Name the alphabet in order, name and write every letter, and write the letter or letters for a sound, including sh, ch and th

Learning goal: The child names the letters of the alphabet in order; identifies, names and writes all lowercase and all uppercase letters with automaticity; and, when given a phoneme, identifies, names and writes the grapheme that spells it for short vowels, consonants and the consonant digraphs sh, ch and th. This lesson teaches the letter part of Ohio's 2026 kindergarten standard RF.K.3 (sub-parts a to d), first implemented in the 2027-28 school year; the companion lesson on decoding teaches sub-parts e and f and RF.K.4.

Letter names, letter shapes and letter sounds are three different things. The letter name of b is "bee". Its shapes are B and b. Its most common sound is /b/, as at the start of bat. Children need all three, and they need to know which one a question asks for. "Which letter is this?" asks for a name. "What sound does it spell in bat?" asks for a sound. Keep the questions clear and do not accept a name when a sound was asked for.

The alphabet in order (RF.K.3a). There are 26 letters in the English alphabet, always in the same order, from A to Z. Order matters later for finding words in a dictionary and names in a list. Singing the alphabet helps memory but can hide gaps: many children sing "l-m-n-o-p" as one blurred word. So also practise order with letter tiles: lay out A to Z, mix up a short stretch (for example, K L M N O), and have the child put it back in order, saying each name.

Identify, name and write every letter (RF.K.3b and 3c). Identify means point to the letter when its name is said ("Find g"). Name means say the name when the letter is shown. Write means form it on paper from memory when its name is said. Lowercase letters matter most for reading because most printed text is lowercase, but uppercase letters start sentences and names, so both are taught. Pay extra attention to letters that are easy to reverse or confuse: b and d, p and q, n and u, and pairs whose uppercase and lowercase shapes differ a lot, such as G/g, Q/q, R/r and A/a. With automaticity means naming or writing a letter without a long pause; build it with short daily practice after accuracy is secure, not by timing children who are still unsure.

From a sound to its letter (RF.K.3d). This is the spelling direction. The adult says a sound and the child names and writes the letter that spells it. Start with continuous consonant sounds that can be stretched (/m/, /s/, /f/), and the short vowel sounds: short a as in apple, short e as in egg, short i as in itch, short o as in octopus, short u as in up. Some sounds can be spelled more than one way. The sound /k/ is spelled with c in cat and with k in kit; at kindergarten, accept either for /k/ and teach the usual pattern for the start of a word later (c before a, o and u; k before e and i).

Consonant sounds (RF.K.3d, consonants). Over the year, the child learns to write the letter for the most common sound of every consonant letter: /b/ b, /d/ d, /f/ f, /g/ g (as in go), /h/ h, /j/ j, /k/ c or k, /l/ l, /m/ m, /n/ n, /p/ p, /r/ r, /s/ s, /t/ t, /v/ v, /w/ w, /y/ y (as in yes) and /z/ z. Two letters need honest handling. The letter q almost always comes with u, and qu spells two sounds, /k/ and /w/, as in quit. The letter x at the end of a word such as box or fox spells two sounds, /k/ and /s/. So when the adult says "/kw/" the child writes qu, and when the adult says the end of fox, the child writes x. Some sounds have more than one common spelling (/s/ can be c in city, /j/ can be g in gem); in kindergarten, the child writes the most common spelling, and the other spellings come later.

Consonant digraphs. A digraph is two letters that together spell one sound. In kindergarten the key ones are sh (as in ship), ch (as in chin) and th. Th spells two slightly different sounds: the quiet sound in thin and thumb, and the voiced sound (the throat buzzes) in this and that. Both are spelled th. When the adult says /sh/, the child should write two letters, s and h, and say "s-h spells /sh/". Writing only s for /sh/ is a common error; it often happens because the child hears one sound and expects one letter.

Fully worked model. The adult says, "Write the letters for the sound /ch/." The child says, "c-h," and writes ch. The adult asks, "How many sounds?" The child answers, "One sound, two letters." Then the adult says the word chop, and the child says the three sounds /ch/, short o, /p/ and writes ch-o-p, touching one sound box per sound: the first box holds two letters.

How to keep it short and cumulative. Teach two or three new letter-sound links a week, and review all earlier ones every day in mixed order. Children who can say the whole alphabet but cannot name letters out of order need mixed practice, not more singing.

Worked example 1: Put a stretch of the alphabet in order. Tiles: P, M, O, N. Put them in order: M, N, O, P. Check by saying "k, l, m, n, o, p, q": M comes after L, and P comes before Q.

Worked example 2: Name versus sound. Show the letter f. "What is its name?" Answer: "ef." "What sound does it spell in fan?" Answer: /f/. Two different questions, two different answers.

Worked example 3: Uppercase and lowercase. The adult says, "Write the letter g, lowercase and uppercase." The child writes g and G. They are two shapes of one letter with one name, "gee".

Worked example 4: Short vowel sound to letter. The adult says the short vowel sound in up. The child names and writes u. Then the adult says the short vowel sound in egg; the child writes e. A child who writes i for the short e sound needs the two sounds contrasted: pen, pin.

Worked example 5: Digraph. The adult says /th/ as in thumb. The child writes th. The adult says this; the child hears a slightly different, buzzing /th/, and still writes th, because both th sounds are spelled with the same two letters.

Representation task — Sound-to-letter chart: Make a class chart with three columns: "Sound", "Letters that spell it", "Key word and picture". Fill in the five short vowels (a, e, i, o, u), the consonants taught so far, and sh, ch and th. Children point to the chart when they are unsure and say the key word ("s-h, ship").

Representation task — Alphabet line: Lay out all 26 lowercase tiles in order. Then turn over five tiles; the child names each hidden letter from its neighbours and turns it back to check.

Independent performance (over several short sessions): (1) Say or sing the alphabet in order, and put two mixed-up stretches of 4 tiles back in order. (2) Name all 26 lowercase and 26 uppercase letters shown in mixed order. (3) Write all 26 lowercase and all 26 uppercase letters from dictation. (4) When given a sound, name and write the letters that spell it: the 5 short vowels, sh, ch and th in one session, and the most common sound of every consonant letter (including qu and the x in fox) across several sessions.

Success criteria: Alphabet order correct; at least 50 of 52 letters named correctly without a long pause; all 26 lowercase and all 26 uppercase letters written recognizably from dictation; at least 8 of the 9 vowel and digraph sounds spelled correctly (the 5 short vowels, /sh/, /ch/ and both th sounds), including every digraph as two letters, and at least 18 of the 20 consonant sounds (b, c or k, d, f, g, h, j, l, m, n, p, qu, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z) spelled with the right letter. Record which letters or sounds are not yet secure and teach those first in the next week.