learning letters

[A.Balaban]

I'm trying to teach my DS his ABC's. I try and sing the song whenever I can (or let him listen to it on Starfall). I sing it so often my 18 month old knows the first three letters "A, B, C" she will say after me. Occasionally (like maybe once a week or less) my DS will attempt to sing-along with me. It starts off "A,B,C... " and usually goes into jumbles. He knows a few letters A, B, C, D, K, Q, R, and Z he can recognize/identify (but not in the song). Yes, I have no idea why he recognizes Q and R, because to me they seem like two of the hardest letters in the alphabet. His favorite letter is "K" because he loves to make it kick all of the other letters.

 

Some letters he can say (repeat after me), and some letters he can identify (independently). How can I help him learn the letters? I'm doing just about everything I can think of:

 

He plays on starfall a couple times a week.

LeapFrog Letter Factory

ABC banner in living room (we sing the ABC song at least once a day in front of the banner, and I try to sing it at least 2-3x a day...)

 

Yesterday we did some flashcards (I never did flashcards before) he is so keen to learn his letters he sat through all 26 of the letters. (We spent a couple minutes on each letter, I would ask him: "Do you know this letter?" and he would very sweetly say "I don't know what that letter is." and so I would tell him: "This is the letter .... " With some of the letters he knew I would say the sound of the letter too. He'd repeat it after me, I'd say good-job and we'd move on to the next letter.

 

Just learning the letters (not even worrying about identification) how can I teach him the names of the letters doing anything differently than I already am? How long should I expect this to take? I've been working closely with him for about two months now (daily, in short bursts).... and he's gotten about 10 letters. Is this good progress? Should I expect it to take another 4 months for him to learn the alphabet?

[Ellie]

I think you're thinking about it too much. :-)

 

Just enjoy doing mommy-child things together. Don't worry about how much time or when something "should" happen or be learned. You'll suck all the joy out of your time together. :-)

 

Personally, I didn't teach my dc the alphabet song, because I didn't want them to have to sing through the song in their heads to know which letter came after R. :D I taught them the sounds of the letters as we came across them, or needed to know them (for writing their names, for example).

[kbpaulie]

All kids learn at a different pace. You're doing the "right" things.

 

I was going to suggest the LetterFactory - my kids enjoyed that one. And an option instead of or in addition to flashcards could be Go Fish with alphabet cards.

 

Point out letters as you see them in different spots - grocery store signs, stop sign (see that red sign, it says stop, the first letter is S, it looks like a snake, can you say S?)

 

Some people choose not to teach the letter names but instead go straight to sounds. They don't want to cause the extra confusion.

 

I'd also say don't stress about it. It'll come when he's ready.

 

HTH

[TriciaS]

I've been trying to get my 3 year old daughter to learn her letters for months, and it's just now starting to sink in at almost 4. This has been driving me crazy since my older daughter learned all her letters and sounds before she even turned 3, but every child is different. My little one is a very busy kid - always moving, always having to touch things, can't even get her to use a utensil because she is so tactile she has to touch every item on her plate. She will not sit and look at pictures of letters. I have her make letters out of foam sheets, or play with magnetic letters, and we say the beginning sound of every animal, toy, object we can. Not to mention, I think she is finally just at the stage where she wants to learn these things.

 

Take your time, just make it part of every day. One day he'll wake up able to name them all! :001_smile:

[ThreeBlessings]

I agree with previous posters not to worry about it. He is very young. It is good that he is receptive and positive about learning. That is so much more important than learning letters at his age. It sounds like you are both doing great!

 

If he is into crafts and pasting you might find some useful links in my blog post about free resources for Letter of the Week. I did Letter of the Week when dd was 3, now she is 4 and we're doing Letter Sound of the Week. I did tell her the sounds as we did the Letter of the Week and she retained some of them. I think it made it easier for her that I told her the name and sound(s) the first time around. Now we are focusing on the sounds as we go through the letters.

[Walking-Iris]

A child can master knowing the ABCs from about the age of 2-6 or so---seriously don't stress about this. Your child will pick up on your stress and your teaching agenda and tune it all out. Especially at age 3, I wouldn't worry about it, just read and talk and play in a natural way---without turning life into a lesson.

[blondeviolin]

We start with learning to spell their names. With my middle two, it was really around the time that they realized separate letters made up words. We make a name bug and they decorate it. We constant get ABC books from the library. We also play letter detective while reading a book or playing or at the store or waiting in line, etc.

