Early Literacy Skill Spotlight: Letter Knowledge

Early Literacy Skill Spotlight: Letter Knowledge

What better way to introduce the skill of letter knowledge than to share the ultimate Throwback Thursday photo....Literacy Style!  But there is so much more to this skill besides letters.  We get to add shapes!!!!  Knowing shapes plays a big part in early literacy development.  Think about all the straight, diagonal, and curved lines in the alphabet.  Hello, square, triangle, and circle!

The Letter People!!!

Growing up in the 1980s, the Letter People were definitely a part of my childhood as was "Letter of the Day" on Sesame Street.  I still rock a letter of the day in my preschool storytimes.  We pick a letter from the basket and then have to look for that letter in our story and in the library.  I encourage them to keep their letter hunt going throughout the day.  Play with foam letters and shapes or magnetic letters and shapes.  Talk about how letters are different from each other and how even the same letter can look different when shown in both uppercase and lowercase.




How can you make letter knowledge come alive with your kids?  How can you use singing, talking, reading, writing, and playing part of the skill building process?  Here are some ideas, but let your imagination carry you away to even more!

Singing:
Sing the iconic song of course!  There are many variations and styles out there.  Two of my favorites are the Mother Goose Rocks version and "Hip Hop ABCs" by Eric Litwin.  You can also make up and sing the letters of different words or names.

Talking:
Talk about the letters in your child's name and what they look like.  Talk about uppercase and lowercase letters.

Reading:
There are so many great ABC books out there.  One of my favorites is definitely Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.  That has a special place in my heart because I read it during my interview when I first got hired as a librarian!  The ABC Animal Orchestra by Donald Saaf is another really good one.  I could do a whole separate post about awesome ABC books.  Hmmmm....

Writing:
Draw shapes on index cards to use in a matching game.  Cut out construction paper shapes (variety of shapes and colors) and make picture collages.

Playing:
Match shapes to letters that have the same kinds of lines.
Match uppercase letters to lowercase letters.
Play an ABC game such as Dr. Seuss ABC board game.
Make letters with your fingers or even your whole body!