Education resources for parents and teachers
My three-year-old is moving right along with his beginning sounds - and this learning center has really helped him along! These picture mats and letter cards have been just the thing to help him master those tricky sounds. (This post contains affiliate links.) This is Set Three in my series of Beginning Sound Match Mats. If your child already knows a lot of his letter sounds, use the sets in whatever order ... Read More
Before we can expect our new readers to sound out words with confidence and success, they need to have a strong handle on beginning sounds. Some kids pick these up with little or no effort from us. Reading to my oldest two kids (now ages 6 and 5) , singing alphabet songs, and talking about the sounds letters make was all I needed to do . Their next sibling (now age 3 1/2) hasn't picked them up as easily. He has ... Read More
The great thing about this free spelling game is that besides having kids practice writing their spelling words, it gives them the opportunity to analyze and compare the words in their list. Read on to learn how! Here's what you'll need: How to Play: 1) Put all playing pieces on "Start." 2) On your turn, roll a die to move forward. If you land on a question, read it to the next ... Read More
7 Letter Y Crafts and Process Art for Preschoolers Y is for Yellow My Three had fun finding miscellaneous craft items to glue to his yellow Y. He's known his colors for quite some time, but it was good to keep talking about the word yellow and the sound we hear at the beginning of it. Y's sound is a hard one to master because you don't hear the sound /y/ in the name of the letter. (Don't be ... Read More
Letter N Crafts for Preschoolers I have three big kids (ages 3, 5, and 6), two of whom are learning preschool at home. So I can usually find someone interested in doing some arts and crafts with me! N is for Nest This is obviously not process art, but my Three really enjoyed it. I cut out the pieces for him, and he glued everything down. I found this Letter N craft idea at ... Read More
How do you teach preschoolers to write the alphabet? Read on to learn what's working at our house. Read on to find creative ways for making the letter N! First they put nuts on the letter N (with the promise to have five when they were done!). My Three was proud of the work he did with his number stickers. My Five used spaghetti noodles. Excitement was high ... Read More
I love making these simple dot sticker pages to use with my Three. They reinforce the letter's name, sound, and shape - and give opportunity for fine motor letter formation at the same time. (This post contains affiliate links.) Free dot sticker page for letter N: Fine motor letter formation! Don't you just love that bird? She looks like she's been sitting on her nest a little too long. (I'm seven months ... Read More
We're working our way through the alphabet, and my kids love to add some sensory play to their learning. This time I waited until my Six was home from first grade, because I knew she'd want to join her little brothers in this activity: N is for Noodles! Have you seen all the hundreds of ideas for messy play floating around Pinterest? If you're like me, you may have thought, "Those moms are crazy. ... Read More
Have you seen my Read 'n Stick mats yet? They've been a great tool for helping my older preschooler learn to sound out words in word families. His younger brother wants very much to do those himself. In fact he'll take the cards off the mat and ask me to help him put them in the right places- even though he doesn't sound out words yet or understand much of the vocabulary. My Three isn't ready to learn to sound ... Read More
We're working our way through the alphabet, and I like to share a set of math connections for each letter. Since it's November, we did six Fall math activities using nuts. (So far we have blessed to have no food allergies in our house - obviously if you have allergies in your home or classroom you will want to find a substitute manipulative.) Fall Math Activities 1 - Number ... Read More
