Scott Adcox

Doing More With Less Since 1972

Tag: Kindergarten (Page 3 of 3)

Fill In The Rhyme – Lesson Idea #17

May 6, 2008 / / 0 Comments

1. Say these sentences, stressing the words that rhyme:

  • The cat wore a hat.
  • The ball rolled down the hall.
  • Your shoe is blue.

2. Now tell your child that they’ll have to finish your sentence with a word that rhymes. You can get as silly as you want just as long as the words rhyme. You’ll be amazed at some of the responses you get!
3. Sample sentences:

  • The hog chased the ________. (frog, dog)
  • Let’s look at a _________. (book)
  • The pig wore a _________. (wig)

Let’s Read It This Way – Lesson Idea #15

May 1, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Big books work well for this, but you can use any book with large print. Try to use a book that you’ve already read with your child and one that has a good amount of dialog in it.

  1. Tell your child that you’ll be reading xyz book, but that you’ll be hunting for different things this time. Write, or show them what an exclamation mark (!) and question mark (?) look like.
  2. Tell them that you’ll be hunting for these in the book and that they should let you know when they see one because you’re going to have to read it differently.
  3. Begin reading the book (maybe with less expression than you normally do) until your child lets you know that they’ve spotted one of the marks. Say “Oh, thanks – that’s an (!), that mark means that we have to read this sentence with a lot of expression. Listen to me first and then we’ll try it together.”
  4. Reread the sentence modeling good expression and then have them read it (or repeat after you if they can’t read yet) with you. Try to have them imitate you as much as possible so that they get into the habit of learning to change their voice when they see these marks.
  5. Do the same with question marks – Teach them that our voices sound different when we ask questions and that they should sound like that when we read questions too.
  • This is one of those easy activities that you can do to lay a strong foundation for good reading habits and fluency. It can be done whether your child can read or not because all they have to do is practice sounding like you (a good reader)!
  • Change this up for older kids (2nd grade and up) that need help with expression by skipping the “hunt” and just calling their attention to the marks when they read. Having them listen to you, reread it with you, and then again by themselves will give them the practice they need to improve their fluency.

Show Me How – Lesson Idea #14

May 1, 2008 / / 0 Comments

You’ll need a book that’s on the bigger side of normal and your “dunce cap” on for this one.

  1. Tell your child that you’re getting ready to read a book and get into a position where he/she can clearly see the book. Hold the book upside down and announce that you’re ready to begin. Hopefully your child will look at you funny and tell you that’s not how you hold a book.
  2. You (in total disbelief) ask him/ her “Why not?” – they give you an answer and you say “Oh, ok, I got it”. Then you fix it by holding the book sideways and telling them that now you’re ready. They’ll laugh and point at you and tell you you’re doing it all wrong!
  3. Do this a couple of times in different ways until you “give up” and say “Ok, show me how to read this book the right way”. See if you can get them to explain to you why it should be read that way. You’re looking for them to tell you things like: the front cover needs to be right side up, the title should be on top, we can’t read upside down, you need to open the book up this way, we need to turn the pages in this direction, the pictures can’t be upside down, the words can’t be upside down, etc. If you need to, point these things out to your child.
  • This simple pretend play can be very beneficial in helping your child understand the concepts of print. Kids love to be right and they’ll have fun telling you that you’re wrong! Don’t we all?

Rhyme Toss – Lesson Idea #13

April 28, 2008 / / 0 Comments

You can play this with 2 or more people, but the more the better. So get some friends, siblings, or dad involved and have fun!

  1. Sit or stand with players in a circle and have something ready to toss (bean bag, ball, etc.)
  2. Say a word like “cat”, and toss the bag to the next person who has to say a word that rhymes like “hat”, then toss to the next person and so on. Switch to a new word when players run out.
  3. Sample word lists you can use: (ball, wall, tall, hall, mall, call, fall, all); ( blue, shoe, two, new, who, boo, flew, drew, etc.); (pit, bit, hit, fit, lit, mitt, sit, kit), etc.
  • You can make this more challenging for older kids by making the words harder. Sample words: (plate, eight, freight, berate, date, mate, bait, gate, hate, etc.).

