Letter and Number Recognition - Need What Works Best

[Anonymous]

My three and a half year old is required to learn letter(A-Z) and number (1-10) recognition in her K3 program. She has made a lot of progress this year, but is still struggling to identify some of the ABCs and letters. She can sing the ABC song all day long, but if you put a 'P' in front of her, she just might call it a 'B' or say she doesn't know. Any tips for helping her out? I know all kids learn differently, but I am willing to try anything.

[Anonymous]

Doug & Melissa wood alphabet board
Those matching puzzle piece sets with a letter on one piece and a picture on the matching piece
Flash cards from a huge set sold at Costco
Place Post-It notes on big items in the house ("D" on the Door, "R" on the refrigerator)
Start with her name ("L" Larla)
The fabulous app Endless Alphabet (also great for phonics and spelling)

Similar items available for numbers.

[Anonymous]

Leap Frog and Preschool Prep videos

[Anonymous]

Two ideas from Pinterest that have worked well for us -

Letter dance - print out all the letters and place them on the floor- play music- stop the music and call out a letter - whoever steps on it first wins the letter

Alphabet search and rescue - hide letter puzzle pieces around the house - look at the board to see which letters are missing - then go on a letter search and rescue mission

Both ideas teach without the kids realizing they are learning

[Anonymous]

Why is this a "requirement?" Sounds sort of crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is this a "requirement?" Sounds sort of crazy.

It is more of an 'expectation' or goal than a requirement. If the child is unable to recognize the letters and numbers at the end of the year, that will be noted on the child's progress report. It is part of the curriculum for K3.

[Anonymous]

Do you know that this is developmentally inappropriate? What school requires this?

[Anonymous]

Dr Seuss' ABCs is a fun read that teaches upper & lower case. The cadence of the repetition makes it catchy and easy to get.

Big B, Little b
What begins with B?
Barber baby bubbles and a bumblebee

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is this a "requirement?" Sounds sort of crazy.

It is more of an 'expectation' or goal than a requirement. If the child is unable to recognize the letters and numbers at the end of the year, that will be noted on the child's progress report. It is part of the curriculum for K3.

Then let it be noted. "This will go down on your permanent record," is a myth.

[Anonymous]

Totally inappropriate expectation! Run from this school!! A "record" for a 3 year old? Have you read any of the research on what preschoolers should be doing/learning? Don't stress your child out by using the "kill and drill" method. Your child should be playing at this age and concentrating oon social skills. Please, please do not turn your child off to a love of learning and creative expression by making him/her memorize this stuff. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Dr Seuss poster here and I'm a little confused as to why this is so "inappropriate" - and perhaps I'm naive since my kid learned these things without an intentional teaching on our part, or memorization drills, so maybe you can give me more context -

but PK3 is made up of incoming 3 yos who turn 4 by the end of the year, right? Don't most of them already recognize the vast majority of the letters of the alphabet, even if they can't name each & every one? And recognizing numbers 1 through 10 is just a matter of recognition - if you've been reading number books for years, then you would be able to sight recognize most of them by age 4, right? I understand that reliably counting up to ten objects is more complicated and may take more time, but that's not what OP described.

I would expect that the vast majority of kids who've had circle time at preschool and/or story time with the parents on a daily basis from age 2 would be able to recognize letters & the first few numbers by the time they turn four. We're talking about kids who've been attending preschool. We're not talking about kids who've had no exposure to books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dr Seuss poster here and I'm a little confused as to why this is so "inappropriate" - and perhaps I'm naive since my kid learned these things without an intentional teaching on our part, or memorization drills, so maybe you can give me more context -

but PK3 is made up of incoming 3 yos who turn 4 by the end of the year, right? Don't most of them already recognize the vast majority of the letters of the alphabet, even if they can't name each & every one? And recognizing numbers 1 through 10 is just a matter of recognition - if you've been reading number books for years, then you would be able to sight recognize most of them by age 4, right? I understand that reliably counting up to ten objects is more complicated and may take more time, but that's not what OP described.

I would expect that the vast majority of kids who've had circle time at preschool and/or story time with the parents on a daily basis from age 2 would be able to recognize letters & the first few numbers by the time they turn four. We're talking about kids who've been attending preschool. We're not talking about kids who've had no exposure to books.

I don't think its weird to make a note on a chart of whether the kid knows most letters. It depends what the school is doing with it. If they're actually making any type of pedagogical decisions based on the fact that a 4 year old can't tell upper case I from lower case l, then there's a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr Seuss poster here and I'm a little confused as to why this is so "inappropriate" - and perhaps I'm naive since my kid learned these things without an intentional teaching on our part, or memorization drills, so maybe you can give me more context -

but PK3 is made up of incoming 3 yos who turn 4 by the end of the year, right? Don't most of them already recognize the vast majority of the letters of the alphabet, even if they can't name each & every one? And recognizing numbers 1 through 10 is just a matter of recognition - if you've been reading number books for years, then you would be able to sight recognize most of them by age 4, right? I understand that reliably counting up to ten objects is more complicated and may take more time, but that's not what OP described.

I would expect that the vast majority of kids who've had circle time at preschool and/or story time with the parents on a daily basis from age 2 would be able to recognize letters & the first few numbers by the time they turn four. We're talking about kids who've been attending preschool. We're not talking about kids who've had no exposure to books.

I don't think its weird to make a note on a chart of whether the kid knows most letters. It depends what the school is doing with it. If they're actually making any type of pedagogical decisions based on the fact that a 4 year old can't tell upper case I from lower case l, then there's a problem.

I'm guessing that in PK4, they'll have maybe two groups - the kids that are already reading a little bit and the kids who are still working on letter recognition. Maybe the note in the file will simply let next year's teacher know who needs to work on what.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you know that this is developmentally inappropriate? What school requires this?

I agree. This is strange.

[Anonymous]

It worries me that a parent of any preschooler feels the need to tutor him. That is what is meant by "kill and drill". Most children do learn letters and numbers through natural exposure (books, signs, print in the environment like newspapers and food labels) and that is great. The problem with sitting and drilling is that the children can absorb and repeat anything but without context there is no real retention. Children learn best in preschool through investigation and play that is facilitated by a caring adult. Please consider this rather than taking a chance at squashing your child's love of learning by drilling.