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mumofone
20-02-2017, 09:36 PM
At what age do children start to learn the alphabet?

mama2three
21-02-2017, 08:21 AM
reciting the alphabet? some of my 5 year olds struggle , one of my 2 year olds can sing the song! we tend to put more focus on individual letters and sounds than the alphabet as a whole though we have the usual wooden puzzles , sorting tray etc. Im not sure ive ever 'taught' the alphabet apart from the songs before about 3 1/2.

watford wizz
21-02-2017, 09:52 AM
I also tend to do the sounds, usually start with their name.

mumofone
23-02-2017, 09:11 PM
reciting the alphabet? some of my 5 year olds struggle , one of my 2 year olds can sing the song! we tend to put more focus on individual letters and sounds than the alphabet as a whole though we have the usual wooden puzzles , sorting tray etc. Im not sure ive ever 'taught' the alphabet apart from the songs before about 3 1/2.

I guess i mean recognising individual letters. One of my mindees sang the alphabet song the other day to my amazement (shes not learnt it off me!!) but i think sh ecan sing the song but doesnt recognise the letters. Shes the same with numbrers interestingly whereas my son can recognise numbers to look at and i think he's starting to with letters too but i dont know what to do to help them both along.
I have alphabet puzzles and posters so will they just get to know it in their own time?

mama2three
23-02-2017, 09:56 PM
once they sometimes recognise letters from their names we look for them in the environment , on street signs , shops etc. we use the phonic sound of the letter rather than its name . we play matching and sorting letter games with pegs , stones etc. we paint with water over chalk letters , use letter stickers on train carriages to put in order , dig for letters in the sand. Other than the letters in their names and others such as m for mummy which they recognise sooner we follow the recommended order satpin.

Maza
23-02-2017, 10:29 PM
I also start with the letters of their name. mama2three has recommended some lovely play activities. Another one I did was buy some birthday candles in letter shapes. I bought one for the first letter of each mindees name and they used them in the playdough - they always found 'their' candle. Obviously, the first letter of their name should always be a capital letter and you would generally teach the others in lower case. I used to do a self registration too, where the children would find their magnetic letter (capital again) from a small selection of letters and go and stick it on the fridge as they arrived. You could cut out their letter and get them to decorate it - it's all about familiarising themselves with their letter. Of course it gets tricky if you have someone who begins with 'Sh', 'Th' or 'Ch' - but they all get there eventually!

Also, take a look at Phase 1 activities in 'Letters and Sounds'.