Short or Long? – Lesson Idea #12

April 28, 2008 / / 0 Comments
  1. Choose some short words (one syllable) and long words(multi syllable) that show up in books, poems, or songs that your child is familiar with.
  2. As you read each word, ask your child if it is a short word or long word. Keep track of what they say.
  3. Then write each word and ask them again. Show them the differences between the short ones and long ones. Talk about how the ones that sound longer usually look longer too because they have more sounds to write. Check if they were right on their guesses.
  • This activity helps kids with early concepts of print as well as developing their oral language skills. You’ll be surprised by how good they become at this and how it will help them in the future when working with words!

Spell Anything! – Lesson Idea #11

April 28, 2008 / / 0 Comments
  1. Write a word on a white board or other erasable surface and have your child read it aloud.
  2. Erase and change the first letter/last letter/middle letter – depending on what letters/sounds you are working with. Ask your child what the new word is.
  3. Repeat and repeat until you have a decent list of new words that you created just by changing certain letters.
  4. Have your child read the whole list – blending if necessary and then repeating them quickly to practice fluency. You can extend this activity by having them make up sentences using some or all of the words.
  5. Sample list:
  • start with the word “cup”
  • change the “p” to a “t” for the word “cut”
  • change the ” u” to an “a” for the word “cat”
  • change the “c” to an “h” for the word “hat
  • change the “h” to an “m” for the word “mat”
  • change the “m” to an “f” for the word “fat”
  • add an “s” to make the word “fast”
  • You can see how you can keep going and going with this. You can make this as easy or as hard as you’d like depending on what your child can do. Have fun with it!

Stretch It – Lesson Idea #10

April 28, 2008 / / 0 Comments
  1. Tell your child that you are going to say a sentence and that they have to help you stretch it by adding a word to it to make it longer.
  2. Then you add another word and continue to take turns adding words until you have a long sentence (that still makes sense).
  3. For example: You say ” The kitten played.” Then it can become ” The white kitten played”, “The white kitten played outside.”, “The white kitten played outside with a ball.”, “The white kitten and the dog played outside with a ball.”, etc.
  • This game can be adapted for many different ages. You can leave it like it is for younger kids (and keep the sentences shorter) or you can add some requirements to make it harder for older kids. Add things like: “Now you have to add a noun, adjective, pronoun, adverb, etc.” or you can have them write out the sentence when finished. this is a great game for developing vocabulary and practicing extending sentences so that they are more detailed!

ABC Scramble – Lesson Idea #9

April 28, 2008 / / 0 Comments
  1. When your child is not in the room, lay out some alphabet cards in a long row – make sure they are scrambled up and out of order.
  2. Tell your child that you’re not sure what happened, but there’s something seriously wrong with the alphabet and you need their help fixing the letters.
  3. Have your child try to put the letters in a row correctly. They can sing the alphabet or use an alphabet chart to help them out.
  • The sillier you get with this the better! You can make up different stories about what “happened” to the alphabet.

Missing Letters – Lesson Idea #8

April 28, 2008 / / 0 Comments
  1. Lay out some alphabet cards in a row from A-Z. Remove a letter (random or your target letter) and be sure to leave the empty space where the letter goes.
  2. Have your child start pointing to and naming (or singing) each letter. When they get to the missing letter, ask “What letter is missing?”
  3. After they guess correctly, you can repeat with different letters.
  • What makes this really fun for them is when you get silly and “play dumb” like you really don’t have a clue. It cracks them up!

