3V0942.02 Counting letters: social context of alphabet learning (8/21/80)
So Peggy names her playing with them — and she frequently asks some
one to do that with her. She apparently has in mind companionship
alone and precious little else. Since the only thing she does with letters are:
1. identify individuals;
2. scatter them around;
3. replace them in their tray;
I invented a game to make it more interesting. One of her toy dogs
wants to help her by putting the letter away. she carries them
to the tray on her head then drops them in — because she doesn’t know
where they should go. Peggy corrects the dog’s mistakes (We played so
in P136 I believe)..
The important thing to notice here is that Peggy’s engagement is
primarily so — but it is also focused around the alphabetic symbol
system, the mastery of which is an adult (at least grown up)
characteristic.