Helping to Learn Letters

My daughter also watched the Leap Frog Videos. At 2 1/2 she learned all the letters and their sounds. She is now 3 1/2 and in preschool and the teacher said she is really the only one in her class that can easily recognize the letters. In school she is learning the lower case as well as the upper. The videos were primarily upper case.

My son's school had him write a couple of letters a night. He was caught up pretty quick. Plus they had him copy his name every day even if he didn't recognize the letters. He traced it for the first couple of weeks before he wrote it out himself.

If he's just started and is behind because he didn't start at the beginning of the year, don't worry too much about it. He'll pick it up. My older son started kindergarten without being able to recognize any numbers, letters, or his name and he caught up perfectly fine. Preschool is just a help to get ready for kindergarten.

Well I'm of the they will get it when they get it group. I HATE when kids are pushed to learn things cause that's what everyone else is doing.
Kids will learn naturaly if let be. Here is a site I love. http://www.UniversalPreschool.com They have lots of info on teaching at home. and a few links for printables http://www.preschoollearners.com/ , http://www.dltk-teach.com/ , http://members.learningplanet.com/directory/index.asp?lev=1

Just think your son has been at that institution ALL DAY and then you want him to sit and do more?
How about having the stuff out where he can get to it himself when he wants, so he come to love learning not dread it. There are lots of books on letters. I have the Leap pad fridge magnets, upper and lower case for my son, he plays when he wants. I point out letters while we are out and about, on signs, clothes, cars etc. Of course I bring it up here and there and encourage him also.

Hi S.,
The best advice I can give you to keep his attention when trying to teach him after a long day is to give purpose to what he is doing. For example, instead of having him trace over a dotted letters, tell him you need his help writing a grocery list or identifying what day of the week it is - you can teach him "milk" or "eggs". When a child sees a purpose to learning they are much more motivated.

If he will have a seperate room from the child you are now expecting maybe you can place his name on his door and spell it out everytime you enter the room, etc. I taught my daughter to count to 20 before she was 3 y.o.a by counting the stairs everytime we went up and down.

Hope it helps!!

V.

I have not read any of the other responses yet, but I was able to teach my son his letters by the time he was 2 BECAUSE HE WAS INTERESTED. Please don't get frustrated because the other kids are "ahead". (My son could tell you the letters, but he had a playmate who coud name every construction vehicle, and one who could tell you the names of the dinosaurs-- they will learn what they are interested in!)They used to teach kids the alphabet and how to write their names in kindergarten, but now many kids already know all of this from attending preschool and from all of the electronic toys out now that teach the alphabet. Yes- the electronic toys are AWESOME and helpful and I recommend them... but the #1 thing I recommend that you do is get the foam letters (I think WalMart has them- Babies R Us may have them, too) for the bathtub. That's how my son learned his letters. The electronic toys are great, but all they are doing is pushing buttons-- the foam letters can be held and manipulated, and you can make words once he learns the letters. If he likes them, you can buy another set (they're pretty cheap) to play with outside the tub, too. Also, look for a wooden puzzle that has the upper case letters and then the lower case ones under the pieces you take out (did that make any sense??)

The bottom line, though... give yourself a break. Don't feel you need to keep up with the other kids-- remind yourself that he's ONLY FOUR!

hes 4!!! give him the time and practice, remember in daycare they have nothing else to do! practice in the car, or get a leappad, but other than that, chill, he'll be fine!! :)

I have a couple ideas, im working on these with my 3 year old, she goes to an in home daycare 3 days a week and i work full time. Do Practice Lettering on a sheet and put it in to a Sheet Protector. I have a 3 ring binder for all her sheets. Get dry erase marker and you can keep using it over and over, just wipe off when done.
Leap Frog has a DVD Letter Factory about $15.00 animated and it goes thru every letter of the alphabet and does silly things, like letter J is Jumping on Trampoline, etc. Very cute.

