English · Junior Infants

Active learning ideas

Letters and Their Sounds

Active learning works well for letters and sounds because children need repeated, playful practice to connect spoken sounds to written symbols. When students move, talk, and create together, their brains make stronger connections between the abstract (letters) and the concrete (sounds they know).

• NCCA Curriculum Specifications
• NCCA: Junior Cycle English - Writing - Conventions of Language
• NCCA: Junior Cycle English - Language - Vocabulary Development

• 15–20 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Think-Pair-Share
• 15 min · Pairs

Think-Pair-Share: Sound Stretchers

The teacher gives a simple word (e.g., 'dog'). Pairs must 'stretch' the word out loud like a rubber band and count how many sounds they hear, then agree on which letters to write down.

What sound does this letter make?

Facilitation Tip

During Think-Pair-Share: Sound Stretchers, provide picture cards with three or four phonetically simple words (e.g., cat, sun, frog) to guide the discussion.

What to look for

Hold up letter cards one by one. Ask students: 'What sound does this letter make?' Record which students can correctly identify the sound for at least 5 different letters.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 02

• Inquiry Circle
• 20 min · Pairs

Inquiry Circle: The Sound Wall Hunt

When a student wants to write a word, they work with a 'writing buddy' to find the sounds they need on the classroom sound wall. They then bring the 'sounds' back to their desk to build the word.

Can you find other words that begin with the same sound?

Facilitation Tip

When setting up The Sound Wall Hunt, pre-select 5-6 objects or pictures that represent target sounds, and place them in clear view but not obvious locations.

What to look for

Give each student a slip of paper. Ask them to draw a picture of something that starts with the sound /m/. Then, ask them to write the letter that makes the /m/ sound below their picture.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Self-Awareness

Activity 03

• Peer Teaching
• 20 min · Small Groups

Peer Teaching: My Best Guess

In small groups, students show a word they have 'invented'. They explain to the group which sounds they heard and why they chose those letters. The group gives a 'thumbs up' for every sound that matches.

How many sounds can you hear in this short word?

Facilitation Tip

For My Best Guess, model how to underline the first and last letters of a word before writing the middle sounds to reduce overwhelm.

What to look for

Gather students in a small group. Say a word like 'sit'. Ask: 'Can you tell me the sounds you hear in 'sit'?' Listen for students who can segment the word into /s/, /i/, /t/. Ask follow-up questions like 'What sound comes first?'

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers approach this topic by creating a safe space for trial and error, where children feel encouraged to write phonetically even when unsure. Avoid correcting invented spellings outright; instead, model how to stretch sounds slowly and match them to letters. Research shows that children who write frequently, even with errors, develop stronger phonemic awareness and later spelling accuracy.

Successful learning looks like students confidently stretching sounds in words, using letters to represent what they hear, and sharing their thinking without fear of mistakes. They should progress from simple consonant-vowel patterns to more complex sound combinations over time.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Think-Pair-Share: Sound Stretchers, teachers or parents might worry that 'invented spelling' will lead to bad habits.

  Use this activity to model how to listen for sounds carefully. After a student shares an invented spelling like 'kt' for 'cat', write the correct spelling on the board and say, 'Listen: /k/ /a/ /t/. We hear three sounds. Let’s write them one by one.' This shows the process without discouraging effort.

• During My Best Guess, students often think there is only one 'right' way to spell and are afraid to try.

  Structure this activity so students focus on capturing the first and last sounds correctly. Say, 'Today we’ll try to write the first and last letters we hear. The middle letters are brave guesses, and that’s okay!' Use a checklist with columns for 'first sound,' 'last sound,' and 'middle letters' to reinforce the goal.

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Methods used in this brief

• Think-Pair-Share
• Inquiry Circle
• Peer Teaching