The Letter R
Alphabet Games
The letter R is in the top ten letters in the alphabet in terms of frequency of use in English. Though for many letters the uppercase and lowercase letters look very similar, uppercase and lowercase Rs look very different. Because of this, students learning their ABCs will benefit from lots of practice identifying, reading, and writing the letter R. Use three-lined paper to help young students guide their writing. To aid in letter recognition, online alphabet games will draw students in and engage them. As their skills in recognizing letters grow, students can get practice with multiple letters by playing spelling games. Good skills to develop at this stage include choosing the correct letter to complete the word and placing the scrambled letters in the correct order to form a word on their spelling list. Knowing the order of the letters in the alphabet continues to be important even as students become proficient at reading and spelling. Students use this knowledge for alphabetizing lists of words or books on a shelf. They will use it alphabetization all their lives to find important books in the library, documents on the computer, or even spices at the store. That one little song, sung in preschool to reinforce letter recognition, remains important throughout school and adulthood as a key to information and organization.
