• Home
  • Blog
  • Start Here!
  • Free Printables
  • About
    • Products we love & Support
    • Contact
    • Terms of Use
    • Disclosure
    • Hire me
  • My eBook
  • Subscribe

Wildflower Ramblings New

our new site

  • Homeschool
    • Charlotte Mason Method
    • Reggio Emilia Approach
    • Montessori Learning
    • Waldorf at Home
    • Classical Conversations
    • Early Literacy Stages Series
    • Curriculum choices
      • Tot School (2 years)
      • Preschool (3 years)
      • Pre-Kindergarten (4 years)
      • Pre-Kindergarten (4 years – 2017)
      • Preschool (5 years)
      • Kindergarten (5 years)
      • First Grade (6 years)
      • Charlotte Mason Schedule: Year One
    • 12 Months of Sensory Dough
    • Sensory Play
    • Crafts through the Bible
    • Practical Life Ideas
    • Before Five in a Row – ISH
  • Baby
    • Montessori Baby Room
    • Treasure Bins for Baby
    • 21 Activities for One Year Olds
  • Tot School
  • Preschool
    • What is Number Sense?
    • ABC Felt Animals
    • Preschool Alphabet Book
    • Our Preschool Notebook
    • Preschool Circle Time Schedule
    • Free 24 Preschool Chants
    • Free Preschool Songs
    • Our Preschool Plans
  • ABC
    • Letter A
    • Letter B
    • Letter C
    • Letter D
    • Letter E
    • Letter F
    • Letter G
    • Letter H
    • Letter I
    • Letter J
    • Letter K
    • Letter L
    • Letter M
    • Letter N
    • Letter O
    • Letter P
    • Letter Q
    • Letter R
    • Letter S
    • Letter T
    • Letter U
    • Letter V
    • Letter W
    • Letter X
    • Letter Y
    • Letter Z
  • Toys & Resources
    • 20+ Tools for Hyperactivity
    • What is Sensory Processing?
    • Best Workbooks & Readers {Ages 2-5}
    • Essential Preschool Tools
    • Essential Craft & Homeschool Tools for Mom
    • Best Art Utensils for Kids
    • Bible Resources for Kids
    • Our keeping and recording memories series
  • Health
    • Herbal Remedies
    • The home birth of my son
    • The water birth of my daughter
    • her waterbirth
    • When your baby has a fever
    • Example of Hospital Birth Plan {free printable!}
  • Books
    • My AMAZING Book Store
    • Books for Children
    • Pop! Squirt! Splash! Ebook
    • Learn with Play Ebook
You are here: Home / Alphabet / {Early Literacy Stage 1} Uppercase Letter Recognition

{Early Literacy Stage 1} Uppercase Letter Recognition

April 22, 2013

Opt In Image
Free for email subscribers!!
Early Literacy Stages eBook

70+ pages to help you teach your child! This book helps you to define, and shares practical ways to teach, the developmental levels of literacy learning.

The development of early literacy skills progresses in stages.  Beginning concepts should be taught before introducing more difficult ones.  By following a proper developmental progression, we assist the child’s natural learning capabilities.   This is why I have decided to write a new series of blog posts — {Early Literacy Stages}.

{Early Literacy Stage 1} Uppercase Letter Recognition - Wildflower Ramblings #reading #preschool

The entire scope of literacy includes the following: reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and representing.  I am focusing on reading letters and writing letters for this series.  However, the other components are very important in developing the whole child towards literacy and becoming a lifelong learner.

Please note: I do not label these stages by age — I have met 18-month-olds who have learned all of their upper and lowercase letters and I have taught 5-year-olds who were still struggling to learn both.  It is important to meet the learner where they are and embrace the child’s pace!

Here are my Early Literacy Stages for childhood learning:

  1. Uppercase letter recognition
  2. Tactile uppercase letter writing
  3. Utensil prewriting and uppercase letter writing
  4. Lowercase letter recognition (and matching uppercase with lowercase letters)
  5. Lowercase phonetic sounds
  6. Lowercase letter writing

There is debate surrounding whether children should be taught uppercase or lowercase letters first.  Some teachers opt to teach them together.  I believe that children should be taught recognition of uppercase letters first.  They should certainly be exposed to lowercase too, (we call them “big” and “little” letters), as they are presented in many picture books together, but at the beginning, the focus should be on uppercase.  Certainly, children who are taught lowercase first, or both together, can also become very successful (for example, a Montessori approach is to teach the lowercase letters first and name them their sound names: “This is aah” and “This is “bbb”).  My decision is based on the following reasoning:

  • learning 26 letters will set your child up for success sooner than trying to learn 52 letters,
  • uppercase letters are more distinguishable from one another,
  • they have many more straight lines, so when it comes time to begin printing letters, children can excel, and
  • uppercase letters represent the majority of letters in print outside the home (on street signs, in the grocery store, etc), so learning these will expose your child to a world of print outside the home.