Here is what I did. I made it into a game. I used flash cards with pictures. A girlfriend of mine (who had more time on her hands) used actual items that her son could hold. Also reward him after the "game" is over with something he likes, a favorite snack, movie, drawing time, sticker (whatever he is into) Also don't push to hard if he really doesn't want to do it. Also remember those other children in the daycare are not new. Your sone will pick it up soon enough. My son is now 8 and is an excellent speller and gets good grades.

Hope this info helped !!

I have been in school for a while to become a teacher of early education. My bigest pointers I have learned for this situation is that many kids are taught upper case and don't recognize lower case letters at all. We did interviews and testing on little ones and found this to be a big area of non recognition for lots of kids. Lower case letters are more difficult to write and recognize, and it is perfectly reasonable for him not to get them well until around 1st grade. Second thing is that kids do not have a large attention span at this age and a couple years into the future. That's ok, I would just do the 10 minutes on helping him with recognition, writing or whatever, then let him go play. He spends the day at school and would be tired even if he were there just till noon. My son is, and I let him take a nap as soon as he's home. If you want him to lengthen his attention span you can probably do a search on the net for attention builders, but don't make him sit for longer than 20 minutes at a time. The ideas for including his letters and writting in his play is probably the best way to get him into learning without it seaming like learning. Label things around the house, have him write or draw storries, even writing his storries for him, have him do things like write grocerie lists, dr's notes, phone numbers, anything that can be included in make believe play that includes reading and writing, and it doesn't have to be accurate, it just slowly intriduces reading and writing in a pleasent manner. Frigerater magnets are good, and I also have an ABC picture poster hung near the door down were he can see it good. We go over some of it a little when I am heading out the door. Just ask if he knows a couple letters then repeat the letter and word that starts with the letter. That is very quick and brings gradual recognition.

S.,
I am all for the leap frog dvd's, my kids wouldn't have learned at all without them. There is also an interactive website called www.starfall.com which has pre-reading abc's and all the way up to chapter books. We use it as a reward. Maybe when you are getting dinner ready he can sit and play on the computer. Keep in mind that if he has been learning all day, by the time you get to him he could be tired and less cooperative. See how he does on a weekend day and offer a lot of praise and reward for effort. Our kids have a v-smile and that system has many educational games. Good luck and remember to be patient, everyone learns at their own pace and if you make it a stressful time he will come to dread it.

S.,

I had the same problem with my son when we put him in pre-k. We started working of just a couple of letters at a time, both the upper case and lower. His teacher said one of the first letters we work on should be the first letter of his name. We worked on a couple of letters at a time, maybe the same letters for a week, then move on to two more letters the following week, still reviewing the previous letters occasionally. I also used a dry erase board for him to practice writing them (not right away though).

I also made a card with his first name on it (first letter upper case and the rest lower) for him to look at and we would practice saying him name while looking at the letters (spell first, then say the name). Basically it is just repetition and he will start to recognize. I would also eventually introduce some type of reward system (sticker board, candy, TV time, etc.) when he does recognize his letters or puts forth a really good effort. You don't want to discourage him with feeling like a failure by pushing too soon. His attention span is short so 10 to 20 minutes in the afternoon is good and maybe a couple of minutes before bedtime too.

I also bought the entire alphabet (lower and upper) in large cards with pictures related to the letters and put them on his wall in his bedroom. I went to Walmart and bought foam letters (about 6") and spelled his first name high on his wall, this helps with first name recognition. The Leap Frog videos are good too.

The bottom line is don't worry about where your son is compared to the other children. Just do your best to work with him on his first name and the rest of the letters. I didn't even work on my son recognizing his last name until this year (kindergarten). He will progress as he is ready.

I hope this helps.

PS Check with his teacher for ideas also. I did and she was very helpful.

