Ever used handwriting without tears? This is a great product for more practice with writing your letters! Each page has the HWOT prompts using boardmaker pictures. I love using these sheets to help my students remember what comes first and it helps parents when I send these home to help teach lette...
40+ early literacy activities for preschool and kindergarten children. They're simple but meaningful ideas for preschool at home or in the classroom.
The Empowered Educator - Analysis, Reflection and Evaluation in Early Childhood Programming.
Looking for creative ways to build early literacy skills? Check out these 7 games that will help your kids develop letter knowledge and phonological awareness.
Learning to write is much more complicated than we think. After all, most people can write so what is so difficult about it? It's second nature to most of us, yet take some time to look at yourself when you write. What muscles are you using? Switch hands and see if you can manage writing with your other hand. This may give you some idea of the level of control required to make meaningful marks on paper. Building muscle strength and learning to control those muscles is an integral part of children learning to write. Core muscles, the large arm muscles and the small muscles in the hand and wrist all need strengthening and developing in order for children to be able to gain control of a pencil or crayon. In addition to strengthening and controlling muscles, refining depth perception and visual tracking skills are important. Hand-eye coordination is essential as the hands and eyes have to work together to enable children to form letters and write across the page. While your child's first writing experiences may look like scribbles to you, if you ask them what they have drawn you may get a very complex story. Children recreate and make sense of their world first through their drawing and later through their writing. This takes time to develop and develops alongside their language. When a child can tell you all about their drawing and you can record that for them, they are learning that their words are valued and can be represented. When children begin to understand that symbols have meaning, they are on their way to being motivated to record these symbols for themselves. Their first efforts at writing recognisable letters will possibly begin with them writing their names between four and five years old. It's vital that children see their name written and have opportunities to write their names independently. This is their signature, it's not a copy or tracing of an adult's writing. Children who can write their names are very proud of this and this achievement needs to be celebrated, whatever the writing looks like, so they will be enthusiastic about writing. When their child is beginning to write, parents should not worry about letters that are not properly formed, letters that are back wards and that their child may have missed out letters. This is a natural part of children developing their writing style. They get plenty of practise at forming letters later on, the early years is a time for children to experiment as they develop the brain connectors needed to control their hand eye coordination and make writing on the lines possible. Source: Words their way Children need experiences to write about so exploration and interaction with the world around them and other people is essential. Children learn to express themselves through their writing when they have opportunities to: à draw, paint and create and a collage à practise their skills in a variety of contexts through different experiences à strengthen their muscles through manipulating materials during play à develop their coordination through physical activity à interact with their peers and adults Ideas to develop muscles and hand-eye coordination include: à playing outside, swinging, running, pouring sand and water, playing tag, swimming, riding a bike à exploring and experimenting with a variety of materials such as sand, water, glue, tweezers and tongs, boxes and puzzles à finger painting and gloop à working with playdough The more children are engaged in purposeful play; the more opportunities they have for interactions with others; the more they are positively encouraged; the stronger their foundations for both writing and reading will be and the more rewarding their progress will be for them as you celebrate each success together. Some examples of emergent writing
important early literacy terms that every parent needs to know
NFB Early Childhood Initiative Program (For blind and low-vision children ages birth through eight years old)
How to use Blanks Levels Of Questioning to stimulate children’s oral language development in play and reading.
Welcome to Montessori Nature! I am delighted that your path led you here. I am committed to supporting the incredible teachers and parents who dedicate their time and effort to shaping the minds of our
Setting up small world invitations to play doesn't need to be complicated, time consuming or Insta worthy! Explore these 10 ideas shared by other educators!
In this activity tutorial, you will learn a creative way to make early literacy an interactive experience without using a screen.
Braille Tales is a free, print-braille book program promoting early literacy skills and excitement for reading among the blind or visually impaired.
Retelling a story is a skill pre-readers need to practice in order to gain experience with later reading comprehension. Children can listen to a story and
Reconciliation Week 2024- 27 May to 3 June – is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia. Keep up the momentum for change: the theme for National Reconciliation Week 2024 is Now More Than Ever We have put together a pack for you valued at over $79.95 to help you celebrate and document all of your cultural events and conversations over the next couple of weeks. Use OUR RAP Display Pack all year round to display your RAP to families. Indigenous Artwork-We are proudly using artwork in this pack created by Stephen Hogarth an Aboriginal contemporary artist and a descendant from the Kamilaroi nation and family going up throughout Southern Queensland. Stephen was given the Aboriginal name Baayama by an Elder meaning Warrior Creator. To view more information about this artist- click here Includes: A collection of Activity Cards 2024 Banner New Activity Ideas for Birth-1, 3-5, 5-8 with NQF links and extension ideas Reconciliation Action Plan-Binder and Binder tabs (gather evidence) Reconciliation Week Banners Reconciliation Action Plan-Display Set Reconciliation Week- Words-Literacy Reconciliation Week Posters A3 and A4 Reconciliation Week Program Backgrounds Reconciliation Week Posters Reconciliation Week Learning Story Pack Element 1.1.2 Child-centred Learning Outcome 2: Children are connected with and contribute to their world Includes Learning Outcomes suitable for MTOP. Parent /Child Voices and Future Planning. Everything required to ensure you are achieving the requirements for-Element 1.3.1 Assessment and planning cycle-Each child’s learning and development is assessed or evaluated as part of an ongoing cycle of observation, analysing learning, documentation, planning, implementation and reflection. Set up in an easy to understand and use page- while creating an ongoing learning journal for families to view at any time. THIS PACK IS PART OF A DOUBLE OFFER WITH OUR NAIDOC WEEK PACK-VIEW THIS HERE Our Learning Story Packs Include; Outcome pages suitable for EYLF, MTOP, QKLG, VEYLDF Analysis of Learning- what this means and how to write Future planning- what this means and how to write Parent voice (sections to invite parent contribution) Reflection to ensure your cycle of programming
Literacy bags are proven to be academically effective (and fun) for young learners. Find out what should be included and don't forget the 2 free downloads!
