A letter of the week plan teaches one letter at a time over 26 weeks, but it works best when each week covers the letter’s name, its sound, how to write it and a few real words, and when you review as you go. This guide gives you a ready 26-week sequence with matching free printables, a five-day routine, age adjustments and an honest look at what research does and does not say about the method.
What is a letter of the week plan?
In this approach, a parent or teacher picks one letter, spends about five days on it, and then moves to the next. The week usually includes a few activities: reading the letter’s name and sound, tracing it, finding it in a picture or text, and doing a small craft. After 26 weeks, every letter has had a turn.
The appeal is easy to see. A weekly rhythm is simple to plan, it gives families something to talk about, and it produces lots of tangible work. It also gives young children repeated chances to meet one letter in several ways, which is exactly what they need. The risk is that the method becomes a calendar instead of a learning plan. The sections below show how to keep the structure while making the learning more purposeful.
Does letter of the week work? What the research says
Some education writers have strong opinions about the letter of the week method. The book No More Teaching a Letter a Week, by Rebecca McKay and William Teale, is part of a series for teachers that aims to replace practices with weak support by approaches that have more. In its excerpt, the series editor describes classrooms where children meet the alphabet one letter at a time, usually in alphabetic order and often without meaningful contexts for using the letter.
The key point is not that learning letters is unimportant. McKay writes that students who show phonemic awareness and alphabet recognition are more likely to become successful readers. What she says the research did not support was the specific package: themed activities for each letter, a fixed sequence and pacing, or a particular way of teaching the alphabet. In other words, alphabet knowledge matters a great deal, but a weekly letter schedule has not been shown to be the best way to build it.
The same book also notes that many factors affect how quickly a child learns letters. According to a quote from Teale in the introduction, some relate to the appearance of the letters, some to life circumstances such as the child’s own name, and some to what the child already knows. That is a good reminder that children will not all learn at the same speed, however neatly the weeks are labeled.
So the sensible conclusion for families is practical. Use a letter of the week plan as a loose structure if you like it, but keep the parts that matter: connect letters to sounds and real words, let children write, review earlier letters regularly, and move faster for children who already know many letters.
How this plan differs from the usual A to Z version
This plan changes four things about the usual A to Z version.
| Common version | This plan | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Letters in alphabet order | Letters grouped so early weeks use the most useful and easiest letters | S, A, T, P, I, N build real words fast; hard shapes come later |
| Crafts that fill the week | Short daily tasks: say, trace, find, color, review | More time on letter, sound and writing |
| One letter and nothing else | A five-minute review of earlier letters every day | Earlier letters are not forgotten |
| Same pace for every child | Skip, double up or slow down based on a quick check | Children arrive knowing different letters |
The order borrows from common phonics practice: start with six letters that make many simple words, then add letters that are easy to write, and save the least frequent letters for last. If you would rather follow alphabet order, you can, and the printables work either way.
The 26-week sequence, letter by letter
Each row names a picture word that matches our free alphabet coloring pages, plus a focus for the week. Print the matching letter practice pack, which has four pages for tracing, finding, a maze and coloring, and the matching coloring page.
| Week | Letter | Picture word | Focus for the week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | S | sun | The /s/ sound; a curvy snake letter |
| 2 | A | apple | Short /a/; write capital and small a |
| 3 | T | tree | A simple straight-line capital; build “at” and “sat” |
| 4 | P | pig | Line plus curve; read “tap” and “pat” |
| 5 | I | ice cream | Short /i/; read “sit” and “tip” |
| 6 | N | nest | Make “nap,” “pin” and “tin” |
| 7 | M | moon | Humming /m/; compare M and N |
| 8 | C | cat | The “c” curve that starts many letters |
| 9 | O | owl | Round letter; short /o/ |
| 10 | D | dog | Start with a c curve, then a line |
| 11 | L | lion | Tall straight line |
| 12 | F | fish | Lines and bars; /f/ sound |
| 13 | E | egg | Short /e/; three bars |
| 14 | H | hat | Breathy /h/; two lines and a bridge |
| 15 | R | rainbow | Line, curve and a leg |
| 16 | B | ball | Line then two bumps; compare with D |
| 17 | U | umbrella | Short /u/; a cup shape |
| 18 | G | goat | A c curve with a shelf |
| 19 | K | kite | Line plus two diagonals |
| 20 | W | whale | Four diagonals; compare with M |
| 21 | J | juice | Hook shape; /j/ sound |
| 22 | V | violin | Two diagonals; buzzy /v/ |
| 23 | Y | yo-yo | Consonant /y/; a diagonal Y shape |
| 24 | Z | zebra | Zigzag; buzzy /z/ |
| 25 | X | x-ray | Two crossing diagonals; the /ks/ ending sound |
| 26 | Q | queen | Q is almost always followed by u |
After weeks 6, 12, 18 and 24 of the schedule, add an optional review week with no new letter. Play letter games, redo the trickiest pages, and read a simple book together. With those four extra weeks, the full year runs 30 weeks.
