Learning Letters through Names

 

Learning letters through Names

Research shows that children learn better when they have a personal connection to what they are learning.  In preschool, one way we teach letters is through the students names.  They learn to recognize, trace, copy, and eventually write their names without an example in front of them.  We also do lots of art projects and games (name Bingo, name memory...) that include their names and the names of all the students in the class.  Other than their own name, the next important words for many preschoolers are the names of their family and friends.  Through all of these activities, the children begin to identify more and more letters.  Early on, a child often thinks every word that begins with the same letter that their name begins with is their name (i.e if their name is Sam, all words that start with an S must say Sam).  As they begin to recognize more words, they start to realize that they have to look past the first letter (i.e. Sam and Steven are different names).  This leads them to understand that letters in different combinations create different words.

In addition to letter recognition, we focus a lot of teaching time on the sounds letters make both in isolation (S says ssssssssssssss like a snake) and within words (Bear and Box sound the same at the beginning of the words, fox and box sound the same at the end).  Children typically hear the beginning and ending sounds first and fill in the middle sounds later.  

Below are examples of some of the many ways the students are learning their names and the names.

We do lots of art projects with their names.

The students begin by matching the letters of their names.

They then build their names (looking at an example) with blocks.  This helps the students learn the order of the letters in their names while working on their fine motor skills.

 

 When they are ready, the students start to trace their names.

  

                    Tracing with a pen.                                               Tracing with his finger.

 

Then they write their name below.  Writing also works on their fine motor skills.  You will notice that your child will likely start writing by holding the marker with a fist.  They will then move into an awkward three or four finger grip that is often high up on the marker.  Eventually, your child will hold their marker with a comfortable three fingered grip.

 In addition to writing their names, we have the students point to each letter and name them.

Eventually, your child will be able to write their name without an example and name each letter and sound.