Teaching My Toddler ABCs: By Sound or Name?

[duckabell]

I'm not trying to push the alphabet on my two year old son yet, but he is in the stage where he points to everything and says "That's a.....", and I fill in the blank. He's lately taken an interest in letters.

 

I've read recently that it helps children (especially boys) learn the alphabet sounds first and then the names, so that when they're reading they think of the sound and skip the step of translating the name to the sound. The only problem is that he already knows some of the alphabet names and can sing the alphabet song. I am also planning on using the Leap Frog Letter Factory when he turns three, and am not sure how it handles names/songs.

 

So if I now decide to teach him the sounds only will that confuse him? Should I just tell him the name, such as "that's a b, it says buh",? He's my first and I want to set a strong foundation for phonics in the future years when he learns to read, but I don't want to confuse him.

[Jen500]

So if I now decide to teach him the sounds only will that confuse him? Should I just tell him the name, such as "that's a b, it says buh",? He's my first and I want to set a strong foundation for phonics in the future years when he learns to read, but I don't want to confuse him.

 

I think your plan is fine. My youngest is learning the names of the letters and the sounds at the same time.

[SonshineLearner]

I would grab a phonics program like Writing Road to Reading (WRTR) or Spell to Write and Read (SWR) or All About Spelling (AAS).... just the flashcard part if you want. Learn what the letters say. (A makes the three sounds.... first soft (apple) A... (letter name) A....(All)....

B.... make sure you say "b" without saying Buuuuuh like some people...(it only says a quick..."b") My mom actually sang the Alphabet song with all of the sounds.... Wow... :-)

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

My boys loved the book Museum ABC at that age. I SPY: An Alphabet in Art is even better because it shows both the upper and lower case letters. Both books are simple, uncluttered, feature each letter prominently--one on each page, and have beautiful artwork. On each page I would say, 'B says buh, buh, buh, boat.' (Or whatever the letter was, obviously, using short vowel sounds for the vowels.) If the boys turned the pages quickly on their own, I would only say the letter sound. They all learned the letter names and sounds easily and very early. Leap Frog Letter Factory reinforced the sounds (they say both the letter name and its sound, also). This has been very successful for us so far, and the boys haven't had any trouble transitioning to sounding out words phonetically.

[Melenie]

I was taught the letter sound first and the name later. My kids picked up the name of the letter first and the sounds later. I personally think it is a preference and either way will work fine.

Edited February 5, 2010 by Melenie

[abbeyej]

Personally, I'm strongly in favor of teaching letter sounds (and lowercase letters) first. *But* I don't try to hide the fact that letters have names from my kids. I just say, "What does this say? Yep /sss/ /sss/! Great job! How about this one? Yep, /b-/ /b-/!" etc. BTW, we say /b-/ and /t-/, etc, not "buh" and "tuh", 'cause then you end up trying to sound out "buh-aaa-tuh" and the only thing that can blend to be is a "buh-a-tuh", instead of a "bat"... ;)

 

Anyway, if a child says, "em!" I say, "Yep! And it says /mmm/!" I don't deny the existence of letter names, but we focus on *sounds*.

 

For us, it has worked extremely well. Both of my kids learned to read early and well. (They are also both excellent spellers, though I think that may be nature more than nurture...) I think saying, "This is a B and it says /b-/" is adding unnecessary steps. ... Both of my kids did eventually learn all of the letter names and to recite the alphabet and alphabetize, etc, but that came a little later, after they were already reading things like Ramona and Harry Potter, actually, lol...

[athena1277]

I'm not trying to push the alphabet on my two year old son yet, but he is in the stage where he points to everything and says "That's a.....", and I fill in the blank. He's lately taken an interest in letters.

 

I've read recently that it helps children (especially boys) learn the alphabet sounds first and then the names, so that when they're reading they think of the sound and skip the step of translating the name to the sound. The only problem is that he already knows some of the alphabet names and can sing the alphabet song. I am also planning on using the Leap Frog Letter Factory when he turns three, and am not sure how it handles names/songs.

 

So if I now decide to teach him the sounds only will that confuse him? Should I just tell him the name, such as "that's a b, it says buh",? He's my first and I want to set a strong foundation for phonics in the future years when he learns to read, but I don't want to confuse him.

