This is a simple way I use to introduce upper and lower case letters with my students…
On a large flip chart, I print a letter in the upper left hand corner of my chart. Underneath the letter, I print a few words that start with that letter. And on the right hand side of the chart, I print the capital and lower case letter in various places throughout the page…
I introduce the letter and run through the words that start with the letter. Then I invite each child to take a turn to come up and circle the letter. When we first started this, I would say, “Would you like to see if you can find a letter F?” I did not distinguish between upper or lower case. When each child found the letter, I invited him or her to circle it with a highlighter and then I would say, “Hurray, you found a (upper) or (lower case) letter Ff!” As you can see – there was no wrong answer.
After repeating this process with several letters each week, I have now changed the question to : “Can you find an upper letter E?” or “Can you find a lower case letter e?” Notice that there are no other letters on the board but the letter Ee.
The children LOVE to take a turn to circle a letter. I make sure they all feel good about their decision of which letter they choose to circle and we talk about the upper versus the lower case letter each time…
I don’t mix in other letters at this time. This is not a test to see if they can distinguish a letter F from a letter E. This is simply a way to reinforce recognition of the letter we are talking about that day and a chance to explore upper and lower case form…
Now can you find the letter Ff?
Well done!
