We’re fast approaching the first school holidays of the year. About 10 weeks ago, Mr N and M headed off enthusiastically to school, into their Kindergarten class. I also headed back to the world of teaching, and oddly enough – also to a Kindergarten class. So much happens in Kindergarten, but in my mind, reading, and learning to read is a huge part of Kindergarten.

How To Support Your Child’s Reading At Home

Before I delve into some specific activities that you can do at home to complement your child’s reading lessons at school, I want to make it clear that above all, reading with your child at home should be enjoyable. I know first hand how hard it is to juggle everything into the tiny space of time between getting home and children’s bedtimes – and on fading energy levels.

The best thing you can do to support your child’s reading at home is to listen to your child read every day, even for a short time.

I also personally think the 10 ways to encourage reading that I previously shared takes precedence over these possible specific activities you can do with your Kindergarten child at home. Growing a love of reading and of literature is priceless.

Having said all that, I have lately incorporated these short little activities at home with my Twin 5’s as part of our reading time at home. We only do these activities when we have a bit more time and energy up our sleeves.

I think these short reading activities can help consolidate certain reading skills taught in Kindergarten, and hence am glad to be sharing them here with you.

Activity #1: An Unknown Word in the Text

Using the text that the child has just read, choose one unknown word for them to look for, locate and construct.

For example, if the your child didn’t know the word “the”, ask him/her to find “the” on a given page. Have them re-read the sentence, stop at the word “the” and point to it.

We have a tub of magnetic letters at home and some small magnetic whiteboards. Such useful resources and certainly worth investing in. However, if you don’t have these, you can easily make up some small cardboard squares with letters on them and use these instead.

Give your child the letters that make up the unknown word. For e.g. for “the”, give them the letters “t”, “h”, “e”. Don’t give it to them in any particular order or the right way up necessarily. Ask them, using these letters, to make the word “the”. Check that they’ve:

• Placed the letters in the right sequence – e.g. t first, h next, and e last.
• Put the word together in the right direction – from left to right.
• Orientated the letters correctly – e.g. the letters t or h or e aren’t placed upside down.

After they have constructed the unknown word, have them write the word, checking that they’ve:

• Written the letters in the right sequence – e.g. t first, h next, and e last.
• Written the word together in the right direction – from left to right.
• Orientated the letters correctly – e.g. the letters t or h or e aren’t upside down.
• Used the correct letter formations – e.g.  for the letter t, we go down, take our pencils off, then draw a line across from left to right ; we don’t go up, pencils off, then draw a line across right to left.

Activity #2: A Known Word in the Text

Using the text that the child has just read, choose a known word.

For example, with Mr N, our known word was “pig”. I asked him to re-read the sentence and stop at the word “pig”.

I asked him to make the word “pig” using our magnetic letters. We then talked about what we would need to change in “pig” to make the word “big”. We discussed how the beginning sound/letter would need to change. I then asked if he could make the word “big” and place it next to “pig” so it would read “big pig”.

He then wrote the words “big pig” and drew a picture of a big pig. As with the unknown word activity, check that they’ve:

• Written the letters in the right sequence.
• Written the word together in the right direction.
• Orientated the letters correctly.
• Used the correct letter formations.

With this unknown word activity, you’re not necessarily going to get words that go well next to each other like “big pig”. Your two words may be “can” and “fan”. In which case, you would just have one word on the board at any given time. E.g. change the word “can” to “fan”. You can then ask them to draw a fan.

Activity #3: New Letter Combinations

As Mr N could do the above quite confidently, I then challenged him to make the word “small”, so it would be “small pig” instead of “big pig”. He proceeded to make the word “small”, spelling it “smol”, which makes perfect sense phonetically. I praised his attempt, then introduced the new letter combination “all” to him. We talked about some words with the letter combination “all”, like “fall”, “call”, “tall”, “ball” and “small”.

He made the word “small”, using the “all” letter combination, then wrote the words, “small pig”, and finish it off with a picture of a small pig.

Encouraging Children to be Independent and Autonomous Learners

The pace at which children learn is incredible. Even during those times when it seems like they aren’t quite grasping new concepts at a pace you’d expect or like them to, be confident that they will learn how to read – (perhaps to a different time frame to your expectations though).

While the above reading word activities for kindergarten can be helpful, to encourage children to be independent and autonomous learners, ensure that they have plenty of opportunities to read books that they are familiar with. Books that they can read easily, accurately and fluently without support. Give them access to a rich and varied range of reading material. Let them choose. Let them read. Give them time to read regularly during the week.

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The post Reading: 3 Kindergarten Word Activities by Pauline appeared first on Lessons Learnt Journal.

I have a reluctant writer in my brood. He has the most amazing imagination, stories are bursting to be told, but put pen and paper in front of him, and he immediately starts the bum-seat jump and shuffle. To see his reluctance, and so early in his writing journey, makes me a nervous Nellie.

As we take baby steps in his writing activities, I am conscious to think a little outside the box. I want to encourage my reluctant writer and will share some strategies as we continue working things out.

Writing activities, especially in a classroom setting, is usually a teacher-focused, solitary event, usually done in silence. This makes the task of writing a story overwhelming for my reluctant writer.

So, we changed our writing approach to one that stressed the social practices of literacy and writing. To encourage my reluctant writer, we:

• Do not work in isolation
• Provide opportunities for verbal interaction and communication with an audience
• Emphasise social sharing and presentation of written work.

