What Order To Teach Alphabets To Preschoolers

Do you know that Montessori Schools pursue a specific order to introduce letters to preschoolers? Well, there are many who feel that the most normal way is to teach from A to Z. However, there is more logical way to introduce letters to preschoolers. It is based on either type of phonetic sounds they make or how they shape. Yes, English language seems to be highly complicated and irregular. Rather than teaching rules, it’s more about how certain alphabets follow a similar pattern.

According to research, it’s better to start with lowercase letters first. Children has to know both capital and small letters but since every other book and printout is lowercase thus it’s better to begin with lowercase. Also, younger kids find small alphabets easier to understand and learn than uppercase.

Here’s the order to teach alphabets to preschoolers.

s, a, t, i, p, n

c, k, e, h, r

m, d, g, o

l, f, b, q, u

j, z, w

v, y, x

As soon as they learn first six letters, they will be able to form words such as “at”, “an”, “it”, “ip”, “ap” and “in” families.

Typically, these principles are applied.

• Make preschoolers teach those sounds that have continuity rather than stopping sound. For instance, m, s and f are introduced in initial stages of learning. Why so? First, they are easy to learn. Second, they are easy to blend with the lips, teeth and tongue.
• Introduce most frequently used words first. For instance q, v, z and x are less commonly used than m, s, f, c, p, and t. Therefore, teach less commonly used alphabets later.
• Make sure to never teach similar letters at the same time, for example q p and d b and f t. This may confuse the children.
• Also, it’s better to teach alphabets by familiarity and their significance. Sometimes, they want to learn what seems important to them like mum, dad, their own name, Pet name, siblings name and so on. So, utilize this knowledge to their advantage.
• It makes more sense if you teach those alphabets first who has common sound and pronunciation. For example, b, d and m are easier to learn as kids can easily associate their sound with name of letter. But, letters like ‘g’ has a different sound than its name.
• Another way to teach letters is based on their appearance. For instance, m and n are similar looking whereas ‘x’ is different and unique.
• Make sure to teach at least 1 or 2 vowels in the beginning and then remaining at later stages of program. Be sure to revise with vowels taught first before you jump to the next one.
• Once they know each and every letter, introduce them to words formation and more. Move onto double consonant sounds like ll, ff, ss, tt. Then, progress onto Digraphs sh, th, ch, wh, ck, ng. Next, move on to the more difficult long vowel sounds like ou, ay, oo etc.

Conclusion

Do it all in a fun way. Focus more on sound of the letters rather than recognizing only the letter name.

Brought to you by the KidsEnglishCollege™ Editorial Team.

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