One of the very first things that children are taught in school, at home, etc. is the “Alphabet Song.” Sung to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” the “Alphabet Song” is a classic tool for teaching the building blocks of literacy. In America, everyone knows it, it’s universal! Apparently, the latest trend in education is to teach a newer version of the song. This version breaks up the rhythm of saying the letters of the alphabet in a way that’s different than we’re used to. Instead of the usual rhyming scheme that contains the infamous “HIJK / LMNOP,” the new way of saying it breaks up the letters differently and eliminates the word “and” in between Y and Z. The new breakdown is as follows: “ABCDEFG / HIJKLMN / OPQ / RST / UVW / XYZ.”
An elementary school teacher has confirmed schools are teaching a different version of the “Alphabet Song” and why they are doing it. Alphabet knowledge and the understanding of letter forms, names and corresponding sounds represents the crucial foundation blocks of emergent literacy in children.
A 2004 longitudinal comparative analysis published in the Journal of Educational Psychology highlighted how a child’s knowledge of these letter names and sounds serves as an accurate predictor of their later reading and spelling abilities.
That’s what makes something like the “Alphabet Song,” sung to the familiar tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” such an important tool in starting to develop those skills and understanding. Rachel, an elementary school teacher from Atlanta, Georgia, who posts TikToks under the handle teacherrachelsorsel, is a keen advocate of the song’s use in her classroom.
Rachel, who asked that her surname not be included, told Newsweek: “When kids are first learning to read, they haven’t yet developed the ‘alphabetic principle,’ which is understanding that those squiggles we call letters each have different names and spell sounds. Songs make learning ‘sticky,’ so the alphabet song is a helpful way to introduce, learn, and practice the beginnings of this concept.”
Now in her fifth year as a first grade teacher, Rachel specializes in structured literacy, literacy intervention, and dyslexia so, when she saw a tweet doing the rounds explaining that the way kids sing the “Alphabet Song” had changed, she was perfectly placed to explain exactly why in a video posted to her TikTok account.
The original post, shared by a user writing under the handle mostly_cheese, read: “My 5-year-old twins have informed me I sing the alphabet wrong. Tune is the same, but the new rendition their teacher prefers breaks down as follows:
ABCDEFG / HIJKLMN / OPQ / RST / UVW / XYZ.”“One of the first assessments I do when I work with a struggling reader is to have them write the alphabet for me,” she said. “So many of them sing the song to help them get through all of the letters, and let me tell you the amount of kids that get so stumped when they hit ‘LMNOP’ is baffling.”
Rachel noted many kids also struggle with letters at the end of the alphabet because of the “and” between y and z in the traditional song and that represents a fundamental flaw in the old version of the song.
“If students aren’t hearing all of the letter names, there is something missing conceptually,” she said.
When Rachel attempted to explain this on her video, she said many commenting said that the problem was down to the fact kids were not “enunciating all the letters” but she rejects that notion.
“Kids are still developing phonemic awareness, which is the ability to hear, isolate, and manipulate individual sounds in language,” she said. “Even a perfectly enunciated traditional alphabet song may still be confusing to kids.”
Ultimately, when it comes to the new version of the song versus the old, in her experience most kids are “flexible” when it comes to learning. “Kids are really receptive to this practice, and when you explain why the change was made, the majority of kids I work with say ‘Oh that makes so much sense.’ Even kids who don’t necessarily struggle hear this version and explanation and understand the need for the change, noting peers or siblings that say ‘Ellamenoh’ for LMNO!” she said. “If kids were taught a more developmentally appropriate version in the first place, some of this early intervention and reteaching may not be needed.”
Though she noted many commenting on her video insisted they had “turned out fine” despite learning the old version of the song, she is firmly in favor of this more effective approach.
“While learning the alphabet song does not equate to reading, rapid automatic naming of all letters is a strong early predictor of literacy skills. If kids are struggling with the alphabet, then of course they are going to struggle with reading,” Rachel said. “Making changes to the way we teach foundational skills is extremely helpful to lay the groundwork for the trickier parts of teaching and learning reading.”
So…thoughts on the new version of the song? Not to sound like a fuddy duddy but it sounds so weird to me! I suppose if you sing anything with enough repetition, it will catch on, but did it really need to be changed? I can get behind some of the other changes made in schools, like describing sitting with your legs crossed on the ground as “criss cross applesauce” but the ABC song is a GD generational staple! I am all for progress in the classroom to keep up with the times, though, especially if a previously unaddressed, widespread issue is finally getting the attention it deserves. Teachers out there, was “LMNOP” really f-cking kids up that much? Isn’t this where visual learning also comes into play? I would love to hear if there is more on-the-ground educational value behind this change. If there is, then I will adjust my alphabet song reciting accordingly.
This isn’t new, actually. My mom taught kindergarten and this is how she taught her little students to sing the alphabet back in the 90s
Guess you can’t have fun any more. The best part of the song is LMNOP. That said, when I would sing it with the kiddos and grandkiddos ( and soon a great grandkiddo), every once in a while I would slow them down at that point to make sure they did get each individual letter.
