Learning the Alphabet
Learning the alphabet does not come easily to all children. It may take dozens or hundreds of exposures before a letter becomes permanently stored in a child's memory.
Below are a few tips for working on the alphabet with your child.
Below are a few tips for working on the alphabet with your child.
Be Systematic - Introduce letters in smaller sets, four or five at a time. You may want to start with the letters in your child's name. Keep working on those letters until you have achieved mastery. Then introduce a couple more letters or another small set. Continue to review the previously learned letters or they may be forgotten.
Begin with Sounds - The sound is most important for reading and writing. When you introduce a sound discuss what your lips, teeth and tongue do to make that sound.
Then introduce the letter that makes that sound. Lowercase letters are used most often in reading and writing.
Having a picture or object to associate with that sound/letter is very helpful.
If your child has learned a motion (at school) to accompany that sound, encourage your child to use the motion. Different teachers use different motions.
Ideas; sort objects that start with that sound, have a letter hunt, make up tongue twisters with that sound, memory games.
Make it Multi Sensory - In addition to seeing and hearing the letter/sound include a tactile experience. This could be as simple as tracing a letter on a table or carpet. Many of the ideas on the sight word page would also apply to letters. (play dough, salt tray, white board etc.)
Provide Repetition - Lots of repetition may be needed so try to provide a variety of activities.
Work in Smaller Time Chunks - Respect your child's attention span. Three five minute sessions may be more productive than one fifteen minute session.
Begin with Sounds - The sound is most important for reading and writing. When you introduce a sound discuss what your lips, teeth and tongue do to make that sound.
Then introduce the letter that makes that sound. Lowercase letters are used most often in reading and writing.
Having a picture or object to associate with that sound/letter is very helpful.
If your child has learned a motion (at school) to accompany that sound, encourage your child to use the motion. Different teachers use different motions.
Ideas; sort objects that start with that sound, have a letter hunt, make up tongue twisters with that sound, memory games.
Make it Multi Sensory - In addition to seeing and hearing the letter/sound include a tactile experience. This could be as simple as tracing a letter on a table or carpet. Many of the ideas on the sight word page would also apply to letters. (play dough, salt tray, white board etc.)
Provide Repetition - Lots of repetition may be needed so try to provide a variety of activities.
Work in Smaller Time Chunks - Respect your child's attention span. Three five minute sessions may be more productive than one fifteen minute session.