As early childhood education gains more attention on the national level, more attention is being paid to early literacy.

Early childhood professionals have long recognized the importance of language and literacy in preparing children to succeed in school.

Early literacy plays a key role in enabling the kind of early learning experiences that research shows are linked with academic achievement, reduced grade retention, higher graduation rates and enhanced productivity in adult life.

In our classroom, we are constantly being exposed to letters.

With a variety of play experiences, we gain an understanding of letters and their functions, and have fun while doing so!

For this activity, we used manipulatives to spell the word HOOT.

Using letters printed on cardstock, students matched the letters to identical letters printed on a mat.

We discussed the sound each letter made, and then combined the sounds to create a word!