 

If you already have Letter Factory, go ahead an let him watch it once in a while. My ds (2.5yo) can only recognize B at the moment, but he can tell me what a lot of the letters say from watching the video.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Teach him both. Kids get it fine :) And I wouldn't hold back on the Letter Factory. Just do short bits and don't worry about the teaching outside of it. But we big people really enjoyed it and one of my old daycare kids remembered it from 3 years prior!

[Mom-ninja.]

Personally, I'm strongly in favor of teaching letter sounds (and lowercase letters) first. *But* I don't try to hide the fact that letters have names from my kids. I just say, "What does this say? Yep /sss/ /sss/! Great job! How about this one? Yep, /b-/ /b-/!" etc. BTW, we say /b-/ and /t-/, etc, not "buh" and "tuh", 'cause then you end up trying to sound out "buh-aaa-tuh" and the only thing that can blend to be is a "buh-a-tuh", instead of a "bat"... ;)

 

Anyway, if a child says, "em!" I say, "Yep! And it says /mmm/!" I don't deny the existence of letter names, but we focus on *sounds*.

 

For us, it has worked extremely well. Both of my kids learned to read early and well. (They are also both excellent spellers, though I think that may be nature more than nurture...) I think saying, "This is a B and it says /b-/" is adding unnecessary steps. ... Both of my kids did eventually learn all of the letter names and to recite the alphabet and alphabetize, etc, but that came a little later, after they were already reading things like Ramona and Harry Potter, actually, lol...

 

:iagree:

[duckabell]

Thanks for all of the great suggestions! I put the alphabet books on hold at the library. I'll likely buy The Letter Factory sooner than later, whenever we make our next Amazon purchase. I think I'll also buy an alphabet puzzle soon, whenever we have the funds.

 

I'm almost afraid to teach him the alphabet because he seems so young, but at the same time if he's interested in learning about them, then I should help.

[skaterbabs]

Before Letter Factory, Dot didn't know her letters at all, mainly because I just didn't feel the need to push the issue with her due to her late birthday. She didn't turn 5 until three weeks after the K cutoff, so I just took it easy with her and let her discover these things herself. I bought the Letter Factory at a consignment store when we started homeschooling Yacko just to give her something to do when I needed to concentrate on him. Within two days she knew all of her letter sounds and could identify each letter in print. This was two months before her third birthday. Over the winter we let her play on starfall.com and watch Between The Lions on PBS to her heart's content. By the following spring, she was reading level one BOB books unassisted. A year later she was reading on a second grade level. Now she reads on a fifth grade level, despite being "kindergarten" according to her birthday.

 

Yacko taught himself the letters of the alphabet well before his second birthday using those old-fashioned wooden blocks with the letters on them. Starting at 18 mos, he'd sit in the kitchen floor while I was cooking dinner with the basket of blocks, randomly pulling out a block and asking me, "Mommy, wat dis one?"

[Terabith]

When we were looking at lowercase letters, I said the sound. "That's a nnnn."

 

When we looked at uppercase letters, I gave letter names. "That's an N. It says nnnnn." Children's culture innundates them with letter names, especially for capitals, so it seemed natural.

 

I'm trained in Spalding, took all the classes, etc, and I tried to teach my kids all the sounds of each letter. But the blank looks from the 2 yr old kinda ended that pretty quick. I would periodically say, "That says aaaa. But sometimes it says ay or ah." But I didn't do that much. Tiny ones don't really understand that, so we primarily stuck with short vowels until they were 3 or 4.

[Terabith]

Kids can learn the alphabet easily and well. Lots of great alphabet books, Leap Frog Letter Factory and Fridge Phonics, puzzles, blocks, bath letters, etc.

 

Most kids can learn the letters and sounds several yrs before they are ready to read, so don't feel you are pushing by teaching the alphabet, nor feel discouraged if they don't progress on.

 

My 4.5 year old is barely sounding out simple words, but she's known her letter sounds since 18 months and has been able to orally blend sounds to make words since she was two. ("Let's play the guess what I'm thinking of game. I spy a /k/ pause /a/ pause /t/. What is it?") But she just wasn't ready to put those skills together.

[lionfamily1999]

Sing the alphabet, all the time :)

 

When younger ds started identifying letters I would tell him their name "B" and then tell him that B says /b/.

 

My only additional recommendation is to avoid teaching him letter sounds that won't work for reading. Ie, b says b not buh, iykwIm. I think that's where some toddler southern accents come from (bu-ah-l instead of ball).