by Samuel Sennott
Making Words lessons are a terrific way to help learners actively construct letter sound correspondences and learn patterns of sounds that work together. It is a reccomended lesson type in the Four Blocks Framework’s —Working with Words block.
Check out these printable letter cards. They are two inch symbols. Simply print them with the lower case on one side and the uppercase on the other. Originally, the pages were constructed with Mayer-Johnson’s Boardmaker/SD Pro. I recommend using card stock and laminating them with glare free laminate. Using 3 by 5 index cards cut in half can be helpful for writing down words from the lessons as well.
Download the Printable PDF files:
Also, you may find these files to be helpful from the 4 Blocks Site maintained by Joe Fuhrmann, Kankakee (IL) School District First Grade Teacher at Lafayette Primary Center
- Student Letters for Making Words
- Teacher Pocket Chart Letters for Making Words
Recommended Reading:
- Systematic Sequential Phonics They Use by Patricia Cunningham
- Children with Disabilities: Reading and Writing the Four-Blocks® Way by Karen Erickson and David Kopenhaver
- Teacher’s Guide to the Four Block’s by by Patrica M. Cunningham (Author), Dorothy P. Hall (Author), Cheryl M. Sigmon
by Samuel Sennott
Individuals with autism or other developmental disabilities, may be able to use Speak, the open source software available for the OLPC XO laptop, as an augmentative communication tool to help meet their daily communication needs. The basic function of this application or activity as it is called in the OLPC world, is that you type, press enter, and it speaks.
Look for a video podcast on this topic soon!




