There are 26 letters in the English alphabet that represent vowels and consonants. The Merriam Webster dictionary lists six vowels: a, e, i, o, u and sometimes y. Consonants are all other letters. Students must develop letter recognition skills before they can advance to basic reading. The National Center for Education Statistics states that 24 percent of children entering kindergarten cannot recognize letters of the alphabet by name, a necessary skill for reading proficiency.
Test students on their alphabetic knowledge to gauge whether they have any concept of letters. Some children enter preschool having been exposed to letters and books, and realize that written letters form words and stand for something tangible. Others may have no knowledge of letters and how they relate to words.
Give students a worksheet that contains uppercase letters of the alphabet to assess their letter recognition. Explain that you will say the letter and they are to circle the corresponding letter. Collect and evaluate scores to help form a starting point for teaching your preschool students to recognize the letters of the alphabet.
Because preschoolers have a limited attention span, it is important to use a variety of activities to assist their learning. Maintaining their attention might be possible by appealing to their sensory system, including visual, auditory and kinesthetic. For instance, you might have preschoolers sing the ABCs while watching a visual representation to increase comprehension. Have them clap as well when singing the letters to incorporate a kinesthetic component. Have block letters in the classroom for students to put in order for a tactile experience. Finally, include multisensory lessons that involve color and art, such as creating an ABC book .
Use realia or objects from real life to help preschoolers learn the alphabet. You might set up the classroom with different objects that either demonstrate a letter of the alphabet or are labeled with a specific letter to aid student learning. You also can assign students a specific letter and have them bring in objects from home that represent their given letter to present to the class.