THIS UNIT GUIDE WAS DESIGNED FOR DEMONSTRATING TO THE PREREADER THAT WRITING IS A CODE FOR SPEECH AND THAT LETTERS ARE SYMBOLS FOR SOUNDS MADE IN SPEECH. IT WAS DEVELOPED AS A PREREADING UNIT UNDER "PROJECT LITERACY," A BASIC RESEARCH AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM IN AREAS OF EDUCATION RELEVANT TO THE ACQUISITION OF LITERACY SKILLS. THE LESSONS OF THE UNIT WERE DEVELOPED IN PROGRESSIVE SEQUENCES FOR ALLOWING THE CHILD TO FORM CONCEPTS OF A VARIETY OF COMMUNICATION MODES. IT WAS ANTICIPATED THAT THE PARTICIPATING CHILD WOULD DEVELOP UNDERSTANDINGS OF (1) THE ARBITRARY NATURE OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE, (2) THE IMPORTANCE OF SENTENCE ORDERING TO MEANING, (3) THE LEFT-RIGHT ORIENTATION USED IN READING THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, AND (4) THE NECESSITY FOR CORRECTLY POSITIONING LETTERS. THE UNIT WAS DESIGNED FOR USE IN THE SECOND SEMESTER OF KINDERGARTEN OR IN THE FIRST SEMESTER OF GRADE 1. (JH)