pandaclara
New member
My daughter is 3 years old. She can recognise the letters but can't memorize them in sequence. My hubby insists her to sing ABC song everyday. She is frustrated when she can't sing LMNOP. How can I help her?
Should a 3-yr-old child know A thru' Z???
- Thread starter pandaclara
- Start date
I don't know if a 3-year-old should absolutely be able to do that. In the States we begin kindergarten at 5-years-old and by the end of kindergarten we know our ABCs and some simple words. I wouldn't worry if doesn't know her ABCs well at this point.
These are my suggestions for getting the ABCs to be more a part of your daughter's life. Read BOOKS--that is the number one way to boost your child's early literacy. We read books with my son every single night. I just bought this great book this week from the Commercial Press for about $30 HKD:
Elephant Alphabet (Animal Pals Early Learning Series), Animal Pals Early Learning Series, Gene Yates, Book - Barnes & Noble
I also recommend this TV show which you can find online or on YouTube:
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW1og3lh57k"]YouTube- Word World - Full Episode Part 1/2- Runaway O (Cat Nap) WordWorld[/nomedia]
My son is really excited about words and letters after watching this show and actually can point out different letters in a word.
I wouldn't get too caught up in making sure your daughter can say the ABCs in order at this point. Many children are "mixed up" about words and letter order. When I was really little my teacher thought I had dyslexia because I would spell everything backward--but eventually I "grew out of it" and now I am quite good with words and letters (journalist) so don't stress yourself over it.
Remember, at this stage, learning should be fun and not forced--if you start forcing your daughter to do something she will begin to see it as something she HAS TO DO instead of something she GETS TO DO so just make it as fun and low-stress as possible. If you can make it into a game (i.e. "Let's see who can say the alphabet the fastest! Ready, set, go!) then you'll keep her attention.
These are my suggestions for getting the ABCs to be more a part of your daughter's life. Read BOOKS--that is the number one way to boost your child's early literacy. We read books with my son every single night. I just bought this great book this week from the Commercial Press for about $30 HKD:
Elephant Alphabet (Animal Pals Early Learning Series), Animal Pals Early Learning Series, Gene Yates, Book - Barnes & Noble
I also recommend this TV show which you can find online or on YouTube:
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW1og3lh57k"]YouTube- Word World - Full Episode Part 1/2- Runaway O (Cat Nap) WordWorld[/nomedia]
My son is really excited about words and letters after watching this show and actually can point out different letters in a word.
I wouldn't get too caught up in making sure your daughter can say the ABCs in order at this point. Many children are "mixed up" about words and letter order. When I was really little my teacher thought I had dyslexia because I would spell everything backward--but eventually I "grew out of it" and now I am quite good with words and letters (journalist) so don't stress yourself over it.
Remember, at this stage, learning should be fun and not forced--if you start forcing your daughter to do something she will begin to see it as something she HAS TO DO instead of something she GETS TO DO so just make it as fun and low-stress as possible. If you can make it into a game (i.e. "Let's see who can say the alphabet the fastest! Ready, set, go!) then you'll keep her attention.
there really is no point in memorizing from A-Z, like aussie mum says, it's more about recognization. the focus really be placed on oral communication at this stage, there are certain sounds that children won't get till 7-8 years old...here's a website you might find interesting about milestones for language development...
The Basics: Milestones in Your Child's Speech and Language Development [NIDCD Health Information]
The Basics: Milestones in Your Child's Speech and Language Development [NIDCD Health Information]
Make it fun for your little girl... If you really want her to learn by singing the song, make the singing fun & interesting for her. Never make it a 'task' for her! A kid at this age don't need a A-Z memorising task! Kids won't learn anything unless they find it fun & interesting. Don't force upon her. If she doesn't like to sing, let her go and do other things she likes! She can't sign LMNOP,, so what? Don't show any frustration towards her... Even if she shows it on herself, cheer her up and tell her she's done so well and nevermind the rest!
My view is: like what assuiemum & lesliefu said, I won't mind her not being able to know the A-Z seqence, not really a must for 3-year-old. It's better if she can recognise the letters and understands Apple begins with a "A". Take it easy! When she goes to school, she will know it....
My view is: like what assuiemum & lesliefu said, I won't mind her not being able to know the A-Z seqence, not really a must for 3-year-old. It's better if she can recognise the letters and understands Apple begins with a "A". Take it easy! When she goes to school, she will know it....
MilkMonster
Registered User
i think one of the developmental milestones for older kids is to be able to say the ABCs WITHOUT singing it. My 3.5yr old can recognise the letters but still can't sing LMNOP...sounds like "N, O, N, O, P" I agree with the above post, that recognizing the letters is really all that matters.
..I mean as an adult I can read and write but can't seem to get lyrics of songs right when i sing them either LOL
..I mean as an adult I can read and write but can't seem to get lyrics of songs right when i sing them either LOL
rani
Administrator
Also being able to recognize the letters in his/her name. I remember D's kindy teachers were impressed he could do this at 3. He learnt this accidentally. I had password protected my computer at home, and he was determined to get on, and figured out the password was his name
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Hi, there is too much emphasis on learning the alphabet song. It is a fun little skill to know - at age 4 or 5 - but confusing when kids have to learn early phonics. All of a sudden beginning readers have to relearn the alphabet in terms of the sounds and not the names of letters. For example, 'girl' beginning with the 'g' sound is quite different to the name of the letter, 'gee'. As mentioned earlier, sharing a book and its pictures with your child is far more helpful in terms of non-stressful and natural literacy acquisition.
fhurley
Registered User
Hi, I am an early years teacher and offer parent and helper courses in literacy development. To be honest learning the ABC song is not going to help your child learn to read and write. It is important however to enjoy learning songs and rhymes as part of this process in order to learn about sentence structure and rhyming etc. You can do this with any nursery rhyme or song, there is no reason to focus on the ABC song. The only reason for learning the alphabet in sequence is for when you want to order words alphabetically or find them in the dictionary which children start to do in about Year 4 at school - aged 8-9.
Any good school these days will be focusing on developing good speaking and listening skills with a child your age, so sharing stories, chatting about everything you see and playing games such as word bingo to develop vocabulary. Also playing sound lotto and I spy.
When your child is ready they will begin to learn phonics if they go into an English medium education. This is nothing to do with letter names but the sounds that letters make in words. Please see the following website from the British Education System it has lots of information on Phonics
Phonics and early reading - Introduction
Also
The Synthetic Phonics Tools to Read and Spell- Get Reading Right
tells you how to pronounce each phoneme or sound and has a free parent powerpoint to explain what synthetic phonics is. You may like to take a look.
As Rani says above. Talking about the sounds in your child's name and sounds at the beginning of familiar words such as Mummy and Daddy would be more useful as long as you use the sounds and not the letter names.
I hope this helps.
Any good school these days will be focusing on developing good speaking and listening skills with a child your age, so sharing stories, chatting about everything you see and playing games such as word bingo to develop vocabulary. Also playing sound lotto and I spy.
When your child is ready they will begin to learn phonics if they go into an English medium education. This is nothing to do with letter names but the sounds that letters make in words. Please see the following website from the British Education System it has lots of information on Phonics
Phonics and early reading - Introduction
Also
The Synthetic Phonics Tools to Read and Spell- Get Reading Right
tells you how to pronounce each phoneme or sound and has a free parent powerpoint to explain what synthetic phonics is. You may like to take a look.
As Rani says above. Talking about the sounds in your child's name and sounds at the beginning of familiar words such as Mummy and Daddy would be more useful as long as you use the sounds and not the letter names.
I hope this helps.