Words and letters

Lately, Alyria has been asking “what is this?” and pointing to words. Today, when she pointed at something, I thought she was asking about the book itself, so she had to repeat “what is this WORD?” (with emphasis).

For her bedtime book tonight, she asked me about various words, but also about letters. She pointed at a few letters at random and I told her the name of those letters. And after a couple, she made the connection to the alphabet song and would start singing the alphabet from that letter.

Side note on literacy

While we give Alyria every opportunity to enjoy books, we understand that the a heavy phonics approach to literacy is not effective at this age. Montessori eduction ties in tactile experiences in addition to sounds to give the child more ways to experiences words and letters. Waldorf education has a very “holistic” approach that ties in stories and multi-sensory experiences.

At 2 years old, Alyria is not yet ready for “exercises” in learning letters and words, but I’m happy to provide context and creativity around her her questions on what things are.