Does anyone have any suggestions on how to teach a 5 year old child to spell his name?

Question

My step-son who is 5 years old and in kindergarden is unable to spell his name. I have tried everything I can to teach him it. I don't know if he really can't do it or just doesn't want to do it. He is not a kid who likes to put much effort into anything he does.

Answer 1

As a Kindergarten teacher I can tell you that it takes time for some children. I have had children who couldn't spell their names until the end of the year. It depends on the child.

Start slowly. Start getting him to write just the first letter of his name. If he gets frustrated easily, forcing to write the whole thing, especially if it is a looong name will just turn him off writing. Let him copy, but let him go at his own pace.

The teacher probably is working on this with him, so give him time.

Things you can do at home:
-encourage him for writing even two or one letters of his name
-put pudding on a cookie sheet and write his name out together in the pudding
-make the letters of his name out of play dough
-write his name with magnetic letters
-let him paint his name on paper
-show him letters whenever you see them (especially ones in his name) like you walk past macdonalds: look Mikey a big M, like in your name!
-let him write his name in crayon on paper
-use glue and sand or coarse salt to make his name on paper (ie write his name in glue and dump salt on it) so he can feel out his name.
-practice writing out his name with him. Write his name with dots and let him trace dot to dot to write his name.

Your little guy will be fine. Give him time and Lots and LOTS of encouragement!

Answer 2

Are you sure that he doesn't have a learning disability? Don't judge too soon. He might seem like he doesn't care, but it can be frustrating for a child that has trouble learning if he is being treated like they are being lazy. Have him tested first. Some kids are also just late bloomers. My sister and I both had a hard time learning to read and so we were put in a transition class between Kindergarten and first grade. We were both reading within a week or two. We just needed a little extra help. If you also think it would help, get a tutor. High school students used to come to my elementary school and tutor students that needed extra help. The tutor that I had happened to be my parent's friend's daughter and she went on to be a teacher.

Answer 3

My dad would read me a bed time story every night when I was 3 years old, which is when I learned how to read. Then he would pick out words in the story that start with each letter of my name. I learned in about a week. However, I could not spell my middle name, Chrisette until I was about 5 or 6. lol. <333

Answer 4

My daughter in K-garten also she had to learn to spell her full name vs. her nickname, and was very unhappy about it. We practiced a game with her that involved finding all other things that had the same letters as her name, it was fun for her and helped her to learn the letters of her name. Don't know if it will work but it is worth a try.

Answer 5

You have to make it fun for him.

To teach letters I would recommend getting some plastic ones that you can put on the table and start with a challenge, like 'can you sort these out into d's and b's...see, they look different!' (make sure they are lower case letters in the UK, in the US you might want to check with teacher first) Also you can make them squeak like they have a voice. When he touches them make them say a, b, c etc (letter SOUNDS, not names) Like teddy is called Bobby and he makes a growling noise, this letter is called a d (name) but says d (sound). But deal mainly in sounds not names. If the names come up like on Sesame Street or something, thats your explanation all ready.

I am in favour of whole word recognition as a good way to start. Make sure he can pick his name out from a group of names. Write whole words on little pieces of paper. cat, dog, rabbit, slide, swing, james, mummy, daddy, on, in up, and, goes, the. << small letters. Put capitals on the names later when he is getting it.

After that, when he can recognise some words lay the pieces of paper in sentances for him. Help him to make his own sentances.

Also make a scrap book and find pictures of things that start with 'a' for the 'a' page and so on. Cut them out and stick them in.

Once he is interested in reading he will want to try writing.

Also consider that he might be dyslexic or just not ready yet.
Well done for trying to help.

Answer 6

Put it in a song.

My brothers and I all had 5 or 6 letter names that my mom sang to the tune of "B-I-N-G-O." That's how we learned how to spell our names. I've taught my daughter the same way.

Sometimes it helps to use the other side of your brain to learn the academics, as well.

Answer 7

When my daughter was 3, I had to write her name on everything because she was in daycare. I started showing her what her name looked like. I would have her point it out and write it. She learned that her name was K-a-s-i (pronounced Casey) before she learned her alphabets and she could write it at the age of 3. She was excited because it was her name. She had her name on her wall, on her door, in books, etc. Needless to say, when it came time to learn alphabets, she knew 4 with no problem! Make it exciting for him.

Answer 8

Make a little song out of it and sing it when you're around him or teach it to him.

When you want him to do something, spell his name instead of saying it.

What would send an adult screaming will often tickle a little guy into laughter. If you make it fun, he'll remember.

Answer 9

What we did with our children and my 3 year old grandson is teach them the ABC's song. Then taught them the letters that go with the song. We wrote their name on a chalk board and should them how to copy it. It took about 2weeks, but it works.

Answer 10

Well does he have a long name?? Maybe that is the problem...otherwise..make it fun to learn. Get a dry erase board and let him use it that way
Get flash cards..the ones with the animals on them and use those to make it fun to get the cards with the letters in his name..then arrange then in order...then have him do it.
That could be fun for him!!
Good luck