As many of you can see from my information, both of my children are getting older and graduating high school. That made me think...what am I going to do with all my spare time? Time that I spent sitting in bleachers and benches watching my children play sports and be active while I developed serious bleacher butt! I decided that I would take the information that I have gathered over 18 years of teaching kindergarten and first grade to give parents some ideas to use at home to help better prepare your child for school. I know many of the parents I talk to and give ideas to are really shocked at how simple it is to help your child prepare to read and even learn to read. Our brains at a young age are really quite marvelous! They are like sponges, unlike people my age whose brains are like full sponges that seem to leak information out at the worst of times! In my blogs, I plan on starting at the beginning of reading and math and continuing on until they are readers. These are the things I do every day and unless the child has a learning disability, they learn to read. I will post websites that are helpful and books that I think work well for different situations. If you have any questions for me, just leave a message.
Short advice for today...purchase a cheap set of magnetic letters and put them on your fridge. Pick out one letter and throughout the day as you walk by the fridge pull off that letter and show your child and tell them the letter and sound. If you don't know the sounds of letters I will help you...
a: a a apple
b: b b ball (Make sure you don't say buh! VERY IMPORTANT~)
c: c c cat (again no cuh)
d: d d dog (not duh)
e: e e egg and eagle (don't be afraid to tell your child that e makes two sounds and it is cool!
f: f f fish
g: g g gold
h: h h hot (huh not!)
i: i i igloo or ice
j: j j jump
k: k k kangaroo
l: l l lollipop Make sure the front of your tongue is on the top of your mouth. Show them where yours is!
m: m m monkey
n: n n nose
o: o o octopus and over
p: p p purple
q: q q quiet
r: r r race
s: s s sing
t: t t top
u: u u umbrella and unicorn
v: v v vulture
w: w w walrus
x: x x fox (we use the ending sound for x it sounds like ks together.)
y: y y yarn
z: z z zipper
Again, do one for several days...you can play hide the letter m and see if anyone can find it. Write the letter M with shaving cream (fun and cleans the table!) I would even have them find pictures in magazines and cut and glue them to a paper with M on it. Yes...I said cut! PLEASE don't let kindergarten be the first time your kids use scissors. Imagine 18 kids using scissors all at once! I have had some very dandy haircuts come out of my class! HAHA Finally, I would even find things to eat that start with m...meatballs, mangoes etc...Once they get m, put it aside and pull out another letter. This is fun and the kids get your attention, and they learn so much!
Have a great day teachers and children!!
No comments:
Post a Comment