How did you teach the alphabet?

[ThreeLittleDuckies]

My little one is about to turn 4 and has just started being interested in letters, so I'm going to start teaching her the alphabet. I know they'll teach her when she starts school but she is showing an interest now!
Do I teach lowercase first, or upper and lowercase at the same time? I can't remember how I did it in school!
Thanks!

I never bothered as it’s bad enough when they start school and have to do it. But usually schools now teach them phonetically, so by the sounds they make, not by the same of the letter. So ah, buh, cuh, duh...rather than A B C. They teach mostly lower case and upper case just gets picked up as they learn to read. There truly is no point though as there’s no real advantage before the start of school. Handwriting would be good to learn, how to write her name and use a pen well, and lots of reading.

Fantastic that your little one is showing signs and you've picked up on it. We often rely on teachers to do way too much and parental guidance can only help your child. Unfortunately, teachers end up dedicating a good amount of time to behaviour management these days. Especially in the later years. Getting ahead if there is an interest in your child could help them be more self-directed learners later.

I suggest using flash cards. I find cards with no illustration will help keep focus on the letter's appearance. I would have assumed upper case letters as I find them more easy to write. Lower case probably helps with reading books. Phonetically yes.

Good luck

So ah, buh, cuh, duh...rather than A B C

Have a look on YouTube for videos that show you how to pronounce the phonemes correctly otherwise your setting her up to mispronounce at school - you avoid adding the ‘uh’ at the end of each sound so it’s just a sharp ‘b’ ‘c’ ‘d’ etc. Otherwise I would just start by singing the alphabet - make it fun. Then she’ll inadvertently learn the letter names. And maybe start with the letters in her name. I would go lower case first.

Please do teach her if she’s showing interest, you don’t have to wait until she starts school!

I’d go with singing the alphabet song, and lower case letters. Children do need to know both letter names and letter sounds (phonics). As PP says, make sure you are pronouncing the sounds correctly - it is not ‘cuh’ With an ‘uh’ sound on the end, it’s very short just ‘c’, the sound the letter actually makes (cat is not pronounced cuhatuh). As above, YouTube videos will help.

Practicing writing using whatever implement she likes will be great too - focus on her name first.

Watch the alphablocks if it's still on tv.

Education starts at home, not when they start school. Just like everything else, when they are interested they want to do it.

How did we do it
Reading loads of things, not just books.
Fridge magnets and the bath alphabet
When out and about if they said look tree or whatever, I would say things like yes, it's a t-t-tree and tree begins with a t. And yes look on youtube how to say them properly. Phonics song is a good place to start.
Writing started with their own name and family members names, including mum, dad etc.

Make it fun, that's the important bit. And of course lots of praise.

What do you mean exactly? Saying the letters,or the sounds the letter makes, or recognising the letter written, or writing it? Is teach saying the letters by singing the and song. For saying the sounds, jolly phonics is very good, but I think there are different phonics methods so might be worth finding out which the local school us. My son liked me to write the alphabet in both upper and lower case, alphablocks on YouTube or other alphabet videos.

Watch Alpha blocks on you tube

With both of my dc we didn't focus on it particularly but when put and about wild notice letters for example in the lift can you find the g and press it for me? G is for grandad, girl etc and get them to tell me. My daughter's name begins with T show she loves spotting all the of the Ts. Tesco is a good place fire this! She is also just 4 and know law that that there are big letters (capitals) for names and little letters for the rest of the word for example she knows the B for her brother's name and b are different. It's also a useful distraction when we're eating out to look for the letters she recognised on menus etc.

Both my kids knew their letters before they started school but we never made a conscious effort to teach them. It happened naturally through playing games, matching puzzles with letters, reading stories, drawing, singing songs, games on the iPad etc.

I didn't teach the alphabet, I used Jolly Phonics so started with the letters s a t p i n and then added more.

It's much more important to focus on the sounds of the language and the code we use to write them, than it is to teach the alphabet as a list (esp as there are only 24 letters on the alphabet, even though there are about 44 sounds)

Unlimited YouTube. Mine surprised me by being able to name all his letters at just over 2, I didn’t teach him, at just turned three he seems to be picking up the phonic sounds.

We had lots of YouTube songs and a peppa pig alphabet book.

Primary teacher here.

Please don't!

Most people are not trained to teach phonics. There is no need before school age. Phase 1 of Letters and Sounds is all about listening for rhythm and rhyme, identifying a range of sounds in everyday life, enjoying books for pleasure. Just focus on this.

Reafing your child one book (or more!) a day, singing songs, talking and playing simple games like Simon Says are the best way to prepare them for school.

My DCs could both read fluently by end of year R and even (particularly?!) as a teacher, I didn't teach them phonics at home. Let the teacher do it.

Lots of lovely ideas here!

I would also agree it's lovely to look at the letters. It's difficult to pronounce the phonics properly without adding extra sounds so I'd leave that but focus on the letters. Schools have debates over whether to phonic or not, which program they will use if they are using them, so it's easy enough to deal with when they start school.

Reading, singing, rhymes, alphabet books are the best just now. There's a blogger called Five Minute Mum who has great games. Some of them are for learning letters and numbers and they're all fun.

I'd also leave stuff out for mark making (and pencil control patterns) so they get the idea that reading and writing is for communication. Write notes to each other

Thank you, lots of ideas here! I want too teach her the letters in terms of what they look like and how to write them, happy to leave phonics! She pretends to write shopping lists and books.
She's well passed the mark making stage and does proper drawings. (Aren't most 4 year olds?) We already do plenty of reading and singing.

Primary teacher here.

Plenty of others here replying too I’m sure (one at least). Nothing wrong with exploring letters and the alphabet before school if a child is showing interest. Just like any other topic of learning really. Parents don’t need to hold back on teaching/learning with their children because they’re ‘not trained’ to do so. What a sad thought...

I taught them all wrong with eldest

A was Ay not Ah etc.

She really struggled with phonics but is now a competent and avid reader. I will teach my other two phonetically, but not sure they will be interested and will be in substantial nursery hours from quite early so probably will learn there more than at home.

Lower case phonics.

Teaching her to write is more problematic than teaching reading, as some schools immediately teach entrance and/or exit flicks on letters, and other don't. Either way if doing it you must make sure she is forming letters correctly, not just making them look correct.

If you know what school they are going to, check what phonics scheme they use and what they do in yR for letter formation.

Do not teach letter names. Some can cope, some can't, and you won't know which your child is in advance.

I kind of tried with older DC but it was a waste of time. School did it well, not me.

Teach the sounds and general knowledge to help depth of reading later on.

Everything you can teach a child before they start school is a benefit. They will have covered sounds in nursery as well. There is no wrong way.
The higher a child enters Reception class the higher the expectation for that child will be and vice versa for the lower they start.

Give your child the widest education and enrichment you can in the first 5 years and it will make a massive difference.

As pp has mentioned YouTube is good, my ds can recognise letters and knows all the letter names and we're learning phonics by saying A says ah, ah ah ah apple, ant. He's also trying to copy writing letters too, he's almost 4.

my ds can recognise letters and knows all the letter names and we're learning phonics

Based purely on a few years of listening to readers in Reception I would really recommend that if you are going to do stuff at home you focus first on phonics and only later on letter names. Some children can cope with learning the name and the sound together, others just find it confusing, you don't know which your child will be.

@Bluewavescrashing wow.

I am curious.., are teachers the top tier of experts we have in the world?

How does your job title validate your opinion? I'd like to see reference to research papers to back up any claim someone connects their job title to.

@Pinkblueberry totally agree with you.