At what age do children start to learn the alphabet?
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At what age do children start to learn the alphabet?
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 also tend to do the sounds, usually start with their name.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by mama2three
I have alphabet puzzles and posters so will they just get to know it in their own time?
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.
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'.