Why Do I Teach My Preschoolers the Alphabet Letter Without Teaching Them It's Name?

Every once in a while I get a blank stare when I tell other educators that I teach my preschoolers to identify the letters ONLY by their sound at the beginning.  Some are annoyed. Some strongly disagree. This is WHY I do it: I am teaching 3, 4, and 5 year olds. My goal is to have them reading as fluently as possible by the end of the school year. I do not want them to stumble as they encounter letters while decoding, trying to choose between its name and it's sound. I want them to instantly identify that letter with it's sound not it's name! This allows them to decode much more easily. It is one of the reasons the little cuties in my class come out reading before kindergarten.

Spoiler- I do eventually (in the last half or last quarter of the year) begin to refer to the letters using their letter name. I find that they absorb traditional letter recognition easily as a byproduct of practicing spelling and reading after they are already blending and already have a good handle on CVC words. If I am giving them examples of how to write harder words or words that do not fall easily into short words with short vowel sounds I will need to use the letter names.

Some children DO come into my classroom already knowing the letter names. I find that they easily switch to identifying the letter by it's sound- because that's just what we do. There may be some initial fumbling when we practice the sounds, but generally it doesn't harm them to know the name of the letter. I just don't explicitly teach letter recognition by their names.Those who DON'T know the name of the letter quickly and easily learn to identify the letters by their sounds. As they all practice their letter sounds at school and at home they seamlessly begin to blend those letter sounds into words. It is impressive how young they can be and if they know their letter sounds they can begin locking those sounds together and their journey of literacy is accelerated to a beautiful place of CONFIDENCE and DISCOVERY that brings such joy to the students, their families, and their teachers!

What is the phonics process? How does it unfold in our classroom?

We start the year with a blank slate. The children are all 4 or 5 years old with a mixed background of previous preschool experience. Some have been to a preschool the year before- others have never been in a class setting before.

We start the class year the first couple of weeks teaching classroom expectations and setting them up to take pride in working hard at something. There are timeless books that illustrate principles of empowerment like The Little Engine That Could's  "I Think I Can" and  The Little Red Hen's little philosophy that you reap what you sow, so don't be lazy (own your education). 

We teach the 5 Senses and help the little cuties to see that just as they have these 5 senses, a big part of life is learning to control their actions that come along with these senses. Dr. Becky Bailey's Conscious Discipline books are wonderful to help little ones see how they can choose to be calm, and choose to treat others kindly. My favorites are Shubert's Big Voice, Shubert's New Friend, and Shubert is a S.T.A.R.

Then we launch into our exciting teaching about the Habitats (beginning with the Space Habitat)- and the alphabet letters begin! I introduce a new letter SOUND almost every day. The little cuties get a Golden Sound Book which is two laminated pieces of cardstock help together by a metal ring. Each day a new sound is introduced the children get a new letter flashcard added to their Golden Sounds. They take this school tool home each day to practice the sounds at home. Parents mark on the back, cardstock page a tally mark for the number of times they practiced at home. If they practiced saying their sounds at least one time they get a single mini-marshmallow. If they practiced at least 5 times they also get the grand honor of ringing the bell. I used to have a bell that you could hit the top of it and it would ding (like one from a board game), but this last year an awesome mom brought me a bell in the shape of an apple and the little cuties love to jingle that now.

So the day a new letter is introduced they get their letter in their Golden Sounds and I also send them home with 2 worksheets in a homework folder.

One is a page that allows them to practicing forming the letters- a writing page- for capital letters and small letters. This is hardest for them because they are in such different places,  developmentally, with their fine motor skills. It is awesome to see how much improvement takes place over the school year!

The second worksheet is one that allows them to circle the objects that start with that letter sound. This is crucial. This is one of the most important phonemic awareness skills and it launches the process of teaching each of the essential phonemic awareness skills that solidify a child's reading in the weeks and months to come.

After about 4 months of teaching the sounds and their relationship to words, the children are ready to begin reading books. We start at the end of November. Each child has their own set of books that they work through. They read each book 10 times, excited to pick a prize after passing the book off. Then on to the next. There are 3 or 4 pre-reading pages at the start of each book that introduces a new phonemic awareness skill, allows them to practice it, introduces new sight words, reviews old ones, introduces new sounds or phonograms, and reviews the old ones, allows them to practice blending, then has a fun story to read.

These books allow them to practice all the parts of reading at school and at home. A parent or guardian needs no teaching background to follow the instructions in the book, and the children are motivated to master the books because they get a prize out the prize box when they are done. But soon, the motivation becomes mastering a new book. "What is my next one gonna be called?" "What number is my next one?" "When do I get to do the duck one?" "When do I get to do that one?" etc. By the time they pass off book 12 (out of 20 books) they are stable enough readers to help their peers. They get their "Teacher Badge" and they can listen to others read and pass off others who are close to their own reading level. 

The outcome of this process is a shining CONFIDENCE in their abilities...and the illustration early in their lives that if they work hard at something they can accomplish it. At the end of every class we say together "I work hard!" "I am awesome!" And they feel it!