Ok, my DD (almost 3) can say the alphabet, but she doesn't know the letters by sight. I decided to try to work with her today on it (just one letter), and maybe it's just my pregnancy hormones raging, but I am getting discouraged about my ability to teach her effectively and be forever patient. How did you teach your little one the alphabet?? She just picked up the alphabet song from us singing it with her, toys, etc. and so she has known the song for quite awhile now but not the letters. I'm not bent out of shape about it, I know she'll get it when she gets it, but I don't know if I'm going about trying to teach her in the right way...do you start with lowercase, uppercase, or both? Can you tell I'm totally new at this Please give me some encouragement...I need it!
I actually started with sign language first as I sang the ABC song, believe it or not. Then I got alphabet cookies and at lunch I would teach my daughter one to three letters a day. Eventually, she could only have the cookies she got right with a limit of five a day. Believe me, she learned them very fast--because watching even one cookie get put back as I told her what it was had a real effect on her wanting to remember. I rarely have had to use a reward system like this, but at 3yo...I did not think it would cause a lasting bad habit. The cookies we used were Newman's organic brand and they were all capitals. It was not a difficult transition to the lower case letters for my daughter. I did not even have to use cookies for that, but you could begin by writing them or using flash cards with both upper and lower case. Just another thought...I read somewhere that one mother decided to teach the sounds rather than the names of the letters first. I thought that was an interesting approach, but my daughter was already past it when I happened upon it. By the way, your child is really young and may not be ready to identify letters yet. There is no reason to be discouraged, but lowering your expectations a bit might help you stay inspired and just enjoy your child as she learns.
If you pick one letter a day, or one letter for the week, write the letter on your calendar, draw the letter on a piece of paper, have her color it, put it on the frig. Leap Frog has a letter magnet set that is great! Point out the letter while reading. If you read a book that has few words on each page she may be able to pick out the letter. If you do a letter a week, you can find the letter when you go to the store, or on license plates, or on signs as you go walking. (((hugs))) hang in there! editing to add: Richard Scarrey's Best ABC Video Ever is very good.
I thin everyone else gave great advice so I'd just add, don't sweat it. You child is very young and what she really needs right now is lots and lots of play. The alphabet can always come later.
Isn't there a "Letter of the Week" website out there? Don't fret too much though - she IS only 3 and that's fine If you push too hard she may NOT do it because it's too stressful.
I agree with everyone else. She's so young, don't worry about it. When my oldest was that age, we just did the letter of the week. I spent one sit down time per week on it. We added a page to the alphabet book - the page was covered with clip art of things beginning with the letter. We read books that used the letter a lot. For example, for "I" we used Green Egg snad Ham, because that guy says "I" a lot. Note, I was NOT working on phonics - jsut letter familiarity. We'd do a craft - like, I'd write the letter in glue and they're shake glitter on it. Simple stuff. The rest of the week, we might point out letters in signs, whatever, no big deal. My middle boy is now 4. I have no clue how he learned the letters. I work with him a tiny bit each day reinforcing sounds (phonics), but not identifying letters. He picked that up somewhere. Now, he's a different boy than his brother, but it does make me suspect all that stuff I did with his older brother was more about me than it was about the child, kwim? BTW, the Leapfrog magnet letters do rock...but I confess: I hid the little music thingy they go into. It was driving me batty.
We did the letter per week or per two week or per month depending on how things were going. We'd cook foods that start with the letter du jour, make puppet animals with that letter, etc. With my oldest, we did a letter scrapbook. We cut out upper and lower case letters and decorated the page with pictures of things that started with that letter. We started when she was three and finished when she was five--just before starting kindergarten. It was a fun, no pressure activity that we did when we felt like it. I didn't quiz her on them or even expect her to remember them. We just casually talked about them or played games trying to find all the Bs in a sign or all the S's on license plates as we went into the store. I met a reading specialist at a homeschool conference who recommended reading Dr. Seus's ABCs. I couldn't stand to read that one more than twice, but I found a computer game where my kids could have it read to them and could click on the pictures for more words that start with the selected letter. Also, making clay letters is a fun way to learn them.
Try going here: http://www.dltk-kids.com/ When my kids were 2 & 3, we used that site and just did a letter of the week, as others above suggested. There are all kinds of little crafts there that deal with each letter. I know we also used a Sesame Street DVD [beware: it had awful sound quality to it for my taste, but the kids didn't seem bothered] called Alphabet Jungle. It's just a DVD of the little musical cartoons they used on Sesame Street over the years. Also, try starfall.com for a fun visual of the alphabet.
