04 Apr The Soulful Alphabet Story
I taught in the classroom for 6 years where students came from low socioeconomic situations, but were able to EXCEL with greatness! It was not a guarantee that students in my classroom had previous school experience before coming to kindergarten. However, the expectation of the kindergarten teacher is to teach children the letters of the alphabet. I walked into the classroom as first year teacher having the slightest clue as to how I was going to get 25 five year olds to learn these symbols that have a name and make a sound. We completed the name cycle for every student. This involves dissecting the name of every child and highlighting the vowels and the consonants in the name which provides an opportunity to learn the letters. The name of the student was also used in the daily morning message. Another opportunity for us to spell known words with letters that we knew, count the number of words in a sentence, and practice letter sounds. Next, we would use an alphabet chart created by Reading Matters to say the letter names and letters sounds each day that was associated with a picture. The chart used every day items that children should be familiar with like apple, ball, cat, and dog. Each year 90-100% of my students would leave my classroom and know their letters and sounds, but to me it wasn’t enough.
The thing is I wasn’t seeing that same success in all kindergarten classrooms or with students who came to Soulful Beginnings from kindergarten classrooms in another county and I wanted to change that narrative!
What if there was something created for the African American child with items, clothing, styles, and people who they could relate to and learn the alphabet simultaneously? And so the SOULFUL ALPHABET was created for African American children across the nation to have an authentic learning experience and love what they see. We want our children experience the VICTORY in their learning!
I wanted to choose visuals of items that I thought our children could relate to and introduce them to vocabulary words that they may not have heard before. The black culture consists of various hairstyles, dances, clothing, and people. As a people we have changed the way the people listen to music whether it be through hip hop or gospel. Our lyrics have been transformational in the sense that lives are changed because of our musical talents. With that in mind, I thought it was an impeccable idea to include Michael Jackson’s moonwalk as an alphabet card that changed the course of history. To top it off, these cards can truly speak to the soul of our children and be avenues to conduct research in the elementary classroom. Just imagine using the “X-Factor” alphabet card as a talking point with kindergarten students. Three of the most iconic black men in our history single-handedly changed the world in the eras in which they dominated in their perspective areas.
I would like to know more about how you teach the alphabet in your classroom, daycare, church school, private school, or home school!! If you’re a parent to a young child, what are you using to help your son or daughter learn the alphabet? I believe the SOULFUL ALPHABET is a great place to start or an accompaniment to what you’re already doing!
Share your story with us!
How did you learn the alphabet or what techniques and methods are you using to teach the alphabet to young children?
Take the opportunity to purchase the Soulful Alphabet for your children or students today! http://soulfulbeginningsacademy.com/product/aphabet-cards/
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