helping children recognize that they read every day...

When children first enter a Kindergarten class they assume they do not know how to read and that it must be taught to them. However, this is not the case. Children are exposed to words all throughout their lives and we as teachers need to help them connect those words to learning in the classroom. In the article by Bell and Jarvis we learn that letting go of the plain "letter of the week" strategy is probably the best thing you can do. Instead have children associate each letter with things they already know. I think this is a great way of introducing the letters to children because it makes it fun for the kids and it also allows them to see that they really know more than they think they do. Another thing that really stood out to me was how this "environmental print" way of introducing the letters really helped the ELL students. In Donna Bell's case, her student Pedro could not identify what letters were what, but he could make sentences and comprehend what he was reading by associating the words with the kids names in his class. Here are a few examples I found of ways to use environmental print in the classroom.

Here you can see that the letter 'C' is being represented by many different artifacts from a child's daily life. I am sure most kids have Capri Sun if not on a daily basis, at least once a week. If they can say Capri then they can make the 'ca' sound, and if they can make the sound and recognize the letter, then they can apply it to other words that they will come across.

Just another way to prove to children that they do know how to read and they can already say some words, like their favorite cereal. 

Environmental print, word walls, and the basic letter of the week approach are all ways to introduce children to reading, writing and the alphabet. Are there any other ways you can think of to teach the alphabet and reading to children?