I think this chapter is the best chapter for learning HOW to teaching reading to Kinders.
It is sometimes scary to break reading down and really THINK about how we teach little minds to read… because we actually teach them reading skills ALL the time. I made this post with LOTS of pictures and ideas and I included 2 FREEBIES for you to check out.
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| to find out more about this, click here! |
First, we have to teach emergent skills like letters, sounds, concepts of print (meaning letter make sounds which form words), tracking text, and we can go on and on. One point the text made was the importance of TRACING letters to learn them. This skill is super important and can be easily overlooked. My kids work on tracing everyday in phonics time and during daily 5.
I think we have the opportunity to make tracing a part of everyday learning for ALL students… and we can make it FUN! Click on the picture beside this to read about how I teach sensory phonics.
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| click here to see this awesome Dolch pack… it is brand new! |
I also created these sensory phonics sheets that we do each week for our sight word of the week… just to get those sensory skills working for letter AND word concepts.
Here is an example of the sensory sheets I made for all 220 Dolch sight words. I also made packs for the Fry 100 words, Fry 200 words, and Fry 300 words.
These are a time saver because I have them on hand to use with crayons, markers, pencils, and FOOD! Yeah- you gotta remember our students are 5 and NEED us to mix it up sometimes. Food will always will over a kid.
Here we are making letters, shapes, and even words using pull and peel licorice. It works wonderfully. It is only a little messy. And best yet… the kids eat it when they are done.
An additional bonus is… parents can pick this up for you and one bag goes a long long way.
Wiki sticks, play dough, and pipe cleaners are also a LOT of fun here.
We also trace lots using laminated handwriting activities and dry erase markers. My kids typically write better using markers because they are more fluent with the ink. Just an idea for those kids with pressure issues and pencils. I also recommend using the thin dry erase markers verse the thick ones. |
| here is the Tt Activities Pack |
Working with letters is so important as well. It is differentiated naturally. My county teaches a letter a week, although you can advance those who need it and remediation as well. We use the Recipe for Reading letter order from Orton Gillingham. I have made a TON of letter packs to teach my kids their letters. (In fact, I am almost done with whole alphabet!)
Here is an example of one of the packs with the kinds of letter activities my kids do every week.
We do lots of letter identification, tracing, and sorting.
We also do letter fill ins to gain ABC order skills, handwriting skills, and such.
We have some of the sensory letter sheets.
And we put the letters in ABC order every week. I have made fun and colorful card sets for each week so my students are always excited about doing this activity. When they get good at ABC order, I cut the cards in half and play matching games and partner finding games.
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| grab this freebie here |
Letter formation is SO important and sometimes is hard to teach… so I have an awesome freebie I know you will LOVE…
Dr. Jean and I have created these FREE letter Limericks and Poems for EACH capital letter.
{I have asked Dr. Jean about doing the lowercase letters as well, so perhaps in the near future???)
These are completely free… but I always love some kind TpT feedback, so if you love them, give me some comment love there.
Sorting is a great skill to work with new readers on as well. And we sort in Kinder ALL THE TIME. Here is an idea to make sorting a little more fun in your room… use sticks with sight words, letters, or even sounds to create an easy center or station… it is easy to store and reset… and it is FUN.
Your students can also put the words in ABC order when they are done.
And when teaching emergent reading, we HAVE to teach students with read books! I create TONS of little books for my students to read and take home so print is always something they have available. It is a great resource for parents who can’t afford books at home. Many of my parents have told me they saved their books I sent home and read with their younger child to get them ready for K… PERFECT. I feel that these books are a great resources for my families and worth the copy paper.
PLUS- if the student has their own copy of a reader, they can put it in their book baskets for Daily 5, write in it, color the periods and exclamation marks, circle the sight words, and I can even put a comment on the top of the book for them as well.
Lastly, cause this is getting long and you are probably tired of me by now and I have to get some sleep before my 6 day old wakes up…
Interactive Writing!
I love using scrambles to help teach writing. Here are some ways I do this in my room…
This is a game I called Alligator CHOMP. It allows students to find the letters in a word around the room to create a sight word. You can call it whatever you want… we did Alligator CHOMP because A was the letter of the week and I had some cute notepads to use up. You can click on the picture or here to read about this game to play.
I also made this into a freebie file for you guys, so click on the picture or {here} to learn more about this game and to grab the freebie.
We do one side together in a small group. Then, I set up the other side for centers so they can practice the scrambles.
Once we learn letter and words, we do LOTS of scrambles using our theme.
I wish I had more time to share ideas I have for this chapter… but I hope you got some great ideas to use regardless.
Great idea with the twizzlers. I'm going to have to add that to my wishlist items. Thanks for all the great ideas!
Ms. Kerri and her Krazy Klass
Oh my! Congratulations on your new baby!!! Lots of great ideas!
Love reading your blog! I get such great ideas to use. I am very excited to see that you are still able to post, even with a new little one to love on. Be sure to get your rest too 🙂 Congrats!
I have lots of great posts already lines up for this whole month! One of my favorites comes out this Sunday, so be on the look out! Luckily, I have a very supportive hubby and two little ones that are blessings so blogging and such has not been a problem!
Now, September may be another story… Hehe
Love the sorting idea!
Jennifer
First Grade Blue SKies
I love anything with pull apart licorice. It's only the best manipulative (and most delicious) for writing!!! 🙂 Thanks for linking up Mary.
Marsha
A Differentiated Kindergarten