Rising Kindergartner can read but doesn't know all of his ABC's

[Anonymous]

my child will be starting kindergarten in the Mont Co school system in the fall...he can read beginning books, like those Bob books and the mat tab books, but he does not know the NAMES of all the letters.

He is coming from 2 years of preschool, 1 year in play based and 1 year in montessori, montessori teaches the sounds, not the names of the letters.

How concerned should I be about this? I'm working with him, he does not seem to be picking it up, and he is "Advanced" (his teachers words) not mine, in science and math. Maybe that is where his natural abilities lie?

But I know montco focuses on reading and letters. I find it strange he can read some but doesn't know the names of letters.

[Anonymous]

I can't answer your question about the schools but my child is the same. He can read fairly well but confuses some of the letter names. I am not concerned because he'll be in a private pre-k where the focus is on phonics, which are not a problem for him.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't be too concerned at this point. I might make a game of finding various letters on a page while you are reading to him..Let's see how many A's you can find on this page!! Oh..here is a B etc... If he has some beginning reading skills he will be off to a good start for K..

[Anonymous]

Who cares? He isn't supposed to know all that. By the end of the year he and all the other kids will be in the same range. Stop worrying and enjoy these years

[Anonymous]

Learning letters is part of the kindergarten curriculum in MCPS, so no need to worry.

[Anonymous]

As long as he can associate each letter with a correlating sound, knowledge of the actual letter name is not that big a deal. I'm sure he'll pick the letter names up over the course of the year.

The letter SOUND is the more important thing, so you kid will do just fine.

[Anonymous]

Are you sure he just hasn't memorized the book? At that age, b/c I read some books quite often to my daughter, she had them memorized before she hit K.

[Anonymous]

no, I'm sure he is not memorizing. B/c I've showed him books he has never seen before and he can pick out words. They are mostly sight words, but he can recognize them.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't be concerned at all - don't give it a second thought.

My child didn't know his letters or numbers when he started K (and in fact didn't distinguish between letters and numbers). He picked it up within weeks and is now in a competitive magnet program.

Enjoy a relaxing summer.

[Anonymous]

why don't you just teach him. really, not that hard. Do a letter a night and in one month -- you're golden.

[Anonymous]

The only time where knowing the letter names is important is in spelling. If your child can already read, it sounds like it obviously impacted his ability if he doesn't know the letter names. He knows the sounds they represent which is what is important.

[Anonymous]

if he can read i wouldn't worry about it at all. my son is also in montessori...and he used identify the letters by their sounds rather than their names. that basically means he knows the letters...since he recognizes their sounds. anyway he eventually caught on to the names. wouldn't worry at all....much more important that he knows the sounds and is starting to sound out words and recognize some sight words.