Q: I am a preschool teacher in an urban early learning center. I have a few children who seem to not be learning their letters no matter what I do. What things can I try in my classroom?

A: We asked our literacy coach, who works with children ages 3-5, for some ideas. We think they'll be useful for you -- and also for parents who want to help their children with early literacy -- because we see every day how successful our coach is at engaging kids in pre-literacy learning. Here are her suggestions:

		Parenting 4 Kids Nationally accredited, 4 Kids Early Learning Network serves children and families throughout the Mon Valley. Through this column, 4 Kids staff members answer reader questions about raising children in the critical early years. E-mail questions for consideration to: questions@4kidsearlyed.org, or mail to: 4 Kids Questions, 445 Fourth St., Braddock, Pa. 15104.

• Use tactile experiences. Provide children with magnetic, foam or sandpaper letters and have them feel each letter as you introduce it (you could do this when you work on the Letter of the Week). Keep the letters in the room's Learning Center so that, during Center Time, when children choose learning activities, they can decide to explore the letters and work on identifying their names and sounds.

• Invest in letter stamps and stamp pads. Have your students work on letter identification while stamping their little hearts out! Just be sure to monitor them while they work with the stamps to ensure that they are actually identifying the letters as they enjoy the stamps. It might help to make this into a Scavenger/Letter Hunt type of game: Have certain letters written down (or typed) on small slips of paper. Have the children locate the letters within the letter stamp set, then stamp each letter under (or beside) the same letter that's on the Scavenger/Letter Hunt paper.

• Create or buy "Alphabet Match Me!" This game is like "Memory," so you can have your students find the matches for each letter. As they find each match, have them tell you the name of the letter they found and what sound it makes (if they are at this level).

• Create or buy "Alphabet Bingo." This game is just like regular bingo, with little red chips and all. Students simply locate each letter on their bingo card as the letter is called. Once a student's card has been filled (or he/she has five chips going across, down, or diagonal), he/she wins and can be awarded a prize of your choice.

• Create ABC Books with your students individually. Start with letters that your students know. Have them choose a letter, then pick an object, animal, person, etc. that begins with that letter. Find a picture of what the student has chosen and allow him/her to glue it into his/her ABC Book. By letting each student choose his/her own picture, you are making each letter more memorable and more meaningful!

• Purchase Dr. Jean CDs. She has great songs that incorporate letter identification with letter sound recognition, and your students will love them. You can play them during transition times, during morning work time, or any time at all.