EPIC Teacher's Guide - Book - Page 14
Pupils are introduced to the name and sound of the letter and begin to
identify it through the context of familiar words. English Adventure has
created an original method of teaching the writing of capital and lowercase
letters through the context of a house. The ABC house is divided into three
sections – the roof, house, and basement. By placing the letters within this
framework, pupils can easily identify those letters that must be drawn within
the line (in the house), above the line (in the roof), and those than must be
drawn below (in the basement). Proper placement of the letters is crucial for pupils
to be able to recognize them in relation to each other, and to write the letters in
combination to build words.
Numerous opportunities for practicing the letters is provided orally, frontally with
the teacher’s demonstration, written, and individually in the Course Book and ABC
Notebook (see description of the ABC Notebook below). The letters are learned by
looking at them, manipulating the shapes of each letter, tracing letters over dotted
lines, and drawing letters without cues. The Course Book activities offer a variety of
tasks for practicing writing the letters in isolation, associating them with appropriate
vocabulary, recognizing them in relation to similar graphemes, and identifying them
in the initial, medial, and final positions within words. As pupils begin to build
knowledge of multiple letters, they are given opportunities to decode and encode
them in combination, gradually beginning their journey to becoming strong English
readers.
ABC Notebook
The final step in the procedure of teaching a letter is the ABC Notebook,
located in the back of the pupil's Course Book. Used in combination with
the Course Book, the ABC Notebook serves as practice for writing the
letters in isolation, identifying words that include the sound, and
decoding them in the context of a word. Each of the 26 pages of the ABC
Notebook is designated to a letter in the alphabet, beginning from the
letter A and ending with the letter Z.
Included in the Course Book are letter and picture stickers. On each letter page, the
target letter appears in the context of the house. Pupils can stick the appropriate
letter sticker in the house and use the writing lines to practice both the capital and
lowercase letters in isolation. Pupils must then identify the picture stickers that
begin with the sound of the letter and place them in the indicated boxes. Finally,
pupils can practice the new letter in the context of a word which the target letter
appears in the initial, medial, and/or final position.
Each time a new letter is introduced, teachers are advised to use the same
procedure. See example of procedure below. Reference to this procedure will be
noted in the appropriate places throughout the Teacher’s Guide:
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