T is for taco: Building Phonemic Awareness and Letter Identification

How to Use This Book

Letter Recognition & Phonics

• Show the cover and point to the title.
  • Ask students: What do you notice about the title?
  • Have students locate all the T letters in the title and trace over them with a finger while saying the letter name and sound:
    • "T says /t/!"
  • Reinforce the idea that each letter has two forms—uppercase (T) and lowercase (t).

Exploring the Story

• Tell students that in the book, they will see different things that begin with the /t/ sound.

  • Ask: Can you think of other words that start with /t/?
    
  • Point out how the first letter of each word is red to help readers focos on the letter T and its sound.

• Show students the different games in the book.
  • Model how to use their pointer finger to interact with the games.
  • Let students practice tracing the letter T in the air or on paper.