Literacy advice from a former Kindergarten teacher
This is going to be a little bit of a different blog post than most of them that I write. This is going to be some of my all time favorite ABC, name, and literacy practice activities that I used while teaching Kindergarten for the past 4 years. I get people asking about these so I figured rather than type it all out a million times to send I could do it once here and then easily share them.
One of my favorite thing about education is when I get to collaborate with other professionals to share ideas of how to promote student learning and growth. I view this as a simple way to collaborate with some pretty amazing parents on simple fun ways to help kids learn their ABC’s.
**Disclaimer- theses are just my own thoughts and opinions. There are lots of different ways kids learn. These are just ways that I found to be effective in my classroom.
Tips
1. Start with teaching the letters in their name. They are the easiest for them to remember! Say the letters as you write them.
2. Honestly the BIGGEST thing you can do to help promote literacy is reading at LEAST 10 minutes a day with your child. They more time they spend looking at and listening to books and stories the easier it is for them to learn how to read.
3. Don’t get discouraged!!!! In college I remember learning that on average a child needs to be exposed to a letter 200 times before they learn it. We are looking for exposure more than anything, especially when they are young. I usually told parents that I wouldn’t worry about their child not knowing all their letters until December of their Kindergarten year. Some kids just need a little more time and that’s ok.
Activities
1. Make letters from play doh - Kids LOVE to build with play doh. You can start with their name and build from there. There are TONS of play doh mats online, you can easily draw some yourself, or even just pull up a picture of the letters for them to follow.
2. Writing in sand or salt - grab a cookie sheet or flat plate and pour some sand or salt inside. They practice tracing the letters with their finger. *Hobby Lobby has super fun colored sands in their wedding section if you want to take it a step further. This one is great for more physical learners.
3. ABC game in the car - Letters are EVERYWHERE. Kids love to play games in the car and this is super easy way to point out different fonts and shapes letters take by using the variety of signs you can see just driving around.
4. “Write the room”- We do this in class all the time. I put up little cards with sight words, vocab words, or in this case you can do it with letters, and the kids have to walk around and write them as they find them. You can even just have them go find and trace the letters. It’s nice because they get to be up and moving as they go.
5. Chalk ABC’s- if you happen to have some sidewalk chalk you can even go outside and practice writing their name or letters outside!
6. White boards- If you don’t want to buy an actual white board the dollar store has clear paper holders (or even a page protector works really well) Kids LOVE to write and erase. I usually tell them if they listen the whole time (or in your case practice all the letters you want to do) then I will let them draw a picture of whatever they want for a few minutes. You can get actual letter writing pages for them to trace or just put a plane white paper in and have them practice writing and erasing.
Videos
1. My #1 suggestion for videos is Letter Factory by LeapFrog. It’s so cute and interactive. The movie is 30 minutes long and follows Tad as he goes to the letter factory and learns the sounds of all the letters. Each letter has a room where they are “trained” in their sound. (Letter A get’s scared and goes ahhh! Etc) I used this video to teach the letters to my students and they love it! You can get it for $10 on Amazon.
2. What do the letters say - YouTube video
This video is to the tune of what does the fox say, but goes through the letters uppercase and lowercase with their sounds. My students loved it and would ask to watch it before they went home all the time.
3. Watch the letters get down - YouTube video
I found this one last year and am in LOVE with it. Kids dance along to each letter and it’s a great way to connect physical movement with letters and their sounds! We would use this as a brain break all the time, especially with COVID restrictions we needed lots of opportunities to get our wiggles out.
4. See it, say it, sign it - YouTube video
Pro tip - play it at 1.25 speed. If not it’s annoyingly slow…. Trust me… but this one is a cute video that goes through their letters and shows them in sign language as well!
5. Vowel song - YouTube video
This was an instant favorite. They would BEG for this song. It’s cute lego letters that go through vowels long and short sounds.
6. Syllables! - YouTube video
This was also a class fave. It’s teaching kids about syllables and they find it hilarious.
Goodness I’m sure there is more but this is all I can think of right now. If you have any other questions please comment or reach out! I love helping children learn how to read, and so much of that process starts and is supported in the home. The biggest thing you can do is be a champion for your child. Help them believe in their ability to learn and always support their efforts, even if it takes them longer than others. I have a poster hanging in my classroom about the power of YET. The basic concept is that they don’t know it or can’t do it YET. With time they can get there.
Happy reading :)
Love,
Miss Boudreaux
Or as most of you know me, Nae :)
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