Daisy has another year to wait before she goes to kindergarten but she is very determined to read. We are now setting aside at least 20 minutes a day for educational activities, such as learning to read or related art activities. I have used Jolly Phonics before and am familiar with it so this is my starting point. As always I don’t like to rely on just one resource so I will be dipping into blogs, websites, teaching resources and my own brain for ideas as we progress down the reading path.
Jolly Phonics recommends introducing the 42 sounds of English, not just the 26 letters of the alphabet, in a prescribed order. We are starting with the sound ‘S’. Daisy has been learning the letter for a while, both at home with me and at the daycare she attends 3 days a week. Many teachers will teach just the sound of the letter, I will be using the letter name and the sound to complement her daycare teaching.
Leapfrog has a great Fridge Phonics Magnetic Letter Set which sings both letter names and sounds. Yes, it does become highly annoying but you may find yourself singing along to it, and it does have 2 volume settings.
So for the sound ‘S’ we have done a number of activities including:
- sticker ‘S’
- large easel painting of the letter ‘S’
- drawing ‘S’ in the sand
- making ‘S’ from salt dough
- ‘S’ printing
- making swirls
- finding ‘S’ in books
- singing about the sound ‘S’ and making ‘S’ movements
- reading about ‘S’ in phonetic books
‘S’ printing was a lot of fun and here is what we did:
A Mom With a Lesson Plan inspired this activity with swirls. I took Jill’s swirl idea and structured it into an ‘S’.
You need:
- Paint
- Glue stick
- Paint pots
- Small pieces of scrap card
- Paper/card
What to do:
Use the glue stick to bend small pieces of card in an ‘S’ shape.
Apply paint to the ‘S’ shape and print.
Have fun printing and playing with the homemade stamps.
We had leftover paint so Daisy had fun printing in an ‘S’ shape on her easel.
Spinner
An opportunity to make spinners is always good. You need:
- Paper Plate
- Scissors
- Needle and thread or string
- Crayons
What to do:
Draw a pattern, starting on the outside of the plate and twisting to the centre.
Cut the spinner along the pattern.
Pierce a hole in the center of the plate and hang by thread over a heat/air source.
Enjoy the spinner, twirly, snake; whatever your favourite name is.
Check out more sound ideas on these blogs:
I love it! Thanks for the link up!