Preschoolers must learn the letters of the alphabet before they can begin reading, but teaching all 26 letters at once is overwhelming. Choose a letter to be the “letter of the day” each morning. Show examples of the written letter and talk about words that begin with it. Throughout the day, do craft projects using materials beginning with that letter. Read books about characters whose names begin with the letter of the day and ask children to look through other books to look for examples of the letter.
Making journals makes preschoolers feel like real authors and allows them the chance to see their own words written down. Make a book for each child by folding several sheets of paper together and stapling the book together at the fold. At the end of each day, ask each child to tell you about something interesting she did or thought about that day. Write down what she says on a blank page of the journal and ask her to draw illustrations to go along with it. When she fills up one journal, make another.
Once preschoolers are familiar with the letters of the alphabet, help them learn to recognize each one and tell the differences between similar letters. Pass out old magazines and newspapers and ask children to look for and cut out letters. You may ask them to find the letter of the day or look for any of the letters from their own names. Once each child has cut out a few dozen letters, ask him to glue them onto paper to make a letter collage. If he has found the letters of his name, ask him to glue them on the page in order.
Helping preschoolers learn to tell stories allows them to express their creativity and shows them how exciting and fun books can be. Bring in a new book from the library that preschoolers haven’t read before. Show them the cover and ask them to guess what the story is about. Read the first page, then close the book and ask each child to guess what will happen on the next page. Continue letting children guess what’s coming when you get to the end of each page.