Letter of the Week: O

August 5-9
Letter of the Week: O
Theme: Ocean/Octopus

As you may have noticed, this will not be an alphabetical order endeavor.  From a literacy perspective, teaching letters in A-Z order is not the recommended way to go.  I loosely based my order on a Montessori approach, made it work with the holiday/seasonal themes I am planning and then filled in the rest.  We can’t have words without vowels, so why not start with one?  Vowel letters have more than one sound.  For the sake of our letter of the week project, we will be talking about each of the 5 vowel letters having two sounds (short and long).  

From a speech perspective, short ‘o’ (“ah” as in octopus) is an open sound.  The jaw lowers to an open position and our lips and tongue are not doing anything.  It is also a noisy sound (we turn on our voice – vocal cords vibrate – to make this sound).  Hold your hand on your neck and say “hhhhhhh” then “ahhh”.   Feel the difference?  

                              Images from the LiPS Program by Lindamood-Bell  
Long ‘o’ (“oh” as in ocean) is a round sound.  The jaw still lowers, but our lips tighten a bit to form a round circle (or ‘o’) shape.  Like short ‘o’, long ‘o’ is a noisy sound.

In therapy:  We will be reading 'O'/ocean/octopus themed books, doing ocean/octopus themed art projects and exploring the sounds (open, round) and symbol (letter) for 'O'.

Suggestions for home:  Do not feel that you need to do all, or even most, of these activities.  Pick out the ones that appeal most to your child (and you!).  Try to sprinkle 'O' throughout the week.  Most important, have fun!

BOOKS

• My “o” Sound Box (Sound Box Books) by Jane Belk Moncure
• I’m The Biggest Thing In The Ocean by Kevin Sherry
• Octopus Under The Sea by Connie & Peter Roop
• Somewhere In The Ocean by J. Ward & TJ Marsh
• Oscar Otter by Nathaniel Benchley 
• An Octopus Followed Me Home by Dan Yaccarino

  Other O books:

• Owl Babies by Martin Waddell
• Olivia by Ian Falconer
• Owen by Kevin Henkes
• I Have an Olive Tree by Eve Bunting 
• Emily and the Ostriches by Dan Bernstein 
• Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall 
• Paul Bunyan and His Blue Ox by Patsy Jensen

FOOD
Eating the Alphabet - O:  Add a few "o" foods to your menu this week and talk about "eating/drinking 'o'".  Here are a few ideas:

O’s (a.k.a. Cherrios), oat bran muffins, oatmeal, oatmeal cookies, olives, omelet, orange, orange juice, orange sherbet, Oreo cookies

Feeling adventurous?  Plan a cooking activity with your child and make oatmeal cookies or oat bran muffins.

ACTIVITIES

Scavenger Hunt:  how many ‘o’ things can you find around the house, while shopping at the market, in a magazine or store ad flyers?

Zoo/Aquarium:  how many animals can you find with ‘o’ in their name?

I Spy:  look for the letter ‘o’ in a variety of texts (books, magazines, newspaper, road signs, license plates).

Sensory play:  fill a zip-loc bag with shaving cream (close it tight) and use it as a drawing pad; write the letter 'O'.  Use sidewalk chalk to draw 'O's and then add to the 'O' to make it into something else.

 

Try one of these ideas out?  Think of your own 'O' ideas?  Please share!  I'd love to hear.