Alphabet

"Lets start at the very beginning a very good place to start, when we read we begin with ABC"... I love that song from the Sound of Music.

When i first started teaching the alphabet to my preschoolers i began with a fun technique my older sons preschool teacher used. Alphabet Exercises!  I changed the movements and some actions to make it my own. Every time we get together we warm up with our exercises, as we say the sounds of the letters and  the word that relates to that action or exercise. This is a great Kinesthetic way to have a child learn.

Teaching the letters, as you may have noticed in my months calendar they are all mixed up. Why do i start with an L or a T? Because they are straight lines. It is easier for children to write straighter lines than curved ones. I have moved the ones with twists towards the end of the school year. 

There are many different ways in which children learn. Visual, Auditory, Reading/Writing, and Kinesthetically.

Coming up with different activities for each of these has been fun. 

Alphabet exercises is how we learn Kinesthetically 

Showing how to write a letter on a white board, or how to sign the letter with American sign language is a good Visual way to learn.

Auditory learners may need to hear the sounds out loud, and repeat them. Listening to Books is THE BEST way in my opinion for a child to help understand the different ways each letter sound can make, also to pick up reading quicker. I can tell the kids that are read to regularly compared to the ones that aren't.

Work books are another resource I use. My favorite right now are the  Scholastic Alphabet booklets  for Pre-K. They are usually found at Dollar Tree or the dollar section at Target during school sales.