.
He is a preschool student who just turned four years
old in November.
He struggles with letter recognition but especially
the letters of his name.

Meeting with Mrs. Collins

Meeting #1:

We discussed what exactly my Action Research Project was,

and she immediately thought of Student A. She explained
his lack of understanding and knowledge of the letters of
his name.
Meeting #2:
I discussed with Mrs. Collins further how advanced Student
As letter recognition skills actually were. She told me he
struggles immensely with letter recognition. She told me to
focus my research on this, but that I could mainly focus on
just recognizing the four letters of his name.

The Question
After the two meetings with Mrs. Collins, I

formulated the question.

How do I get student to increase letter

recognition, specifically focusing on the
letters of his name?

Research
Marie Clays Letter/Sound Identification

This test assesses letter recognition along with sound recognition of all
the letters of the alphabet.
For my research, I only used the letter recognition portion of the test.
David Chard and Jean Osborn
Children need to have a variety of activities involving practicing the
alphabet letters.
Be aware of the needs of children during the learning process.
The Virginia Department of Education, The Pals Office at the
University of Virginia Curry School of Education, and the Prince
William County Public Schools
Having the child interact with the letters of his name
Matching activity with name written out and slips of paper with
letters of name.

Session 1
Letter Identification Initial Assessment

Student A only knew the letter J.

Student As needs are greater than I originally thought.
His activities needed to be fun because he was
overwhelmed.
He received a score of 1/54.

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

used wooden letters instead of slips of paper

Student A liked using physical manipulations
did very well with matching

What letter is missing?

Student A did not do very well with this because he did not have a
choice or visual of what the letter could be.

Session 3
Act like a Pirate

Student A absolutely loved this activity

Even though it was fun and silly, he still learned a lot.
That is when I realized how important making things exciting and
fun in the classroom is.

Letter Identification 2nd Assessment

Student A received a score of 5/54

Improvement!

Session 4
Toilet Paper Roll

I asked Student A to find the letter I asked in sticker form and put
it on the toilet paper roll.
I observed the OT do this activity, and I thought Student A might
benefit from it.
It was affective, but it would have been more so if he didnt have so
many options for the letters.

iPad

We played a letter recognition game called Lickety Letter Bingo via

PBSkids.
He loved being able to play with the iPad.

Session 5 (Final Session)

Rice Tracing

He traced the letters of his name in container of rice.

He could not do it, so I had to help.

Name Writing

He tried to write his name on his own on a piece of paper.

He could not do it, so I had to help.

Final Letter Identification Assessment

He received a score of 9/54.

He knew all the letters of his name.
Improvement!

Activities and Lessons

Matching wooden letters to letters of name
What letter is missing in your name?
Act like a pirate and dig for the letters of your name
Put a letter sticker on toilet paper roll
Lickety Letter Bingo on the iPad
Trace letters of name in Rice
Practice writing name

Assessment Data

Thoughts, Reflection, and Changes

Student A needed activities to be fun.
In general, a lot of activities in the classroom need to

be exciting and fun in order to create a positive

classroom environment.
Student A needed physical manipulation in order to
help solidify practice.
Student A did well with matching but not with
producing letters with no prompting.
Student A tremendously improved by the end with
both the assessment and overall.