I have found that Leap Frog's THE LETTER FACTORY is very helpful. My daughter could recognize the letters and the sounds they made very early because of this video (to be honest with you we were stuck in traffic on a road trip and this is the video I chose... Boy, was I lucky it wasn't something that annoyed me :)

Anyway, there is a series of these videos and I feel this would be helpful to you. Throw it in the DVD player while you are making dinner. It is fun, too!

I hope this helps!

Leap Frog Learning Factory video tape -- and all the Leap Frog video tapes (they have four now i think) --

my 2year old little boy will not sit still long enough for ANY tapes (which is a good thing for him) -- but he loves the letter factory! And my 4 & 6 year old were/are ahead in the reading/writing department.

But I can't say enough about this video tape.
Of course, there are computer games on-line (free) that are good to do together (fun) and always reading before bed is extremely important -- letter books and stories and such -- which I'm sure you do.

And weekends were made for drawing and libraries -- but, of course, parks!!!

hope this helps!
tara

S.,
I know people say don't let your young children watch T.V., but I'm here to tell you that a good leap frog dvd with singing and dancing letters will keep your child mesmorized for longer than the 10 minutes you get and will teach him faster than you ever could. I've been a teacher for 9 years and I always use videos to reinforce a taught lesson. I've found that if a child doesn't even speak the language they get understanding from just watching character interactions.
A.

The Leap Frog Letter Factory movie also worked wonders for me!! My son loved it...he would watch it over and over and over! By the time he went to preschool, he knew all of his letters and letter sounds. I found it at Wal-Mart, but have seen it in many stores since! Good luck!

I have 2 ideas....one is easy, cheap and handy to have up anyways. Hang up a full set of upper and lower case letters. Just seeing it will help re-enforce it. Second, is a game from Leap Frog....it can be played alone or with friends...It is The letter Factory game. In a triangular box. I like alot of their toys....check the website for deals and such...great grow with me product line. You can also get DVDs that will help thru them...oh, here is a fourth thought....lol....SAM"S Club carries the Hooked on Phonics stuff...

He must be in the VPK program now....what do they suggest? What school is it?

Good luck!
K.

Well what I did with my daughter was I put up signs around her room to help her recognize the words. I would also put name tags on her things so she would know how to recognize her name. This also helped her with the letters because she would see them constantly instead of parts of the day. After a short while she was able to actually tell me what something said in a sentence. It was a cool way to help her learn, and it was helpful in helping her recognize everyday things. We would also make up songs to sing in the car and while we are cleaning. You would be surprised how easy it is for a child to remember a song.

Leap Frog also has the Alphabet and Numbers fridge magnets. Your son can put letters in the groove and it pronounces the corrects ways to sound out letters. It also runs through the abc song. My daughter loves it. About 22.00 at the Walmart and Target. Also our neighbor has an older child (10 years) come over to work with her 5 year old. Her 5 year old is extremely responsive to the older child and doesn't get bored at all. They work on letters, numbers, reading, printing etc. She pays the 10 year old a few bucks each time she comes over and everyone is happy.

I'll just support what's already been said; Leapfrog's "Letter Factory" DVD, helped out with their Fridge Phonics and/or Word Whammer (the lower case letters add-on is great too).

We have a steel door to our garage that has both the Word Whammer and Fridge Phonics on it, along with all of the letters from both and the lower case set. Neither our one year old nor our 3 year old ever seems to tire of playing with the letters and singing along.

-Scott (S.'s husband)

I had somewhat asked for info on this as well about my son who will be 5 end of April. And many ladies, including a family member who is a teacher as well, told me that in time, he will start to catch on on his own especially in school. My son still doesn't recognize his name, he just doesnt' care to. He recognizes a lot of letters, but not even his name! Anyway, point is, i was told to not worry as school will help your child pick things up, as each child learns differently. And i was also told that if by the time he is in 1st grade and is still not picking things up or does poorly, then to worry! Hope that put some ease into your mind.

E.

