How to Teach the Alphabet and Make Letters Stick

Wondering how to teach the alphabet? Preschool and kindergarten teachers can find all they need to know about teaching the alphabet right here.

How to Teach the Alphabet

Learning the alphabet is the foundational skill that will set kids up for reading success. In the beginning, it’s important that kids recognize both uppercase and lowercase letters, as well as the sounds that they make.

Afterward, they are able to begin combining letters into words, words into sentences, and sentences into stories and experiences. Since the alphabet is fundamental to literacy, it’s important to give kids the tools they need to be successful.

When teaching the alphabet, it’s important to work on both letter recognition and phonics.

• Kids need to differentiate between each letter, using the different shapes to make this distinction.
• They also need to match uppercase and lowercase letters together.
• Finally, they must understand the fundamentals of phonics. Knowing the sounds that letters make is important because this knowledge is used when reading.

In order to know how to teach the alphabet, be ready to teach both letter recognition and phonics. Here are the important things to remember:

How to Teach Letter Recognition

Letter recognition plays the most vital part in how to teach the alphabet. It has to do with more than just recognizing the individual form of a letter. More importantly, it has to do with being able to name the letter and reproduce it (write it on paper). Kids should differentiate between letters, giving each letter a unique meaning which will assist them when they progress to reading.

In order to help kids master this foundational skill, make their learning meaningful and engaging. There are many ways to do this but a few of the top activities are as follows:

• Meaningful letters – To make learning the alphabet meaningful, teach letters that have a special meaning to kids. This can include letters from their names or even their friend’s name. Connecting the letters to something important to them will help kids remember more easily.
• Tracing letters – Tracing letters is a hands-on way for kids to learn the individual shape of each letter. Activities can be simple, such as tracing letters on a worksheet or in a coloring book. Activities can also be more interactive, including “writing” letters in sand or shaving cream. No matter what kind of “canvas” is used, tracing and writing letters will make kids more familiar with each letter’s individual shape.

• Letter matching – A big part of recognizing letters is being able to match uppercase letters with lowercase letters. There are plenty of engaging ways to do this. Puzzles are one way, with a lowercase puzzle piece that needs to find its uppercase match. Other activities include matching magnet letters or alphabet cards.

How to Teach Phonics

In addition to letter recognition, phonics plays a major part in how to teach the alphabet. Phonics has to do with the individual sounds that each letter makes. Phonics is necessary to give letters meaning and to distinguish the difference between letters. Phonemic awareness helps kids to know that not only do letters have different shapes, they also have different sounds.

As kids start to master phonics basics, they learn that there are also letter combinations that make entirely new sounds. Just like with letter recognition, it’s important to use hands-on, engaging activities that will make phonics meaningful. These are just a few activities to teach phonemic awareness:

• I Spy – Kids love games, so combine the love of play with learning! Play a round of phonetic I Spy. To play this game, simply use objects around the room, such as “I spy, with my little eye, something that starts with the sound ‘d’.” Kids enjoy guessing which object it is, and shouting out all of the options.
• Alphabet Song – Sing! It is a great way to making learning letters memorable. An alphabet songbook allows kids to use an interactive beat to sing letter names and sounds. The illustrations also serve as visuals to help kids remember which sounds each letter makes. Add in the fact that singing is FUN, making it a great way to teach the alphabet.

• Picture cards – Visual aids serve an important purpose in teaching kids about the alphabet. Choose cards in which an image is paired with a particular letter sound. This will help kids confidently say the letter sounds. Picture cards can even be turned into a game for even more hands-on fun. Simply have a set of letter cards to go with the picture cards and play a game of memory match.

• Alphabet books – Reading to kids helps them learn the alphabet! Alphabet books, in particular, are ideal for teaching letters and sounds. This is because alphabet books typically have a page dedicated to each letter of the alphabet. This list of alphabet books gives great suggestions for books that might be appropriate for a home or classroom library.

Both letter recognition and phonics play an important role in learning the alphabet. Kids will need a solid grasp on both skills in order to truly have mastered the alphabet. Once the fundamentals have been learned, kids will have a solid foundation with which to learn how to read.

Resources for Teaching the Alphabet

The activities in this post are available in the following resource.

ALPHABET ACTIVITIES MEGA BUNDLE

This Alphabet Activities Bundle includes 17 different alphabet resources in one giant bundle with over 700 pages of alphabet activities. Great for teaching children about identifying and forming the letters of the alphabet, learning what starts with each letter, and building their phonemic awareness.

This is perfect for Pre-K, preschool, and Kindergarten students learning their letters, but could also be used with first graders needing review with their handwriting and letter sounds or by parents of young children or for homeschooling of young children.

Try the FREE Letter A Activities

Help kids learn the letter A with this sample pack featuring tons of engaging activities they will love!

Grab the 19-page FREE letter A activities pack by clicking the image below.

Alphabet Materials

Use these activities and tools to teach the alphabet in hands-on ways.

Learn More About Teaching the Alphabet

Alphabet Books

Letter Recognition

Teaching the Alphabet

ABC Learning Videos

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