Description:
The letters I used for my activity demonstration were e and f. I demonstrated by pointing at the letter cards and tracing my finger over the letters that the capital E and lowercase e look different from each other, but they are still the same letter. I printed out letters in different font styles so that students could see that a f may look fancy with curls or straight and slender or thick and bold, but it is still the same letter no matter how it looks. I had four capital Es, four capital Fs, four lowercase es, and four lowercase fs. After I introduced the letters, we sorted them into the e and f categories in columns. If we had had more time in class, we also could have sorted the capital and the lowercase letters. As the students decided which letter cards to put in the e column and which letter cards to put in the f column, I asked the students to describe the letter for me. I asked the student if the letter was capital or lowercase and how they knew which pile to sort the letter into.
Rationale:
The sorting letters by case and font style activity I completed for my demonstration in my EDRD 390 class used letter cards as a literacy material. This activity can be used to help students recognize and remember what each capital and lowercase letter looks like. The activity can also be used to help children learn that even though letters may come in different formats and styles, they are still the same letter. Teachers can conduct this activity if they feel one or more of their students needs help with letter recognition. The teacher may determine which letters need the most attention. This activity can be done with 2-4 letters at a time. This is a small-group activity for a teacher to do with her students.