A five-day routine for each letter
You do not need a huge menu of crafts. A short, predictable routine gives children more practice with the letter and leaves you more energy. This routine takes 15 to 20 minutes a day for most families.
| Day | Main task | Quick extras |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Meet the letter: name, sound, picture word, and how it is written | Hunt for the letter on a cereal box or sign |
| Tuesday | Trace and write the letter on handwriting lines | Write it in sand, salt or shaving cream |
| Wednesday | Find the letter among look-alikes; complete the maze | Sort magnetic letters or letter cards |
| Thursday | Color the picture; say words that begin with the letter | Sort small toys by first sound |
| Friday | Review this week’s letter and two earlier letters | Play a letter game; read a short book |
Keep Friday light every week. The goal is to see what stuck, not to test. If a child still cannot say a letter’s sound, repeat the Tuesday and Wednesday tasks next week before adding a new letter.
Activities that actually teach something
Good letter of the week activities have one thing in common: the child is looking at, saying or writing the letter the whole time. Messy crafts can be fun, but ask whether the child is thinking about the letter while doing them. Here are activities that pass that test, grouped by what they build.
| Skill | Activity | What the child does |
|---|---|---|
| Letter shape | Play dough letters | Rolls snakes and shapes the letter while saying the strokes |
| Letter shape | Sandpaper or tray writing | Traces the letter with a finger, then writes it |
| Letter sound | Sound sort | Puts small objects or pictures in two groups: starts with this sound or does not |
| Letter recognition | Letter hunt | Circles or covers the target letter on a page, in a magazine or in a book |
| Writing | Name and word writing | Writes the letter inside a name or a short word |
| Movement | Body letters | Makes the letter with arms, or walks its shape on masking tape |
Children also need to see letters in real words, so choose at least one book each week with a clear connection to the letter or its sound. Point to the letter and read the word, then let the child point. For sound practice, our beginning sounds worksheets include a set for S, A, T, P, I and N that matches the first six weeks of this plan.
How to adjust the plan by age
A letter of the week preschool plan has to meet children where they are. The CDC milestone checklists give a rough picture: a 4-year-old typically draws a person with three or more body parts, and by 5 years most children write some letters in their name and name some letters when you point to them. These are averages, and every child grows at a different pace.
| Age | Goal | How to adapt |
|---|---|---|
| 3 years | Notice letters, hear sounds, enjoy letter play | Skip writing; use big movements, play dough and finger tracing |
| 4 years | Name letters, say the sound, trace some | Use two or three tasks a day; review often |
| 5 years, kindergarten | Name and write letters; connect sounds to words | Move quickly through known letters; add word building |
| 6 years, grade 1 | Fill gaps in letter knowledge | Use a quick check to find missing letters; skip the rest |
The Common Core kindergarten standards give a useful end goal. RF.K.1.d asks students to recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters, and RF.K.3.a asks for the primary or most frequent sound of each consonant. That is a year-long target, not a weekly expectation, which is another reason to use the weekly plan flexibly.
How to check progress and adjust
A plan like this helps most when you check what the child already knows. Take five minutes before you start. Point to uppercase letters in random order and ask for the name, then the sound. Repeat for lowercase letters. Write down what the child gets right.