Janice J. Beaty’s best-selling Observing Development of the Young Child teaches its audience how to observe… by calebchang
Outdoor play can be the greatest vessel for exploration. Let's dive-in together to discover how we can use outdoor play as tool for child-led learning.In the first of our In the Outdoors series we will explore how to playfully integrate literacy materials and activities into your outdoor time. Whether you are an early childhood educator, a stay at home parent, or a homeschool family, you will find new ways to get inspired and incorporate many new literacy skills into your time outdoors. As an ea
Homework.... always a hot debate with teachers, parents, and even students. No matter your opinion or take on homework, you will never make everyone happy. You have to find the perfect balance for your classroom and for yourself. This year I chose to go with a Reading Folder as my daily homework. I looped with my students from last year and knew that their biggest need was reading fluency. Because of this, I chose to make this the main focus of my homework. I included these great literacy handouts in my homework folder. I printed them on colored paper to emphasize their importance and have the students keep them in their reading folder. They include awesome tips for parents and students to use while reading at home. These are from a great FREE resource from Primary Punch. You can click on the image below to go grab it up! In addition to the literacy handouts, I include a Daily Reading Log. Students record the date, title, their feelings about the book and if they are ready to take an AR test over the book. Once we got rolling with this in the morning, it was awesome! The students are learning how to choose books that are appropriate and interest them. They are also learning to be responsible by filling out their reading log and switching out their book each day. (You can click on the image below to download the reading log for free!) How do you use homework in your classroom?
What is position in space and why is it important? Use these simple activities to develop this crucial body in space awareness.
Try these 15 awesome language activities with your preschool kids and build their expressive and receptive language while having fun.
My lovely year group partner shared this from Heidi Song with me yesterday. We have lots of parents mid year getting anxious about the quality of their children’s writing.&…
Our educational articles provide teachers and parent the latest research, teaching tips and best practices in raising a health child and promoting their path to excellence. Educational articles are a great resource whether you are a new parent, starting to homeschool your child or you have been an early childhood educator for years. Stay up-to-date with latest research conducted by experts in the field.
I am so excited to share this idea with you all! I first encountered this activity, from a colleague working in a preschool classroom. ...
Break The Ice With Spanish 'All About Me' Cubes To Decorate And Share Students fill in and decorate the sides of the cube, then fold it into an original, three-dimensional self portrait. A great ice breaker at the start of the year, the cubes can also be stacked for 3-D graphing activities or displayed at open house or parent night. 12 white corrugated boxes. Size: 5" by 5" by 5" each Assembled Really Good Instructional Guide
Flashcards have their place in education, but it isn't in the early childhood classroom! Here's what to do instead. Flashcards for preschool.
Outdoor play can be the greatest vessel for exploration. Let's dive-in together to discover how we can use outdoor play as tool for child-led learning.In the first of our In the Outdoors series we will explore how to playfully integrate literacy materials and activities into your outdoor time. Whether you are an early childhood educator, a stay at home parent, or a homeschool family, you will find new ways to get inspired and incorporate many new literacy skills into your time outdoors. As an ea
Parent involvement matters. In this post, the benefits of having parent support are shared. Parent handouts for teachers are included.
Use these free preschool reading logs to encourage kids to read at home with their parents. The 13 different preschool printables can be used at any time of year...a perfect "homework"
Learn ways to promote early literacy and language development in infants in children, even if no books are available.
It's never too early to do play based literacy and numeracy activities with your children. Learn these fun and effective activities.
"The Read-Aloud Handbook" is a great book to add to your teacher resource library! Today in our ongoing book study of "The Read-Aloud Handbook" by Jim Trelease, I have the pleasure of sharing chapter 4 with you which is titled "The Do's and Don'ts of Read-Alouds"... Chapter 4 is
Children love playing with blocks and they are highly educational. Here are eight benefits of block play in early childhood.
What is differentiation? A great preschool teacher differentiates all day long! Learn more about this important concept and how it affects students.
Early literacy is an important part of your child's development. Here you can find 20 literacy activities for preschoolers, kindergarten kids & toddlers.
Simple toddler activity ideas that promote learning.
Here's another way to approach documentation panels - this formatting idea is courtesy of my brother Shaun. I was talking to him about doc...
Check out this Montessori Pre-reading lesson and loads more! The lesson is a Classification by Category activity.
Are you a new parent? Check out our baby literacy tips, favorite resources, and free download: 52 Best Books for Babies!
