Tuesday's Thought

What exactly is "knowing one's letters?" We always ask parents of children aged four and five, "Where is your child academically?" And the answer is always "Oh, he or she knows his or her letters." So the fair response from a teacher's point of view is, "What DO you mean?" Mostly, what parents mean is that a child can sing the ABC song and only slur the L,M,N,O,P!

I could go on and on about what knowing your letters is not, so let's cut to the chase and say what it is:

Knowing one's letters means:

Recognizing all 26 of the upper case letters of the alphabet.
Recognizing all 26 of the lower case letters of the alphabet.
Being able to say all 26 phonemes (sounds letters make) with the variations on the vowels.
Being able to write all 26 letters on kindergarten lined paper both upper and lower case.

Da, Da!

This is supposed to happen in kindergarten if not earlier. Yes, three year olds are teachable and actually love playing with letters and are most capable of learning phonemes and reciting them and putting them together into sound groups. It's a step by step process and completely fun if you approach it as a fun activity.

Most threes don't recognize any letters because it's something that must be taught. But by telling short stories about each letter, they will learn quickly. Best plan of teaching is to present letters that have no additional pictures. Each letter is its own picture and does not need more. When children learn letters with pictures, it presents a roadblock to learning. Any child will look at the activity picture and not the stylized letter, so it's best to have just the letter.

When showing a child the letter A, the teacher turns the letter on it's side, and says. "This is 'A' and 'A' is an airplane that flies in the sky, Airplane, A." The child is welcome to say that the letter shown again is either an Airplane or A. B is another little story. B is like a butterfly, and then the teacher makes her hands into a butterfly by latching her thumbs and having the butterfly fly.

Every letter has a story, and very young children learn the stories first, and then slowly go over to saying the name of the letter. Teachers can invent stories that both the teacher and the child will remember. This way it's a quick process and it's fun.

One of the mistakes parents make with phonemes, or sounds of the letters, is adding a short "a" sound to consonants. It is not Ba but B like a bop on a bottle. Vowels have long and short sounds and children should be aware that vowels and consonants are like air noises giving life to words, and consonants are like mouth noises and can't be pronounced without their sister and brother vowels.

When it's time to start writing letters for real, about age four, it's best to start with a marker rather than a pencil and rather than a crayon simply for the lack of drag a marker has compared to either a pencil or a crayon. Always, always, always, always teach from top line to bottom line. Children are determined to make letters from the bottom up and this always has to be re-taught simply because well formed letters cannot be made from the bottom line.

The other thing is to teach an upper case letter to start a name and all the rest lower case letters. This also has to be re-taught and that's harder than learning the right way the first time.

Writing has a lot to do with hand strength and coordination. This is often determined by how much coloring a child does. Children who do not like to color and don't know how will have a lot more trouble with making letters than children who like to color and learn to color well.

Tiny Legos, stringing beads, and doing play that creates a structure like Tinker Toys, little blocks, little toys that need assembly or dressing will add to a child's ability to write because these activities build hand strength.

For parents who dread the coloring route at home because of the mess, the best solution is to put children at the kitchen table and that's where the color crayons and all art supplies stay.

How necessary is it that a five year old know their letters? In a world of competition, it's best that all children begin to learn their letters as soon as possible. Children love this activity. They want to know this material and enjoy the accomplishment of knowing.

A four year old who can put his or her name on his or her paper is a happier child. It's a matter of being in command or dependent. Children love being independent.

There are four great independent milestones in a child's live. The first one is toilet training, the second is reading. Start your child early and watch him grow.