Learning Our Alphabet

After attending the conference on literacy, Drew's Dad and I have been trying to work with both Drew and his sister on not only learning their alphabet, but learning the sound(s) that goes with each of the letters when reading. We have been working on the alphabet for quite some time with our older daughter, but it never occurred to us to teach her the letter sound while learning the alphabet! Duh!

Drew's Dad came up with "Letter of the Day," where each morning we put a letter of the alphabet on an object inside our home. We talk about the letter being a big letter "D", vs. a little letter "d", and then we discuss the sound(s) the letter makes and discuss different words that start with that letter. (Since taking this picture we have added the lower case letters as well; it is important for children to learn all of the ways a letter can look.)

We now have a "T" on the television, "W" on the window, "R" on the refrigerator, "L" on the lamp, "D" on the door, "F" on the fireplace, etc. Drew enjoys taking us all on a walk around the house pointing out each of the letters and naming the object they are on. He remembers them quite well, and can say the sound of each letter when asked.

This just might work.