Mother Teacher Scatterbrain: Teaching my Baby the Alphabet

My son know his shapes and colors for the most part. Only time he doesn't know them is when you ask him because if he wants you to give him something, he is quite able to articulate the color and shape of the object that you overlooked as you handed him the wrong thing. But we will continue working with colors and shapes.

We will begin working on letter sounds (not so much the names) using some Montessori methods. I will prepare some object boxes. I will basically use a Tupperware bowl (but not the name brand kind, the grocery store kind) and put in it objects that begin with the same letter. Now, I will be very consistent with the objects I choose. For consonants I will choose the most common sound (no soft c or soft g). For vowels, I will only choose objects beginning with the short sound. Also, each box will contain corresponding sandpaper letters. (I will describe how I have decided to make them below.) I haven't decided whether I will include both capital and lowercase or just lowercase. Anywho, I will introduce the boxes one letter at a time. As he gets good with the objects, I will create picture cards. Montessori Albums for some lesson ideas.

After careful review of many resources and suggestions on creating sandpaper letters, I decided on two things. First, I decided to buy The Red Letter Book. Second, I decided that the easiest way for me to make sandpaper letters was to use cardstock, glue, a paintbrush, and sand. We will go outside, I will paint the letter with glue, and my son will sprinkle/dump the sand on the letter. Here is to praying that this doesn't turn into a project that continuously sheds sand.

We will do some singing and dancing too! We try to rock out around hear at least daily! So we will be using Dr. Jean Who Let the Letters Out and The Whole Alphabet in My Mouth. We will be using Houghton Mifflin's Alphafriends songs. (There is one for each letter with accompanying pictures!) Here is our sequence.

I just want to be clear that while I totally think that my baby is a genius, I am quite partial. I have an understanding of child development that lets me know that his development may not be in line with my plans. I am simply going to offer him the opportunity to try. If he does not show interest, I will revise the plan. We will still rock out daily though!