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Holy Name Catholic School receives grant from Community Foundation for letter people puppets

Courtesy photo Holy Name Catholic School kindergartners are shown with their new letter people puppets that was made possible from a grant from The Community Foundation for Delta County.

ESCANABA — Many parents of Holy Name Catholic School kindergartners remember learning the alphabet with The Letter People. They may recall “Mr. Z” with his zipping zippers and “Ms. T” with her terrifically tall teeth.

Thanks to a $659 grant from The Community Foundation for Delta County, HNCS readiness kindergartners will be able to learn about The Letter People their parents remember, only with brand new puppets. The grant funds will be used to pay for a set of The Letter People puppets, which are trademarked by Abrams Learning Trends, to be used in the readiness kindergarten classroom.

The readiness kindergarten classroom at HNCS serves children ages four and five and has been using The Letter People for early literacy for over fifteen years. In the past, the readiness kindergarten classroom had plastic blow-up Letter People. However, over the years, many have been damaged and torn and are therefore no longer usable.

The new set of Letter People are twenty-six stuffed puppets – one for each letter of the alphabet, with the uppercase letter on the front of the puppet, and the lower case letter on the back.

According to Abrams Learning Trends’ website, based on thirty years of classroom research and user testing, The Letter People get children talking, moving, interacting, experimenting, drawing, counting, and ultimately – reading and writing. These puppets are kid-friendly, kid-durable learning tools that stimulate imaginative and creative powers and make learning concrete, meaningful, memorable and fun.

The Letter People will help HNCS readiness kindergarten students with phonological and phonetic awareness, letter recognition, letter-sound correspondence, concepts of print, phonics, and word recognition and fluency.

According to HNCS Readiness Kindergarten Teacher Judy LaMarch, there is also a story and a song to go along with each letter, which her students are enjoying while learning about the letters of the alphabet and building their reading and social skills.

“The Letter People are awesome!” LaMarch smiled. “They [The Letter People] really get the students’ imaginations going.”

The students agree. When asked what she likes best about The Letter People, Kindergartner Ava said, “That they have songs.”  Another one of LaMarch’s students, Bryson, enthusiastically replied, “Everything!”

LaMarch said she can tell her students are enthusiastic about learning with The Letter People because they anticipate what will come next (the letters are not done in order.)

“As soon as we get done with one letter, the kids want to know which letter comes next!”

To celebrate what they’ve learned, at the end of the year, the students have a “Letter People Party,” in which students dress as their favorite letter people, and bring a food that starts with their favorite letter to school and share it with the class.

The grant request for The Letter People was written by Holy Name Catholic School Alumni/Development Director Michelle Bink. According to Bink, the ultimate goal in fulfilling this grant is to help students with letter recognition, which helps them become stronger readers.

“We feel grateful and blessed for this donation,” Bink said. “Holy Name Catholic School students will benefit greatly for years to come because of the generosity of the Community Foundation for Delta County.”

Holy Name Catholic School relies on funding through the generosity of its supporting Catholic parishes, The Diocese of Marquette, alumni, tuition, and donors such as the Community Foundation of Delta County. HNCS, located at 409 So. 22nd Street, is offering registration for new students. Please call the school office at 786-7550 for more information.

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