Susan MatthewsYadkinville Elementary School

Yadkin County SchoolsKindergarten

I chose this topic because of the number of students that knew the alphabet but did not have sound knowledge.

The Development of reading skills requires a foundation of letter recognition (Dodd, 2003).

Picture sorts aide students in the relationship between letters and sounds through phonics (Bear, D., Invernizzi, M., Johnston, F., & Templeton, S., 2008).

“An important foundation of literacy is learning the sounds that letters symbolize in words (Francis, D., Mouzaki, A., Rodriguez, K., Tincoff, R., & Treiman, R., 1998).”

What are the effects of picture sorts on the letter/sound recognition skills of kindergarteners?

Picture sort – A categorization task in which pictures are sorted into categories of similarity and difference. (Bear, D., Invernizzi, M., Johnston, F., & Templeton, S., 2008).

Focus with 8 Kindergarten Students

Age: 5

5 Boys, 3 Girls

4 Caucasian 2 Served in Speech

1 Multi-Racial Served in Speech

3 Hispanics 2 Served in ELL

5 weeks of research – 10 letters and sounds were taught during class instruction.

Modeled picture sorts for the first week for the students whole group.

Students sorted individualized sorts for 20 minutes each day based on their success.

My assistant and I observed the students as we sat with them and helped as needed.

Anecdotal Notes◦ Kept daily for each student

Check sheet◦ At the beginning and end of research, students

were checked formally.◦ Each week students were checked informally.

Student work samples

Student Survey

Notes were taken from observation during picture sorts and recorded in a notebook.

Weekly progress of sound recognition was charted on a spreadsheet.

Student work was collected and checked for knowledge of sound recognition.

Each student’s letter/sound recognition improved.

I saw that children were very confident doing picture sorts.

Students were able to carry their sound knowledge over into our writing time.

Students often self-corrected their initial picture placement as they discussed their sort with the teacher.

Kathy who is served in ELL and Travis who is served in speech, had difficulty doing picture sorts.

These students made progress but at a slower pace.

Student Interview

Are picture sorts helpful?

Yes, help us learn pictures. (Kathy)

Yes, help us learn our letters. (Daniel)

Yes, so we can know what the sounds are. (Jack)

Yes, because they are fun. (Emma)

What is your favorite part of picture sorts?

Helping me learn. (Dylan)

It has lot of pictures. (Vance)

Learning the sounds and playing with picture cards. (Travis)

Learning the sounds. (Alexia)

There was no substantial difference in the effects of picture sorts on girls versus boys.

Picture sorts help students with letter/sound recognition.

Students were able to make meaning with letters and initial sounds.

The other Kindergarten teachers were interested in picture sorts. One teacher implemented them in her classroom.

I will continue to use picture sorts in my classroom to enhance letter/sound recognition.

I also plan to go further with the Words Their Way book and use other sorts:

Letter Sorts Word Family Sorts Short and Long Vowel Sorts

Bear, D.R., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2008). Words their way: spelling, phonics and vocabulary . (fourth ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Dodd, Barbara & Carr, Alex. (2003). “Young children’s letter-sound knowledge” Language, speech, and hearing services in schools 34,128-137.

Treiman, R., Tincoff, R., Rodriquez, K., Mouzaki, A., & Francis, D. (1998). “The foundations of literacy: learning the sounds of letters” Child Development 69 (6), 1524-1540.