Letter Recognition

shiggybop

i need some fresh ideas in this area. Anthony is doing great with colors, counting and shapes, but he's not really catching on to letter or number recognition. To be honest, I'm not sure where to start. We have the Melissa and Doug abc puzzle that he does on his own by recognizing the matching shapes, but if I ask where's "a"? He has no clue. How are yall working on this skill with your littles?

Iv type disclaimer: I'm not concerned that he's behind or anything. It just seems like the next thing to work on.

BeebopandBuddy

Maya had ABC flash cards that she really liked. That's how she learned her letters. I think I got them in the dollar bin at Target but I'm sure the dollar store would have them too.

tyrannasaurusjess

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom was the big introduction to letters here. I also have an old Scrabble game and an UpWords game that I let him play with from time to time. He knows all of his letters now, but in the beginning I'd say 'what letters do you see'? And when he picked one out that he knew, I'd ask if we could find another. We'd talk about words that started with that letter, and then move on with another. 

We have an app called ABC Wow that I really like. It uses lowercase letters, and I think he's learned a bit from that as well.

Flamingemu

L can recognize L - I - Y - A - B - C ha. So she knows the first 3 letters and her name. 

She is hit or miss on the other 20. We have Target $ flashcards too but right now we use them more as a matching game. We talk about the letters on them as well, but usually default to the picture associated with the letter. She also use Endless Alphabet on her tablet. I like that because it sounds out the letters as you are moving them in to place, but it is still just a puzzle to L. I figure at least it is a puzzle she is learning from.

tyrannasaurusjess

Oh!!! Also, we have the game Endless Reader (I think it was @mnkate who recommended it). We bought the full version which was $25 but honestly, it's been worth every penny! 

kelbel527

I'd start with the letters in his name and just talk about them a lot when you see them.  We have a leap frog activity that goes on the fridge as well as letters for the bathtub.  I found that using his name was a good place to start because it kept him interested in the letters.

There are also a lot of apps if you are open to using electronics.  We used a "Mr. Pencil" game on the iPad that he loved and got him to work on writing his letters.  

MarisaKathleen

We have an app on the Kindle & on DHs tablet called "Endless Alphabet."  Nancy's been playing it since probably 18mo and knows all of her letters.  It's super awesome.  I think @loislayn was the one that posted about it way back then.  It also helps with what sounds the letters make.

Right now we're working on big and little letters and which ones go together.  She is completely perplexed on why some big letters don't look like the little letters.

miss50

Flash cards. We have at least 6 sets of these. Lots if repetition with them. When reading, occasionally spell out a word rather than read all the way through.

watercolor5

We haven't really done much with letter recognition yet.   Sophia knows how to sing the ABCs and can recite chicka chicka boom, and spell her name, but really doesn't recognize letters.  (Usually when we ask what letter it is, she'll say S-O-P...H-I-A! and we'll say, no, it's the letter B.)  She likes the baby genius videos on netflix, and one of them has the ABC song which I think is how she actually learned it, with the letters floating by as they sing.   

I guess it is the next step and we can start working on it soon- I think we'll probably just work it into the millions of books we already read her, and occasionally start mentioning letters and then asking about them.  Like others, we'll likely start with the letters in her name.  She has a ton of alphabet books, so we may start there too. 

Oh, she also really really likes "signing her name" on artwork she does.  Usually I'll write her name as she spells it out, but sometimes I guide her hand to help her write it. 

linzeek44

We do our letter stuff during play-

He has letter puzzles, letter magnets, letter stamps, etc and we talk about them. Environmental print has been huge-- pointing out the T in Target the S in Special K, etc. 

He also likes I Spy. Dollar Tree used to have big magnifying glasses, so we'll walk around and I'll say "I Spy an E!" and he will "I spy a W." etc. 

Whenever we read a book together, we look at the titles and point out letters we know. I will draw his attention specifically to letters he doesn't know. Now, sometimes he will sit in the car and spell out the titles on whatever book he is looking at. 

Pointing out the features of the letters has been fun for us. A is "up the mountain, down the mountain, and across!" we talk about them like that and I think that might help him remember. 

Lessening the choice field can be useful. So looking at 26 letters and then asking for the A is really tricky. Having the word CAT and asking which is the A is a lot easier and might be useful. 

Usually receptive understanding comes first (which one is the A? show me) vs. the expressive (which letter is this?). But I have found with E that his expressive sometimes is easier. 

hmp1

Letters are everywhere so just keep it part of your daily conversations. They really push name recognition at school so those are the letters he knows best along with his friend's names. He can "read" his name and his friend's names too as they have to find their name when they change stations and on their chair anytime they do table work/eat. Their circle time rug has the alphabet around it and they will assign a letter to each kid to find and sit on too.

The Leap Frog magnet set has been fantastic for us in both teaching letter recognition, letter sounds, and now forming words (for James).

I have the older version, but this is the new one

https://www.leapfrog.com/en-us/store/p/fridge-phonics-magnetic-letter-set/_/A-prod19267

AKB090609

The leapfrog fridge bus is the magic thing in our house, she knows all the letters (and can sing you the little song about their sounds if you ask) for numbers we play 'find the number' with the target or grocery store checkouts (her favorite is 8).