{This post may contain affiliate links, please see my disclosure policy.} 

Now how can we help develop this initial stage of learning in our children?

1.   Read, read, read!  If you can do anything with your child at home, this is it!  Reading to your child opens them up to a world of imagination and developmental readiness towards print awareness and learning.  Reading doesn’t have to become “lesson time,” just enjoy a book with one another morning, day, and night!  Here are more suggestions:

  • Books with no words teach story sequence.
  • Nursery rhymes are especially wonderful for phonemic awareness.
  • Begin pointing out the “Big” letters at the beginnings of sentences.
  • Dr. Seuss is the master — our particular favorite is his ABC book.  This book focuses on uppercase letters while exposing children to the lowercase letters!  We also love There’s A Wocket in my Pocket — Dr. Seuss had an amazing ability to speak to children through rhyme and this book helped my son learn about rhyming.

DSC00879

2.  Singing songs at home, all day, every day!  There are many songs that introduce letters and sounds.  The Alphabet Song can be coupled with simple ABC books for a fun and teachable daily read-aloud.  Our favorite children’s collections are Songs for Saplings ABCs, The Little Series and Jewel’s Lullaby and The Merry Goes Around.

3.  Point out uppercase letters both in and out of the house.  “The ketchup has a K, K, K, K!” and “The magazine has a P, P, P, P!”  My son gets very excited about this, and he asks, “What’s that?” when he sees a letter he doesn’t know.

4.  When your child has learned the letters “A, B, C” from reading and alphabet singing, move to a simple letter of the week focus (or curriculum)!  Don’t be intimidated, just start small!  Even if you only do one or two of the below, that is enough, your child will learn as he grows!

  • This can be as simple as writing the uppercase letter A on a sheet of paper and sticking it to the bottom of your refrigerator!  Talk about the letter every day.
  • Think about purchasing some magnet letters from Melissa & Doug.  This linked set includes uppercase and lowercase, and again, I would begin with the uppercase letter to set the child up for success at the beginning! Here is our ever growing collection (with many magnets purchased from garage sales — I have one lowercase letter for exposure only)!

DSC01703

  • Create some tactile experiences for your child with sandpaper letters or Do-It-Yourself puffy paint letters.  Touch the uppercase letter and say its name and sound.  Again, exposure to the lowercase letter is fine, but the focus should always be on the uppercase, so your child has a chance to excel!
  • Consider an uppercase letter puzzle!  Melissa & Doug and Lauri are both wonderful options.  My son got his start in learning letters with one of these.
  • For more tactile fun, print out some magnet pages from Making Learning Fun and have your child put magnets (or pom pom magnets) on the letter and image on a magnetic cookie sheet.

IMG_6546

  • There are many free online printables available from many homeschooling mama blogs to choose from — my advice is to keep it simple so you won’t be overwhelmed.  Choose a couple of pages that you think your child may be interested in.  (We love 1plus1plus1equals1‘s Tot School ABCs as a model — the below pictures are all a part of her free online curriculum.)
  • Choose an object to focus on for your letter of the week. (A is for Apple, B is for Bug, C is for Cat, D is for Dog, etc!)  Find that object and keep it in a special place — in a small bin or basket or reusable sour cream container! — along with a handwritten or printed uppercase letter for some informal phonemic awareness learning.  Below we are learning “H is for Horse”:

DSC01152

  • Let your child color on a piece of paper with the uppercase letter, with a corresponding object, like the “H is for Horse” above, with markers or crayons.  (Remember not to expect the child to print the letter or even color in the lines of the picture — that will come later  — when they are developmentally ready!)
  • Do-A-Dot markers are amazing tools.  Write the uppercase letter many small times on a piece of paper and have your child “dot” each letter and say it at the same time!  My son loves this!

IMG_6540

  • Use uppercase letter stamps and stamp on a picture or a piece of paper or project.
  • Print out or make large uppercase letters and have your child jump from letter to letter (or throw a beanbag or other object) as you call them out for a review.
  • More tactile exploration can come from a letter sensory bin.  Include a base (beans, lentils, rice, etc.) and add the letter and objects corresponding to that letter.  Below is a “G Sensory Bin” — I included one lowercase “g” in addition to many uppercase ones — please keep in mind that sensory bins can have only a few objects in them and children will love them just the same as the extravagant ones!:

DSC00339How have you taught your child the alphabet?  Did you focus on uppercase or lowercase first?  What made you choose?  Or did you teach both at the same time? 

DSC03502 2-001

Check out all of the Early Literacy posts! 

 

Follow Amy – Wildflower Ramblings’s board ABC Learning on Pinterest.

