Looking for some ideas about how you might teach alphabet letters to Kindergarten students?

Here are two complete lesson plans for teaching the letter Pp. One would typically be taught on Monday, the next on Tuesday. On Wednesday and Thursday, we work on letter Cc, and then Friday is a quick assessment, review, and games.

This lesson (and all accompanying materials) come from Level K of our phonics program, From Sounds to Spelling. In the program, students spend Unit 1 learning the letter names, sounds, and letter formation (in addition to working on phonological awareness and high frequency word skills).

Lesson 1: Letter Pp Alphabet Lesson Plan

Phonological Awareness:

• “I’m going to say the sounds in a mystery word. You tell me what the mystery word is! Ready?” /i//n/ (in); /r//ā/ (ray); /a//t/ (at); /t/ /ī/ (tie); /m//i//t/ (mit); /f//ē//l/ (feel); /s/ /ē/ /t/ (seat); /p/ /ō/ /k/ (poke). Have students do the open palm chopping motion you previously taught with blending. (Remember to adjust this based on what students need. If blending is challenging for students, tell them the entire word after the sounds and have them repeat the sounds + word. Or, leave very little space between sounds so the word is more obvious to students.)
• “Now let’s play a different game! I’m going to say a word, and then you’re going to add another word to the end of it. For example, if I say RAIN, add BOW at the end, then we get rainbow! Now your turn. Cup. Repeat.” (Students say ‘cup’) “Cup, add cake at the end and we get…” (Students should say ‘cupcake.’) Repeat with the following: sun + light; air + port; cow + girl; every + one; snow + storm; milk + shake; meat + ball.

Review Activities:

• Go through the sound cards for the sounds you’ve taught so far. Have students say each letter name and sound. (Example: ’r says /r/.’)
• Go through the blending drill. Arrange your sound cards like this: First stack = b, m, s, r, l. Middle stack = a, o. Last stack = t, n. Alternate between flipping a card in the first stack, middle stack, or last stack. Remember to adjust your process to match students’ abilities. You may be able to stop modeling for students, or even take out the part where you do it together and just have students blend on their own.

Letter & Sound Introduction:

• “Today we’re going to practice the letter P. Can you point to the letter P on our alphabet chart?” Show students the letter. “This is the capital P. Say ‘capital P.’” (Capital P) “This is the lowercase p. Say ‘lowercase p.’” (Lowercase p)
• Show students the rhyme for Pp (“Pete loves to pick peaches…”) “This little rhyme has a lot of words that start with P. Do you see any of them?” Have students help you point out a few. (You can highlight them on the poster, if you like.)
• “I’m going to read you the rhyme. Listen for the sound that P makes. Ready?” Read aloud the rhyme. See if students can identify the sound for the letter P.
• “This letter’s name is P, and the sound is /p/. Say /p/ with me. /p/. There’s a penguin for P on our alphabet poster because penguin begins with the letter p that says /p/. P says /p/. Say that with me: P says /p/.”
• Say, “Penguin starts with /p/. What other words start with /p/?” See what students can come up with. Write their suggestions on the board (or on chart paper to save for later). If someone suggests a word that does not begin with p, write it off to the side and show them that it begins with a different letter.
• Optional: Show students the Letter Pp video clip (with the letter name, sound, and movement). Have students practice doing the chant and watch the video another time. (You can also show them the real object, if you brought one.)
• Ask, “Is P a consonant or a vowel?” Have students say /p/ with their hands under their chins. They should conclude that p is a consonant.

Picture Sound Sort

• (Do a stretch/movement break if needed.)
• Display a copy of the Pp vs. not Pp picture sort so that students can see it clearly (ideally, under a document camera if available). “We’re going to sort some pictures. Some of these pictures begin with the /p/ sound. Some do not. Let’s say the names of the pictures.” Have students help you name each picture (dig, pencil, pumpkin, pig, taco, queen).
• Model cutting out and gluing down 1 picture and model how you use invented spelling, stretching out each word and listening for the sounds. 
• Pass out the sorts and have students complete them. Remind students to use invented spelling to write each word under the picture. 

High Frequency Word Introduction:

• Set up one of the Pocket Chart Sentence Cards sentences (i.e. “We see a pig.”) in your pocket chart (or otherwise display it so students can see the cards).
• Read the sentence to students, pointing under each word as you say it out loud. Have students read the sentence with you.
• Ask, “Which word says, ‘see’?” Have a volunteer come and point it out. Take it out of the pocket chart and show the card to students. “Good job! This word says ‘see.’ Notice how it starts with an s, /s/. And then there are two ee’s together that say ē. /S/ /ē/, see. What does this word say?” (see)
• Put ‘see’ back in the sentence. “We see a pig. Which word says ‘a’?” Have a volunteer come up and point it out. Take ‘a’ out of the pocket chart and show the card to students. “You know the letter a, don’t you? Something cool about the letter a is that it can be part of a word, like in the word ‘cat,’ for example…” (Write ‘cat’ on the board) “But it can also be a word by itself. When the a is all by itself, it says ‘a.’”
• Put ‘a’ back in the sentence. “We see a pig. Which word says ‘we’?” Have a volunteer come up and point it out. Take ‘we’ out of the pocket chart and show it to students. “What does this say?” (We) “Good! It starts with the w, /w/, and ends with one e that says /ē/. /w/ /ē/, we. What does this say?” (we)
• “Let’s read this sentence one more time. We see a pig.” Then, assemble another sentence. Have students read it. Assemble the third sentence. Have students read it. Leave the sentences in the pocket chart, displayed, if possible.