First of all dont worry dont get discouraged, just walk around the house singing your songs first of all.... then there is this great book set , I dont remmber the name but it has BIG and lower case letters... My little 'a' book! Thats what it s called, then each letter in place of the a. We read those over and over same book for a week or so, do one letter a week btw, no more! Do everythign that has to do with that letter! focus on Caps, but if she likes little a etc then read then to her, they hav stories about a little kid whose name is that letter and they put things in a box that start with that letter, so it helps with association to objects as well! These are PRE-K level books of course so it may be too fast , but if you can find them.. I got mine at a garage sale .. let me look online... hmm cant find it, but I will look at one at the church tonight I gave mine to them and I Teach a class there tonight so can see if they have a web site or something. But dont be discouraged you are teaching a great aged child to teach! Make it fun! do around the room with the A B Cs and make pictures with noodles or paints of the letters , let her paint over a crayoned on letter and let her see the magic of it shining through the paint! do art projects and say the letter, sing a song of letters too! You just use that letter for all the letters in the alpabet, BB BB BBB BB BB BBBBB BBB BBB BBBB BBB , thats the abcs Lol!
When I was teaching my dd the alphabet, we played games with letter flashcards. I'd spread them out on the floor & she would hop onto whichever letter I said. We started with the letters in order, then graduated to having them out of order. We also played matching games with them. Once she had capital letters down, we started on lower case. We started with the lower case next to the capital of the same letter, so she would learn to connect them. Then we got rid of the capitals & just did the lower case. For matching games, while she was learning lower case, she would match the lower case to the capital. There's alos things like making the letters in glue & covering them in glitter. You make them large, so they can trace over them with their fingers. You could also try doing a collage for each letter, with the letter written at the top & pictures of things that start with that letter (that also works for letter sounds). There's also Starfall.com. Basically, don't sweat it, and just keep it fun.
There is a great curriculum that is totally free called "Letter of the Week" from Brightly Beaming. The link to their site is http://www.letteroftheweek.com/Preparatory.html I am currently using the Brightly Beaming Preparatory Curriculum with my son. He just turned three and is loving his "school" time. I have modified it a bit and added some more hands on types of activities but he loves it! If your child knows all the shapes colors and numbers, then you can skip right to the Letter of the Week curriculum and start their. The best part is it is all free!
I have alphabet letters EVERYWHERE. Magnetic letters for the fridge (I have multiple sets because I was getting frustrated running out of a particular letter when spelling words on the fridge) foam letters for the bathtub, block letters, I even make sandwhiches in cookie cutter letter shapes (though, honestly I did more of this when my dd was younger and not so much anymore.) I have both uppercase and lowercase...but felt like it was easier to focus on uppercase first and then ease into the lowercase. I wasn't sure if they would be confused by differences, though I've yet to have an issue with that. I do silly things, like pretend the letter A is attacking the kids in the bathtub...or my sons favorite...collecting all the letter O's from our magnetic collection of letters and sticking them to our breadbox. Don't have a clue why its only the letter o but thats the way he likes it. Just recently we got that leapfrog letter thing for the fridge which has been great for my 2yo ds...he especially loves to dance to the alphabet song. It helps with letter recognition and phonetic sounds. I surround my kids with letters and play with them like toys and they don't even have a clue they are learning anything. My dd was reading at 3 (she is 4 1/2 now reading at a 3rd grade level) and my ds knows most, if not all of his letters. One thing you might want to keep in mind is what kind of learner your dd is...I have noticed with my children that they tend to be reflective learners (I think thats what its called) where they gather information and like to think about it for awhile before the *know* it. I have been surprised more then once where I think they just aren't getting something and a week will go by with no additional 'teaching' on my part and suddenly they just know it. So your dd might be processing all the information that you are presenting her with even though it seems like she's not. Just a thought.
We own the My "a" Book, My "b" Book, etc. series by My First Steps to Reading Fabulous books for learning the lower case letters and the sight word "said" is used often. These were my favorite books to have the little ones learn that word. They picked it out on every page it was written. Here is a link to the first book: http://www.amazon.com/My-Book-First-Steps-Reading/dp/0895652722
May I also suggest NOT teaching the letters "in order", but according to their importance. Start with the IMPORTANT letters...the first one of her name, M for Mommy, D for Daddy, etc. That will help her remember them. You could even make flash cards with your pictures on them. The letters are easier to learn if they can relate them to someone/something like that. As so many others have said, she is still young!
My kids both learned their letters from the leap frog fridge phonics. It is almost embaressing to admit that. I didn 't do anything but put up with the anoying songs. My dd just turned 3 and is sounding out the words with the phonic thing. I did the letter of the week, teaching her the letters in her name ( kill two birds with one stone!) for a while but she got bored with it and we stopped. I would highly suggest this route especially with a new baby on the way. LOL
I didn't read all the replies so if I'm redundant please forgive me: We did a scrapbook and worked on one letter per week when my kids were little. I am not a big scrapbooker--the books are not fancy--but they were fun for them to work on.
Don't get discouraged. It takes more than one day for a child to learn the letters. My son at the age of two learned his letters from watching the Leapfrog Letter Factory video. He loved it. I know the letter of the week site is very good. I used the hubbards cupboard stuff for 2's, 3's and 4's. It worked well for us and it involved using only one letter a week. Let her have fun learning the letters.
