(Page 2 of 3)

Informal and Planned Opportunities throughout the Day

You will want to take advantage of opportunities throughout the day to teach letter identification. You can reinforce letter naming when reading aloud to children, by writing with children, and when playing with children.

Alphabet books are terrific tools for reinforcing letter recognition. They can be silly and engaging. They can also prompt kids to remember features of letters. There are many different alphabet books on the market. Look for books that give children clues to recognize the letters. Kids can also make their own alphabet books. Print each letter of the alphabet on the top of a separate piece of paper and bind pages together into a book. Help children collect pictures from old magazines or photographs from home of things that begin with that letter and paste the pictures in their books. Label each picture to reinforce the identity and the name of the letter. Encourage children to share their books with their classmates.

Writing with children is a great way to reinforce letter identification. You can name each letter as you make a sign for the building children created in the block center; you can name each letter as you spell a child’s name; you can ask children to help you figure out how to write a particular letter in someone’s name; you can reinforce the letter “s” when a child asks you to write “Spiderman.” Specific instructional strategies for writing with children are included in the emergent writing section of this training.

An ABC Center also promotes letter knowledge and encourages children to practice naming letters. It is important to guide and direct small group learning activities in the ABC Center, since just playing with letters does not teach children the names of those letters. An ABC Center should have a variety of engaging materials that can be used to reinforce children’s developing knowledge.

Magnetic letters, letter stamps, letter blocks, letter cards, foam letter boards, chalkboards, dry-erase boards, pipe cleaners, clay, finger paint, alphabet charts, and games can all be appropriate and fun. There are many ways to organize children’s play and exploration in the ABC Center to reinforce and teach the names of the letters. Ask children to find the letters in their name and string them together. Ask children to work in pairs to find the letters in their names and to determine which letters they have in common. Ask children to find the letters they can name and put the other letters in a pile. Ask children to find the letter that matches the one you have.