Lesson 2: Letter Pp Alphabet Lesson Plan, Day 2

Phonological Awareness:

• “Let’s play the game where we break words into their syllables.” Have students stand up and get their open hand + pounding hand ready. Have students break up the following words: goldfish; lunchroom; goodnight; sixty; picture; afternoon
• “Now let’s play a different game! I’m going to say a word, and then you’re going to add another word to the end of it. For example, if I say POP, add CORN at the end, then we get popcorn! Now your turn. Wind. Repeat.” (Students say ‘wind’) “Wind, add mill at the end and we get…” (Students should say ‘windmill.’) Repeat with the following: scare + crow; row + boat; moon + light; hall + way; dog + house; zig + zag; up + hill.

Review Activities:

• Go through the sound cards (flashcards) and have students say the letter sounds.
• Then, set up your cards to do the blending drill. Include the letter p this time (add it to the last stack). Repeat the drill as you did on Day 1. Make sure students remember to show a thumbs-down if a nonsense word is made.

High Frequency Word Writing

• Have at least one of the Pocket Chart Sentences displayed (from Day 1). “Can you read this sentence with me?” Chorally read the sentence with students.
• Then, hold up the high frequency word card ‘see.’ “Do you know what this says?” (see) “Good! The word ‘see’ is in this sentence. It’s also in lots of other sentences. For example, ‘Did you see the fire truck?’ or ‘I want to see a movie.' Can anyone come up with a different sentence that has ‘see’ in it?” See if a student or two can come up with a sentence.
• Have students stand up. Still displaying the word card, say, “See is spelled s-e-e.” As you spell the word, model how to touch your arm for each letter and slide your hand down as you say the word. (See the Hand Movements video in the program materials, if necessary.) “Let’s do it together. See. S-e-e, see.” Have students tap as they spell.
• “Now let’s write the word.” Pass out materials and give instructions for students to write the word. As described in the PREP section, you can have students write the word by placing a paper strip on top of a knitting screen, using a crayon. This creates a “bumpy word” that students can keep and trace with their finger for practice. (Remember, if you don’t have the knitting screens, students can write the words in a notebook or on the provided HFW half-sheets.) Students need to save their words in a folder for future use.

Read Class Letter Book:

• Show students the cover of the “Our Class Letter Book for Pp” and point to the letter P. “What is the name of this letter?” (P) “What sound does it make?” (/p/) “Right! P says /p/. This book is going to show us pictures of things that start with /p/.” Read aloud the book to the students. Point out the letter p at the beginning of each word, and comment that it is the lowercase form of the letter.

Letter Formation Instruction:

• Note: You can omit either the video or poster component to save time, if necessary.
• “Let’s learn how to make the capital P and the lowercase p.” Show students the provided Letter Pp Handwriting video. Show them one more time, but this time have them air-write the letter along with the video.
• Then, display the Letter Formation Poster for Pp. Say, “I’m going to trace the capital P.” Use your finger to trace over the dotted lines and use the provided verbal prompts as you trace. Then, have students air-write the capital P. Repeat for the lowercase l (trace it, use the verbal prompts, and then have students air-write it).

Multi-Sensory Tracing:

• Model how to trace the letter P in the sand/other material. While you trace, say this aloud: “P says /p/.”
• Pass out the sensory materials and allow students to practice tracing a few times. They should say “P says /p/“ while they trace. 
• Then, ask “What says /p/?” Students should trace the lowercase letter p in the sand and say ‘p says /p/‘.“ (You will need to model this first.) Repeat with all the other sounds you’ve taught so far.

Handwriting Sheet:

• Place a copy of the handwriting page for Pp under the document camera (or otherwise display so students can see it). “Now we’re going to practice tracing this letter. What letter is it?” (P) “What sound does it make?” (/p/) Model tracing a few capital Ps and a few lowercase ps.
• Then dismiss students to work on their own handwriting sheets.
• After students have had 2-3 minutes to begin working, ask for their attention. Say, “Now, while you trace, I want you to quietly say, ‘P says /p/.’ Say that with me: P says /p/. You can keep working now - I’ll be listening!” Have students continue tracing and encourage them to say ’P says /p/‘ as they work.
• Early finishers can start working on their “My Letter Book for Pp.” (Reading the book, circling the p at the beginning of each word, and doing the handwriting page at the back.) Students don’t need to finish with their book, and you/they should keep the books for Day 5.

More Alphabet Resources

For more lesson plans and resources for teaching the letter names and letter sounds in Kindergarten, read more about our phonics program From Sounds to Spelling at this link.