Sight Words and Beginning Writing

Yesterday I was confused as to which steps I should take next with my daughter at home to get her ready for Kindergarten. She knows her letters, sounds, and for the most part how to write them. So I asked my mom who is the know it all of children's literacy what next.

She told me to have her make some little books. The purpose of these was to practice sight words and creative spelling.

So this is what we came up with. Now I don't know if I'm doing it exactly right but it was a good effort and I'm proud of it!

The picture above is of my daughter running in the sprinklers. It reads I can run in the sprinklers. This is because we are working on the sight words I can and the right now and she creatively spelled sprinklers but ran out of room and had to write some letters under other ones. If you look closely you can figure it out!

Anyhow I hope this helps with anyone who is trying to take their first steps to reading and writing as well.

My Mom also gave me a list of sight words to start with. I, can, we, the, like, a, see, go, to, have, is, play, are, for, you, this, do, and, what, little, said, here, was, she, he, has, look, with, my, me, where. I hope this helps = ).

Sticker Letter Directional Tracing

Learning to write numbers and letter can be frustrating for your little one as well as for you. Then add in the extra frustration of doing the right direction and you and your kiddo could be in tears but not to fear this is a fun activity that will keep them writing their numbers and letters the right way over and over and over again.

This is how you do it. Draw an outline of the letter you are working on a piece of paper. Start by letting them place a sticker at the first place they would place their pencil if they were to start writing the letter. Then place another sticker or marker close to the first in the direction that they should write. Now it's time for a little game of connect the dots. Have them trace with their finger from the first sticker or place marker to the next and continue this until the letter is complete.

By the time you are done with this activity they will have traced the number the correct way multiple time and they are well on their way to making a habit of it! This is a fun way to learn letter writing direction that feels less like lecture and more like play. That's the best way for a kid to learn anyway right!

So may I add that this idea is not my own but my mom's! She's the greatest!

Paint my ABC's

The task of writing letters can be a tedious chore for a four year old as well as their teacher! It's a lot more fun to go outside and paint your letters with water and a sponge.

I've tried using a paint brush before but they dry out before you're finished with a letter. So then we went through our drawers and found this old bottle brush topped with a sponge that we don't use anymore. It worked great! We dipped it in some water and had a blast painting letters all over the place. This is a fun, easy, inexpensive, no mess activity that can be done on the sidewalk, or just about any place that changes color when you put water on it.