Fun Ways To Teach The Alphabet – Trying Something New

Welcome back to Azy Reading Journey website. He is still using the magnetic letters but we are introducing additional fun ways to teach the alphabet.

It looks like Azy will be learning the alphabet for quite a while. The  good days and bad days continues, but we are starting from the beginning to make sure that he can easily recognize and identify the letters.

How Is Azy Doing?

Azy is still on his ups and downs reading journey and sometimes he is moving along nicely, and other times he just wants to play and is not interesting in learning.

We are still enforcing the activities to help him settle down and focus. The steady routine, designated area, distraction free atmosphere and reading time frame are still being used. You can read more about the activities here.

At this time, we are not using a reading schedule because we are not using the Reading program.

At the rate that Azy is going right now, we do not know when he will be back on the Reading program. He is still saying and singing the letters of the alphabets but still struggling to recognize and identify them.

So far, we have purchased five sets of upper-case alphabet letters (magnetic and wooden) and a set of lower-case magnetic letter.

We will be purchasing additional lower-case letters, because Azy needs to know the difference. He will also be using them  to spell words later on.

Last week, we did not see much progress, so we decided to backtrack and see if working on one or two letters per day would help him better.

We started with “A” is for Apple. Azy spent some time identifying and tracing the letter.

He has lost interest in tracing the letters on the alphabet printable worksheet, so he is now tracing the letters in one of his wipe clean activity book.

Hopefully the activity book will help him with focusing.

Visit our Facebook Page if you would like to see some videos on how Azy is doing now.

Back to the Basics

The more time we spend teaching Azy the more we are realizing that he does not stay focused on one activity for too long. So, we have no idea how long it will take for him to learn the letters.

However, the plan is to use multiples of the same letter to see how well it will help him. The first day we focused on “A,” he picked it out, placed it on his board, and traced it in his wipe clean activity book.

The next day we added “B” and “C” but we still have him traced only “A.” Since we have just started this new method, we are moving slowly.

Hopefully, this way of teaching will add some fun ways to teach the alphabet. We are trying to mix things up a bit to help Azy learn the letters of the alphabet.

I am now giving him a letter and have him placed it in the correct slot on the 3D wood alphabet letters puzzle board, put it on a tray or double-sided learning board. He is allowed to choose which one he wants to use.

When Azy is handed the letter, he should touch the letter on the Touch and Learn Activity Desk which will speak the letter and say what it is for (for example “A” is for apple).

I wrote a review about the Touch and Learn Activity Desk.
==> Go here if you want to learn more <==

Azy is repeating the letter and what it is for. We rest a while, and I continue to hand him another one of the same letter, and if he forgot what the letter is, he touched it on the activity desk to be reminded.

During this time, he is also tracing the same letter in the wipe clean activity book.

Everything Alphabet

After Azy put the letters on the tray or any other surface, I told him to put them in a cup. I then asked him to take out a specific letter, or allowed him to choose a letter.

He then put back the letters on the board. From time to time, I asked him to touch a specific letter on the activity desk.

Now the plan is to have him trace one letter per day several times, and then have him trace two letters daily. We will see how that works.

Maybe it was too much for Azy when we he was learning and tracing all the letters of alphabet daily, but we were following the reading program.

Hopefully, we will start seeing some improvement as we allow him to work with less letters.

This is a work in progress and we will be testing out different activities to see what will work in holding Azy’s attention.

We will also be changing things up a bit and at times, we will allow him to choose the activity that he wants to do.

We have several alphabet related materials that we plan to use to peak Azy’s interest and find fun ways to teach the alphabet. We will be introducing lower case letters and a LeapFrog Letter Factory DVD.

I heard about a website called abcya.com, I checked it out, and there are Alphabet games that he can play. So, he will have some computer time to use the DVD and play some games as well.

Looking Ahead

Azy will also be using a LeapFrog Go-with-Me ABC Backpack. So, he will have something to take with him if we are travelling. He has his personal DVD, so he will be able to choose if he wants to take the backpack or a DVD.

Since we have no idea what is going to work to get Azy to settle down, we will continue to travel along with him on his reading journey. So far, he seems to be liking the new method, but there is no telling what will happen in a few days or a week.

We now have multiple alphabet letters activities that we plan to use, and I believe that one or more will work. In addition, we have reduced the number of letters that he was working on daily.

So, I am looking forward to seeing which activity or activities will work.

If you want to learn more about the LeapFrog Go-with-Me ABC Backpack.
==> Go here to read a review that I wrote <==

As always, I thank you for taking the time to read about Azy’s reading journey.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think about the activities we are using.

Visit our Facebook Page if you would like to see some videos on how Azy is doing now.

Do you think they are fun ways to teach the alphabet?

Thanks for the visit.

More to come.