5 yr old and the alphabet

[lau86]

My son still hasn't learnt his alphabet and just turned 5 a few weeks ago. He used to know it around the age of 2 as we had an alphabet puzzle he loved to do. But as he got older and wasn't interested I stopped doing it with him. He knows a fair few of the letters but things like m and n, g and q get mixed up. Should I be pushing this with him? He's only just started to bring a reading book home and it's a picture book. We have things like flash cards, 2 alphabet puzzles and alphabet lotto we could do with him but I suspect he would feel it is a chore (as do I tbh but I would do it if necessary). I also think he gets bored doing tasks and doesn't try so then tells us the wrong answer. He may know more than he lets on.
Eta he has only just started school so has only done a few weeks of school

 

[Button#]

I would try and sneak it in in a way that would get him interested. My son is a car fanatic so we used to spot letters on car number plates.

 

[SarahBear]

I would NOT force him to do any alphabet learning. You want to keep reading fun; not push it on him and turn it into something to avoid. He'll learn it in school and the fact that he's learned it before means that he's perfectly capable of picking it up again when it's relevant to him. You could, however, find fun ways to encourage interest. For example, does he enjoy card games? If so, get an alphabet go-fish or matching game. Learning games (both on and off the computer) and videos are also helpful for keeping things fun. Violet enjoyed the Leapfrog Letter Factory and learned a lot of letter sounds that way. Or maybe find some I Spy type games that use letters. Keep it fun and light and don't force it. He'll get there! It's also perfectly normal to switch and mix-up letters at this age.

 

[lau86]

Thanks, we have received very little info from the school about where he should be up to. I wouldn't be surprised if this type of thing wasn't his strong point though

 

[george83]

Children these days aren't usually taught the alphabet at school anymore until slightly older. Most schools will teach the sounds/phonics and then introduce the alphabet as letter names much later. I teach year 2 and in previous years that's been the first time some children have been actively taught it.

I agree with pp that anything out of school at that age should be fun, my ds1 was so tired when he started he couldn't cope with much more than getting through the day

 

[lau86]

So should I just stop meddling then?! i just don't get how he can do phonics if he doesn't know the letters?

 

[george83]

They learn the sound the letter makes as opposed to knowing what the name is called so they would initially refer to it by just its sound and not the name. He's also your son so if you want to teach the alphabet then that's what you choose, nobody can say what you can and can't do.

 

[SarahBear]

I wouldn't say "stop meddling," but I'd say to just try to not worry

 

[lau86]

They learn the sound the letter makes as opposed to knowing what the name is called so they would initially refer to it by just its sound and not the name. He's also your son so if you want to teach the alphabet then that's what you choose, nobody can say what you can and can't do.

Yes that's what I meant, I was trying to teach him the phonetic sound of each letter

 

[SarahBear]

So this is a bit off topic, but it seems like a bad idea to not teach both the sound and the name. For one, the letters don't always make the same sound and for another, it seems like it would be confusing later. And having a name and a sound really isn't that confusing. Think about animals. Kids learn early on that animals have both a name and a sound. Seems letters should be treated the same. I started talking about letters with both the name and sound from very early on and it was never confusing for my daughter who is now nearly 4 and knows many letter names and letter sounds (I don't exactly quiz her so I don't know how many she knows). And she also enjoys spelling things with me (I sound it out phoneme by phoneme and she says the letter that goes with each phoneme) and I'll make it a point to point out that sometimes letters say different sounds and sometimes you can't hear them at all.

 

[george83]

They learn the sound the letter makes as opposed to knowing what the name is called so they would initially refer to it by just its sound and not the name. He's also your son so if you want to teach the alphabet then that's what you choose, nobody can say what you can and can't do.

Yes that's what I meant, I was trying to teach him the phonetic sound of each letter

I still wouldn't worry about teaching him unless you are desperately worried, my son didn't know any sounds when he started school and reads fairly well just a year later. Your Lo maybstart coming home with sounds to practise in the near future which will give you something to focus on. Again though he's still your son so if you want to teach him them there's nothing to stop you

 

[Lalaloopsie]

I work in eyfs and yes we do work on sounds but its part of the 40-60 month framework that a child should:

Link sounds to letters, naming and sounding the letters of the alphabet.

(so throughout reception they are aiming to achieve this)

Google search: eyfs framework, it's in the writing section.

we start the alphabet chant in nursery and this carries on in reception so new starters can pick it up to.

If you want to start with your lo then songs like
https://youtu.be/BELlZKpi1Zs
are a good start as it uses both letter names and sounds x

Children these days aren't usually taught the alphabet at school anymore until slightly older. Most schools will teach the sounds/phonics and then introduce the alphabet as letter names much later. I teach year 2 and in previous years that's been the first time some children have been actively taught it.

I agree with pp that anything out of school at that age should be fun, my ds1 was so tired when he started he couldn't cope with much more than getting through the day

 

[lau86]

Thanks all, I should probably just trust what he's doing in school but it's so hard to get such little info. He is happy doing his reading book so I don't want to push it

 

[RaspberryK]

I'd also be careful with how you teach it if you decide to as they use "soft sounds" such as mmm, nnn, not muh, nuh, - really not sure that's overly clear lol.
They also teach them in a specific order in ds school satp and blending them together is first, they have added more in as his confidence has increased. X

 

[george83]

Most schools also offer a phonics workshop for new parents so if your school doesn't I wouldn't feel bad going in and asking about their policies and what they teach/when they teach it

 

[lau86]

They did a phonics meeting but it wasn't really about phonics!

 

[CaptainMummy]

Paige didn't know her alphabet when she started school last year (she knew it as a song, but not what each letter was) but she picked them up so so quickly in school, I couldn't quite believe it! I just made sure she knew what was in her homework diary (usually a few sounds per week) and didn't try to teach her anything myself.
She very quickly learned how to read and is progressing really well according to her teachers

 

[smileyfaces]

I wouldn't push it, he will learn it in school with phonics

 

[lau86]

He enjoyed doing his alphabet lotto so that's good but other than that were not making a big deal out of it

 

[Vickie]

My daughter knew her entire alphabet going into school so it was new to me when my son expressed zero interest! He just started JK and we've already noticed he's starting to pick it up quickly. I have been practicing with him at night but it's literally just me picking out one of the many alphabet books we have and reading it to him. I don't want to pressure him to learn but since he is now finally expressing an interest in reading letters off of signs etc. I find that he's paying more attention to the books. They are generally short and after we "practice" our letters and numbers he chooses other books he wants to be read to him before bed.