Sometime between the age of two and five, your little one will start to show interested in learning about letters. There are many different ways of teaching the alphabet. Some say that you should teach upper case letters before lower case letters, others claims learning lower case first is better because most letters children see are lower case. Learning both upper and lower case at the same time is an option too. There are discussions about whether the little one should learn the alphabet in order, or learn letters randomly or in a non-traditional yet significant sequence. Montessori teachers might use Sand Paper Letter Cards to teach letter sounds. Those of the unschooling philosophy might not teach their little one the alphabet at all, but rely instead of a lot of reading exposure to teach their little one letters. Who knew there were so many options to learning the alphabet!
Some little ones will have no problems learning the alphabet and might self-teach themselves at an early age. Others not so much. Every child is different. Monkey is now 3.5 years old. I reflected on whether or not I should start teaching him about letters. I don't think Monkey would benefit from structured teaching for quite a while. But, I've noticed that he's starting to show some interest in letters.
I decided to go through the alphabet with him very slowly and to use fun interactive activities and books to learn about different letters. I'm using Along the Alphabet Path as my source of inspiration. It's a Catholic alphabet adventure for little ones. To learn more go to A Tutorial for the Alphabet Path. There are some wonderful alphabet resources on this site. To be honest, I haven't delved into all the information and resources that there are on the website. Some suggestions seem too complicated for Monkey but there ideas for all levels of alphabet learners. As we go along, I'll try to share with you our alphabet journey.
What are you thoughts on or experiences with teaching your little one the alphabet?
My kids are 3.5, 2.5, and 1. I actually started them learning the alphabet through Sesame Street alphabet song clips :) We also have assorted workbooks, puzzles, etc. for them to explore. I'm definitely going to check out the link you posted because that looks like a lot of fun for the kids.
ReplyDeleteI love alphabet books, especially Graeme Base's Animalia. The book is really lovely. It is out of print but not difficult to find. We mostly just read a lot of these type of books, with alliteration and rhyme.
ReplyDeleteWe are a fan of Graeme Base too! His books are so beautiful :)
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