Letter Tracer

I am student teaching in a kindergarten classroom that utilizes “Rest Time”. For 45 minutes in the afternoon every day, the students are expected to lie on their towels and draw/write in their notebooks (or can choose to relax). Since writing is encouraged during this time period, I have been using Letter Tracer ($0.99) with the children in combination with their already existing notebooks. The students are to say the letter name, trace the letters with their index finger on the iPod, then write the letter in their notebooks. My cooperating teacher is focusing on the Fountas & Pinnell letter formation language, so I have been implementing the “talking letter” language into these mini-lessons. For example, to write an uppercase A, the letter formation language is:

Slant down

Slant down

Across. 

The students sit near me, while I stuff go home folders, so that I can reinforce the "talking letters" and assess the students randomly throughout the alphabet. Once they have completed all 26 letters, it is time for someone to use it!

Some ideas to differentiate among learners:

• Ask students for the sound the letter makes,
• Students can write the letter in lowercase (it appears as an uppercase on the screen),
• Students can write both uppercase and lowercase, 
• Students can write a word that starts with the letter, or has the letter in it,
• After the student has completed the alphabet, ask them to circle the vowels. 

The only downfall I found with this app is that is it not Zaner-Bloser handwriting and so the uppercase I looks like a lowercase l, which confuses some of the students.