We're big fans of www.starfall.com and www.noggin.com . If you explore both of those, you're sure to find something good on his level (from Noggin, I think the Oobi games are especially helpful--click on the hand character with the eyes).

We're also big fans of "cheap"!

Early on, I tried to get my daughter interested in writing-practice books, but it was hard to motivate her to do much more than draw in them--those just weren't the things she was interested in writing! Then I came up with a great trick. Let your son draw and tell you the drawings' titles (including "by....."), or make up his own "books" (folded paper), or entice him to make signs labeling things around the house--maybe even set up a scavenger hunt for Daddy with simple signs and arrows. In other words, find out what HE wants to write! Then, whatever he's excited about, write it for him yourself, boldly and clearly, with a highlighter or other light-colored marker, saying the letters as you go. Afterward, ask him to pick up a darker-colored marker or crayon and trace over your letters to make them readable. The added bonus here is that he learns the pride and power of getting HIS ideas in print!

A friend of mine got some other great ideas while researching Montessori methods. As others pointed out, electronic buttons only let your youngster look at the letters most of the time. What she discovered from Montessori was that if you cut out large letters from fine sandpaper or soft furry material--different textures that are really fascinating for them to touch--and glue each letter onto its own sturdy card, the child can trace the letters with their fingers over and over again and really learn them quickly. Show them first by moving their fingers in the order you'd do it to write the letter, and of course say the letter out loud as you do.

Another Montessori trick she discovered is to go to Michael's or some other craft store, and find the little wooden cutouts they have of various objects (they're small, sturdy, lightweight, and very cheap) or make use of baby-puzzle pieces you already have at home, or even pictures of family members or pets. For each one, write the word for that object/person on a separate sturdy piece of cardpaper. Read through all of them and show him the objects/pictures, then lay out a few and let him match them up. The great thing about this game is that it's self-correcting; if he makes a mistake, he'll figure it out himself when a word that he does recognize no longer has its match available. Don't worry about how long the words are. My friend made a large set of these for her 4-yr-old son, and to her surprise, her 2-yr-old started playing with them and correctly identified "pineapple" and "lighthouse". Until they start actually sounding things out, it's all a matter of recognition--and word length is a clue, too--but that recognition leads to paying more attention to individual letter sounds. It also makes errands more exciting, as your son starts proudly shouting out "pineapple!" when he recognizes the word on a sign at the grocery store.

If you haven't seen them already, the Kumon series of workbooks is really great, too, especially if you also want to give your son more practice in reading numbers. They have a whole display full of them just outside the children's section of Barnes & Noble, for about $5 each. The series is actually from Japan, and they're extremely appealing and well laid-out. My 4-yr-old asks to work on them all the time!

Maybe you can explore websites of Montessori tools as my friend did, and come up with more ideas. These don't have to take more than a few minutes a day. Of course you don't want to put stress on him (or yourself) by forcing him into what you know he'll eventually learn just fine anyway. But let's face it--the best scenario is that he's actually having fun, both with the activities and with the new knowledge he gets to enjoy.

One more note...I don't know your exact situation (especially with another child on the way), but the bit about his being tired after school really hit home. I tried putting my daughter in preschool this year, thinking she'd enjoy it and learn a lot, but it had the opposite effect on her. Instead of pouring herself into these workbooks that she loves so much, all she could do was whine and fuss when she got home. Also, she was rebelling against the structure and lack of individual attention at school, so that she wasn't even showing skills there that she'd had since she was 2 (scribbling instead of drawing, for example). Plus, I was so tired from driving her back and forth that our usual learning adventures and one-on-one time were becoming a thing of the past. I reluctantly pulled her out after 3 weeks, and her voracious appetite for learning came right back. She's now reading longer books by herself, and we're thinking of homeschooling her at least for another year. I don't know if that's a possibility for you, or if it even suits your son's personality and needs, but it's something to consider, especially since Mommy time is going to be a very, very precious commodity after April comes along!