Teaching Letter Recognition

How to teach a child to recognize the Alphabet

After your child has learned to recite his or her ABC’s, the natural progression is to teach them to recognize these letters. This is not a difficult task. There are many things you can do to make this effortless and even fun.

Firstly, many people will tell you to introduce the lowercase first because the great majority of printed letters are in lowercase. After teaching my own four children and many others, I am convinced that it does not really matter and I actually prefer to teach the Capitals first. This is for precisely the same reason stated above! The vast majority of printed letters ARE in lowercase, so it is much easier for the small child to pick out the Capitals, when you give them a task such as, “show me the letter G”. Another reason is because many lowercase letters are similar in appearance. For example, g,q,p,b,d are very similar and thus difficult for a still learning child to differentiate.
Secondly, many people espouse that both cases and sounds should be taught at the same time. I say absolutely not! It is much better to teach them to recognize the letters and then teach sound. Too much information at one time is confusing and takes much longer to absorb.

Here are some games to teach letter recognition:

Buy refrigerator magnets!!! You can find both capital and lowercase, (the lowercase are more difficult to find, if you have trouble check a school supply store or the internet) Place only 2-3 on the refrigerator. Show the child the letters and say their names. After you have shown the letters and stated their names continue by moving the letters all around and asking for a particular letter. Make sure to shower lots of praise on the child for every correct letter he or she gives you. When incorrect, simply state the correct name for the letter and place back on the fridge. Add new letters only when the child knows the old letters perfectly. Do not remove the old letters, just simply add to them.

The same method above can be done with foam letters in the bathtub! This is a great place to learn! The child is nice and relaxed! Who wouldn’t like to “do school” with bubbles all around? ;)

Try having your child point out letters while you are waiting in line at the grocery store, the bank, wherever! Letters are everwhere! Look on signs, magazines, t-shirts, ball-caps…

Once your child has learned all of the capital letters, it will be time to teach the lowercase. I do this by calling the capitals the “mama letters” and the lowercase, the “baby letters”. I begin the same way I did when they were first learning. No more than three at a time. I point out that most of the babies look like their mother, however not all do (i.e. Gg) We play games like match the mama to her baby. You can use index cards, foam letters or refrigerator magnets, or letter tiles. (you can find those at Walmart) When playing the matching game I lay them out on the floor and make sure not to use more than 6 letters at a time.
It is at this stage that I begin saying the sounds of the letters, however until they firmly have a grasp on visual recognition, I do not stress this concept.

=) Amy

CDC Finds Rocket Fuel chemical in baby formula & city water

The following is a direct reprint of an AP story. I thought this was a very important article because we all want to keep our families safe and healthy. My thanks to Mike Stobbe for keeping us informed.

Bottom line- Breast feed, buy locally grown organic fruits and vegetables and hopefully we can all minimize the effects of the things we cannot avoid- like contaminated water.

CDC: Rocket fuel chemical found in baby formula

By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer - Fri Apr 3, 3:36 AM PDT
ATLANTA - Traces of a chemical used in rocket fuel were found in samples of powdered baby formula, and could exceed what's considered a safe dose for adults if mixed with water also contaminated with the ingredient, a government study has found.
The study by scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked for the chemical, perchlorate, in different brands of powdered baby formula. It was published last month, but the Environmental Working Group issued a press release Thursday drawing attention to it.
The chemical has turned up in several cities' drinking water supplies. It can occur naturally, but most perchlorate contamination has been tied to defense and aerospace sites.
No tests have ever shown the chemical caused health problems, but scientists have said significant amounts of perchlorate can affect thyroid function. The thyroid helps set the body's metabolism. Thyroid problems can impact fetal and infant brain development.
However, the extent of the risk is hard to assess. The government requires that formula contain iodine, which counteracts perchlorate's effects. The size of the infant and how much formula they consume are other factors that can influence risk.
The study itself sheds little light on how dangerous the perchlorate in baby formula is. "This wasn't a study of health effects," said Dr. Joshua Schier, one of the authors.
The largest amounts of the chemical were in formulas derived from cow's milk, the study said.
The researchers would not disclose the brands of formula they studied. Only a few samples were studied, so it's hard to know if the perchlorate levels would be found in all containers of those brands, a CDC spokesman said.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it was considering setting new limits on the amount of perchlorate that would be acceptable in drinking water. A few states have already set their own limits.
The EPA has checked nearly 4,000 public water supplies serving 10,000 people or more. About 160 of the water systems had detectable levels of perchlorate, and 31 had levels high enough to exceed a new safety level the EPA is considering.