Alphabetic Awareness

The earliest stage of letter recognition is when children begin to recognize the initial letter of their own name, and eventually all the letters of their name, and that letters have a corresponding sound . The child eventually learns that it is necessary to view all the letters in the word (his/her name) and not just the initial letter (Ferreiro & Teberosky, 1982) .

“As children become better acquainted with printed forms of words and letters, by learning the alphabet, having books and signs read to them, and attempting to print letters, they pay closer attention to print. This gives them opportunities to notice characteristics of print, for example, the same word can appear in different places and some letters have particular sounds that are repeated in words” (Teale & Sulzby, 1992).

“Learning letter name and letter sound correspondences have been suggested to be a critical first step in the reading process and a significant predictor of early reading performance” (Schatsshneider, Fletcher, Francis, Carlson, & Foorman, 2004).

Recommended Reading

K is for Kissing a Kool Kangaroo, Andreae, G.
The Animal ABC, Baker, L. A.
Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z, Ehlert,L.
Alphabears, Hague, K.
A, B, See! Hoban, T.
Arf! Beg! Catch! Dogs from A to Z, Horenstein, H.
ABC Pop, Isadora, R.
On Market Street, Lobel, A.
I Spy Little Letters, Mazollo, J.
Alphabeep: A Zipping, Zooming ABC, Pearson, D.
Alligators All Around: An Alphabet, Sendak, M.
Dr. Seuss’s ABC, Seuss, Dr.
Zoophabets, Tallon, R.
The Z Was Zapped, Van Allsburg, C.

About The Author
Recommended Web Sites
References

Busy Buzzing Bees Present a Teachable Moment for Parents and Caregivers of Prekindergarten Children to Learn About Bees and Alphabetic Awareness!

Scarecrows, Apples and Alphabetic Awareness – Having Fun Learning With Your Prekindergarten Child!

Activities

Reading alphabet books together is an opportunity to identify familiar letters. As you read a story such as Dr. Seuss’ ABC, ask your child to find letters in his/her name. Practice saying the sound of each letter in your child’s name.

Play I Spy and find specific letters in your child’s name inside your home, while taking a bus ride, dining in a restaurant, or shopping in the mall.

Practice unscrambling letters by placing all the letters in your child’s name on the table (using plastic letter magnets, individual letters on index cards, or letters cut out of foam) and invite your child to place the letters in their correct sequence. Then add the letters of their family members’ or pets’ names to unscramble.

Play a word game during a car or bus ride where the first person says a word and the next person says a word beginning with the last letter of the previous person’s word.