what age should a nearly 5 year old

[MrsDrOwenHunt]

ds is nearly 5 and starts full time school in january, he can recognise the letters in his name and a few others but not all of alphabet, should he not know more by now?

Who knows? But he'll learn them at school soon enough, so don't worry. They all learn at different rates and it's really not worth comparing them or wondering by what age they should be capable of what. Wait and see what his teachers say at your first parents evening. Just give him lots of opportunities to use letters and sounds in his play and games and lots of praise and encouragement.

no harm in teaching him them.

I agree with couldtryharder. He will get there in his own time - and you should remember that it can take boys longer to get reading (school is designed for girls really). The most important thing is that he sees letters and numbers as fun rather than a chore.

Naaaaaaaaaah. Ds is past 5 and is just learning them now in reception. He doesn't know all the letters in his name (only first 3).

You can make it fun if he's happy to do it (my ds wasn't, so I didn't push it to put him off). He is happy learning it school when everyone else is doing it!