Delightful kids' crafts delivered right to your door.  <Shop Kiwi Crate!>

Related Posts

  • {Early Literacy Stage 3} Utensil Prewriting and Uppercase Letter Writing{Early Literacy Stage 3} Utensil Prewriting and Uppercase Letter Writing
  • {Early Literacy Stage 2} Tactile Uppercase Letter Writing{Early Literacy Stage 2} Tactile Uppercase Letter Writing
  • Tot School – Letter LTot School – Letter L
  • Preschool Handwriting Practice – Numbers {free printable}Preschool Handwriting Practice – Numbers {free printable}
« Treasure Bin: Red Objects
recipe: apple puffed pancake dish »


Comments

  1. Jade says

    April 24, 2013 at 7:55 am

    I have to admit that I couldn’t decide which way to go (either lowercase or uppercase first) – so I just went with starting from Aa and saying “this is the big A, this is the little a”…probably not really “right” but so far it’s working and hopefully R get’s it and if not, we’ll change to just teaching uppercase or lowercase first. PS – that photo of your husband and son reading is really cute (but is dad more into the book? haha :-D ) xx

    Reply
    • wildflowerramblings says

      April 24, 2013 at 9:35 am

      We say, “big A, little a” too — I just think that it is a lot to process to learn 52 letters and think that 26 letters (the uppercase) could give more chance for success — but every child needs something different! Thanks — about the pic — it’s hard to get a pic of us reading to him because the camera distracts him ♥

      Reply
  2. rainonatinroof01 says

    April 26, 2013 at 12:06 pm

    Great information! Thanks so much for sharing! I want to be able to help my kid as much as possible when it comes to reading! Hope you have a great weekend! Jenna @ Rain on a Tin Roof

    Reply
    • wildflowerramblings says

      April 26, 2013 at 2:44 pm

      Thanks Jenna!

      Reply
  3. Sarah says

    April 28, 2013 at 11:21 am

    My mother in law got dd a puzzle bench with the letters of her name as the pieces for her first birthday. We started with that and fridge magnets. We haven’t distinguished between capitals and lower case, but she can identify most letters. I decided it was time to start being a bit more intentional last week when she sight read the words book and bear. We haven’t done it yet because we have been dealing with a nasty cold, but she is nearly over it now. These are some good ideas, I’ll have to add them to our plan!

    Reply
    • wildflowerramblings says

      April 28, 2013 at 11:30 am

      Thanks for visiting, Sarah! I wanted to start an intentional letter per week before my son was ready, so it’s great that you’re following your daughter’s lead — and sounds like she is advanced — no “reading” over here yet :)

      Reply
  4. thejennyevolution says

    April 30, 2013 at 1:44 pm

    What an important topic. Please share it (and any others) on my family-focused Kid Corner @ http://wp.me/p280y0-SQ. You may just get highlighted next week :-) Jennifer

    Reply
    • wildflowerramblings says

      April 30, 2013 at 3:37 pm

      Thanks, Jenny, I will check out your linky!!

      Reply
  5. Beth says

    May 2, 2013 at 9:11 am

    What a great look at how children learn! So helpful and well explained!

    Thanks for linking up to TGIF! I will be sharing this on Twitter & Facebook this week. Hope to see you linked up again tomorrow!

    Have a great day,
    Beth =)

    Reply
    • wildflowerramblings says

      May 2, 2013 at 9:19 am

      Beth, Thanks so much :) I will be posting Stage 2 on Tuesday!

      Reply
  6. That Fun Reading Teacher says

    May 3, 2013 at 2:59 pm

    Hello Amy
    Thank you for being the first person to visit and leave a comment on my new blog! I am honored. I can see that we have common interests. I love that you have reading to your child as number one on your list in this post, and singing as number two. Your tactile activities are fantastic, too. I’ll be back for part 2!

    Reply
    • wildflowerramblings says

      May 3, 2013 at 3:01 pm

      I look forward to your ideas too :)

      Reply
  7. Alaina says

    May 6, 2013 at 2:38 pm

    Some great ideas! My son has a high level of spatial awareness and when he learned all his shapes (in many different situations) a little after 2 with minimal guidance and instruction through play I figured it was worth a shot to introduce the letters to him. I was an elementary teacher and have a reading specialist license and also struggled with knowing whether or not to introduce upper or lower or both first. I went with the letters of his name (only 4 letters) and I decided to do both upper and lower by having the Melissa and Doug magnets on a cookie sheet. He was so into it that he learned all 8 letters in just one week and kept asking for “new letters.” I just went with his excitement and he learned all letters upper and lower in about a month (of course he does still mix up lowercase b and d, but not bad. The biggest thing is go with your child’s interest and ability and let them guide you. I am looking forward to some of your ideas on introducing sounds as we have just started introducing them and I am sure this will take longer.

