Teaching kids the ABCs

Are you talking about recognizing the letters by name?

Maybe post the letters as labels for things around the house, and refer to them through the day. "Let's find the thing that starts with R! Look! R for remote!" Then when using the remote at different times ask him what letter is on the remote.

And read, read, read! Read everything - books, signs, cereal boxes, and point to the words when you read. You don't have to make it a lesson. Just act like you're thinking aloud.

Does he mix up the same ones over and over? p, d, q, b?

Can he write his own name?

Is it more a problem of being able to write them or know them by sound?

Don't worry, there are fixes, we just need to know more specifically what his challenge is.

I've been told sounds are much more important than identifying the actual letters. My boys are six and going into 1st and still forget a few letter names once in awhile, but they are pretty good with the sounds and we've been working on phonics this summer. Testing wise, both were within the normal range for reading at the end of the year--although the one was towards the lower end of normal.

I tried everything too and read to them a lot, but they just didn't have the interest in learning letters until they were in K every day all day.

I'm using the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. They don't introduce letter names until about lesson 80 or so. It is all letter sounds.

Best tool ever for learning letter names and sounds

I think the main impetus for my son learning his was this toy. Well, we had an earlier version, but I think the concept is the same.

link

And he also really liked the Scout Phonics Farm movie. It's from the same folks who do the Leapfrog video mentioned above but for whatever reason, my son liked it better than the Leapfrog one.

Matthew was much younger than your son when he learned his so I don't know if your son would think this toy was too young but it really helped him. Then I upgraded him to the word building one for further reinforcement.

The other thing I did was make a photo ABC book, but I used his favorite things to fill them in--B for a picture of him and his ball, etc. He paid more attention to it because it showed photos of him and his stuff.

This is exactly what I was going to suggest. I bought the Letter Factory Phonics and Numbers interactive bucket game in addition to the DVD. My daughter adored the DVD and learned some letters she was really struggling with before.

Definitely give the DVD a try. It's fun and really catchy so kids stay focused. Also, the game I bought is really not marketed as a game but more of a learning tool. It's an animated bucket of letter tiles and we found endless ways of making up our own rules. It's really a lot of fun! Amazon and Wal-Mart carry it. I'm on my phone but will try to link anyway.

www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B009W2ST6Y/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1407593294&sr=8-1

Kindergarten teacher here:

Sometimes kids, particularly boys, are just not ready to learn letters and sounds yet. Literally--the little synapses in their brains have not formed yet. It would be like trying to teach a five-year-old to dunk a basketball. You can try the best programs in the world, and they are still not going to get it. And then one day, out of the blue, they do!

So keep trying, but do not put too much pressure on him or yourself. Keep it fun--you do not want him to get frustrated and develop a bad attitude against reading/writing.

And more important than learning letters and sounds at this point, READ...READ...READ!!!! Read every day and talk with him about what you're reading... Ask questions... What happened? What do you think will happen next? What would happen if...? And encourage creative play... Where he can make up stories as he plays. Research shows that kids who are pushed to read at four or five years old do not perform as well as kids who were taught to read at six or even seven. The kids who learned to read early became very good "word callers." In other words, they could read the words but not comprehend the story, I'm not suggesting that you wait until he's 7 to start teaching him to read... I'm just saying to not worry Bout it so much.