Building letter recognition skills is a critical pre-literacy skill that early education teachers will use to evaluate the competency of your child. This skill is also considered when placing students in instructional groups, where the kids that know all of their letter names entering kindergarten go to the top reading group while the kids that don't know any will end up in the bottom group. If the school your child attends does not place students in different instructional groups based on objective literacy or pre-literacy skills, you should definitely consider finding a better instructional setting.
By the end of kindergarten (age 6-7), kids are supposed to know all of the upper-case and lower-case letter names. However, with a relatively small amount of consistent practice, almost all children can mastery the skill by the time they turn 3 years old. I started practicing letter names with my daughter when she was 20 months old. She is currently 22 months old and can name 13 upper case letters. We practice this skill for about 5-10min a day, 3-5 times per week.
Practice occurs during Anika's coloring time. We always start by practicing three new letters first. I will usually draw one letter on the paper, point to it, and tell her the letter name 2-3 times. Mastering a new letter name requires her to do two things - memorize the label for the letter and physically pronounce the letter name. Therefore, it's important for her to hear the letter name while looking at it. It's also important for her to see my mouth pronouncing the letter. After we practice naming the three new letters, we review about 5-9 letters she already knows. The amount of practice depends on her level of focus and interest at the time. Next I give her crayons to color independently for a few minutes while asking her if she wants certain colors. Then I ask her if she wants me to help her draw some letters. She almost always says yes. So we spend a couple of minutes drawing letters - beginning with the 3 new letters we are working on. After, we practice drawing 2 shapes and 2-3 objects that I want her to learn to name. Today for instance, she practiced saying and writing 3 new letters (M, G, C), we reviewed a few letter names (K, P, U, Y), drew two shapes (circle and triangle) and then practiced drawing the sun and clouds. After, I started cleaning the kitchen while she colored independently. The whole exercise only lasts about 10-15 min. Today we practiced with crayons on white paper, but other times we use the iPad application kids doodle. One of the keys to maintaining good practice routines is stopping while it is still fun.
By the end of kindergarten (age 6-7), kids are supposed to know all of the upper-case and lower-case letter names. However, with a relatively small amount of consistent practice, almost all children can mastery the skill by the time they turn 3 years old. I started practicing letter names with my daughter when she was 20 months old. She is currently 22 months old and can name 13 upper case letters. We practice this skill for about 5-10min a day, 3-5 times per week.
Practice occurs during Anika's coloring time. We always start by practicing three new letters first. I will usually draw one letter on the paper, point to it, and tell her the letter name 2-3 times. Mastering a new letter name requires her to do two things - memorize the label for the letter and physically pronounce the letter name. Therefore, it's important for her to hear the letter name while looking at it. It's also important for her to see my mouth pronouncing the letter. After we practice naming the three new letters, we review about 5-9 letters she already knows. The amount of practice depends on her level of focus and interest at the time. Next I give her crayons to color independently for a few minutes while asking her if she wants certain colors. Then I ask her if she wants me to help her draw some letters. She almost always says yes. So we spend a couple of minutes drawing letters - beginning with the 3 new letters we are working on. After, we practice drawing 2 shapes and 2-3 objects that I want her to learn to name. Today for instance, she practiced saying and writing 3 new letters (M, G, C), we reviewed a few letter names (K, P, U, Y), drew two shapes (circle and triangle) and then practiced drawing the sun and clouds. After, I started cleaning the kitchen while she colored independently. The whole exercise only lasts about 10-15 min. Today we practiced with crayons on white paper, but other times we use the iPad application kids doodle. One of the keys to maintaining good practice routines is stopping while it is still fun.
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