'Ah, ah, ah y la letra es a': Multi-kinesthetic activities and ABC books as a pathway to alphabet knowledge

This research explored the use of a multi-kinesthetic approach combined with guided exploration of alphabet books to promote alphabet knowledge while also enhancing student engagement. Context. The study took place in an all day kindergarten classroom at a Spanish-English dual-immersion public school. The research focused on six Spanish speaking students identified as struggling in letter name and/or letter sound recognition in Spanish. Methods and Data. The intervention was carried out for two weeks, each session lasted fifty minutes. Various alphabet books; pop-up and bilingual picture books were used each day. Multi-kinesthetic activities such as sand letters and chanting were implemented to instruct and interest students in learning the names and sounds of the letters in Spanish. Techniques to sustain student attentiveness and participation included daily checklists, group points and stickers. The data sets included a pre, mid and post assessment on letter name and sound recognition, an informal dictation assessment, an interview-survey, observations, and student writing samples. Results. Results showed that a multi-kinesthetic approach increased students' understanding of the names and sounds of the letters, especially among emergent readers. The intervention made students become more aware of letter shapes, enabling them to produce more letters at a comprehensible level as shown in their writing samples. In most cases, students' assessment results showed twice the growth when comparing their initial and outcome findings. Student engagement in multi-kinesthetic activities and picture ABC sharing was higher when compared to traditional classroom activities.