 

Little kids may not do well demonstrating what they know via quizzing. My 2yo has a hard time answering even the "what color?" question. If I send her for all of the green pieces, though, she grabs them without hesitation. I am certain my 2yo knows a lot more than I give her credit for, and I bet your son does too.

 

Relax and just PLAY!

[Joyofsixreboot]

Don't stress! He is little. I think sometimes it's hard not to compare when everyone here ( it seems) has their 3yo reading War and Peace. None of my kids could identify letters at 3. My 4yo can only identify a few. Just play and it will come. (Reassurance time, my now 18 yo couldn't even write his name until 6. He just got a full tuition scholarship. )

[MomatHWTK]

My first DS loved his wooden letter puzzle. I probably wouldn't work too hard on the singing as the song goes quickly and doesn't necessarily translate to the child understanding that you are saying separate letters. I know some kids learn "L-M-N-O" by saying "lemon." It's more important to understand that each letter symbol stands for a specific sound or sounds than to be able to name the symbol. KWIM?

 

You've got time. Just continue to share a few letters at a time and identify their sounds. Read books. Dr. Suess' ABC book is great fun and there are tons of others- there's an ABC book for any interest out there. Play a memory game with two sets of letters. Have him find the matching symbols (letters) then you identify the letter and sound that he found. I would hold off on quizzing for now since he's not doing well. You don't want him to lose confidence.

 

I found some workbooks that are for pre-writing exercises and they often work on letter identification. Instead of the child copying a letter over and over, the workbook page will have letter games. On one page they might have to color all the "R" symbols red to make a picture and on another the path through the maze will be marked with "S." Simple things like that. You could make your own worksheets- Put a big "S" at the top of a page, then write all kinds of letters on the page. Then have the child either circle all the "S" symbols or draw a line from the "S" symbols on the page up to the big "S" at the top. Take the (unintended) pressure off and make it a game. ;)

 

Here are some examples of worksheets:

http://www.tlsbooks.com/preschoolletters.htm

Edited April 1, 2012 by MomatHWTK

[ktgrok]

This is a developmental thing. You didn't push him to walk before he was ready to do it. Don't push this either. Wait a while and he will pick it up easily just from starfall and letter factory. Each child has their own pace for this.

[Lily_Grace]

Don't stress! He is little. I think sometimes it's hard not to compare when everyone here ( it seems) has their 3yo reading War and Peace. None of my kids could identify letters at 3. My 4yo can only identify a few. Just play and it will come. (Reassurance time, my now 18 yo couldn't even write his name until 6. He just got a full tuition scholarship. )

 

This :)

 

We didn't even teach letter names until age 5. Ds learned sounds first, since they actually gave him the key to reading. The names....well, those didn't seem nearly as important in the grand scheme of things. And we only taught the sounds when he seemed ready to grasp CVC words.

[Dustybug]

I did the things that you are doing and also only focused on one letter every week. We did activities to go along with the letter, read books that started with the letter, learned about animals that started with the letter, etc. Then the next week, we'd move on to the next letter. Keep it fun and short though. I agree with everyone else, he's still young. You don't need to stress over it yet. :)

[boscopup]

I think you're expecting more than is developmentally expected of a 3 year old. Let him play, let him play starfall, let him watch Leapfrog. Forget trying to teach letters right now, and don't worry about singing the ABC song.

 

Sometime in the next couple years, your son will probably pick up the letters from the things you've been doing. Just don't worry about it right now. He's only 3! If you were having this trouble at age 6, I might have a little concern. At age 3? You probably just need to wait a year for him to develop a bit more. Not a big deal.

[A.Balaban]

Thanks everyone! I love how you all can say "he's only 3" and everyday it seems like a new 2 or 3 year old is reading around here. :lol:

 

He has had trouble with his speech/language development since he was very young, so I've always been "on top of things" -- not to say I am expecting him to know his alphabet by a certain time, but to make sure I am showing him the right type of things. I did print out some letter of the week activities, and I do have a bunch of craft materials! I think that is what we will do next week. (or tomorrow? lol)

 

One day he will wake up and know them all! I am so pleased with him that he loves to learn, now if only I could get him to say his numbers in order... "eight, one, two... eight..." :lol:

 

Maybe I should get a tape and have it play the ABC's as a subliminal message?? I'm sure some crazy "Made-For-TV" has made this? (Totally joking btw... but you know people would pay for it!)

