ABC's for Preschool

 We've been running an unstructured pre-school during my son's 2nd year. I'd point out letters, shapes, numbers, and colors to him. I'd describe things and ask him to "see if you can find _____". My husband and I decided that he should have a little more "formal" schooling this year.
 Formal schooling to us does not mean he sits down at a desk everyday at a certain time to do "school". It means that WE are more structured as parents. It means we have educational goals set for him and we look for fun ways to accomplish them.
 One of the umbrella goals we have this year is pre-reading. I decided to check on his alphabet understanding. We do a letter a week. These are some of the activities that we usually include:
1. Coloring page - At the beginning of the week coloring with mommy. We point out the letter and try to think of other things that might start with that letter. We might add more of our own pictures or write more words. Then, he hangs it on the fridge (we're collecting them in a folder for a book at the end). (There are a TON of these online - just google "ABC book" or "Alphabet Coloring Pages")
2. Books - We read books about characters that have that letter for their first name (Arthur, Berenstein Bears, Clifford, etc. - I'm compiling a list as we go). We also point out the letter in other books we read. He usually takes initiative to do this.
3. Go on an "A" hunt - We draw or color the letter on some small quarter-size sheets of paper (both lower and upper case). This is mostly for reference as we walk around the house. Then, we chant "We're going on an __ hunt, We're going on a __ hunt, Let's find some ___". When he finds one, we tape the letter page to the letter he found and leave them up through the week.
4. Practice writing the letter. Honestly, sometimes this happens, sometimes it doesn't. He's got a writing book from Priddy Books that he likes to take out occasionally. Usually he'll go through more than one letter in a day.
5. Practical Use. Sometimes we do fun activities with letters (in addition to the fun ones listed above). I may have Cadence make a story on crayola.com, we send letters to family far away, or he may type an email to Grandma. This has been a fun way for him to use his letter identification in a practical way and develop stronger relationships with friends and family.

I'm not focusing so much this time around on letter sounds. We're focusing mostly on letter recognition & finding them in words. He's already started to "spell" on his own, even though he may not know what he's spelling. It's been still pretty casual, but it feels good to know what goals we have and are working toward.