Moving on from letter of the week

     Having a letter of the week is a practice that I remember from when I was in school.  I remember having a certain letter that we were learning and we did many different activities with that letter until the end of the week when we were suppose to be able to identify that letter out of mere memorization.  Until reading this week, I just assumed that this was the best way to get kids to learn their letters.  That it was something that they would just have to memorize in order to learn all of them.  However, this weeks reading has changed my mind.
     The idea of having kids learn their letter through names and objects that are familiar to them makes a lot of sense to me.  I can see how just memorizing letters every week would be boring or uninteresting for students, because I would find that boring and uninteresting.  However, incorporating the letters into their everyday lives helps to keep them interested in what they are learning, and helps them make connections in their brain between the letters and things they see everyday.  For example, when I was in kindergarten I had to make this alphabet book using pictures and objects from my house, and I can still remember that book and making it because I was able to use things that I saw everyday and tie them into learning my letters.
     What would be some other good ways to help students draw connections between their everyday lives and reading?  
picture from: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=PxiIAwl6sWIOAM&tbnid=r3KfupkkeiXSyM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.publicdomainpictures.net%2Fview-image.php%3Fimage%3D35513...&ei=I0xAUuSzJojA9QTI8IGwBQ&bvm=bv.52434380,d.eWU&psig=AFQjCNEJbPeiccu45j6nngHGrlACM_3oQg&ust=1380031897248588