Welcome to our mini teaching guide on alphabetizing!

Why Teach Alphabetizing?

Even with modern technology, alphabetizing is used in many areas of our lives. In fact, you’ve probably used your alphabetizing skills this past week without even realizing it. Maybe you looked up a friend’s phone number in your contact list, or maybe you’ve looked something up in a book index.

“English spelling is crazy!”

I hear that a lot. Perhaps you’ve even uttered that phrase yourself!

Indeed, English spelling can seem ridiculous at times. With a nod to George Bernard Shaw (who jokingly claimed that fish could be spelled ghoti), I’d like to present the following crazy spelling for the word farmer:

Learning the alphabet is FUN when you have ABC bracelets! Preschoolers love being able to admire their “letter of the day” just by glancing at their wrist, and they can enjoy the attention they get as friends and family ask, “What letter do you have today?” And tomorrow they get a brand-new bracelet with a brand-new letter to admire!

One of the most important things you can do when teaching your child to read is to provide lots of reading practice. That’s why the All About Reading program includes such a wide variety of activities, games, and decodable stories. But sometimes things don’t go perfectly according to plan!

“How much time should I spend teaching reading?” It’s a common question with a somewhat surprising answer.

Here’s Rachel to explain …

Did you know that rhyming is one of the best predictors of how easily a child will learn to read? That’s because good rhymers are better equipped to notice that rhyming words often have shared letter sequences, such as –all in tall, ball, and small, which in turn gives them a considerable head start in learning to read.

Vocabulary plays an important part in learning to read. For example, when a beginning reader sees the word dog in a book, he begins to sound it out. When he realizes that he is very familiar with the word dog, he reads it with confidence.

You may think that a “good memory” is something that your child either has or does not have. If that were the case, there would be little you could do to help your child become a better learner. But fortunately, this isn’t the case! You CAN help your child with her memory if you begin with an understanding of something I call the funnel concept.

What’s your favorite subject?

If your child is like most, spelling might not be at the top of his list. But what if you could create an environment that would increase the likelihood of changing that around? What if you could make spelling a subject your child looks forward to?

One of our most frequently asked questions is “Do I need both All About Reading and All About Spelling or can I choose just one of these programs to teach both subjects?”

That’s a great question!

Black history is filled with stories of courage, strength, and determination. The picture books below provide the perfect way to explore these important stories with your children.

What Is Letter Knowledge?

Letter knowledge–one of the first stepping stones on the path to reading–develops as a child is exposed to letters through play and through planned activities. A child who has achieved letter knowledge recognizes all the letters of the alphabet, in both capital letter and lowercase form, and knows the names and sounds of each.