Learning the Alphabet is so fun!
Learning the alphabet is one of the most important things on the path to literacy for a young child. Children need to become experts in the letter names, letter shapes, and letter sounds. This is one of the two skills that is the best predictor of early reading success. (The other is phonemic awareness.)
Learning the alphabet -Letter names and shapes
What is important
- Letter names
- Letter shapes (upper and lower case)
- Noticing letters all around
- Fluency (the ability to quickly and easily recognize, match, and sort letter names and shapes)
How to help children develop these concepts and skills
- Sing the alphabet song
- Practice learning the alphabet using a matching game or play Go Fish! with the letters. At first, match upper case to upper case letters or lower case to lower case letters. Then, when the children are more confident, match upper case to lower case letters.
- Look for letters all around--on signs, labels, in familiar books, etc. Play games where you find and name the letters together.
Learning the alphabet -Letter Sounds
What is important
- Letter Sounds
- Connection to words (beginning sounds)
- Fluency (the ability to quickly and easily match sounds to the correct letter and words to the letter that makes their beginning sound)
How to help children develop these concepts and skills
- Make a letter/sound book. Make one page for each letter. Then, glue pictures on the page that begin with that letter. (Some letters make more than one sound. For beginning learners, use only words that begin with the most common sound.
- Use environmental print (logos, signs, etc.) to practice beginning sounds. Say the word such as "Walmart" and stretch out the first sound. Then look at the "W". Talk about the sound of /w/. Make the connection between the sound and the letter.
To see all of the skills in the experimental reading and writing stage, click on the links below
Sight Words
Beginning Writing
Vocabulary and Oral language
Concepts About Print
Phonological Awareness
