Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, the teachers from the A. Sophie Rogers School for Early Learning are sharing at-home activities to help you with ideas on how to best support your child’s development.
SPELLING “APRIL” WITH UPPER AND LOWERCASE LETTERS
Materials:
- paper
- writing utensils
Process: Model how to spell April with all uppercase letters, then with all lowercase letters. Have your child write either under your letters or on their own paper. Children may choose to trace the letters that you wrote which is a great way to build confidence, we often encourage children to attempt at least the first letter independently after tracing.
Directions: Discussing the process of writing the letters and noticing the differences between upper- and lower-case letters are great ways to enhance this activity. (“I make an uppercase A by going up, down and then making a small line across. I make a lowercase a by drawing a small circle and a small line down the side.”
Modifications: This is also a great activity to modify and focus on letter formation through finger painting the letters or tracing the letters into a shallow tray of sensory items such as shaving cream, soap or sand*
CREATING A HOME JOURNAL AND WRITING ABOUT WHAT WE’VE BEEN LEARNING OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL AND WHAT WE’D LIKE TO LEARN
Materials:
- Children enjoyed personalizing and decorating the cover of their journals at school. Journals can be created in many ways:
- binding paper together,
- utilizing a notebook,
- placing papers into a binder, etc.
Directions: In the classroom children were invited to write in their journal at least twice daily, upon entering the classroom each morning and following afternoon snack. Journaling was a predictable part of each day in the classroom and many students may enjoy incorporating this into daily activity at home. When students finish writing/drawing you can ask them what they wrote about, write down what their dictation and the date, and ask them to sign their name. This is a great way to open up a dialogue with children, let them explore their interests and ideas, develop questions, and focus on literacy skills all while enhancing fine motor development through writing.
