Capital Letters

[Guest sarahjw]

Hi all

 

This is my first posting so probably about to reveal my ignorance..!

 

I am thoroughly enjoying using the Letters and Sounds guidance, and am seeing the children make good progress. But, when should capital letters and letter names be introduced? Obviously the big focus is on getting children knowing and using the sounds, but at some stage they need to know capitals and letter names.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Sarah

[Guest]

Just like to say Hi.

[MrsL]

Hi, I think letter names come in at the beginning of phase 3. Not sure about capitals although I starts talking about them staight away as soon as we started writing.

[Marion]

I show the children both capital and lower case versions of the letters right from the start because once they start reading sentences they will encounter capital letters and need to associate these with the sound.

[Guest]

Naming the letters comes in Phase 3.

[Guest]

I introduce the children to the name of the letter and the upper and lower case form from the start. Firstly, many children already know the name of the letter and it is knowledge of the sound that is lacking. Secondly, they usually know the capital letter at the beginning of their name, so when I introduce the sound I show both cases, otherwise it would be confusing for them. However, when we start building cvc words, they have only lower case letters and when learning letter formation, I tend to focus on lower case only. They see capitals all the time around them and in book titles, so it seems a bit daft not to introduce them.