Teaching Tuesday: Using Signs

One of the major focuses of Landon's K4 curriculum is learning the names and sounds for each letter in the alphabet.  He is struggling somewhat with keeping all those straight.  The ABEKA phonics starts with teaching the vowels and their sounds.  So we have learned a, e, i, o, and u.  I decided to incorporate some kinesthetic learning to help him with memorizing these letters.  For those non ed majors, kinesthetic learning is a learning style in which learning takes place by the student actually carrying out a physical activity, rather than listening to a lecture or merely watching a demonstration. It is also referred to as tactile learning. People with a kinesthetic learning style are also commonly known as do-ers (Wikipedia).  For this task I am teaching Landon the American Sign Language sign for the letter along with its name and sound.  Just by adding the sign his focus is greatly improved, and hopefully his learning is too.  He is a mover and a shaker so standing or sitting still is a struggle for him, but by giving his little body something constructive to do, all that moving can actually benefit his learning.  Here is a link to the ASL alphabet if you would like to check it out.