How Writing Buddies Works:

Younger writers will talk with their writing buddy about possible characters, plot and setting for a story, and the more experienced writer will then write out the story.

The Benefits of Writing Buddies:

Writing buddies shifts the task of writing from an independent task, to a shared experience.

By letting younger writers tell the story before writing it, they are given time, and encouraged to think of the details of their story. It gives them a chance to express themselves and to be in control of the material that they are conveying.

Writing buddies also takes the pressure of writing off the reluctant writer. They are however, still given an opportunity to be actively and happily engaged in a literacy activity. 

These social practices of literacy and writing don’t just benefit reluctant writers. When younger writers get to tell their stories, and have their stories recorded, they feel that the ideas that they offer are valued; essential baby steps in growing their confidence and joy as writers.

What are your tips for encouraging reluctant writers? 

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To help kids learn to write, I have found using planners in writing activities to be invaluable. For starters, it helps kids overcome that blank page because there’s something on the page; a framework to help them make a start. The planner also helps by making more explicit, the various language structures and patterns, in different types of writing. Eg. the way a recipe is written is different to the way a journal entry is written.

For older children, these planners would be typically followed by the other stages of the writing process: drafting, revising, editing and publishing. As N&M are just starting to learn to write, in our writing activities, we’ve worked on only the planning stage of writing.

To help kids write, it is helpful to keep a family journal; add something at least once a week – write about special days, achievements, activities, jokes, etc, and read the journal regularly.

In our writing activities, as part of our family journal, this is how we’ve used our journal recount planners:

1. Model writing the journal recount. We would talk about an event or activity that we would like to write about in our family journal. I would go through the planner: what is this journal entry / recount about; what happened first; what happened next; lastly, what happened; what would we like to say about the whole event? As we talk, I would put together sentences for each part of the planner. I would pause when I write key words and sound out the intial or end sounds of those words and let the have the opportunity to figure out what those letters may be; or I would pause for common sight words and let them have the opportunity to spell out those words.
2. Let them have a go at writing. The boys would then have their own planners and attempt writing certain words or sentences. E.g. I may write part of the sentence and leave out certain sight words or key words that they would like to write, and they would then write those words.
3. Illustrate the various events their journal recounts (optional). At this stage of N&M’s development where they can’t write very much yet, allowing them to draw the different events is helpful, as it reinforces the concept that sequencing the events in the right order is important in journal recounts.
4.  Allow children space to creatively extend upon their work. Listen to them and follow their lead. In this particular recount about our morning activities at a park where they collected rocks, N&M were very keen to draw some of the rocks they collected. They did so by tracing around the rocks.
5. Lastly, and importantly, re-read the journal recount, share it with others. You may choose to display it or place it in a folder or book that is easily accessible to them so that they can easily share their journal recounts with others.

 If you would like to use our journal recount planner as part of your writing activities, click HERE.

Remember, with any writing activity, try and focus on the good things rather than the mistakes. When children are encouraged and feel successful in their writing, they are willing to take risks and extend themselves.

After this particular journal recount writing activity, M (5) wrote this label; I helped him segment the sounds, but I didn’t model the word for him. 

Writing for authentic purposes using play. I love my job. #playmatters #mummy

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Whenever people write, they have something to say. This is no different with children who are learning to write.

Being able to write enables children to express their thoughts and experiences. Learning to write, and learning to read, is a huge task. As with all other aspects of literacy, when kids write, they have to think about many things, simultaneously. Writing, like other aspects of literacy, is not easy and can be understandably frustrating and discouraging. Children need plenty of feedback and encouragement.

Here are a few ways parents can help kids write:

1. Focus on the good things rather than the mistakes. Mistakes are part of the process of learning, but by focusing on the good things, children are more likely to remain confident and be prepared to take risks and enjoy writing while they develop their writing skills.

2. Let kids see you writing all sorts of things. E.g. shopping lists, cards, letters, emails, filling out forms, etc.

3. Listen to them as they read their written work. Be interested, limit distractions, value what they say and follow their lead.

4. Provide a dedicated place for writing. Set up a writing area where they can go to independently and write. Make it inviting and have writing supplies readily available.

5. Make personalized books with your children. Collect pictures from catalogues or use photos as writing prompts.

6. Display your children’s writing. Show you value their written work.

7. Keep a family journal. Add something at least once a week – write about special days, achievements, activities, jokes, etc. Read the journal regularly.

8. Give gifts that encourage writing. I love receiving notebooks (lol), but some other gift ideas include specialty papers and pens.

9. Use new technologies. E.g. word processors. Where fine motor skills are hindering the actual physical task of handwriting, using new technologies may help keep children motivated with writing, while they continue to build up their fine motor skills.

10. Write daily. We learn to write by writing. Write every day.

What’s your best tip for helping kids write?

More Activities for Preschoolers

Three to Five: Playful Preschool is stuffed to the brim with tried, tested and loved playful learning ideas for preschoolers. There are 25+ ideas for preschoolers, ten printable resources and additional links to over 50 more activities. A great resource for parents. Download your copy here.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment; I’d love to hear from you. If you are new here, you might like to receive updates direct to your email. We have many fun ideas to share.

The post Literacy: Helping Kids Write by Pauline appeared first on Lessons Learnt Journal.