Teacher of the Game says Education is her Calling

Teacher of the Game says Education is her Calling: A kindergarten teacher is our latest "Teacher of the Game" honoree.

How do I help my child when using flash cards??

Flashcard Explanation

This week for homework I am sending home a ring of upper and lower case letters for your children to practice. One of our objectives for the first trimester of school is to identify upper and lower case letters. This week, I will be assessing the students to see which letters they need to practice and which they are comfortable with. I will send home a list of letters that your child was unable to identify. Please work with them on letter names. This will really help them to be successful in this first trimester. If they are successful with letter names, then move onto letter sounds. Attached please find a list of additional ideas for practicing the letter names and sounds.

Steps For Using Flashcards With Your Child

1. Hold up the card for your child to see and ask them to read what the card says. (for sight words: read the word)

2. Give your child plenty of time to give their answer

3. If your child gives the wrong answer, give them another chance before telling/showing them the right answer.

4. Put all the cards that your child gets right into the “success pile”.

5. Run through the cards that did not make it into the “success pile” again, see if more of them end up there this time.

6. Go over the other cards repeatedly until all of the cards are in the “success pile”.

7. Do this for at least 10 minutes every night.

Letter Recognition Ideas for HOME Practice

Start with the letters in their own name and the names of their classmates. Also, they are very interested in the names of their family members as well. Point to the letters as you spell the names together.

Spell the word list words as you read them, pointing to each letter. Before they read their Take-Home Book, tell them the name of the book and then spell the letters in its name.

Recite the ABC’s using a chart and a pointer. Say it together. Then have them say it without you as they point to the letters. After a few weeks of pointing to the letters on the chart and saying their names, add the letter sounds as well so the chant was "AA a/a", "BB b/b" and so on. When possible relate these to the children's names such as "BB b/b like Betty."

Climb the stairs - put a letter on each step. The child says each letter as they climb the stairs (can lay on floor if there are no stairs). Say it first or put the same letter on each step until child has mastered a few. Add a few at a time.

Give child a flash card and have him look for that letter (5-10 times) in the classified section of the paper or in a magazine. Each time he finds the letter he circles it and says the letter.

Hide and Go Seek – Hide the letters around the room when the child is busy elsewhere. When child returns, have him find the letters one at a time and tell you what letter it is. It’s fun if the letters you hide make a word he knows…like hide the letters of his name, brother’s name, etc. Can child correctly rearrange letters to spell the word?

If you have 2 sets of cards (or make an extra set), you can play Concentration. Choose several pairs of matching letters and spread them out face down on a table/floor. As child turns over each letter, he must name them. If they match, he wins them; if not, they are turned back over.

What's Missing - Child places 3-4 letters on the table, identifies letters, and then closes eyes while parent removes one letter. Child identifies missing letter. Then parent closes eyes, and lets child remove a letter.

Make letters out of playdoh.

Make ABC puzzles available to them. Have them SAY the alphabet while pointing to (or tracing) the letters on the puzzle.

Paint letters on the cement with water.

Find focus letters in magazines and newspapers, cut them out and sort them on a graph of two or three letters.

Make letters out of pretzels, twizzlers, gummy worms, sour snakes, and other long skinny candies.

Help choose items you are buying at the grocery store given a hint such as "Get the can that is silver and has a word that starts with C" (carrots).

Let them sort the cans in your pantry by initial letter and alphabetize it!

Sing silly songs where you start every word with the focus letter; then sing the tune just saying the name of the letter over and over.

EX: Bary bad a bittle bamb, bittle bamb, bittle, bamb.

Bary, bad a bittle bamb. Its bleece

was bite as bow. B,b,b,b,b,b,b, b,b,b, b,b,b ......

Play rhyming games such as "I'm thinking of a word that rhymes with cat and begins with b (bat)

Play deletion games such as "What is cart without the /c/?" (art) "What is bark without the /k/?" (bar)