Teaching the alphabet? Simple as ABC!

I know I have mentioned this a good few times on the blog, but I am going to mention it again as I really feel that it is SO important, especially at this time of year...

YOUR ENVIRONMENT MUST BE LINKED TO ASSESSMENT FOR WELL BEING AND ATTAINMENT!

If you want to know how you can achieve this have a look a this previous blog post. 

To help you to make your brilliance as an EYFS super visible I have produced and Environment Map which will help you to consider and record how your environment is having impact on well being and attainment.

You can download a copy here or just click on the 'resources' tab and find it there. There is a full list of instructions at the front to help you to fill it in. The key is to keep it SIMPLE and TO THE POINT!

I am working with a setting at the moment who have just had their first stab at filling one in and they have very kindly allowed me to share it with you (here) to give you an idea of what the document MIGHT look like. So, thank you to the ladies in the Nursery at Marlborough Road in Salford.

 Anyone who has heard me speak will know that when it comes to the subject of computer generated imagery in EYFS settings I do tend to get on my 'soap box' a bit.

It is not that I think this sort of generic labelling/resource should never be used, I just think it should be an enhancement to teaching NOT your first port of call.  So many settings that I visit are so plastered with the stuff that they have lost their uniqueness. They are all beginning to look exactly the same. Do the children really engage with the 'colour splats' on the wall and the water area display that is made up of A4 laminated sheets that say 'float' and 'splash' in the same font and the same colour (which makes the differentiation between different letters even harder than it already is)?  Do they look at the Orangutan hands on the laminates in the dough area (adorned with words they cannot read) and think - 'OOh, that's inspirational. I will give that a go!'? The answer is 'NO'! So why do we put them up? It's because adults think they look nice and they fill a space.

 (Here we see a typical crime scene! Since this photograph was taken the offending display has been removed and replaced with photographs of the children using the water play equipment!)

Take them all down. Keep them as a supporting resource. Fill your space with display that has been created by the children in your setting using their work and their images. Then they will engage!

more info about teaching colour recognition here

 Download ABC Does...Colour Recognition 

Recently I was approached by Peter at Early Learning HQ to write something for his blog. Now Early Learning HQ is one of the aforementioned download sites, so I politely refused stating my case (as above).

I was then most surprised (and pleased) to receive another email from Peter who completely saw my point and asked if I would write something that he could put with his downloads explaining my view and offering an alternative based on child led learning.

So,I have agreed to give it a go. My first post is linked to his alphabet stuff. This is what I said...

Children learn best when they are motivated and engaged by the subject that they are learning about. New information has a much greater chance of ‘sticking’ in their brain if they can understand it and link it to themselves.

Every child needs to learn their alphabet it is an essential skill for life. Their first encounter with an alphabet line is often when they start Pre-School, Nursery or Reception. This alphabet has often been chosen by an adult because it looks attractive (to the adult). An apple, a ball, a cat, a dog…how sweet. HOW BORING! How many children do you think would choose those objects for their alphabet line? How many three year olds are highly motivated by an apple, or a ball? Not many (unless it is a football and that begin with ‘f’)!

Commercially produced and computer generated alphabets can be a great enhancement to support what you are doing with your children, but they should not be your first teaching strategy. So what do you do? Well, just think about what you know about what motivates young children to learn and what they are most interested in and that is…themselves! Do not have you’re alphabet chart all up and ready when the children arrive. If you do they may well just see it as ‘wallpaper’ and they will see it, but they won’t look at it.

Make your alphabet line WITH your children and ABOUT your children. If you have a child called Alfie then put an A4 size photograph of his face as your first box with a giant Aa underneath and then Bethany, then Caitlin and so on. What could be more motivating than seeing yourself and your peers pulling funny faces at you from the wall? That would make me want to look at the alphabet, talk about it, laugh at it and most important of all LEARN from it because it is ENGAGING.

 

I have yet to work with a setting that has a child who’s name starts with every letter of the alphabet, so where you have a gap you ask the children what THEY are interested in. Don’t ask the ones who know their alphabet – choose the ones that don’t as they are your target audience! You might end up with Imogen or Iggle Piggle, Xavier or X-men but either way your children have ownership over the creation of their learning resources and will therefore want to use them again and again!

You can download an editable blank format from here that looks like this.

 
If you make one (and you have permission for the use of the chidlren's images) please send it in and I will share it!

When you stand in your setting and look around just ask yourself if what you see on the walls gives a rich and diverse picture of the children, the wide range of exciting activities that you do with them, what they think and say, your quality interactions with them and your skill at assessing and meeting their needs. Or, does it look like an advert for a download site?

Alistair

 

Comments

[Hettie]

Making a personalised alphabet line is something I've often thought about but never quite got around to. I have though, made a number line personal to the children - I took photos of the children's hands with them making different numbers using their fingers. I got them to put their hands against an alternating background colour of paper (odd and even) then printed and stuck to card with the digit and the word added on. I like them and I think they do too - they certainly enjoyed making them - good way of doing a bit sneaky assessment too! However, something I've been wondering about recently - how can you reflect different cultures in the images around the space when the children who use it don't (or should we?)!

[Sam Sims]

you speak so much sense!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love the idea of the alphabet.. will discuss this with my colleque but think we should give this a go next week.. we are slightly disadvantaged as only have 16 children.. BUT i guess that gives lots of empty spaces for the children to have their say! hoorah!

[abc does]

Hi Hettie

I too have done the number line using the carpet area as a familiar space to the children and then taking a photo of it empty, then one child, then two etc. Works in the same way as the alphabet line. I really like the idea of the hands on the coloured background. I think that it is important that all of our children experience as many different things as possible from as many different cultures as possbile. The starting point for me is always with the cultural diversity of your class and then beyond that through stories, festivals etc. If you are diplaying the learning processes of your children using their photographs and there are not a range of cultures then you will obviously not get diversity through that sort of display. You can however introduce it through your story telling etc..

Alistair

[Suzanne]

I love checking out the ideas and Philosophy of this blog I'm so pleased I stumbled across it. Thank you for all the time and effort you put into it, Alistair.

I think the personalised alphabet is a super idea. What are your thoughts on children's names such as Phoebe and Chelsea for example? Would you recommend still placing them in the alphabet under the first letter of their names or would suggest putting them under diagraphs such 'ph' and 'ch'?

[abc does]

Hi Suzanne. Glad you find the blog useful! You are dead right, I would make sure that on my intial alphabet all of the names used made the 'hard' sound of the letter. Names like Chelsea are great for teaching the diagraphs because you are making cnstant reference to them in your setting. When it comes to Charlotte then you beginning to teach the exceptions to the rule and you are into synthetic phonics. But, children tend to remember this more because it has great relevance to them.

Alistair

[Catherine]

Hello, I am having difficulty downloading the alphabet frame. Is anyone else experiencing this?
Catherine