I've Uploaded Learning The Alphabet Revised, Books 1 And 2

I've revised the Learning The Alphabet books and have uploaded the PDF files today.  A separate teaching guide for these books will be posted in the near future.  These books are perfect for students who are learning the alphabet letters.  I developed these pages for my grandson when I was teaching him the alphabet.  The PDF files are copyrighted but they may be downloaded and printed by teachers, parents, and tutors, to use with their own students.

I had previously thought that I might combine these books into one book and put the handwriting and sound story pages into a separate book.  After more thought, I decided that since this is the very first book in the Sound City Reading program, I should leave everything together.  This will make it easier for teachers and parents to follow the teaching sequence.  All you have to do is go from one page to the next, in the order in which the pages appear in the book.

---

The changes in the books are as follows.

1. The front and back cover pages are printed in color.  The rest of the book has all black print, as before.
2. The handwriting pages with the large letters have been changed.  The letter outlines are narrower.  (See the pictures below.)  This allows students to finger trace the letters first and then trace them with a pencil.
3. An additional handwriting page has been added to each letter section.  It is a letter review page.  Students trace letter outlines for all of the letters that have been taught so far.  (See the picture below.)
4. The order of the oral blending pages has been modified.  In Book 1, students complete three compound word pages, four two-syllable word pages, and six two-sound pages.  In Book 2, students complete two two-sound pages and eleven three-sound pages.  The purpose for this change is so that there will be a gradual increase in difficulty spread across both books as students complete the pages.  Both books include six pages of two-syllable words at the end of the book as extra practice, to be used as needed.
5. Due to the addition of the extra handwriting pages, the teaching guide will become a separate book.  However, brief instructions are included on each student page in Books 1 and 2.  Please use the teaching guide in the original Learning The Alphabet 1 until I get the separate guide posted.

---

This is the handwriting page with large letters in the original version.  Students finger trace the letters.
​

This is the handwriting page with large letters in the revised version.  Students finger trace the letters, and they can also trace the letters with a pencil.

---

The letter introduction page with small letters has not changed.

A handwriting review page has been added after each new letter has been taught.

---

Both the original and revised versions are set up with beginning learners in mind.  They use multi-sensory instruction to teach new letters.  Tracing large and small letters helps students internalize each letter shape so that they can recognize the letter when they see it.  Saying the letters sounds as they trace helps students associate each letter with its sound.  After tracing a new letter, students complete a letter discrimination page, on which they circle the new letter in rows of individual letters, in rows of words, and in a sentence.  (Students are not expected to read the words and sentence; they are read aloud by the teacher.)

---

As each new letter is taught, two types of picture pages are included to teach beginning phonemic awareness skills.  The first teaches oral blending, and the second introduces students to rhyming

---

Students also study a page with words and pictures.  Each word on the page begins with the new letter.  The students look at the pictures to figure out the words, with the teacher's help.  As students pronounce each word, they listen carefully for the first sound, and circle the beginning letter.  This introduces them to the concept of beginning sounds in words.  The begin to understand that the beginning letter in a written word represents the first sound in the spoken word.