- If a child knows more than 20 letters: skip the known letters, use the weekly time for sounds and writing, and review the unknown ones.
- If a child knows 5 to 15 letters: follow the plan, but move quickly through the letters the child already says confidently.
- If a child knows fewer than five letters: start with the child’s name and the first six weeks, and repeat a letter for a second week when needed.
Repeat the check every six weeks, which is the same rhythm as the review weeks. If a child seems stuck over many weeks, talk to the teacher or pediatrician. Trouble with letters can have many causes, such as vision or hearing, and a professional can help sort them out.
Common mistakes and what to do instead
| Mistake | Why it hurts | Try this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Treating the schedule as fixed | Some letters need two weeks; some children need only two days | Move on when the letter and sound are secure |
| Teaching only the letter name | Reading needs sounds too | Say the name and sound together every day |
| No review | Earlier letters fade | Review two older letters on Fridays |
| Crafts without a letter task | Fun, but little letter learning | Add a trace, a sound word or a find-the-letter step |
| Teaching b and d in back-to-back weeks | Look-alike letters cause confusion | Space them apart, as this plan does |
| Only uppercase letters | Most text is lowercase | Show both forms every week |
| Ignoring writing | Writing makes children look closely | Add a short trace or copy task each day |
One more tip: when a letter has the same sound at the start of the child’s name, put the name on the fridge for that week. Children often learn the first letter of their own name fastest because it matters to them.
What comes after the 26 weeks?
Finishing the sequence is a milestone, not a finish line. Next, put the letters to work. Blend sounds into simple words such as cat, sun and pin. Start reading short sentences. Practice writing first names, family names and simple words. The phonics for beginners guide shows what to teach next, and our sight words guide explains how to add the common words that do not follow the simple sound rules.
Free printables on PrintSheetLab
- Letter practice worksheets with a four-page pack for every letter from A to Z.
- Alphabet letters coloring pages with one picture for each letter in the plan.
- Alphabet worksheets including letter of the week sets, mazes, missing letters and a look-alike pack.
- Beginning sounds worksheets to match each week’s letter to its sound.
- Letter tracing worksheets for more handwriting practice on any letter.
- Letter formation order to see which letters are easiest to write first.
- Uppercase vs lowercase letters for deciding when to introduce both forms.
Sources
Statements about the research come from the excerpt of No More Teaching a Letter a Week by Rebecca McKay and William Teale (Heinemann). Milestone information comes from the CDC’s 4-year and 5-year checklists. Standards wording comes from the Common Core kindergarten foundational skills. The letter order is our own suggestion and not a standard sequence.
Frequently asked questions
7 quick answers
What is letter of the week?
It is a teaching routine where a class or family focuses on one letter for about a week, usually with activities for the letter’s name, sound, shape and picture words. A good plan adds writing, review and flexibility so the weeks stay useful.
Is letter of the week a good way to teach the alphabet?
It can be a helpful structure, but research summarized by McKay and Teale did not show it to be the best method, and critics point to slow pacing and isolated activities. Use it with daily review, real words and writing, and speed up for children who already know many letters.
What order should I teach letters in?
There is no single required order. This plan begins with S, A, T, P, I and N because they build many simple words, then moves to letters that are easy to write, and ends with the least frequent letters. Alphabet order also works if you prefer it.
How long should a letter of the week lesson be?
For preschoolers, about 10 to 20 minutes a day is plenty, split into one or two short tasks. Kindergarten children can handle a little more. Stop when attention fades; short and happy beats long and tiring.
What are good letter of the week activities for preschool?
Play dough letters, tracing in sand or salt, sorting objects by first sound, hunting for the letter on signs and packages, and coloring a letter picture all work. Choose tasks where the child keeps looking at or saying the letter.
Should I teach uppercase and lowercase letters together?
Many families show both forms every week. Start with the form the child will see and write most, and add the other once the first feels familiar. Our guide to uppercase and lowercase letters can help you decide.
What if my child already knows the alphabet?
Skip ahead in the plan. Use the time for letter sounds, writing letters correctly, and building simple words. Do a quick check first, and use the weekly plan only for letters or sounds the child does not yet know.