Literally Amusing

activities and games

for early literacy

Jelena Čupić
English teacher and co-owner @ New Bell language studio
RELO Belgrade OPEN Online Conference* August 20-22, 2020
 I BET you, too, have taught
the alphaBET!
- 6-8 year-olds (flexible)
- age group - still formally not literate in L1

- Materials - use free, commercially available or create your own

- method - non-alphabetical order

- start with more frequent letters to begin writing
ASAP
 Let’s
warm up!

Image by Bitmoji.com
A C
When the music stops, run to one of the corners with letters.

FOUR
CORNERS

T If your letter is called, go back to your seat.

Song by https://americanenglish.state.gov/
O
 What do I do with this???
Naming objects

Pronunciation of the letter

in words

Naming the letter and

commenting on its shape

All about the Alphabet, https://www.education.com/, 2012.

Cloudy with a
chance of reading!!!

www.wordclouds.com
 Demonstrate line by line
Pencil movement chants

Ground, grass and sky

Air pencils (mirroring) and desk writing

Practice, observe and correct

www.handwritingworksheets.com
 Chatty _ig
It can be at the
beginning, end or in
the middle of the
word.

Use the taught

letter to complete
words.

Instant Practice Packets: Alphabet • © 2011 by Joan Novelli & Holly Grundon • Scholastic Teaching Resources
 Use the new and familiar letters to form
simple words

Read the whole word first

Pronounce each letter separately and

connect them in reading

Spell the word as you write each letter

www.handwritingworksheets.com
 Personalization helps
students create
You should
associations and
take it
personally!
retain the letter in
their memory
Crafts
And it’s fun!

Instant Practice Packets: Alphabet • © 2011 by Joan Novelli & Holly Grundon • Scholastic Teaching Resources
Checklist:
English Letter Frequency (based on a sample of 40,000 words)
Source: http://pi.math.cornell.edu/~mec/2003-2004/cryptography/subs/frequencies.html

 Create q sequence of letters

 Choose or design activities
 Follow the steps in the procedure
 Use a word generating tool
 Combine approach Bottom-up literacy instruction
(from smaller to longer language
units)

Top-down literacy instruction

(from texts and sentences to
words and letters)
Checklist:
English Letter Frequency (based on a sample of 40,000 words)
Source: http://pi.math.cornell.edu/~mec/2003-2004/cryptography/subs/frequencies.html

 Create q sequence of letters

 Choose or design activities
 Follow the steps in the procedure
 Use a word generating tool
 Combine approach Bottom-up literacy instruction
(from smaller to longer language
units)

Top-down literacy instruction

(from texts and sentences to
words and letters)
This I know!!! If WRONG!!!
presentation is only I hadn’t Here come the
all work and no turned on my games.
fun! camera!
All you need Stock, Good value
is love (and paper, for (time
maybe a scissors! and) money
blackboard)
 All you need is love (and maybe a blackboard)
Back writing
Guessing game
abcdefghij
klmnopqr
stuvw
Write letters or words on students’ backs with a
xyz
finger

Students take over

Online option – air pencils

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

 All you need is love (and maybe a blackboard)
Alphabet soup
Draw a pot and write letters on the board

Students use them to write words in their

notebooks

Beat the clock

Online option – draw a pot with letters on a

Image by braetschit from Pixabay shared whiteboard

 All you need is love (and maybe a blackboard)

Students spell words making letter

shapes with their bodies

Cheerleading Teacher sets the words

Students choose the words, guessing

game

Online option – at home choreographies

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

All you need is love (and maybe a blackboard)
Hangman
Oldie but goodie

Students take over

Pizza or shark instead of a hanging man

Online option

https://www.hangmanwords.com/create
 Stock, paper, scissors!
Clever parrot All parrots repeat.
Clever parrots
think before
repeating!
Display a word written on a card

Say random or connected words

Students listen and only repeat the written word

Can be accompanied by movements

Online option – display words on a shared

screen or a funny video

Image by Gerhard G. from Pixabay

 Stock, paper, scissors!
Alphabet hide and seek

Hide letters written on cards around the classroom

Say a letter or a word
Students find the letters around the class
Online option – create a picture or slide with letters hidden around it

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

Stock, paper, scissors!
Alphabet line-up
Hand out written letters or words
Students line up in the alphabetical order
Competition between groups
Beat the clock
Online options – 1. Assign letters or words in the chat or on shared screen,
count/say the alphabet, students shout out their words and stand up
2. Groups in breakout rooms put the words in the correct order

Image by DaKub from Pixabay

Stock, paper, scissors!
I have, who has…?
Hand out letter cards
Set a word to spell by saying it or showing a picture (e.g.
spider)
Students spell the word by saying “I have S, who has P?”
“I have P, who else has I?” etc.
In teams or whole class
Online option – assign letters in chat, Ss write them down

Image by Alexey Hulsov from Pixabay

Stock, paper, scissors!
Memory games Capital and small case

Beginning letter and picture

Beginning letter and word

Parts of a word

Online option

https://matchthememory.com/

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

 Good value for (time) and money
3D letters
 Magnets Feely bag

 Foam Scrabble
 Thick card or sandpaper Dictations
 Play dough
 Rope or string on card
Online option – crafts for HW
for personalization

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Good value for (time) and money
Make fish with letters written on them
Put a paper clip on each fish
Make fishing rods with small magnets
Put the fish in the pond (floor or desk)
Say a word
Students fish out the letters to make the word
Freestyle fishing – students fish out letters to make words of their choice
to beat the clock
Online option – Ss write letters on small pieces of paper, fish them with a
straw
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
Good value for (time) and money

 Download heads, bodies and tails Phonics monsters

https://bogglesworldesl.com/phonicsmonstersconsonantdigraphs.htm
 Print and cut them out (laminate if possible)
 Students use body parts to make words and practice reading
Online option – share parts on a screen, allow remote control, Ss move them around
to make words Image by https://bogglesworldesl.com
 Good value for (time) and money
Sight words Uno
 Uno cards with words instead of numbers
 Download cards from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/ (several
free options)
 Print and cut out cards (laminate if possible)
 Shuffle cards and deal
 Students put down cards with corresponding colour or number and read
the words
 The first to put down all cards, wins

Image by www.aturntolearn.com
 Who wants soup?

P
A C
O

potato C
O T

topcoat T
O
A C

toccata P

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

 Thanks!
Any questions
You can find me here
Web: newbell.rs
Facebook – New Bell
Instagram - new_bell_belgrade
email: office@newbell.rs
 Credits
• Presentation template SlidesCarnival
• Images https://pixabay.com/
• Books
• Handwriting tasks www.handwritingworksheets.com
• Word cloud https://www.wordclouds.com/
• The alphabet song https://americanenglish.state.gov/
• Ground, grass, sky handwriting from www.sparklebox.co.uk
• Hangman https://www.hangmanwords.com/create
• Memory game https://matchthememory.com/
• Fishing game https://supersimple.com/article/lets-go-fishing-game/
• Phonics monsters https://bogglesworldesl.com/phonicsmonstersconsonantdigraphs.htm

• Sight words Uno https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/

2020