Many of you may not know that I (Steph) am a teacher by trade. I have a Masters Degree in Education as a Reading Specialist, and I’m ESL (English as a Second Language) Certified. There are so many amazing resources out there, and I want to share just a few with you! Please feel free to ask educational questions on the blog anytime! I have probably helped teach well over 1,000 students to read or read better in my 12 year teaching career. It’s what I do, and I LOVE to do it! 🙂
First, I am going to include my top reading favorites. I’m also going to let you in on some teaching secrets! Shhh!!! Don’t tell! 🙂 First, as a parent, you can SERIOUSLY give them an advantage if they already know most of their letters and sounds BEFORE they enter Kindergarten!
My own son AND several of the children of SEVERAL of my teaching co-workers used The Letter Factory to teach their child to read!! No human teacher can cover 26 letters in under 30 minutes while teaching a CUTE song using creative visuals. Even Sesame Street doesn’t cover this many letters in 30 minutes! ALSO, your child may need to watch this video between 10-20 times before they learn their entire upper case alphabet.
Please note that this video only directly teaches the upper case alphabet. So, we will discuss other ways to teach them their lower case letters in the coming weeks! 🙂 Please note there are 26 upper and lower case letters/sounds, and when you throw in the “funky” a and g (as seen here), that makes 54 letters and 54 sounds. So, to help keep track of which letter names and letter sounds your child knows, use this PDF File- open and scroll down to page 21. MOST Reading Specialists use this as their tracking sheet for letters and sounds- at least if they’ve had any training in Reading Recovery.
Starfall.com is another GREAT resource for teaching letter names/sounds!
One of my personal favorite sites is
This Melissa and Doug upper/lower case letter set is also a GREAT hands-on way to teach the lower case letters. Children can touch the letters and manipulate them, which is a great way to learn!
Another skill students REALLY need to have mastered before Kindergarten is how to write their name. Moondrops is the most AMAZING website where you can turn your child’s name into a tracable worksheet! AND IT’S FREE!!!! Students can also practice writing their names on a dry-erase board. We use this all the time for my son with learning words.
Some other cheap/free learning ideas:
1. Have them write letters/name with sidewalk chalk.
2. Have them trace their name at a sand table.
3. Cover the table (Of course, cover the table to protect it) with shaving cream and allow them to make the letters in the shaving cream.
4. Have them make letters with finger paint.
5. Roll letters out in play-dough and have them guess what letter you made.
These are just ideas I have used over the years.
Mrs. Jones Classroom has EXTENSIVE letter by letter activities! Hopefully, I have given you some helpful ideas today!
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