As the benefits of using American Sign Language (ASL) in the classroom become better known, many early childhood educators are wondering how they can incorporate ASL in their curriculum-especially in the area of early literacy. One of the many wonderful things about including American Sign Language in an early childhood classroom is that you don't have to reinvent your program to make it effective. There are many ways to teach literacy skills to young children, and ASL can be easily integrated into your existing language activities. The key is to remember the multi-sensory process of seeing, saying, signing, and reading.

Learning Letters and Words with Sign Language

1. ABC song
Learning the ABC song is a great place to start both learning ASL and teaching early literacy skills such as letter names. Sing the ABC song slowly while you form the alphabet signs with your hand for the children to see. You can have helpers assist the children with forming the letters while they watch you. Practice the ABC song several times and continue throughout the school year. You can also sing this song making the letter sounds, such as ah, ba, ca, da, instead of singing the letter names while you sign them. Hanging a poster of the ASL finger alphabet for you and the children to refer to is also helpful.

2. Finger Spelling
After a few days of practicing singing and signing the ABC's, you can begin finger spelling (spelling words with the letter signs).

"Book" sign

3. Puzzles and Board Games
There are a variety of alphabet puzzles and games available for early childhood teachers, and sign language can be included into many of them. You can play with small groups of children using a wooden alphabet puzzle. After taking apart the puzzle, the teacher can sign letters to the children and the children can put the correct letter back. Letter or word bingo games are also perfect for including ASL signs. Just follow the regular rules of the game, but sign the letters or words instead of calling them out. As with the ABC song, while playing these games you can switch from using the names of the letters to making their sounds instead.

4. Classroom Print
Many early childhood teachers label objects in their classrooms such as table, door, chair, books, or blocks for the children to see what the words look like. You can add to their understanding of this 'environmental print' by posting ASL signs for these words as well. Use the ASL labels for your center areas, objects in the classroom, calendar words, and supplies. The children's names can be printed in the ASL alphabet on cubbies, attendance sheets, or classroom job lists. You can use copies of the illustrations in an ASL dictionary or on sign language flash cards to make name labels.

"Butterfly" sign

6. Big Books and Chart Poems

"Run" sign

Including American Sign Language in your early childhood literacy program is easy! As you start signing with your language activities, you will soon see the advantages to this kind of instruction. Your students will be enthusiastic language learners, understanding letters and sounds, exploring writing, and enjoying books in ways they never have before.

Kirsten Dennis has fifteen years of experience in working with young children and has successfully integrated American Sign Language (ASL) into her curriculum for hearing students for the last ten years. She received her masters of arts in education and child development from Pacific Oaks College in Seattle, Washington. Her master's thesis focused on the use of ASL in the early childhood classroom. Kirsten and Tressa Azpiri coauthored Sign to Learn—a fun, easy-to-use curriculum for early childhood teachers to begin signing in their classrooms. She currently teaches kindergarten in the small, rural community of White Salmon, Washington. Kirsten also wrote Enhancing Early Literacy with American Sign Language for Redleaf e-News.

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