Help with ABC?

Question

does anyone know of anyways to help a 6 year old to learn her ABC. she does not know all of them. she cant say them or name them in print. please help. she is going back in kindergarten agine and i want her to know her ABC.

Answer 1

The classic alphabet song is to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star".  I would try singing it to her many times a day (when she gets up in the morning, when she goes down for bed at night, when you are driving in the car, when you are stuck in line at the store, etc).  She will eventually pick it up through sheer repetition.

As for reading them, there are 2 suggestions:  Just read them to her through flash cards that have the letters written on them or get (or make) a chart that has the entire alphabet on it and point to each letter as you sing it in the alphabet song.

As far as learning both upper and lower at the same time, I tend to shy away from it and only teach the upper case first.  That way the child has one definite image to hook the letter name onto.  After she is comfortable with all the names for the uppercase, I would move onto the lower case letters.  (I suppose it doesn't really matter which is first, upper or lower, but I tend to think the upper case are much easier to tell apart.)

Answer 2

Zoo phonics and The Letter People are two great curriculum's that pair up songs and activities with learning the letter names and sounds. Practice, practice, practice.

Answer 3

Work with her, have a letter of the day that you find places, and use allot. If the letter of the day is P I might have the child play with purple paint on the patio.

You can also find CDs of just alphabet songs. You can pick up an alphabet poster "bulletin board set" like teachers have for your wall at home. (these are found at teacher stores or you can try http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/

Answer 4

Have you tried teaching in groups first?

Maybe abcd first. Make sure she knows all of them by repeating it as you you would hear it the song.

Then efg, and do the same thing.

hijk... lmnop... qrs... tuv... wx... y and z

Then put them all together.

Answer 5

Well, don't put too much pressure on your daughter. That will make her less apt to learn. Start with letter games and start playing them often. Music and learning go hand and hand. Make it a game in the grocery store, When looking for a certain item, tell her the first letter in the item that you are looking for and see if she can find the product. Make cutouts of the alphabet and tape it to her wall. Also, something that I do with my 4year olds, is that we have a writing tablet and I put the letters in highlighter and have them trace over the letters and then try to write them without the highlighted letter. But everything is a game and practice makes perfect. So go over it a hundred times a day.

Answer 6

Tech her the song or play games with letters ands try to let her guess.  I fell bad for her

Answer 7

I believe that repetition is the key for kids that age, it does not have to be for a long time every day, but it needs to be every day. I use flashcards, you can even make your own out of 3x5 cards. Write the upper case on one set and the lower case on another. Work on one set at a time, then mix once they know them all. We set them up like a memory game, it makes it a little more fun. Have her flip one over and say it, after a while she will know on her own, we also associate words with the letters, F is for fish etc.  I also hold them in my hand like a deck of cards and let her draw one out.

There is also an Alphabet Bingo from Rose Art that is a great fun way to help them learn their ABC's. My sister got it at a store like Wal-Mart etc.

There is also a great video by Richard Scary, about ABC's my kids loved.

But I truly believe repetition, or working on a daily basis, even weekends is the most beneficial. And if she gets them wrong, tell her the correct one and go on, never get angry or shame her. If consistent you will see a big change in a matter of a couple weeks.

Answer 8

Maybe you try this website. I really like it for learning the alphabet and reading.

http://www.starfall.com/

Answer 9

You may want to consider having your child evaluated to see if there are any learning disabilities.  Don't panic-- I'm not suggesting that there is anything wrong, but as the mother of an autistic child who is mainstreamed in public school, I had to take the bull by the horns to prevent my son being labeled a troublemaker.  If your child has problems that are not handled properly in the early years, you will surely be dealing with behavioral issues later on.

Answer 10

Does she have a problem picking other things up? If she hasnt learned her alphabet at age 6, she may have a learning disability. Talk to a counselor at school ot a specialist in the area.

Either way, there are some fantastic toys out there that recite the alphabet. Anything with music is a plus! Music makes things easier to memorize, think School House Rock!

Answer 11

First of all, is English the primary language spoken in your home? If it is, your daughter should know her alphabet by now. Do you know the alphabet song?

Even if you don't, make a set of flash cards, each with the capital and small letter, one letter per card. Sing a tune that you know slowly, and hold up each card as its note  is sung. Kids learn memorization more easily when the lesson is set to music. Make sure you have the lower case letters with the upper; knowing the lower case is required in Kindergarten.

Answer 12

barney has a song that may help, try to find it and sing it with her

Answer 13

find something within their environment that will help. a great activity is getting alphabet cereal having her sort A's, B's, etc.  another activity is get a big letter (you can make one, or find them at Lakeshorelearning.com)  and have her put something on the letter, such as A's, find some ant stickers. after each letter hang it on her wall so that she will always see her craft and learn at the same time.

Answer 14

Use environmental print.  She will recognize symbols first, but you can use them to teach her the letters.  Example:  show her the stop sign on the corner and tell her it says stop.  She probably already recognizes that symbol.  Point out the letters s-t-o-p.  Find those letters in other places and say "Look!  It says South Street!  See those S's?  Just like in Stop!"  She will probably catch on very quickly to this little game and might find it more fun than drills, paper work, or repetitious songs.  Every child learns differently and you just have to find what works for her.  

Also, have you had her vision and hearing checked?  If she's mildly impaired, you might not notice, but it could affect her perception enough to make learning difficult.

Answer 15

first of all ask her to recite the alphabets..........note down the alphabets c misses .........write those alphabets in the places where she often luks.....this is the way my mum thought

Answer 16

go at it a letter at a time. don't move on until your sure she has the letter. then after every five letter or so go back and review. repetition is great.

Answer 17

Try this link. Kids love it and you get to spend time doing it with her.

http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/index/...

Answer 18

I always tell people about the video called "The Letter Factory" by the same company that makes Leap Pad.  My little girl loved it.  By 18 months,  she knew her alphabet and sounds for each letter.  I know that sounds young but it is true.  People would ask how much time I spent working with her.  I would honestly say none!  It was the video.  I taught at an elementary school at that time.  She would sometimes go with me to the school for a little while of the mornings and visit the kindergarten room to let them quiz her on her letters and sounds!  

After a year of kindergarten and still not knowing most of the alphabet I am sure you are concerned about her.  I would talk with my pediatrician about this.  Sometimes there is a hearing or vision problem that can easily be corrected and thus help the child to succeed.

There are quite a few good answers so far to your question.  There isn't one thing that works for everychild.  Most likely with the use of a few different methods, your child will be an ABC expert before you know it!

Answer 19

The hand held leapster and the game "letters on the loose"

Both my kids LOVE this game!  It teaches uppercase and lower case ABC's, and you practice writing them on the screen AND signs a cute little song about the sound each letter makes! Its a great game and my kids have learned alot from this game and also "kindergarten" and "numbers on the run"  The leapster is about $60 and each game is about $25 but if you can afford it-it is SO worth it!!!

good luck!   =)