learnign first letters - which type and suggestions please

[stressed2007]

I have a toddler at home that is beginning to pull books out, sits and pretends to read though she has no idea how to. I thought I would introduce some "letters" around the house such as magnetic letters on the fridge etc if she is interested.

Ok this may be a dense question but do I start with lower or upper case letters or both? When they start to learn to read properly are children taught one type of letters first?

Also does anyone have any suggestions how to introduce letters/reading generally to a child so it is seen as fun and not learning.

Thanks very much.

no specific answers to your questions but with my dd(4 in June) i got her a few books with the alphabet in and eg's of words associated with them. THen she had a puzzle. I didn't really teach her but she knew them all plus examples by 3-3.5. I don't think you should teach at too young an age. I also pointed out letters and made them relevant eg, d is for daddy, m for mummy and g for georgia(her name)

Hi my toddler did same recently and is finding it fun to learn letters by using all her friends names - a for anna etc. They should/can be introduced/learn upper and lower at the same time. It will all sink in as and when they are ready. Learning the sounds (phonics) is as important as recognizing the shape I think.

start with lower case, and maybe try to catch fun with phonics on cbeebies, it will give you a few pointers. If you're typing them go for something like 'comic sans' which i use a lot in my teaching materials as it is easy for the children to read and resembles handwriting.
some people go for letterland where all the letters are made into characters like annie apple, bouncy ben, etc - although personally I don't use it as I think that children are better learning letters sounds rather than a character name iyswim.
look for initial sounds in familiar things, play games like I Spy, look at things around with print on and look at the title of your child's books. mine even like the argos and woollies catalogues and will try to spell out words in there. Perhaps get some flash cards too, and sift them so that you start with words like bed, dog, bus and stuff, short and logical words with clear initial sounds.
HTH!

v tech alphabet desk thing is lots of fun. Is age 2+. Also games like I spy, maybe when a bit older though!

v tech alphabet desk thing is lots of fun. Is age 2+. Also games like I spy, maybe when a bit older though!

sorry x post and doubled up somehow!

When my dd was younger I bought some letters(both upper and lower case) that I could put in the bath. She used to have fun in the bath putting them around the sides. First of all she would try to put them in order and as she got older she would spell out little words. She also liked the magnetic letters and alphabetic jigsaws.

Children need to recognise both capitals and lower case letters but if you teach your child to write please don't teach all capitals.
Comic sans is recommended for dyslexic children and adults but most schools now use Sassoon font.

Teach lower case first definitely. Teach upper case when the lower case if firmly established. Some kids will have absolutely no problem at all learning both at the same time but many will and if your child is one of the 25% of kids who struggle learning to read, they may end up very confused. It is just easier to keep it simple at the beginning. Lower case is much more useful. If you think about the sentence that you are reading now, only one letter "I" is upper case and all the rest is lower case.

As someone else as pointed out, be aware that certain lower case letters (a, g) can be different shapes according to the typeface used.

Also, make sure you teach letter sounds, not letter names.

You don't have to focus too much on teaching individual letters and sounds at this point - as a toddler it won't mean an awful lot. You can make labels for things around the house - chair, table, sofa etc, and point them out in a casual way. You can then make it into a game - take off one or two labels and get your dc to put them back on the right object. Make cards with other words on that dc is likely to know - mummy, milk, whatever is appropriate to you. You can play a game matching these up with pictures.

Read lots of books together, and run your finger under the words as you read sometimes. You are just getting your toddler used to the idea that these squiggles have meaning, with no pressure involved. When you want to introduce individual letters, teach the sound, and point out that it is in one of the words your toddler will already know - this letter makes the sound "mmmm" which is at the start of mummy.

Why not make a book together with sheets of card, hole punched and then tied together with string? You can make one page for each letter of the alphabet, and cut out pictures from magazines together to add to the pages.

If you are really interested in teaching reading early, and in a fun way, try to find Glenn Doman's book "Teach your baby to read". I am a firm believer in the philosophy that children learn things easily and through play before the age of five. I could read from the age of two, all through playing games, and it has been a huge advantage to me. Have fun, don't put any pressure on, and it will probably come naturally to you both. HTH!

Friend who is primary teacher pointed out ( too late for us!) that when teaching the letter sounds of n and m, it should be nnnnn rather than 'nuh' and mmmmmm rather than 'muh'. Now she is starting to read words by spelling them out, I can see the point.

My daughter.. not the primary teacher..