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10 Bright Stars
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| Posted: Jan 28 2011 at 11:39am | IP Logged
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Hi all,
I don't know if this topic should be here or in early learning...Anyway, I have two 5 year old twin girls. (They just turned 5 in October.) I have been trying to teach them their ABC's for awhile now..beginning of the school year, and have recently been offered the generous assistance of their grandfather's help twice a week! He has been trying to get them to recognize and name the letters A-F for a few weeks now. I also try to reinforce with flashcards at home since he told me that they seem to be having trouble with the recall of just these few letters. One thing he noticed that they do is that they count in their head or on their fingers the ABC's in the song so to speak until they get to the correct letter when trying to name them after seeing a letter. He said that they should be looking at the letter and seeing it as a letter...i.e. I think he means sort of like a stamp...this is an A due to the way it is formed and how it is spacially formed. (Am I making this clear?/) They are also VERY kinectic children...always hyper...jumping...don't sit and play with toys AT ALL. They are runners, jumpers, bikers.....tumblers....So, I had them jumping up and down to say the letters as I did flash cards. Read that somewhere along the way about these sorts of learners. I don't seem to recall the other kids having trouble with recognition, but maybe the twins are just immature for their age? (Not in a bad way..just that they actually ARE.) I remember reading about sandpaper letters and more hands on approaches to learning this sort of thing, but I am not very familiar with that and have not used it in the past with the other children. Any experience with this or advice?? Can there be an issue with recognition that I do not understand??? Helps for the "active" learner???  Also, in the past, I have used sing-songey type things for the girls..not the boys...such as Sing Spell Read and Write. Would this be TOO overstimulating for children why are naturally overstimulated??? Just trying to start out correctly from the beginning with them since there are TWO of them. 
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Kim married to Bob (22y)
Mom of 11 blessings:
Bobby 19, David 17, Noah 14,
Mary 12, Gracie 10,
Isabelle and Sophia 8,
Gabrielle 6,
William Anthony 4, Joseph 3 and Luisa Marie - born in M
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Jan 28 2011 at 11:53am | IP Logged
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I think sand-paper letters would be beneficial. They don't have to be sandpaper - felt works for us - but something they can feel.
HWOT has wooden "sticks" that the child uses to build the letters as well as dough that is used to form them. Those sorts of things might help as well. Some kids have a hard time remembering just the visual image and need to "feel" how it is put together before they can remember it.
Another idea is to have the child form the letter by drawing with their finger on a cook tray filled with rice or sand. Or, use a ziplock bag filled with pudding and have her draw it on the bag.
One more - have the child paint the letters really big on an easle or draw them on a white board using a colorful marker. These are all things that will help them see the structure of the letter - how it is formed - which might help them remember it better than just seeing it.
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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hylabrook1
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| Posted: Jan 28 2011 at 1:06pm | IP Logged
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We had a Little Golden Book in which Grover from Sesame Street contorted himself into the shape of each letter - easier done by a Muppet than by a person!
Something "contortable" that could work is Wicki Sticks. Or pipe cleaners could work as well - they have very long ones at craft store if the more common ones are too small (motor skills-wise).
Or maybe, for recognition of the letters, they would like an alphabet puzzle - one of those wooden ones with a peg/handle on each piece - each piece is an entire letter. That might not be as helpful as it doesn't involve forming the letter itself, just recognizing already-made letters.
Actually, if the ordering of the letters helps them remember, I'm wondering - are you "flashing" the flash cards one at a time or laying them out in order on a table or the floor?
The other ideas I had are the same ones Becky already suggested.
Peace,
Nancy
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Jan 28 2011 at 1:38pm | IP Logged
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I know you're not asking about videos and letter sounds.. but the one thing I've had that helped my kids the most of any one thing was Leap Frog's dvd Letter Factory.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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ekbell
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| Posted: Jan 28 2011 at 6:49pm | IP Logged
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This alphabet set Child 1st Snap Letters has been very helpful with my young son.
The short lessons on the back of the cards give suggestions for helping a young child write the letters, use their hands and bodies to make the letters and other fun physical activities to help remember the letter sounds and shapes. For example one activity for the letter P is to put Packs on their backs (P is for pack and the pack also matches the bump on the P) and pretend to go hiking.
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Jan 29 2011 at 5:50am | IP Logged
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Those look really neat ekbell! 
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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hylabrook1
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| Posted: Jan 29 2011 at 7:57am | IP Logged
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That is very cool! It sounds as if the variety of associations built around the letter and the *nontraditional* ways of giving cues to remember the letter could be extremely helpful. Much less stressful than having a child keep staring at a written letter and wracking their brain to remember what its name is.
Peace,
Nancy
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Topic: spatial recognition and letters
