I noticed some interest in the alphabets when he started to point out the letters that spelt out his name on the door. He will often request that I read out the letters to him, also he seems to enjoy flipping through my books and always asks to sit on my lap when I am reading the newspaper. Furthermore, I think watching Sesame Street’s alphabet video clips online also encouraged his interest since this boy is ‘tech-crazy’ (he simply loves computers and mobile phones). However, it is still a challenge to finish reading a book to him, as he always seems to be in a hurry to turn the pages to the end of the book.
So it was really not too difficult to introduce these new activities, since he loves to be kept busy all the time. There is really no pressure for him to learn, especially since these activities make the most out of his interest in novelty, discovery and most importantly, his physical involvement.
To start with, I created a concrete ‘phonic alphabet’. While introducing the letter, I focus on the sound of the letter, and not its name. For example, saying “e-e-elephant” and not “ee”. Since this week letter is S, it is “Silver Ssss”. I show the letter to Kyle, encourage him to touch and feel the letter then I say to him, ‘This letter makes this sound, Ssss”.
The silver letter S, covered with aluminium foil
We went on to do a pasting activity. Pasting pictures of things and animals starting with ‘Ssss’ on a drawing paper with the letter S; snake, sun, sand, sink, sock, seal, sandwich. The word sandwich was made even more relevant when we just had a sandwich lunch. I made sure that I emphasized the ‘S’ sound in S-s-sandwich when he ate his lunch.
Then Kyle got a little too over-enthusiastic with the markers and created this.
He went on to paste colourful sticker dots to create a spotty snake. Was not able to sustain his interest for long as the stickers were a tad too small for him to manage. I will have to get larger sticker dots for Kyle to complete this activity later this week.
He then asked for “doh, doh”, which is one of his favorite activities.
I started to roll the dough into snakes, but he requested for the dough to be rolled into balls.
Spent some time throwing and rolling the ball, then finally ended up using a yellow dough ball as a ‘golf ball’.
The outcome? Although it did not go the way I planned (which happens most of the time anyhow). By the end of these activities, Kyle could recognise and say the “Ssss” sound when he is shown the letter 
