How can I help him learn his ABC's?

[Biscuits & Gravy]

DS is 4.5. He goes to preschool 4 days a week, but it is a play based curriculum. I have not pushed pre-reading skills and information on him. I feel that he will learn it when he is ready, and I think he is hitting that point. He has been asking me more and more about letters, letter sounds, how to spell words, and things like that. I'd love to start working with him on letter recognition, and letter sounds.

Do you have any recommendations for a curriculum that I can use? I'd love something already set up that I can start from. Even more, I'd love something that I don't have to pay for since we are on a limited budget. I'm envisioning something along the lines of a letter each week with activities and exercises involving those letters.

[AAK]

Get Ready for the Code. Get Set for the Code and Go for the Code.

My 4 year old likes these. I didn't get the teacher part. It is not colorful or exciting, but I really like it and she apparantly does too. We don't really do them in order--just however she wants to do them. I don't push it at all--just bought them because she wanted books too and I didn't like the stuff we had been using (standard preschool workbooks).

They have little paths that the child draws down (kinda like a maze but it isn't a maze) and then they have a chance to practice the letter. They also have pages where you cross out the one that is different. They have some rows with pictures, some with shapes, and then there will be a row that is b b d b --- I really like this because it helps to point out the directional differences of the letters. They also introduce the primary sound of each letter. I guess I like the books a lot because while writing the letters is part of it, it isn't ALL of it.

Oh, they introduce consonants first. I don't know if vowels are introduced in these or if they wait until Explode the Code 1.

here is a link http://www.rainbowresource.com/prodl...5&category=823

Amy

[mykdsmomy]

I totally agree with AAK. My youngest has severe learning disabilities and "Get Ready for the Code" is the first thing that's actually helping him learn his letters

I used them with my NT children as well and they all did great.

[koru]

All 3 of my kids learned the letters & their sounds from the Leap Frog Fridge Phonics. It wasn't intentional....someone bought it for DD1 when she was little and, well, she played with them. Before we knew it, she could sound out all the letters! The next 2 kids did the same thing & here I sit with 2 readers & 1 pre-reader without much effort.

[rootzdawta]

^^DS1 learned from Fridge Phonics too but DS2 is not as interested. I let DS2 play on Starfall--he's only 2.5 though so I don't have any feedback yet regarding reading. But I will co-sign that fridge phonics is an awesome, effortless thing to try.

[Tjej]

My kids have learned their letters and sounds from Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD (and of course us telling them what letters are when they ask and all the other things we parents do)- it's about a half an hour and it is really well done. If your child watches videos, see if the library has that one.

Tjej

[onyxravnos]

we sang the ABC's ds learned all his letter by sight from a ABC puzzle. i think it helped because we named the letters while putting them in their place and then of course he had to see the shapes of the letters in order to fit the puzzle pieces where they needed to go.

We had this one (which has both a capital and lower case set available) -
http://www.amazon.com/Capitols-Crepe...d_bxgy_t_img_b
it also has pictures under each lettter which can be a good jumping off point for sounds of letters.

[One_Girl]

We didn't use a curricullum, I just pointed out letters we while we were reading and out and about in town with the names and sounds. When she was more into the letters I got magnets and an alphabet train puzzle and I she would tell me the letter names and sounds with those or I would remind her what they were. We were very laid back about it and I just followed her interests. She was reading simple, mostly short vowel and sight word books before entering Kindergarten.

[umsami]

All of my kids learned their letters/sounds from the LeapFrog DVD, "Letter Factory." They were then reinforced by me in every day life and also with the Leap Frog "Fridge Phonics" toy. I highly highly recommend them both. I'd go for the DVD first...Fridge Phonics second. I honestly think it took maybe 2-3 times before they knew 99% of them.

For lower-cased letters, "Chicka-Chicka Boom Boom" (both book and DVD we got from NEtflix) are great!

[Mittsy]

My kid's adored "The ABC Bunny" by Wanda Ga'g, and Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD.

[yllek]

Letter Factory, Fridge Phonics, and starfall were all painless ways that my ds learned the basic sounds of each letter. Ds loved, totally loved, learning his letters and learning to read.

He learned them quite young, so his fine motor was not even close to being ready to handle workbooks like ETC.