Pick Two – Lesson Idea #7

April 28, 2008 / / 0 Comments
  1. Have a collection of pictures ready – including many that rhyme.
  2. Choose three pictures to show two your child and make sure that two of them rhyme. For example have a picture of a tree, a box, and a bee.
  3. Name each picture together and ask your child to pick the two pictures that rhyme.
  4. Start over and repeat as many times as is fun!
  • You can make this harder by adding more pictures and having them pick 3, 4, an so on. Or you can have them choose the pictures and make you pick two that rhyme!

Sack Sounds – Lesson Idea #6

April 28, 2008 / / 0 Comments
  1. Get a sack or a bag large enough to hold several items.
  2. Have your child go through the house and fill the sack with several random objects.
  3. Meanwhile or beforehand, lay out some alphabet cards in a long row from A-Z on the floor or table.
  4. When your child’s bag is full, have them sort the objects by placing them under the alphabet letter that matches its beginning sound.
  • You can change this up by assigning a set number of items they must find for each target letter – great for review!

Letter Hunt Alphabet Book – Lesson Idea #5

April 25, 2008 / / 0 Comments

You’ll need some newspaper, magazines, catalogs, coupons (any other print material you don’t mind cutting up) and some art supplies (construction paper, glue, scissors, markers, etc.) This one can be worked on over time – so it may take your child a while to complete the whole book. Part of the book can be created while you’re working on letter recognition and the other part can be completed when you work on letter sounds – so there will be two parts to this activity. Some of you may choose to do both pages at the same time – it’s up to you!

Part 1 – Page 1 for each letter

  1. Have your child hunt for and cut out several (up to 20) versions of the same letter (capital and lower case/big and small fonts) from different print material. You want these to look different so that your child learns to identify specific letters no matter the font or size.
  2. Label one piece of construction paper with the target letter at the top. Then your child can glue these letters onto the paper in any way they like as long as they are readable. Although it looks best when the letters are all mixed up and spaced out to cover the whole page, by all means give them creative freedom.

Part 2 – Page 2 for each letter

  1. Have your child hunt for and cut out pictures that begin with the target sound from the various print materials. Review the pictures your child found and discuss whether they’d be good or not to use for that letter.
  2. Your child can then glue the chosen pictures onto another price of construction paper. You can label each picture with a marker (have him/her dictate the names of the pictures to you or help them out). These picture serve to reinforce letter-sound correspondence and build their vocabulary.
  3. Repeat Part 1 and Part 2 for every letter in the alphabet.
  • You can put the pages together several ways: punching holes and tying it together or using rings, staple it, have it bound at an office supply store, etc. I do recommend that you get the pages laminated if possible. This book will be a great addition to your child’s library and is a lot of fun to make!

Alphabet Cereal Game – Lesson Idea #4

April 23, 2008 / / 0 Comments

You’ll need some alphabet cereal and a simple grid that has the letters of the alphabet separated into individual boxes.

  1. Give your child the grid and a cup of alphabet cereal.
  2. Have them sort the cereal by putting the cereal letters into the letter box on the grid that matches.
  3. Let your child eat the letters when done!
  • This is an excellent hands-on activity that teaches and reinforces letter recognition. It makes a yummy treat too!

Word Switch – Lesson Idea #3

April 21, 2008 / / 0 Comments

You’ll need a pocket chart and some word cards (you can make them with sentence strips) for this activity.

  1. Make or use some words cards to make up a few sentences from a book, rhyme, or song that your child is familiar with. Make sure to include capitals and punctuations.
  2. Read the sentences aloud to your child (or together if they can read with you). Then mix up the words in each sentence and read them aloud again.
  3. Your child will most likely start giggling and tell you there’s something wrong. Act surprise and like you don’t know what’s wrong. When they convince you that there’s a problem, ask your child to help you make the sentences right again. They can use the capital letter and the punctuation mark as hints.
  • You can skip the materials if you don’t have them and use a white board instead. Although kids really enjoy holding and manipulating the word cards – especially if they can’t write yet. The purpose here is to show your child that each word has meaning and that they work together to make sentences. If you move one or all of them around, it will affect how the sentence makes sense.
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