Kindergarten Readiness Tips for Parents
Children who are getting ready for kindergarten benefit tremendously from strong early literacy skills, such as letter recognition, phonemic awareness, decoding, and writing. Multi-sensory activities including audio-visual card drills, sky writing, sand writing, and tracing can help children develop these skills while keeping learning fun and entertaining. The International Dyslexia Association tells us that hands-on, multi-sensory learning techniques are very effective at helping young children build early reading and writing skills. Improve your child’s early literacy skills with the ideas detailed below.
Preparing your child for kindergarten: early literacy skills
Sounding out basic words and correctly writing letters are key skills for kindergarten success. With a solid foundation in each of these skills, students will learn tools they need for excelling in school. As a parent, there are several techniques you can do at home to help your child build these core skills. Grab some note cards, markers, colored sand, and a cookie sheet — and read below for some fun, engaging, and of course educational multi-sensory activities that you can do at home.
Kindergarten reading readiness
Learning to decode, or sound out words, is an important skill for school success, and one that is emphasized in many kindergarten classrooms. Before students can decode words, however, they need to learn the names of each letter of the alphabet and their corresponding sounds. By doing so, they can then learn to blend these sounds together to read words, which is part of Orton Gillingham tutoring. Try following the tips below to teach your child these skills, and remember to always keep the activities fun, engaging, and multi-sensory! Read more at How to Boost Your Child’s Reading Readiness Skills – EBL Coaching.
Multi-Sensory activities to practice at home
You can start by teaching your child groups of five letters at a time: four consonants and one short vowel. Begin with some of the easier letters/sounds to grasp: for example, f, p, s, t, and the short vowel a. For every letter that you introduce, create a note card with the letter on the front and a key picture that begins with that letter on the back.
For example, for the letter f, you would write the letter f on the front of the card with a black marker, and you might use “fish” as your key picture. Thus, you would draw (or print) a colorful picture of a fish on the back of the card. Feel free to add lots of colors and have your child help in this process! Create similar note cards for all letters in this group. You might use “pizza” for p, “sun” for s, “top” for t, and “apple” for a.
Multi-sensory learning with card drills
Now it’s time to start the letter and sound learning process! Hold the letter side of the first card up to your child (in this case, f) and using as close to the following language as possible, say, “This is the letter f, like fish (flip card around), it makes the sound /f/ (flip card back around).” Then have your child repeat that sequence to you. Finally, the goal is for them to repeat that sequence back to you three times as you reverse the card for the picture name and turn it back around for the sound.
For example:
Parents says: This is the letter f, like fish, it makes the sound /f/.
Parent and child say together: This is the letter f, like fish, it makes the sound /f/.
Child says alone 3x: This is the letter f, like fish, it makes the sound /f/.
Have fun learning with sky writing
Once you have completed the audio-visual card drill with your child, you are ready to start the letter formation process with sky writing. You should model the formation of the letter first by holding your hand in the air, and, using your pointer and middle fingers, say out loud as you draw, “When we write the letter f, we go around, down, and across.” Make sure you draw a big letter in the air as your child watches. Next, your child should repeat the same motion in the air with you. They can even stand up while drawing to engage gross motor muscles. Finally, the goal is for them to draw the letter in the air three times, without your help or modeling. These types of writing exercises are often also integrated into Orton Gillingham tutoring lessons.
For example:
Parent says, while drawing in the air: When we write the letter f, we go around, down, and across.
Parent and child say together, while drawing in the air: When we write the letter f, we go around, down, and across.
Child says alone 3x, while drawing in the air: When we write the letter f, we go around, down, and across.
Learn letter formation with sand writing
Most children love this next step – sand writing! Pick up some colored sand from an art supplies store and pour it onto a cookie sheet or large plastic plate. You can even use kitchen salt or sand from the beach. Using your pointer and middle fingers again, model the formation of the letter – in this case f – in the sand, as your child watches. As you trace, you say out loud (for the letter f), “around, down, and across.” Then shake the sand and have your child trace the formation with you in the sand. Again, the goal is for them to trace the letter independently three times. You can try this exercise with flour while you are cooking, sand while at the beach, or dirt in the park. Have fun with it!
Practicer writing on paper
Using a sheet of kindergarten lined paper, draw dotted lines for each letter and have your child trace each letter ten times. Then have them try to write it alone ten times, without tracing.
Putting the multi-sensory activities together
Follow that same sequence of activities for every letter in the group you are working on. For example, do a card drill, sky writing, sand writing, and paper writing for the letters f, p, s, t, and a (or n, r, c, k, e, and so on). Then, once you have finished the exercises for that group of letters, put your cards back into a pile and it’s time for review! Hold each card up separately to your child and they should be able to tell you, without guidance, the name of the letter, picture, and sound (for example: f, fish, /f/; p, pizza, /p/, and so on). If you notice any difficulties, practice the steps above again.
Multi-sensory reading tutoring
You have now reached the most exciting part – reading! Once your child has a fluid knowledge of the letter names and sounds of at least one group (four consonants and one short vowel), you can perform your own reading tutoring sessions and work on teaching them to blend those letters for form words – which, in essence, is reading. For example, place the a card in front of your child. Ask them to tell you the sound that a makes. Then put the t card next to the a card and ask your child what sound t makes. Since we know that a says /a/ and t says /t/, what happens when we blend those sounds together? We form the word “at!” Now try that exercise with different letters from that group. For example, hold out the a and p cards to form “ap” (the words can be real or nonsense). Eventually, add in a third letter – /p/ /a/ /t/ reads pat! You can also add in magnetic tiles, blocks with letters on them, and white boards to make this exercise even more fun. Enjoy these multi-sensory tutoring sessions with your child!
Read more at How to Boost Your Child’s Reading Readiness Skills – EBL Coaching.
With ample practice and reinforcement of these exercises, your child will be reading sooner than you may have ever imagined! Remember to keep these exercises fun, creative, and as engaging as possible. The more you practice, the stronger these early literacy skills will become for your child, and the more excited they will be to start kindergarten!
If you feel your child would benefit from multi-sensory tutoring to help prepare them for kindergarten in a fun way, contact EBL Coaching and learn more about our one-on-one tutoring programs by visiting www.eblcoaching.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I teach my child the letter names and sounds?
You can help your child learn the letter names and sounds with a multi-sensory tutoring approach. Introduce the name of a letter on a flashcard with a key picture on the back. For example, you might write the letter s on the front of a card with a picture of a snake on the back. Say to your child, “This is the letter s, like “snake”, it makes the sound /s/.” Have them practice that sequence aloud with you and have them work on tracing the letter in colored sand or salt on a tray.
What is decoding and why is it important?
Decoding is the ability to blend sounds together to form words. Many children with dyslexia or reading challenges struggle with decoding and benefit from Orton Gillingham tutoring to build this skill.
How do I make learning fun for my child?
When kids are young, learning should be fun! When working on basic skills with your child, try to incorporate multi-sensory tools, like sand for forming letters, magnetic tiles, and games.
Dr. Emily Levy, the founder and director of EBL Coaching, holds her Doctorate Degree in Education and has been helping children prepare for kindergarten with individualized tutoring for over twenty years.
Learn more about early childhood literacy research at Effectiveness of Early Literacy Instruction: Summary of 20 Years of Research.
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