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Recognize all 26 letters and give letter sounds.
Activity 1: Rocks and Stones Letter Building
Your student will collect various rocks or stones from outside. Your student will use these rocks to build letters of the alphabet. Give one letter of the alphabet at a time for your student to build. When one letter is completed, call out a different letter for your student to build. Continue this activity with the remaining letters of the alphabet.
Take it further and ask your student to produce the sound each letter makes.
Activity 2: Easter Egg Upper and Lower Case Match
Write an upper-case letter on the top half of a plastic Easter egg. Write the corresponding lowercase letter on the bottom half of the plastic Easter egg. Once all the letters of the alphabet are written on the eggs, break them apart and mix them up. Have your student match the lower-case letter to the upper-case letter by snapping the egg together. Continue until all 26 letter eggs have a match. Please check for errors and correct misconceptions.
Take it further and ask your student to produce the sound each letter makes.
Blend/Segment sounds in words.
Activity 1: Play “I Spy”
Adult will choose an object and say, “I spy a /b/ /o/ /x/" (saying sounds in word, not letters). Student will blend sounds to decide what the word is. When the student is able to blend sounds, switch roles and have the student “spy” objects and segment the words into sounds for the adult to guess.
If your student is having a hard time blending individual sounds into a word, start with just the first sound and the rest of the words- /b/ /ox/ , /sh/ /elf/.
Activity 2: Segmenting & Blending with Objects
Use any small objects (pennies, blocks, beans, pebbles) to segment sounds in words. Adult will say a word. Student will move one penny for each sound they hear in the word.
Video ExampleRecognize and produce rhyming words.
Activity 1: “That Rhymes” or “No Way”
Play this with your child. If a word pair rhymes – have your child give a thumbs up and say – “that rhymes”. Then choose two words that DON’T rhyme – and have your student say “no way” while giving a thumbs down.
Use this resource list below or make up your own words as you go. Once your student gets great at this, change it up in the following way. This time give your student a word and let him or her give you back a word that rhymes.
Example Rhyming Word List:
Read Kindergarten sight words.
Activity 1: Sight Word ZAP!
Write the sight words onto popsicle sticks. Each player gets a turn to pick a stick and read the word. If he/she is right, he/she gets to keep the stick, but beware of the sticks with ZAP! Why? When you play the game, and you pick a ZAP stick, you have to give all your “winnings” back to the cup. The ZAP stick is left out of the cup. The player with the most sticks when the cup is empty, wins!
Make it a little harder by adding the rule that you have to use the sight word you pick in a sentence. This way the adult can see if the learner understands the meaning of the sight word read, and it is not just rote learning.
Don't have popsicle sticks? You can substitute flash cards or slips of paper.
Activity 2: Timed Sight Words
Using a sight word list, students will see how many words they can read in 1 minute. Repeat this activity often and set goals to challenge the student to read more words each time.
Activity 3: Spell It
Students need slips of paper with sight words written on them. Students take turns picking up a card from the stack and reading the word. If the answer is correct the player gets a point. The player with the most points wins.
Make it harder. When taking a turn, have the student pick up a card, read it, then cover it up, and spell it. If the student spells it correctly, then he/she gets a point.
Activity 4: Basketball Spelling
Students will need a clean trash can or large container and some paper.
Students will write a sight word on a piece of paper, and then crumple the paper into a ball. Place all the crumpled papers in the container or trash can.
Students will take turns reaching into the container to choose a paper ball with a sight word on it. Students will then un-scrunch the paper ball and either read aloud the word and then cover up the word and spell it.
If the student answers correctly, they can crumple the paper up again, and try to shoot a “basket” in the trash can. For each basket scored, the player receives one point. Continue playing until all of the paper balls are in the basket, or take them out and start all over again.
Retell events and information from read aloud texts.
Activity 1: Retell Hand
Read aloud short stories (such as Three Billy Goats Gruff and Itsy Bitsy Spider). Retell the stories using our Retell Hand. Hold up thumb for characters, index finger for setting, middle finger for beginning, ring finger for middle, and pinky finger for ending of story. Give a high-five with Retell Hand if the student can name the main idea/topic.
Read aloud nonfiction texts on topics that interest your student. Use Retell Hand to name 5 facts for the story (1 fact for each finger).
Activity 2: Retell a Nursery Rhyme
Ask your student to retell a nursery rhyme including what happens in the beginning, middle, and end in order to properly sequence events.
Print all 26 letters (upper and lower case).
Activity 1: Play-Doh Letters
Write letters on a piece of paper or cardstock in a thick marker. Have your student use playdoh to create the letter. They can roll out the playdoh into a snake or they can roll small balls. Anything that forms the letter and uses fine motor.
Activity 2: Letter Tracing
Write letters in highlighter or yellow marker. Have your student trace the letters with their choice of writing tools. They can even rainbow write using one color crayon and then trace again with a variety of other crayons.
Activity 3: Tactile Tracing
Make letter cards out of index cards or scrap paper. Pour a small layer of salt/sand in the bottom of a box. Prop the index card up and have your student use their finger or a paint brush to create the letter.
Demonstrate concepts of print including reading left to right, top to bottom, and page by page.
Activity 1: 7 Ways to Develop Concepts of Print
- Point to the words in books as you read aloud to develop one-to-one correspondence between spoken and written words.
- Point out words, spaces, letters, lines of print, left to right, top to bottom.
- Use environmental print (signs/labels) to make references to words, spaces, letters and lines of print.
- Have children suggest where to begin reading the words on the page of a big book.
- Count the words in a line of print or clap for each word spoken aloud can help develop concept of a word.
- Use name cards, labels, or picture word cards to help children recognize words that are most meaningful to them.
- Invite child to dictate a sentence. Write the child’s sentence on a sentence strip twice. Cut one sentence into individual words and encourage children to match words to the second sentence strip, specifically using “first word,” “last word.”
Tell an idea through pictures and words.
Activity 1: Draw and Label a Picture
You can practice by asking your child to draw a picture of an event (something that happened during their day). Ask them to label their picture by stretching out words. Encourage them to write a sentence with a capital letter and punctuation at the end.
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