Teaching how to Alphabetize

Tips and Hints for Helping Kids learn to alphabetize: A first step in learning to alphabetize is to be able to categorize and be able to tell the difference between things. So sorting out all green blocks in one box and putting all red blocks in another is a good organizing skill, or try giving the child blocks or matchbox cars of varying colors, or if the child is old enough, you can have him sort money. All pennies in one pile, all dimes in another. To see if a child can tell the difference in shapes of letters, play a mail sorting game. Place family members names on multiple cards multiple times; make several sets for different people. Print carefully and distinctly. You can draw or put stickers where stamps would go. Let the child sort out the letters by names. You can write a silly sentence on the back of each “letter." When your little “Mailman” delivers the letters, the recipient can read the funny sentence or joke out loud.

Now to put things in ABC order. A simple set of Index Cards lettered from A-Z is the first step. Mix it up and let the child put them in order. Laying them out on the table might be necessary at first, then you can ask for the cards to be put in a stack in order. Or, have the student place alphabet blocks in order. Mix up alphabet puzzle pieces. Save a child’s ABC coloring pages, and put them in ABC order.

We mixed this game up a little by just doing half of the alphabet A-M and then N-Z.

To help kids learn how to pick up in the middle of the alphabet without having to sing the WHOLE ABC song, we wrote letters in sets on cards. ABCDE on one card. FGHIJK on another and LMNOP on one, QRSTUV and WXYZ on another. This gets the person in the routine of looking at sets of letters. Then we leave out one card and they still have to put them in order. Also, try giving the student just a group of individual cards with no missing letters, like L, M, N,O, & P, then try Q, R, S, T, U, V. Use these exercises like a drill and before you know it they won't be having to sing the whole alphabet song to alphabetize. After mastering these routines, It is time to move to something else.

What if a letter is left out of the A-Z cards? Can the child still alphabetize with missing cards? Some kids may have difficulty with this. Others may not. An adjustment in thinking is required here. If a child has difficulty with this, then you can try this solution to help the child adjust. Make a stack of cards that has letters written in dotted lines or in light gray ink and call it the “invisible letters” stack. Set it to the side. Now the child is given a stack of cards to alphabetize, say with C, D, M, Q and X left out. The child can begin to alphabetize the cards. When he finds one letter is missing, the C, he can go to the stack of “invisible” letters (which are in alphabetical order), and take out the C and insert it in the stack and go on to DEFGHIJKL until he gets to M which is missing and then go to the “Invisible letters” stack to find the M. This may help a child adjust to alphabetizing when there are missing letters or help a child who has OCD.

The next step in alphabetizing is learning to alphabetize words that all begin with the same letter, but have the second letter different. A good letter to start with for this is A and make cards that have these words; (you can type them and print them out also): aardvark, able, act, add, aerial, after, agree, ahead, ail, Ajax, akapi, almost, amount, ant, apex, aqua, art, ask, at, auto, avow, awful, axle, aye, azure. You could also just make cards that don’t have words, just: aa, ab, ac, ad, ad, ae, etc. Then move to the 3rd letter with the first 2 letters the same (here's a set of those): that, these, this, though, three, thus, thwart, thy OR unable, unbox, uncouth, undo, unfurl, unglue, unhand, unicorn, unjust, unkind, unleash, unmade, unnamed, unopened, unpack, unqualified, unrest, unsafe, until, unusual, unveil, unwell, unyoke, unzip; Then the 4th letter: stab, stack, stadium, staff, stag, stair, stake, stall, stamp, stand, staple, star, stash, state, stave, stay; 5th letter: command, comment, commit, commode, commune OR overact, overboard, overcook, overdo, overeat, overfill, overhang, overjoy, overkill, overly, overnight, overpower, overrate, oversee, overt, overuse, overview, overweight, overzealous.

For beginners, learning the alphabet, there is the new ABC Workbook: Learning Lore Letters. Available here>> Learning Lore Letters.