The methods are varied day to day depending on the children's progress through out the year. The method is not important. The fact that the children do some writing using phonics every day is important. The following are examples of just a few methods for teaching letter recognition and phonetic sounds. Trace two like ocean animal shapes.
Children match the like pictures and the capital and lower case letters.
Put children and their pictures in a circle in alphabetical order. As you say the alphabet the children stand up to show the corresponding letters. Write the beginning letter of the animal's name on the back of picture. Children sit in a circle with their pictures in alphabetical order . If no one has a picture for a letter, the class can just say the name of a fish that starts with that letter.