Sand Tray Letters

One tactile way of developing letter-sound correspondance skills is by using sand trays to trace letters.  I usually use this in one-on-one situations or small groups.  I hold up a card (Fundations or Orton-Gillingham cards are ideal), but any letter card works and say the name of the letter and then the sound while they repeat the sound and trace the letter.  For younger children we work on one a few letters at a time until they have built a knowledge bank and than add additional letters.

Eventually we move into using the cards to create cvc words that they trace in the sand.  A gentle shake of the tray with erase/reset the sand for the next letter, and eventually it is a quick process.  The kids love the tactile input and some kids truly excel when learning is "hands-on."