Holiday Activities

Sports reviews of yesterday’s exciting Super Bowl talked about key plays. While kindergarten readiness is not a sports contest some of the strategies are the same: practice, teamwork, using what you already know and having fun. A key play for kids is learning how words work. Just like the players on the field Sunday put together some different plays, when we use words we put them together using different bits of sounds, (think of the ‘at’ family of words-bat, cat, mat, rat, sat,  or words that start the same like super, sandwich, snack, etc. ) This is critical knowledge for later learning to read.  Here is a fun idea for some practice on word sounds, using the sound at the very start of words.

Valentine starts with the sound ‘vh’ . Together, you and your child can think of some other words that start like valentine, like vacuum, or violin, or vampire. Make up some pairs and ask your child if they start the same or not. “Do vanilla and grape start the same?” “How about vine and video?” Here are some more v words: vein, vulture, van, vent, voice. Oh, and one more–vacation! What else starts with a ‘vh’ sound? Q. What did the Valentine say to the stamp? A. Stick with me and we’ll go places.

Q. Why do firefighters wear red suspenders? A. To keep their pants up. Yesterday was a warm-up activity: go for a walk to see red things, draw about it and maybe read the book Red Is Best. Today is an extension of that activity that helps children develop the idea that print has meaning.

Using the drawing created yesterday of something red, have your child tell  you about the picture, ” What is this that we saw that is red?” As your child explains, print it down for him/her. When you are done, the two of you can read it together. Ask your child to tell you what it says. Accuracy is not needed at this point. What is important is that your child can give you the basic idea of the picture and what the words say. This shows that s/he has the idea of what reading is all about.

This concept develops from lots of fun with books and over time. Exposure to this kind of experience is part of kindergarten readiness. It is critical for learning to read later on at school. Your child may be able to draw a couple more pictures for you to write on to make his or her very own “I See Something Red” book. Do we have some young authors?

February and Valentine’s Day are very special highlights for kids. At Christmas, children are excited about getting presents. At Valentine’s the focus changes to giving and kids are excited to be able to create something to share. At Valentine’s they participate just like all the adults and feel quite grown-up themselves. To start a series of … Continue reading Kindergarten Readiness – Valentine Warm-Up →