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My K teacher friends have told me that the only thing they want the kids to know educationally is how to write their names. They will teach them their letters and numbers.

My daughter knows some letters but not a lot. I think it's just an interest thing and at 4, it's not a huge deal. Our poor kids are getting pushed harder and harder these days and it sucks for us as parents because when we were kids, no way someone would expect their almost 4 year old to know all of their letters

C is in a full day Pre-K program that she started right after turning 4 (August birthday). Now at 4.5 it's amazing to see what she's learned in the past year. I think you are likely to see him really take off in the 4-5 year.

She's also more into reading/writing/drawing and not so much into building. She likes to do word searches, but instead of finding words, she'll pick a letter and find all of those letters, then she will move onto another letter.

I would buy him the DVD Letter Factory by Leap Frog. It sounds crazy, but it's how my son easily learned all of his letters and the sounds they make just after he turned two. (We weren't trying to teach them - someone gave us the DVD and he wanted to watch it and one thing lead to another.) I've had so many friends tell me that's how their child learned them. It's a cute, fun story for preschoolers and I've found that my son took what he learned from the DVD and applied it to letters all over the house, store, books, etc. It really piqued his interest.

@winniebee: I wouldn't worry by I would also create a letter rich environment. Alphabet poster, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, a puzzle, D also really like the VTech Apple toy that has tons of letters and games.

@winniebee: My LO was gifted this toy for her birthday and it's how she learned all her letters. We didn't force anything on her but I did play with this toy with her (and it's great cause it goes on the fridge so she plays with it while we make dinner).

http://www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-Fridge-Phonics-Magnetic-Letter/dp/B00JLHVX36

I agree with the suggestions for a letter rich environment if you are worried. We did that when LO1 showed an interest in the alphabet - she really liked these puzzles:

http://www.hapetoys.com/ca/en/p/happy-puzzle/alphabet-puzzle/1599
http://www.melissaanddoug.com/see-and-spell-learning-game
We used the above puzzles and did a "what letter is that/next" game.

She was also really into Endless Alphabet and Endless Reader. Dr Seuss' ABC book and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom were great books too.

Are you sure he only knows a few letters? It could be that he knows them but just has no interest? I think you'll get a better idea after your conference. Good luck!

Just keep reading out loud to him and don't sweat it. (Easier said than done in the age of the Internet, I know!) The important thing is that a young child is improving in terms of understanding texts of increasing complexity, because frankly, it's easy to teach a child the mechanics of reading. Developing the attention span, vocabulary, and ability to evaluate the context to figure out new words/concepts is the stuff you want to focus on, and that's the part that I think gets short-changed when the focus is on "academics" in preschool and Kindergarten. I know that the mechanical part is easy from experience--I've been a classroom teacher (EFL) and I'm teaching my son.

I wouldn't worry, but I would only echo what others have said about incorporating letters into his environment.

For example, my kids play with letters in the bath, we read a lot of alphabet books, we have a HUGE foam alphabet letter floor mat, do letter puzzles, letter actvity books, etc.

ETA: just saw your response about already having letter rich environment. Sounds like you're doing everything right! I wouldn't worry--he's still so young!