Our PreSchool Blog

The importance of phonemic awareness and phonics instruction for beginning readers has received wide support among reading researchers.  When young children participate in specific instruction in how to identify and manipulate the sounds of language (phonemic awareness) and how to associate those sounds with letters and letter patterns (phonics), children are very likely to succeed in reading.  Skill at decoding, or sounding out unfamiliar words, is so critical for skilled reading that neither instruction instruction in sight word reading nor strategies in the use of context can compensate for poor decoding skills.  Decoding skills are considered an essential for fluent reading in later grades.  We begin this journey in our pre-k program to create a solid foundation in early phonics for your child to build on as they continue their path to becoming fluent readers.

Ms Lori created a wonderful discovery group today using sand play-dough.  The play-dough had a cool sandy texture and smelled a bit like the seashore!  You can find the Sandy Play-dough Recipe by clicking the first picture below.  Have fun creating!

Young children learn through moving!  Each day during group time, we Lettercise together to practice our ability to hear and identify letter sounds (phonemic awareness).  Lettercise is a song by Dr Jean.  Dr Jean creates a wide variety of songs that teach both literacy and math!  If you want to Lettercise at home, you can find her CD here.  If you would like to hear the song, click on the first photo below.  We don’t use the video that it is linked to, we just use the song.  Get up and Lettercise!

We used our magic hat today during phonics study.  We took turns choosing lowercase letters out of the hat, identifying the letter and sound, and matching it to its corresponding uppercase form.  We had so much fun!!

We continued our phonics study today in small groups.  We hear about the phonics but what is it?  Simply put, phonics is the connection between letter symbols and sounds. As adults, this relationship seems apparent and common sense. However, in reality there is no natural connection between words and their meanings.

At the very core of phonics lies the alphabet. In order to master phonics a person must master the alphabet. Letters then need to be connected to their corresponding sounds. As we know as English speakers, this is easier said than done. Many letters can represent a number of different sounds. This means that learning phonics is an ongoing process for a developing reader.  Because letters and sounds were introduced in our Preschool Program we will have a “crash course” in letters and their sounds over the next nine weeks.  We will be focusing on three letters per week.  We will complete letters Aa, Bb, and Cc this week and the next three will be introduced on Monday.

We continued our phonics study today in small groups.  We hear about the phonics but what is it?  Simply put, phonics is the connection between letter symbols and sounds. As adults, this relationship seems apparent and common sense. However, in reality there is no natural connection between words and their meanings.

At the very core of phonics lies the alphabet. In order to master phonics a person must master the alphabet. Letters then need to be connected to their corresponding sounds. As we know as English speakers, this is easier said than done. Many letters can represent a number of different sounds. This means that learning phonics is an ongoing process for a developing reader.  Because letters and sounds were introduced in our Preschool Program we will have a “crash course” in letters and their sounds over the next nine weeks.  We will be focusing on three letters per week.  We will complete letters Aa, Bb, and Cc this week and the next three will be introduced on Monday.

We continue to review letter sounds as we prepare for our sight word study and our reading groups!

We discovered the Blue Ringed Octopus today during our Country Study.  We created our own as we spied letters as a letter sound was called out.  Both upper case and lower case were included.  This is our final week of letter Aa, Bb, and Cc Review.  Next week we will review letters Dd, Ee, Ff and their sounds.  Keep practicing at home!  They are doing a GREAT JOB!

Our Pre-K Class birthday bear made his first trip home this week!  I can’t wait to read what an adventure he had as he helped celebrate our first birthday in the class!