Welcome to Part 1 of my Learning the Alphabet Series! I hope to inspire and empower you to help your little ones on the way to knowing their “A, B, C’s”. Today’s post is about my favourite story books that help to teach your child about the alphabet. I have two absolute favourites that I always use in my classroom and here they are! This book is positively addictive!!! I have been reading this with my Senior Infant Class and they just love it! Chicka Chicka Boom Boom introduces the the 26 letters of the alphabet in a vivid, rhythmic and rhyming manner. The lowercase letters of the alphabet all scramble to climb up the coconut tree then they fall (chicka chicka boom boom!!!). Their “parents” (the uppercase letters) come to their rescue and we survey their injuries. Some letters are badly injured in this adventure such as Black-eyed P and Stub-toed E!

The illustrations of each letter are big and bold allowing even the youngest child to follow the story. The letters are nicely spaced and on a white background allowing them to stand out clearly. The rhythm and rhyme allows children to memorize the story and to join in “reading”. If you read this often, as I am sure you will, your child will quickly and effortlessly learn to recognise and name the lowercase letters of the alphabet.

Top tip: point to the letters in the illustration rather than the story itself as you recite the story to encourage alphabetic learning 🙂 Chicka Chicka Boom Boom can be purchased in Board Book format for tiny hands and in Paperback also. The ISBN details for the board book are as follows:

• ISBN-10: 141699999X
• ISBN-13: 978-1416999997

The ISBN details for the paper back are as follows:

• ISBN-10: 0590438891
• ISBN-13: 978-0590438896

Both books are available on Amazon or ask your local book shop to order one for you. It will be the best money you spend. Promise!!! 😉 This book is my next favorite alphabet book. I just love, love Dr. Seuss! This book is fantastic for introducing both capital and lowercase letters. I would recommend it for a slightly older child even though it does come in a Board Book format. It has all the whacky, zanny characters that you would expect from Dr. Seuss from Auntie Alligator to Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz The ISBN details for the Paper Back Book format are as follows:

• ISBN-10: 0007158483
• ISBN-13: 978-0007173693

I hope that you find this article useful. Perhaps Santa might bring one of these books to your little one. This book is on my Christmas wish list: Eating the Alphabet Explores lot of common and not so common fruit and vegetables in alphabetic order. This book is sure to be the source of lots of discussion and a great way to increase your child’s vocabulary.

Have fun,

Miss Mernagh 🙂