It IS the best part! Especially for toddlers who enunciate the letters as “ee-oo-mee-oo-peee!” because they are singing it too fast. It’s so much fun! And then ask them to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star–when they realize it’s the same melody, their reaction is awesome.
But the lmnop bit is the best part!!! Everybody wants to sing that part
The alphabet song isn’t really a big part of my life, but if changing it would help some students learn to read (and not hinder any others), then why not? [shrug]
don’t get all the fuss at all.
Speaking as a music teacher who has also taught kindergarten, yes. Yes, it does mess them up. Many kids think lmnop is just a mumble sound and have no idea that it is actually 5 letters. If your average 3 year old sings the ABC song, it means they know the ABC song, not the alphabet.
“LMNOP” will be a lost art form soon to relegated to the childhood memories of Gen Xers and Boomers. Just like cursive. Dammit I’m sticking to LMNOP. And cursive.
… along with love beads and Quaaludes and “Father Knows Best” and no credit card for you, ma’am.
(I lost my cursive skills when I learned to write on a PalmPilot. Sit with that for a minute.)
Time changes things. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Howling and I am with you. Once I was singing the Alphabet to a 6 year old little girl and she kept saying ” its NOT LMNOP” its L M N O P. She could tell I was jumbling the letters in to 1 sound but I did let her know she was correct but this was the way I grew up singing it. I will keep on singing it this way until I die! hahaha xo
I’m a reading interventionist and at least for dyslexic kids, this is a very real problem. We also mix it up with the alphabet song by having kids use entirely different TUNES, like Mary Had a Little Lamb. It works!
Had to immediately sing it this way in my head, kind of cool that it fits perfectly! 😂
The explanations for the change are valid and make sense, but I still don’t like it.
Nostalgia and “having fun” < helping struggling learners acquire the foundations of literacy. 100% in favor of this change.
I have a 4 year old and he’s been singing both versions of the ABC song. He will not hesitate to correct me if I’m singing the wrong version. When he’s not singing his ABCs he’s singing his numbers. He loves the count to 100 rap so we have to hear it all the time.
I just retired but have been a speech pathologist working with preschoolers (independently and in a special Ed preschool) for my entire career. At school, we have wooden letters in the hallway and I have sung the alphabet song forwards and backwards eleventy-billion times 🤣
Letter to sound correspondence is a big deal! I learned the new way relatively recently but I dig it!
Most of my littles can’t snap, so I clap.
Another teacher responding here- Yes, it is necessary.
Another thing that would help immensely is if everyone used accurate sounding letter/picture combos (classic is a/apple). I run into SO many books or posters etc that have bad sound/symbol choices like g/giraffe. It drives me bonkers!!!
I hate it, justice for “LMNOP” ! Finally the perfect hill for me to die on.
Feeling old. Back in my childhood we had this thing called Valentimes Day, Richard Stands and his republic was part of our Pledge of Allegiance, and now Ella Menno Pee is being tossed from the alphabet.
My 2 year old has been singing the ABC song for a little while now and the LMNOP part is the cutest! Her letters at the beginning and end of the song sound distinct but when she gets to LMNOP the letters just run together. The best I can describe it is it sounds like someone struggling to say “aluminum.”
This is one of those things where I don’t really undersatnd the new thing, but also am glad it exists. Why? I’m in my early 40s and have a mild auditory processing disorder. What that means is that I hear just fine but that it’s hard for me to process what I hear- to turn sound into meaning. Not that I’m hearing a flute or a voice or a car horn, but the content of what I’m hearing. I’m fine with most conversations, but if another kid or even the teach tries to read the instructions out loud (common thing they asked kids to do when I was in school) it’s tough. When they use that weird sing-song tone a lot of people use when reading a long page of boring text it’s every worse. It’s like the Charlie Brown teacher voice. It’s mild, I cope, but some stuff is hard.
Which is preface to explain- I never realized until I read this article the alphabet song used the tune to Twinkle Twinkle. I’ve sung them both zillions of times, and as soon I read that and sung them in my head it seemed obvious. As a visual learner, if you showed me the sheet music for both I’d see the similarity immediately. The way my brain works, and my disorder works, means I never made that connect on my own. I’m over 40. I’m smart. But brains are weird and they are weird in such a wide range of ways. If the new fangled alphabet helps another few kids understand what they hear, or gives teachers new ways to support students who are dyslexia or gnerally a tough time reading- that’s great.
And I doubt if I’d have commented if the whole “twinkle twinkle” thing hadn’t knocked me for a loop (I texted a fellow auditory processing disorder buddy immediately after reading the first paragraph of your article because it was one of “those” moments). So I’m not scolding your or anything (cause this is cool, and I appreciate learning it in between my nibbles of gossip), just chiming in.
I like the new version! It makes more sense.