Kindergarten Activities - Letter Identification

Prior to entering kindergarten, work with your child to ensure that she recognizes both the upper and lower case letters. The ability to recognize the letters will assist her in learning to read. In addition, the ability to quickly identify and write letters will aid in her writing development.

In an earlier post, I recommended singing the alphabet song and reading books focusing on the letters of the alphabet. Another great activity is to work with your child on spelling and writing his name. Over the summer, our school district recommended the following activities (we added our personal touch):

Singing the Name Song

Using the tune of B-I-N-G-O, sing your child’s name. For example, my daughter’s name is Emma so we sing it as follows:
There was a girl
Who had a name
And Emma
Was her name-o
E-M-M-A
E-M-M-A
E-M-M-A
And Emma
Was her name-o.

Some names are easier to adapt to the song than others. For example, my son’s name is Connor and we attempted singing it but his name didn’t fit the song.

There was a boy
Who had a name
And Connor
Was his name-o
C-O-N-N-O-R
C-O-N-N-O-R
C-O-N-N-O-R
And Connor
Was his name-o.

If you are like me, you are probably trying to remember Bingo’s lyrics. They are as follows:
There was a farmer
Who had a dog
And Bingo
Was his name-o
B-I-N-G-O
B-I-N-G-O
B-I-N-G-O
And Bingo
Was his name-o.

Select Meaningful Passwords

Have your child use her first name and last initial when signing on to her favorite website. Some children may even be able to incorporate their last name. In addition, my children use their telephone number as a password to assist them in memorizing this information.

Matching Letters

Play with the letters of the alphabet to assist in letter recognition and names. Using these letter tiles cut out each letter and have your child spell his name. Another activity is to have him match the upper and lower case letters. Encourage your child to say the letter while playing with him.

Writing Letters

Work with your child to practice writing her name and the upper and lower case letters of the alphabet using this sentence strips paper. No one said you needed to teach him the traditional way. You could use pretzels to form her name or chalk on the sidewalk. Anything that makes learning fun!

Picking Letters

Pick a letter in your child’s name and have her look for it in a magazine or the newspaper. To increase the entertainment factor, give her a highlighter or red pen to circle or color the letter.

These kindergarten activities are designed to be fun while helping your child excel in his kindergarten curriculum.

Vocabulary Learning - Don’t Dumb It Down

This post refers to certain words that we use when communicating with children. These words are not found in the dictionary or if they are we are not properly using them. Do they need to use the potty? Or do they need to go to the restroom? The primary definition for potty, chiefly used by the British (unless of course you are one of those “parents” speaking to a child), can be defined as trivial or of little importance. Yes, the second definition is a small pot for urination so I guess that makes sense if your child is still using the training “potty,” but otherwise, they are using a toilet - not a potty. How about “snacky?” I could not find that one in the dictionary.

Please do not misunderstand me or my point as I believe baby talk was cute and fun. It was even appropriate when my child was a baby and communication was limited. However, once children can effectively communicate and are learning to read, we should speak correctly (old habits are hard to break so don’t start them). Personally I think we are doing our children a disservice if we are not speaking correctly. Whether it is a restroom, toilet or potty - at some point you need to converse using the appropriate terminology.

My idea for this post originated from reading an article on the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) website discussing vocabulary learning. I was particularly drawn to the following statement, “Children learn the meanings of most words indirectly, through everyday experiences with oral and written language.”

Children learn vocabulary indirectly by engaging in conversations, listening to adults read to them, and reading on their own. The latter two methods are incorporated in most people’s evening bed time rituals or throughout the day. The one that interested me the most and triggered this post is the first one.

The NIFL article stated, “The more oral language experiences children have, the more word meanings they learn”. After reading that I decided to focus on teaching my children the correct word the first time! Aside for some minor terminology hiccups, I am pleased to write that I talk to both of my children like young adults and talk about almost anything. Of course some things are not up for an elaborate discussion at this point (e.g. Santa Claus and sex as my children are 5 ½ and 7 years old).

To conclude on a serious note, children learn words and their meanings by listening to adult’s converse or having a conversation with them. So with that being said, or read in your case, shouldn’t we teach our children to speak correctly? My immediate response is yes and yet five minutes ago I asked my daughter if she needed to go to the potty. I would prefer to say restroom, but as I wrote earlier, some habits are hard to break!

Kindergarten Activities – Making Playdough & Letters of the Alphabet

My daughter will be entering kindergarten in a few months. At kindergarten orientation, my daughter received some fun activities to do over the summer to prepare for kindergarten. Two recipes for making playdough are noted below. After you make the playdough, use it to make both upper and lower case letters.

As always learning should be fun!

Playdough Recipe #1:

2 cups flower
2 cups water
1 cup salt
2 teaspoons cream of tarter
2 teaspoons oil
Food coloring (optional)

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.
Microware 4-5 minutes. Stir. Repeat
until thick. Knead until playdough is soft.

Playdough Recipe #2:

1 package Kool-Aid™
½ cup salt
1 tablespoon alum
3 tablespoons oil
1 ¾ cups boiling water
2 ½ cups flour

Mix Kool-Aid, salt, alum and oil.
Add boiling water. Stir in flour
Knead on lightly floured board.

Personally I have an aversion to food coloring and would not recommend that step as I always seem to walk away with stained fingers. Isn’t dying eggs once a year good enough?

So I opted to nix the food coloring (it was optional) and used whole wheat flour so perhaps that altered the final product. My children played with it and had fun making letters, but the smell was unusual which prompted me to smell store bought playdough which definitely smelt better.

If you are like me and you’re baking is somewhat limited you may not know that both cream of tartar and alum are spices. Since I didn’t know what alum and cream of tartar were; I needed to consult my grocer and buy them. I spent almost $8.50 on two spices – yikes! How much does playdough cost? In addition, I now need to replenish both my flour and salt supplies.

Honestly, I’d save your time and money and simply buy your playdough. While we did have fun making it, I would recommend another activity to occupy your time and spend your money.

Kindergarten Curriculum – The Developmental Approach to Writing

The developmental approach to teach writing emphasizes the expression of ideas. A child’s typically progression in learning to write is as follows:

1. Picture writing – drawings of themselves, family, pets, home etc.
2. Scribbling – need I say anymore
3. Random letters and numbers – H 7 5 K O
4. Beginning consonant letters – I w S m
5. Beginning and ending consonant letters – I wt sm mk
6. Vowel letters – I wont soM Milk
7. Complete spelling – I want some milk.

Most kindergarten curriculums place emphasis on what the child wants to say - not on how to properly write it. Read more

Kindergarten - Holding a Pencil the A-OK Way

Is your child griping the pencil correctly? At first, both my children awkwardly held the pencil; they wrapped all their fingers and thumb around it making writing difficult. With some assistance they eventually learned to hold the pencil the A-OK way. Many kindergarten curriculums will devote some attention to this for those children that are not already holding a pencil correctly; however, most children learn this prior to entering kindergarten.

Using the A-OK way, a child grasps the pencil between the thumb and the index finger and rests it on the middle finger. An alternative method is to rest the pencil on the ring finger and pinch with the thumb and two fingers. Since I am accustomed to the first method, I find the alternative method clumsy. But this isn’t about me so teach your child how to hold a pencil based on her needs! If you are like me you prefer some pictures to compliment written instructions. Below you will find some illustrations on how to hold a pencil the A-OK way.

Right-Handed

Left-Handed

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