Education resources for parents and teachers
There are so many ways to practice forming letters for preschoolers. Pencil and paper is just one way, and sometimes that's too challenging. Read on to find a dozen ways we made the letter W! The letter W is a tricky letter. The down-up-down-up motion can be hard to remember. In this list of ways that we wrote W, I'll progress from easy to hard. My kids love to use power ... Read More
UPDATE: The original blog post at this link was about the word study approach to teaching spelling. While the act of sorting words can be useful, I no longer believe that Words Their Way should be a core spelling curriculum because it does not include enough explicit instruction. Stay tuned for a new series about teaching spelling in 2023! ... Read More
It's heating up, even in the Midwest -- so to go along with letter W, we pulled out some hands-on water math and science! Science: Sink or Float? This has got to be one of most common science experiments for little ones - and why not? They love it. I asked my Six to gather a bunch of objects that might float or sink. Since she had done this experiment in kindergarten during the ... Read More
The original blog post at this link was about the word study approach to teaching spelling. While the act of sorting words can be useful, I no longer believe that Words Their Way should be a core spelling curriculum because it does not include enough explicit instruction. Stay tuned for a new series about teaching spelling in 2023! ... Read More
Try this hands-on short i word family activity! (This post contains affiliate links.) I've written before about the importance of learning to read with word families. Over the past few months I've offered a set of printables for the short a word families. We're moving on! Here you'll find six free printable word family houses and wheels for short i. I've created these for my 4 1/2 year old, whose ... Read More
UPDATE: The original blog post at this link was about the word study approach to teaching spelling. While the act of sorting words can be useful, I no longer believe that Words Their Way should be a core spelling curriculum because it does not include enough explicit instruction. Stay tuned for a new series about teaching spelling in 2023! ... Read More
We've been doing a sensory bin for every letter of the alphabet. Letter W gave us so many possibilities: water... water beads... worms! I went with the last option. We put together some pasta and pudding for some edible sensory play. If you've been following my blog, you know that I don't do enough sensory play. And we definitely don't do enough messy sensory play. ... Read More
11 Crafts for Letter W Paper Plate Watermelon Craft My kids loved this craft from Lil' Miss Smartypants. I gave them each half a paper plate, construction paper squares, and watered down glue. Using a paintbrush they painted glue on their plates and applied the squares. My Four was obsessed with leaving not a single bit of white. I won't pretend I don't know where his perfectionist streak ... Read More
The 5 Stages of Spelling Development The Emergent Stage (ages 2-5) Children might recognize their alphabet, but they are just starting to write it. Here's a sample from the beginning of the emergent stage. Writing looks the same as drawing. My just-turned-Three draws and scribbles, but he doesn't write letters yet. The Letter-Name Alphabetic Stage (ages 5-7) Children know their alphabet and sounds - this comes ... Read More
UPDATE: The original blog post at this link was about the word study approach to teaching spelling. While the act of sorting words can be useful, I no longer believe that Words Their Way should be a core spelling curriculum because it does not include enough explicit instruction. Stay tuned for a new series about teaching spelling in 2023! ... Read More
