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The king, complete with a burgundy crown decorated with multi-colored plastic jewels and a black cape, talked with his subjects about quilts, quails, quarters, Quizno’s Subs and, most importantly to the king and his parent helpers at the College Park cooperative, the concept of quiet.

The mere mention of ‘‘quiet” had pupils clamoring for the vaunted ‘‘quiet dance,” where kids join the Letter King for a vigorous hip-shaking workout, sans noise.

King’s orders: Lots of exercise, very little talking.

Sicher, who came up with the idea of dressing up as the Letter King, said focusing on a new letter each week and teaching the pupils new words in every lesson can help cement alphabetical knowledge before kindergarten.

‘‘If you do a different letter each week, you get them used to [the sequence of letters] in the alphabet,” said Sicher, a College Park resident and director of the school since 1985. ‘‘Everybody learns in different ways, and by using all the five senses, we can [accommodate] visual learners, auditory learners and everyone else. Hopefully, something will click.”

On a recent Tuesday morning, the 10-minute lesson seemed to be effective, as pupils repeated the king’s plethora of ‘‘Q” words.

Just seconds after the invigorated preschool group said goodbye to their beloved king — grabbing at the gold-trimmed cape — Sicher appeared at the front door.

‘‘Hey everyone, did I miss the king again? Did he look good?” she asked the class, who sat down to eat ‘‘Q” day snacks like Quaker’s Quakes rice cakes and quartered apple slices.

Not quite as tasty as last week’s ‘‘P” day, which included popcorn, pretzels and pizza, but still an enjoyable snack time.

Sicher said the program at College Park Nursery School, a private school with about 60 students aged 5 years old and younger, was started six years ago in an effort to grab pupils’ attention. And so far, the innovative lesson plan has paid dividends as children have more easily recognized letters in their first and last names in recent years, Sicher said.

Sara Baumgarten, a University of Maryland student and a teacher’s assistant at College Park Nursery School, said concentrating on one letter at a time simplifies the weekly lessons.

‘‘They get to hear the sounds of the same letter every day for a week,” said Baumgarten, a junior early childhood development major at the university. ‘‘It helps them with alphabetical awareness. [These lessons] will be building blocks for them.”

As parent-volunteer Becca Durbin laid out Quaker snacks, she said her daughter, Katharine Durbin, informs her family of every Letter King visit.

‘‘It’s a creative way to learn so I think it can be more effective,” said Becca Durbin of Beltsville, adding that her daughter points out the letter of the week as the family picks out snacks at the grocery store. ‘‘It’s an interactive way of learning, too.”

E-mail Dennis Carter at dcarter@gazette.net.