Do you teach the proper letter for the name, or just the phonetic version? I seem to remember at school we learned "a" for a while before "A" was brought into the equation....
I want to teach LO a letter a week but don't want to confuse her.
Thoughts?
pineapple / 12793 posts
Just don't go teaching them "zed". 
I remember just learning the proper letter.
cantaloupe / 6630 posts
@oliviaoblivia: I cannot teach them "zee" 
Maybe we'll spend an afternoon learning about Hhhhh-erbs 
coconut / 8430 posts
@oliviaoblivia: @travelgirl1: LOL!
Make sure your little Canadians learn the proper way to pronounce "process" as well 
We teach our LO the names of the letters like in the song.
pineapple / 12793 posts
@sunny: I've successfully retrained my own brain and said pr"Oh"ject to my mom a few weeks back and her eyes almost popped out of her head.
Still can't get behind zed though... it rhymes with nothing.
B,c,d,e,g,p,t,v,z..... Rhyming is important to my American ears!
honeydew / 7444 posts
@oliviaoblivia: LO and I once spent a minute arguing her "zee" and my correction to "zed".
We taught her the capitalized letters first and once she got that we brought in the lowercase letters.
nectarine / 2667 posts
In traditional preschool, we started with names. I'm in a Montessori environment now and we start with sounds. I like the sounds better because its more helpful for reading and writing. For my son at home (he's 2), we've been doing both but it's very informal.
pear / 1503 posts
@Sunny: @Oliviabolivia: @Travelgirl1: I just got back to Ottawa from a conference in DC, and a the "pra-cess-eez" were making my ears bleed! Lol! We have two Americans that work in our office, who I've caught pronouncing processes the "proper" way. I tell them I'm so proud. But they still refuse to say "zed."
cantaloupe / 6630 posts
@sunny: @Freckles: @Astro Bee: Ha ha! I find my LO's Canadian accent very sweet, but the second she says something like tom-ay-toes, or bay-SIL, we'll be having words!!!
@JoyfulKiwi: Thanks, I think I will start with sounds then. It's the way I remember learning and I imagine makes more sense when they're learning to read.
pear / 1503 posts
When I learned my letters it was from cut outs pasted on Bristol board - it was the early 80s. Lol! I will have to ask my cousin (she's actually 20+ yrs older than me) if she started with lowercase or uppercase letters. She didn't have any proper educational experience, but I was 2-3 when I started, and was reading full books before I turned 5. I do know, however, that it was along the lines of "a" is for apple. We had a different babysitter when my brother was that age and he didn't learn to read properly until kindergarden. He learned phonetically, but has been a poor speller all his life, and never developed a love of reading. This affected his grades all thorough out his school years. It's anecdotal, however, I know how I wish to teach my kids.
pear / 1503 posts
@Travelgirl1: Thats's too funny! ;). Although, how do you pronounce basil? It's never come in regular conversation with my American friends. I lived in Western NY for two years and they would say el-a-ment-TARY, rather than el-A-MENT-tary. It's a regional thing, and I've never heard it anywhere else.
coconut / 8430 posts
@.twist.: I think most Canadians say "pr-OH-cess" and Americans say "pr-AH-cess".
Someone pointed it out to me when I moved down to the US.
honeydew / 7444 posts
@.twist.: LOL! I think i sometimes switch back and forth depending on if i use it as a verb vs noun.
pear / 1998 posts
What do you mean when you say "proper letter for the name, or just the phonetic version".
Like the difference between "bee" the name of the letter and "buh" the sound it makes?
I get in Canada it's "zed" and in America it's "zee" - are there more differences?
grapefruit / 4997 posts
@Freckles: I am not getting the "zed" reference, is that how the letter Z is called sometimes?
cantaloupe / 6692 posts
I did not know that Canadians said Zed instead of Zee!! My mind is blown!
grapefruit / 4997 posts
@Freckles: Oh cool, did not know that! Wow LOL, is that from French influence, this is so interesting!
cantaloupe / 6630 posts
@TemperanceBrennan: Exactly the example you used
@Astro Bee: She loves reading now so I feel like I should be teaching her a bit too....
@Astro Bee: basil, with the A pronounced the way you do in apple
cantaloupe / 6630 posts
@Danizaur: Ha ha! @Kimberlybee: I'm not sure where it's from but I'm English and that's how we say it there... I like that in Canada it's easy for me
pineapple / 12802 posts
@Kimberlybee: @travelgirl1: I think it's English, since we are of British decent.
ETA: lolz.
grapefruit / 4997 posts
@travelgirl1: @.twist.: oh ok....maybe we Americans are saying it wrong then?! LOL That's so interesting!
pear / 1503 posts
@.Twist.: I read your post too fast. I thought your were asking about basil. I agree with you regarding the A and O sounds!
pineapple / 12802 posts
@Astro Bee: haha no worries! I know @travelgirl1: mentioned something about basil!?
It's really funny to see the different ways we say things in different parts of the world.
@oliviaoblivia: Down with zed?! WHAT? nooooo. zee is lazy.
grapefruit / 4997 posts
@oliviaoblivia: oh totally kidding! Zee sounds so much cuter and seems easier for kids to learn. Haha
pear / 1503 posts
@Travelgirl1: I find it easy going to the UK, too. Aside from having to drive on the other side of the road! Lol! Also, because I'm in the military, it is easy to pronounce the ranks: lef-ten-ant vs lew-ten-ant for lieutenant. Yes, I realize there is no "f" but there is something to be said for tradition.
blogger / apricot / 424 posts
I just realized how American my accent is! Guess that's what you get for living in a Canada- USA boarder city!
cantaloupe / 6687 posts
She learned to identify the letters first and quickly moved on to learning "what sound does it make"...just like she learned early on what animals were - dog, cow, horse - and then what sound does the animal make - woof, moo, neigh.
Leap Frog has a great little program called The Letter Factory (the old school version with frogs not the dogs) where they learn what sounds each letter makes - "the A say ahhh"
pomegranate / 3729 posts
Leap Frog has a show on Netflix called "Phonics Farm" and we watch that because there is a whole song "a makes the ah sound, b makes the buh sound"...and so on. It says the letter and then also the sound it makes. LO really likes it.
pear / 1503 posts
@Sandy: It sounds like you're doing a great job teaching your LO.
@Sandy @Bpcmarj: I will have to remember that program/show. A little early for me yet. I'm only at 11w1d with #1!
@Mrs. Tea: Where do you live?
grapefruit / 4819 posts
@oliviaoblivia: Ahh, we finally disagree! I'm a zed convert - but I'm secretly teaching DD1 to say zee, which will be super awesome when she starts school here!
@sandy: Seriously, I can never, never get that Leap Frog song out of my head! We use that too, which to answer the OP's question, teaches the letter and the sound simultaneously, and I find myself humming that tune all the freaking time!
watermelon / 14206 posts
@sandy: Same. D has known the alphabet song since before he knew what he was singing. Then, he moved on to reading Dr, Seuss' ABC book.
I don't think there's a wrong way to teach it. D is an advanced reader, so this worked for us.
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