Let's Write Letters!

 

Let's Write Letters!

Path of movement for writing letters is VERY important. It seems like a tedious task but your learner to know how to write letters the correct way will make them more efficient in writing later on. Practicing path of movement with your child will build muscle memory of writing letters and make them more consistent.

I suggest using worksheets that show the path of movement of the letters they are making. I am including an example below. You can also find printable worksheets on the left side of the blog in my links section. These worksheets have tracing lines that your writer can follow to encourage consistency. Some of your children have already learned the wrong path of movement for letters and have those muscle memorized so we need to practice, practice, practice to relearn these skills correctly. It is important for your child to know the correct ways the letter is written for reading as well. For example, "b" and "d" are often confused in writing and in reading. 

Level A Sight Words

Assessment Time!

 Hello Parents!

Before you begin teaching sight words, we need to figure out what words your learner may still have retained from Kindergarten. On the board in the image is Level A sight words. Please write these out and take notes of which words your child can identify. Your child needs to be familiar of all of these words before we move on to level B. Please use this assessment as a "pre-test". We will use the same identifying assessment for a post-test at the end of learning all Level A words. If your child knows how to identify these words, do another assessment as a "spelling test" to be sure they are spelling the words correctly too. 

Why are Sight Words Important?

 Sight words are very important for young readers to learn because they come up very often in reading. Most of reading is actually made up of the same 100 words!! (references say about 50%) Most sight words due not follow the same rules of sounding out that we use to teach other words for our students to read. These words also cannot often be illustrated. Try to draw the meaning of the word "the". Impossible, right? If we can teach our students sight words, they can spend more time learning more difficult words and continue growing as readers. 

Teaching Sight Words

Teaching Sight Words

Hello parents! 

This blog post will teach you the steps we will use to teach our kids new sight words. We will use this process each time we introduce a new word. For lesson number one, we will have your child write their name in place of a new word. 

You will need: a dry erase board, index card, dry erase markers, foam or magnet letters

 First, write your child's name on the whiteboard. Put the index card over their name. Show your child one letter at a time and spell the "word" as you uncover letters. After that, erase random letters and have your child tell you which letter is missing. Then using your foam or magnet letters, have your child spell the word. Then mix up the letters, and spell the word again. Then have your child spell the word on the dry erase board. When we introduce new words, you will have them write that word, and then go back to old words they have learned to check if it retained. Pay attention to the path of movement they are writing their letters. I have links on the blog for more help in teaching sight words and games for your child to do for extra practice.