How to Teach Letters of the Alphabet to Preschoolers: Why We Need to Teach Smarter - NOT Harder

One of the biggest challenges teachers face with teaching the alphabet is getting the letters to stick.

You spend weeks teaching, following your curriculum, doing everything by the book. Everything seems to be going great - the kiddos are getting it! And then...

Poof! They forget all of it! As if you’ve never even mentioned it before! Has this ever happened to you? Because it’s happened to me plenty of times.

When I was a young student teacher, I had an opportunity to shadow a kindergarten teacher following the Letter of the Week curriculum. Remember—this was a long time ago, so back then, it was considered a perfectly suitable way of teaching children the alphabet.

And after just several weeks of working there, it became clear just how ineffective this method was. The kids struggled to retain what they’ve learned, and some didn’t know any letters whatsoever!

Luckily, these days we know better!

Children do NOT learn the alphabet linearly, from A to Z. It is a global process that requires a lot more than rigid schedules, worksheets, and a funny letter P-themed costume.

So in this episode, I will share an excellent method for teaching children the alphabet, which is fun, effective, and backed by research.

Let’s dive in!

Key Takeaways:

Why the letters of the alphabet CAN’T be taught in 26 days (or even weeks)? (00:00)

The biggest challenge teachers face when teaching young children the alphabet (00:41)

How I learned firsthand that the Letter of the Week curriculum is highly ineffective (02:19)

Why teachers need to teach smarter and not harder? (04:42)

How do young children learn to identify letters? (06:18)

How to teach letters of the alphabet in a way that’s, fun, effective, and backed by research (08:20)

Additional Resources:

Visit our website to find tons of pre-K teaching resources here:

https://www.pre-kpages.com/

Get my book “Teach Smarter: Literacy Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers” here:

https://www.pre-kpages.com/teach-smarter-book/

Learn more about my membership program “Teaching Trailblazers” here:

https://bit.ly/join-teaching-trailblazers

Get my FREE guide on how to teach letters of the alphabet to young children here:

https://www.pre-kpages.com/how-to-teach-the-alphabet

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Elevating Early Childhood is an early education podcast dedicated to helping Pre-K, Preschool, and Kindergarten teachers teach better, save time, and live more.

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Teaching Trailblazers

Teach Smarter: Literacy Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers