Learning Abcs and Counting...

There is nothing at all that she "should" know for preschool. And a preschool that would want her to know anything is not a good one. Contrary to what many believe a preschool should NOT be academic.

She doesn't have to know anything before she starts preschool. She just needs to be able to communicate her needs and follow directions and show an interest in socializing and learning.

If I were going to guess, most 3-4 year olds who start preschool know shapes, colors, ABCs, and can count to 10. Some kids will know more or less. At 3 1/2, my older daugher know some simple addition (ex. 2+2) and could recognize her letters on sight. She could also write her name with help. My younger one is just 3, can count to 20 and follow patterns, but doesn't know her ABC's and she can't recognize more than 2-3 letters or numbers.

Hi T.!!
No worries your daughter will be just fine..She will learn that and more when she starts preschool! Keep doing what you're doing and make it fun. You'll be amazed at what she picks up once in school! good luck

I don't think kids really need to know anything before they start preschool. My son started just before he turned 3 and they had no requirements, but he goes to public school. I know some private schools require them to be potty trained but even then I don't think they need to "know" anything. School has helped my son a lot learning that stuff though. Before he started school he knew the ABC song and how to count to about 15 though he didnt count object yet. He is 3 1/2 now and he recognizes all the letters and can count to 30 pretty well and is counting objects better. A great website for us was starfall.com. Our son loved this site and it is what helped him learn his letters more than school I think. It sounds like you are doing a good job and your daughter will be just fine in school!

We have a huge alphabet foam mat and my kids have a talking sesame street characters letter and numbers game and Thomas the train letters and numbers laptop (daughter now has a leapfrog with princess letters/numbers games). In combination with the foam mat and us spelling out common words, they have been doing a great job! We put our kids names in the Bingo song -- plus mommy and Daddy too --- instead of the dog name :) We have been inventive, it makes it fun. They are 3.5 and 2.5 and can spell a bunch of things and recognize all letters and numbers. We haven't graduated to real reading yet (though my daughter has a memory like crazy and can "read" by rote memory outloud every one of her books word for word -- even the long long new ones we got from the library 2 weeks ago). I figure there is plenty of time for that! Oh and we play hide and go seek and each child MUST count to 20 by him or herself before seeking (my daughter can count higher than that but 2.5 yo son just gets to 20). Though they work on it in PreK, I would make it fun and give her a base now. Plus, our Pre-K sends home a list of what they will be working on that month so you can work in conjunction with the school if hers does something similar to help her learn.

"How did you teach ABCs and counting?"

I learned about starfall.com through mamapedia. It's an amazing, free online program that teaches the ABCs and, more importantly, helps kids learn how to read. The added benefit? I can put my kids on the computer and have a few minutes to myself while they do something educational!

I try to teach counting in every day circumstances. For example, today, at the beach, we counted rocks. At the pool, we count before one of the kids jumps into the water. If cooking, we count the cups of water going into the pot. While cleaning, we count the books going onto the shelf. While walking, we count our steps.

My son learned ABCs by singing it EVERY TIME we wash hands.Two things are accomplished: hands get washed for long enough and he learned his ABCs.

This sounds silly, but there are some really good Leap Frog videos called "The Letter Factory" and "The Word Factory." I had no luck working with my son on letters and their sounds until he fell in love with those videos. He hasn't watched them often, but he still sings the songs that helps you remember the sounds. They're fabulous, and I highly recommend them.

Preschools don't usually assume the kids have number or letter recognition, and her knowledge will probably be in line with most of the other kids.

Don't worry too much - that's what pre-school is for: to learn all those things! If you still want to teach the abc's, here's what I did with my oldest. We learned one new letter every day. And every day, we'd review the letters already learned. In about 26 days, he was able to recognize all the uppercase letters. Lowercase came later. My son needed extra one on one help because he has Autism. With my daughters, I just let the pre-school teach them. They did just fine and are now excellent readers (in 3rd and 4th grade). There's really no benefit to a child being *advanced* or *ahead* in pre-school. They're there to learn socialization skills, appropriate classroom behavior and the very basics of academics. Don't pressure yourself or your daughter to know "all that stuff" before starting pre-school.

kids should know the abc's by 3. count to 10 around age 2 basic colors and shapes the rest they work on in preschool.

Every kid is different, but it sounds to me like your daughter is right on target for her age. My son told me when he was 4 1/2 that he wanted to learn to read. He knew his letters, but not his sounds, so I used "Hooked on Phonics" to teach him his letter sounds. My daughter learned her letter sounds from watching LeapFrog's Talking Letters Factory video and started with Hooked on Phonics just before her 4th birthday. My kids are nearly 7 and 5 now and both love books and read well above their age level. Don't pressure your daughter to do something she's not ready for, but when she WANTS to learn to read, I highly recommend HOP!

I think she is about average with all the kids who will be starting preschool. I would also start practicing writing her name with her, and keep working on the counting and abc's.

We do a lot of learning on the go. I point everything out, playing little games like "can you find an A, lower case, upper case. Or how many 1's can you find or 10's," have a lot of puzzles, books, leap frog letter radio and so on.

My daughter knew all the abc's and numbers up to 50 going into pre-k 4, but then again she was almost reading by age 4. My daughter did go to pre-k 3 so she had a wonderful teacher helping her along.