ready for kindergarten



My owls like to look at
all the animals in their forest.

Use a picture to help your child think about the letter sounds he hears at the start of a word, like tree, bird, branch. Then practice printing the letters within three parallel lines you've drawn equal distance apart on a blank sheet of paper.

Tell your child that the letters fit inside the parallel lines like his feet fit inside his shoes. You will need to be patient; it takes a long, long time to print letters without a wobble. Do not obsess. Only letters b, d, g, p, q need to be correct. 

Ignore all other backward letters, they will not slow your child's progress, will self-correct by mid-2nd Grade, and are very rarely dyslexia.  Get an ABC letter strip from Target, Office Max, etc. Teach each letter name and basic sound: Aa apple, Bb bear, etc.

Lots of point and name is great practice. 

Over time, explain that the ABC letters in a word sit next to each other, like the toes of his foot: not tight but side-by-side. 

Using your picture pick words to practice, like tree, bird, sky, owl - tell your child the correct letters or allow your child to try spelling. At this point do not worry about correct spelling, but do aim for the correct beginning sound: bird, feather, tree, etc.

Your next target is teaching that words in a sentence need space between them, like cars on a street - they must not bump into one another. Teach your child to place his pointer finger on the paper to see how much space to have between words. And, tell your child that letters and words always go this way >>.  5 minute lessons are good, short and fun is best. 

I use ebay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up for you. All include my contact onfo; email or call for help.

Have a great day, Mary