[boscopup]

Thanks everyone! I love how you all can say "he's only 3" and everyday it seems like a new 2 or 3 year old is reading around here. :lol:

 

Reading at age 2 or 3 is very atypical. MOST kids on these boards probably learn to read between the ages of 4 and 6, which is average. You just don't get a lot of posts of, "My 5 year old is reading!" because well, that's normal and expected. ;)

 

I have an almost-3 year old that has started to read a tiny bit... He's atypical. My oldest, who is an advanced reader now, started reading at 4.5, not 3. :) My middle son is 5.5 and just starting to get past the sounding-everything-out stage. I'm hoping we'll be reading some beginner readers by this fall when he's closer to 6. His progress is much slower than his brothers' progress, but he's also a very deep thinker, and frankly, he's the one that scares me most when thinking ahead to the teenage years. :tongue_smilie:

 

He has had trouble with his speech/language development since he was very young, so I've always been "on top of things" -- not to say I am expecting him to know his alphabet by a certain time, but to make sure I am showing him the right type of things.

My 5.5 year old had speech/language development issues also. He learned his letters at age 4 from the frog. He wasn't ready before then.

 

One day he will wake up and know them all! I am so pleased with him that he loves to learn, now if only I could get him to say his numbers in order... "eight, one, two... eight..." :lol:

My 2 year old used to throw in "Tuesday" when counting. :lol: All of my kids skipped the number 7 at some point. Oh, and my 5.5 year old didn't learn to count to 10 until close to age 4. It was a R&S Counting With Numbers workbook that did it. Today? He was adding 10,000+10,000 = 20,000, 40+30=70, etc. So again, just because they're not doing it at 3 (which is NORMAL), it doesn't mean they will be slow or late or whatever.

 

Don't compare yourself to other kids on this board. Look at what is typical development, and see if your son is meeting developmental milestones or not. That is all you need to look at for comparison.

[Mergath]

My dd learned to identify the letters early on, mostly because one of her favorite books was an alphabet book about a guy living on the moon. It was the goofiest book, and she just loved it. I'd point to each letter as I read. It took her much longer to learn to sing the alphabet. She finally learned it when we did AAR pre-1, I think because we had the alphabet poster to look at while we sang it.

 

If you figure out your child's learning style (visual, tactile, etc.) using methods that cater to it can help, but beyond that, don't stress about it. As the pps said, kids all learn in their own time, and whether or not a kid learns physical skills before academic skills or vice versa doesn't mean a darn thing in the end.

[Tanikit]

At this age you need to just keep telling - don't ask him if he knows what the letters are - he will tell you when he does know them. So use whatever combination of resources you have around - strafall, flashcards, writing in advertisements, letters in his name. Just make sure that the letters you are showing him are fairly big.

 

I also taught my daughter the sounds only first - she learnt the ABC song about a year after she had mastered the sounds. Every child will be on their own schedule - you just give the opportunities by letting him hear the letters/sounds and pointing them out and he will let you know what he knows. You just have to be patient.

[sewingmama]

When I took my DD for her 4yo health check the nurse was astonished that she could read the eye chart. She told me she has a different method for checking eyesight for the under 5's because most don't know their letters at all. (I wonder what she will say when I take my 4yo DS this year and he is reading :lol:).

 

I think sometimes it's hard not to compare when everyone here ( it seems) has their 3yo reading War and Peace.

 

:iagree:

 

I thought it was pretty great when my 5.5yo read her first Dr.Suess book but I didn't post it here because there are so many kids here reading chapter books already at that age (I told her grandma instead who was suitably impressed ;) )

 

Take it slow and don't worry about it.

 

My almost 3 yo doesn't know his colours yet - I started worrying that maybe he was colourblind :lol: because my older two knew their colours by age 2. I think we start to panic unecessarily when we compare our normal kids to some of the superstar kids on this site :tongue_smilie:

Edited April 1, 2012 by sewingmama

[spaceman]

I think what you are doing will get him there, and knowing 10 letters at 3 is great!

 

I may be a minority, but I think it's easier to teach them very young...at the stage when they *want* to know the names of everything. The toddler that says, "what's this, what's that", always pointing at everything wanting to know its label. Truly, to me, this is a great time to have letters around.

 

"Meet the letters" is another letter DVD you could try. I prefer "meet the letter sounds" though. :)

 

He'll get it. :)

[spaceman]

At this age you need to just keep telling - don't ask him if he knows what the letters are - he will tell you when he does know them.

 

And I agree with this! I wouldn't worry so much about quizzing him. Just focus on input.