    Reply
    • wildflowerramblings says

      May 6, 2013 at 2:43 pm

      Wow, that is so impressive! My son is 2 1/2 and not learning nearly that fast, but you’re right, every child has different interests and abilities! I am trying to get the rest of this series up every Tuesday, starting tomorrow :) Thanks for taking the time to comment, Alaina.

      Reply
  8. Shauna says

    May 11, 2013 at 7:53 am

    Hi,
    Your blog is well-written and I enjoyed this how-to “article”. I teach and I’m going back into the PreK classroom. It’s been 8 years (I was moved up to first grade) and I’m beyond excited to go back to the littles :)

    I make a long colored wall and divide into 26 spaces. Upper + lowercase letters are at the top of each space, then seceral pictures for each letter. The students go along every day and point to each picture. It’s sounds like this “a a astronaut…a a apple…a a ant….b b book…b b boat…” They go all the way to z every day, using rulers as pointers. All 14 of my PreK’s new every letter sound (upper + lower) and how to write every letter before Christmas break. They started Kid Writing in January (phonetically sounding out sentences) and I ended up being “looped up” with those students. Very fun classroom with excited kids. Dying of excitement to go back to pre-K!

    Reply
  9. Shauna says

    May 11, 2013 at 7:54 am

    Oh Lordee, should’ve read and edited before posting!!

    Reply
    • wildflowerramblings says

      May 11, 2013 at 9:33 am

      Thanks for a great idea, Shauna, sounds like you’re a wonderful teacher :) I love letting children write their stories phonetically — I called it “Writer’s Workshop” in my kindergarten classroom. There is certainly a time to teach spelling, but letting children write according to their thoughts and allowing them the liberty to sound it out rather than spell everything properly is a great way to help them become life-long writers :)

      Reply
  10. Tonja says

    September 28, 2013 at 5:03 am

    It is really a great and helpful piece of information.

    I’m satisfied that you shared this helpful information with us.
    Please keep us informed like this. Thanks for
    sharing.
    Tonja recently posted…TonjaMy Profile

    Reply
  11. stacikristine says

    October 14, 2014 at 2:48 pm

    Thank you so much for sharing this information! Our son turned 2 in July, and we’ve worked on shapes and colors so far this year. This week, we’ve started letters. I was planning on spending a week on each letter, and each day doing a different activity, etc. What is the importance of choosing one specific object (like A is for Apple)? Does it help them retain it more? I made him a necklace with A on an index card (we did the same for shapes and colors), and we went around the house looking for As. He definitely has the capitols down (he even found them on my shirt). But I was just wondering if I should stick to one object or if I can do multiple ones during the week. Thanks!

    Reply
    • wildflowerramblings says

      October 14, 2014 at 3:00 pm

      I think picking one main object is fine, but also exposure to many is great too! Also remember not to push too rigorous of learning work and focus on play as much as possible :) Thanks so much for visiting and commenting!!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 0002 Understand the development of concepts of print, letter rec | Pearltrees says:
    December 24, 2014 at 12:39 pm

    […] will recognize that some letters can appear dramatically different depending on the typeface used. {Early Literacy Stage 1} Uppercase Letter Recognition – Wildflower Ramblings. Strategies for Developing Concepts of Print by Hannah Martin on Prezi. […]

    Reply
  2. Children Learning Reading Review - It's Really Good? says:
    February 28, 2018 at 9:17 pm

    […] Capital Letter and Small Letter Identification: The lesson plan also has designed keeping in mind about the capital letter and small letter identification for the small kids. For that reason, your […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Connect

Amy is a former Kindergarten teacher, M.Ed., turned homeschooling mom. Sharing her imperfect life and her love of teaching & learning, reading, herbal remedies, parenting and more.
Read More →

Search

NEWSLETTER

Join 30,000+ other subscribers! Receive weekly email updates and free printables, and as a thank you, you’ll receive my Early Literacy Stages eBook, 24 Preschool Chants, and the ABC Lego Cards for free!

banner-001 Shop Montessori Services

Favorite Posts

1legos 1quiet memories 1act 1chants 1closet hyp note classical dots 15act 1reggio 1turtle 1around 1bible1 sidebar bible1 crafts reggiomath essentialoils print

To Note

Unless otherwise stated, all words and photos on this blog belong to Wildflower Ramblings. You may pin from my site, but do not use a photo, or any text, without my permission. All content is copyrighted.   This is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links on the sidebars and in posts. I only share products that I love and enjoy with my family. If you purchase a product through an affiliate link, I receive a small commission. Occasionally, I will receive products free of charge and share them here.  Words and opinions expressed will always be my own. Please email me with questions or comments. Thank you for visiting.
Logo Whimsy Workshop Teaching

Categories

Archives

More

Copyright © 2021 · Wildflower Ramblings [footer_backtotop] · Genesis Framework · WordPress