Monday, April 1, 2013

#AtoZChallenge The Alphabet

For this year's challenge, my goal is to focus more on the activities, lessons, and materials in the Montessori classroom. What better way to kick off an alphabetical challenge than to talk about the alphabet?

Every year, when new parents come to visit the classroom, they boast about their child's ability to recite the ABCs, especially through song. Okay, that is a start for later learning, but it doesn't mean that the child is a genius who knows all of her letters and sounds. It only means that the ability to memorize and recite is present. She can't necessarily connect those sounds and names to actual letters, yet. Sorry to be blunt, but it's true.

They always want to know what to do at home, to help their child continue to learn the ABCs. It is always so hard to convince them that they need to first focus on the letter SOUNDS and not the names. That is when I show them how we use the sandpaper letters. I give examples about how letter names are more confusing and mess up the intial sounds learning process. For example, the name of the letter C always makes kids say /s/. W always makes them say /d/. Y always makes them say /w/. English is already confusing enough, as it is!

I also then explain the process of how the sandpaper letters lead to sound sorting activities, and then putting together the moveable alphabet to spell words. I adore the moveable alphabet for this reason. It's like all of those spelling games that we like as adults. Take a bunch of scrambled letters and put them together to make words. Scrabble, anyone? Only you have a much more defined path to take with your words. You can have fun taking away one letter and adding a new one to create new words. And how wonderful is it for the environment, to not be writing out sounds on endless worksheets?

I have noticed more of a demand to teach children the letter names, in addition to the phonetic sounds. I was taught to wait to do that until after the child has mastered all of the sounds. Some are doing it simultaneously, especially as more and more children are coming to school knowing their letter names.

So tell me a few things. How do you explain the alphabet to your parents? Do you use a moveable alphabet in one box or that huge one that takes up two boxes? Do you teach the names as well as the sounds? What are your favorite alphabet activities?

12 comments:

  1. You said: English is already confusing enough, as it is!

    I call that job security! I teach workshops on the fundamentals of English.

    Do you have the book Mysteries of the Alphabet by Marc-Alain Ouaknin? Lots of history and trivia about the alphabet.

    MM

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    1. I am not familiar with that book, but sounds like it is right up my alley!

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  2. Great way to start the A-Z!

    Happy A to Z!
    (I'm doing EIGHT blogs. Whew.)
    Here's one:
    A is for Absent - Rhymed Acrostics from A to Z

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  3. Sandpaper letters are great! I wish someone would have used them to help teach me. I like pointing out words while I am around the town with my kids like market signs, street signs, etc.

    My favorite alphabet activity is Boggle!

    Kids Math Teacher

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  4. I teach reading and writing at the high school level, but I am always interested in how early childhood teachers build the foundation that eventually makes it into my classroom. Teach the sounds before the letters: this makes a lot of sense now. I won't be afraid of this approach now that my son is 2 and a half.

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  5. I teach reading and writing at the high school level, but I am always interested in how early childhood teachers build the foundation that eventually makes it into my classroom. Teach the sounds before the letters: this makes a lot of sense now. I won't be afraid of this approach now that my son is 2 and a half.

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  6. Excellent stuff.
    My niece's daughter used to ask for...
    a tup of tea in a Barbie (i.e. pink) tup
    It took a long time to move her on from there, I think mainly cos we didn't know HOW to teach her to do it properly!
    I'll be popping back :)

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  7. Visiting from the the A-Z challenge and I am so glad I found your blog.

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  8. My son went to a Montessori nursery school and I wished there were schools through high school. He loved it and has struggled ever since. What a fab way of learning. Love your blog.

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    1. There are actually Montessori high schools! Just a few exist, though. I attended Montessori through the 6th grade. They didn't go any farther at that time. I wish they would have!

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  9. When I went to my eldest child's school for a meeting, just before she started there, her teacher to be told us parents not to teach our children the alphabet as they had a new technique which our way would have confused them with. It was the Jolly Phonics method and started with the the T not A. I did think 'ooops' as I'd already taught the alphabet song to her by then but made sure not to each my second child before beginning school a couple of years later.

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    1. Interesting. I have never heard of that method!

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