Helping Your Child
Helping Your Child Learn &
Working with Your Child at Home
Use abc chart to practice letter sounds. Point to each one.
Say each picture 2 times and the sound it starts with 3 times. Example:
apple, apple /a/, /a/, /a/
Practice beginning sounds by playing a name game. Example: What
would your name be if it started with this letter (name a letter) Matthew
Batthew, Matthew Catthew, Matthew Tatthew
Beginning sounds: play with magnet letters on the refrigerator. Put
up 2 letters at the end of the word that will not change to create a rhyming
word. Then add a beginning sound. These are word families which is also
rhyming words. Example: ___at add b at the beginning to create the
word bat
Play-doh and cookie cutters: cut out an ending rhyme (og). Then cut
out letters to add for the beginning sounds. Dog
What is the last sound of: say a word to your child (got). Ask what
the LAST sound is. Sound it out and stress the last letter. Name the letter
and the sound.
Deletion: cat without the c is at. What is dog without the d?
Ask many simple words this way. What is Terry without the t?
Play ABC Bingo: when a card is drawn, the child must say the sound
of that letter 3 times before placing a dot on the card.
Shaving Cream Writing: place shaving cream on a plate. Have the
child write either the beginning sound or the ending sound of words you give
them. If they get it right, let them draw a smiley face or a sun. If they
get it wrong, say good try. Lets sound it out again.
Clap how many beats a word has in a sentence. Example: I will go to
the baby shower. The first five words have only 1 beat. But baby and shower
have 2 beats. This make them aware of patterns in words.
Give Beats: How many beats does this word have? Dog, bird, running,
jump, hopper, etc.
Play a concentration game with lowercase letters.
Things You Can Do At Home
*Read to your child everyday. Discuss the book. Make predictions about
story events. Make up new endings. Use voices when reading. Let your
child read known words or make predictions about words. Talk about the
illustrations.
*Find books that have predictable text, have rhyming or rhythmic patterns.
*Play phonemic awareness games. These are games that involve the sounds
that letters make. (Ex. rhyming games, silly sentences, stretching words,
chunking sounds in words, naming words that begin or end with the same
sound, word guessing games).
*Practice name writing. Have your child write his/her name using
various tools. (Ex. write it in sand or in the dirt, write it with
playdough, rocks or shells, tear pieces of paper and use it to form letters,
write it in shaving cream or pudding spread on a counter).
*Practice writing numerals.
*Go on 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional shape hunts.
*Practice counting to 100 by 1s, 5s, and 10s.
*Play pattern guessing games.
*Practice tying shoes, zipping zippers and buttoning buttons.
*Practice drawing and coloring. Encourage your child to add lots of details.
*Make up stories to tell each other.
*Encourage elaboration. Ask your child to give you more information or
to tell you more.
*Practice walking in a line.
*Keep discussing why its important to listen during lesson time, to follow
directions the first time they are given and to keep your body parts to
yourself.
*Create math story problems for your child to solve using various plans.
*Model writing for your child. Encourage your child to write: notes,
grocery lists, letters or to journal.
*Get your child to school on time everyday. Announcement begin at 7:40!