Philly ABCs
For anyone with young children, the ABC song is a household staple and a great learning tool. But just because your child knows the song, doesn’t mean they know their letters.
Alphabet knowledge includes recognizing letter names (in any order), letter shapes, and letter sounds. And research shows that young children who have a grasp of these skills early on are more likely to become strong readers. But this critical milestone isn’t largely known by parents and caregivers.
Seeing the opportunity to help more families set their children up for success, Read by 4th has launched the Philly ABCs, a new campaign designed to grow awareness of alphabet knowledge and give families tips and resources to practice learning letters at home and on the go.
This campaign was collaboratively designed by partners across the Read by 4th movement to help more children enter Kindergarten ready to read.
Pride-filled Posters
In 2020, we launched a Philly ABC poster to create a learning tool that was beautiful, impactful, and affordable for us to print at scale and give away for free. This quickly became a family favorite. Given its success and our new focus on alphabet knowledge, we updated the poster in 2023 to align with the most common letter sounds.
Heaping Hoagies, Legendary Love, Dazzling Drumlines, Wonderful Water Ice—all 26 letters reflect iconic people, places, and things we love in our city.
For many, representation is motivation. It was a priority for us to ensure the Philly ABCs illustrations reflected our city’s diversity. By featuring characters that look like the people who live in Philadelphia, we hope to foster belonging and encourage families from all backgrounds to engage with the materials and see themselves celebrated as readers.
Philly ABCs posters are now available for all Read by 4th partners to request. And anyone can stop by their local library branch and grab one!
Interactive Website
Letter sounds can be tricky. That’s why we tapped technology to enhance the learning experiences of our giveaways and resources. We launched PhillyABCs.org to bring the Philly ABC poster content to life. The site allows families to click on each letter and watch videos to hear the pronunciation of its sound. QR codes are included on posters and installations, adding an interactive audio/visual element to printed communications. This website is a learning tool that is easily accessible by computer, tablet, or cellphone. And is free for anyone to use.
The Philly ABCs needed an authentic Philly voice and Gerald L. Jackson was the perfect fit. Gerald is a local Philly author, Reading Captain, and enthusiastic literacy advocate. His bright and charming energy makes learning relatable and fun. And with a bit of coaching on letter-sound pronunciation from our friends from Reading Allowed, he absolutely nailed it!
Pop-up Playground Installations
The opportunity to learn and play is all around us. Sometimes, we just need a small nudge or reminder.
Thanks to a collaboration with Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, we’ve integrated alphabet learning into 15+ playgrounds and recreation centers across North, West, and Southwest Philadelphia.
Throughout the summer and fall, families are greeted by life-size vinyl posters of the Philly ABCs, allowing them to learn and play with the alphabet in engaging new ways. In addition to life-sized letters, posters also feature prompts with fun and easy ideas to incorporate alphabet knowledge skills into play like, “Skip to the letters in your name.” and “I spy something that begins with the ssss sound.”
Given the flexibility of their design, the Philly ABCs has been installed at other locations including local schools and the Philadelphia Zoo.
Motivating Messaging
How do we get families to rethink teaching the ABCs? With the help of creative agency, Mighty Engine, we’ve made a TV commercial with fun and clear messaging defining alphabet knowledge and tying it to school readiness. Playing off of the familiarity of the ABC song, we changed the lyrics to: ‘Help me learn my ABCs. Won’t you sound them out with me?’ This small shift of the expected introduces the importance of letter sounds. You may recognize a model or two, as real Philly families demonstrate fun and easy ways to build this foundational literacy skill.
In addition to this TV commercial, we’ve run complimentary social media advertising and mailed a series of postcards focused on showing easy ways to practice letter names, shapes, and sounds.
Purposeful Play Kits
To further support alphabet knowledge, in 2023 we distributed play kits full of free resources that encourage families to explore letter names, shapes, and sounds. Families can get hands-on making letter shapes with play dough, have a blast with rounds of alphabet go fish, and bring learning to bathtime with foam letters. Read by 4th working groups designed these kits to give quality resources and demonstrate low-cost and fun ways to practice learning letters.
Thanks to our friends at Vanguard and PNC Grow Up Great, we packed 2,000 literacy kits in just two days. These kits were distributed across North Philadelphia by Reach Out and Read Greater Philadelphia, the Free Library of Philadelphia, Reading Captains, members of Read by 4th’s parent council, and more.
Help Spread the Word
Everyone has a role to play in growing stronger readers.
The Philly ABCs campaign has been an incredible example of the power of partnership with strategy, input, and support given from every corner of the Read by 4th movement.
And you can help spread the word!
Remind families with young children, particularly those with rising Kindergarteners:
Learning the ABCs takes practicing all three!
• Letter Names
• Letter Shapes
• Letter SoundsConsider adding alphabet knowledge skills to your summer programming.
Visit your local library and grab a FREE Philly ABC poster.
