Find out how to Train Preschoolers Literacy Expertise



Educating younger kids literacy abilities will be tough. They’re such an necessary ability that it will possibly turn into downright intimidating to show them to your college students.

Which comes first? Letter names? Or letter sounds?

The solutions to these questions are tough. Determining the place to begin can provide even probably the most seasoned preschool educators a headache.

However, fortunate for you, that is precisely what I’ll be discussing on this week’s episode of Elevating Early Childhood.

Tune in now and study all it’s good to find out about educating letter identification and sounds in preschool and which one to begin with.

Are you prepared?

Let’s dive in!

Which Literacy Expertise Ought to You Train First within the Preschool Classroom? 

It is a query that many individuals, each lecturers and homeschoolers alike, find yourself asking themselves whereas educating preschoolers. 

The very first thing we have to know as early childhood educators is that studying the alphabet, or some other literacy ability, will not be linear. Quite a lot of literacy studying is happening concurrently, as an alternative of 1 after the opposite.

Consider this in relation to how a child develops abilities. When a child is simply studying easy methods to stroll, they’re additionally creating different abilities on the identical time. They’re not simply studying easy methods to stroll and nothing else. 

My husband’s niece, for instance, is twelve months outdated, and she or he’s now studying easy methods to stroll. She’s additionally studying easy methods to discuss and easy methods to feed herself on the identical time. The exact same factor is true for early childhood literacy abilities. 

Find out how to Train a Little one Literacy Expertise

Younger kids study every part, not simply letters, from repeated publicity over time. So, for instance, let’s say you’re studying a guide and also you need to train a baby the letter P. One of the best ways to do it’s by exhibiting them an image of the letter, figuring out it to them, and asking them if they will discover it.

In the event you actually needed to counterpoint this exercise and take it a step additional, you may say, “That is the letter P, the P says ‘puh’, are you able to say ‘puh’? Can you discover the letter P?”

And you may prolong this even additional and have the kid look within the mirror whereas making the sound that the letter P makes. This manner, they’re going to be watching their lips as they are saying the sound, to allow them to see what their lips are doing.

Hold the Kids’s Age in Thoughts

What I like to recommend for anyone, dad and mom and lecturers alike, is to take a look at the CDC’s milestones for developmental skills, which breaks down what kids are sometimes capable of do at a given age.

For instance, three 12 months olds are nonetheless very a lot within the exploratory stage, in line with the CDC pointers. They’ve solely been on this planet for thirty-six months, they usually’re nonetheless making an attempt to determine how this entire talking and language factor works.

That implies that three 12 months olds don’t must be bombarded with repeated requests to provide letters on command. Merely constructing on their publicity to letters at that age is lots, and it’ll go an extended technique to laying a strong literacy basis for them.

Consider a younger little one’s mind like a backyard. You don’t simply sprinkle just a few seeds on some actually dry earth and count on a extremely lush, attractive backyard to develop. 

No, it’s a must to put together the soil to obtain the seeds. After which when you do this, you’re going to water the seeds, you’re going to drag the weeds, and also you’re going to do every part you possibly can to assist your backyard thrive. 

Serving to a younger little one develop literacy abilities takes the identical quantity of labor.

I focus on all of this in additional depth within the episode above, so ensure to present it a hear when you possibly can. I promise, it’s a enjoyable one!