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A good friend of mine recently asked me what I have done to teach my four year old the alphabet. And really, I cannot think of one thing I have done that worked over the others. Honestly, we used to watch a lot of Super Why and I think that did teach her more than I realized, but I didn’t want a TV show to do the ALL of the teaching… 😉 We sang the alphabet song a lot. I have an old alphabet banner hanging in her closet door. (Compliments of Grandma who is a 1st grade teacher.) But the one website I frequent the most for helps in my preschool endeavors is No Time for Flashcards dot com. Another good friend directed me there last summer. It is hands down the most complete and well rounded resource for me to draw from. You can search by topic. By age. By whatever- and if you have the gumption and time, you can make a lot of these activities turn out fabulous. All last winter for our preschool time I would let my daughter choose which letter she wanted to learn about and then do an activity based around that letter as found on that website. It was easy. It didn’t take too much time. (Because we all know how long is a toddler’s attention span is!) And it was effective! I found that the activities were more effective when I let her take the lead. I was just there to facilitate and pour the glue. (When she lets me!)
Anyway, this week a post showed up on No Time for Flashcards that was a perfect answer to my friend’s question: How do you teach the letters? Well? I’d say one at a time, and through simple activities that involve play and independent thinking. And lastly, I’d tell anyone asking the same question that it is okay to take it slow. Nobody has set a solid deadline for a kid to learn their ABC’s. It’ll come, so patience is key and providing opportunity for learning is also key.
Check out the website and I hope you love it like I do!
If you cannot find something on this post about teaching the alphabet, then you’re just crazy! 🙂
Have fun!
PS: who else is singing the alphabet song now?!
The Sycamore 
I love to sing the ABC song with the kids I teach swimming to while they are floating on their back (not always a favorite of children, but singing the ABC’s helps). The best part is at the end…. “Next time won’t you swim with me!” or… “Next time won’t you float with me!”
wish I would have known about this site over 21 weeks ago when we started our little hatchlings preschool. just have 5 letters left before we’ve gone through the entire alphabet. luckily, its never too late to keep learning and reviewing and learning more. thanks for the link! i’m 111% positive we’ll be visiting it frequently.