This is a really simple
lesson that only requires 2 sets of Manipulatives from the Creativity Corner.
We are using our magnet letters and flashcards to match letters! It’s pretty
simple, yet so fun and effective. In honor of Pirate Month we are focusing on the letters H, R & Y but I went ahead and threw in the S, T & X for fun since he needs the practice with those anyway. I would have to say that 6 was about the ideal number he could handle. Later in the lesson I put more down and it was just a bit to complicated for him to focus and decide which magnet he was going to go digging for in the pan. Too many cards with too many magnets to choose from leaves a toddler’s head spinning. And yes, that’s a volleyball magnet…. got to start him early! {Ongoing family competition: If the boys will learn a platform or a golf swing first} I present this lesson activity like every
other by placing it out on the Mess
Mat and letting him discover.

 

I do present this with a
little more guided practice than other lessons though otherwise he’ll just play
with each set separately like he normally does and probably wonder why we have
two things out at the same time. So, I have to show him how the manipulatives coordinate together for learning.

I deal out some flashcards
and then dig through the magnets, all with him watching me intently. I grab a R
and with an “Ah-Ha!” place it on the flashcard and exclaim “Match!” He giggles
and asks for more. After a few rounds of this he wants to find an “Ah-Ha!” too.
And of course, be sure to give him an extra expressive reaction for
reinforcement when he correctly identifies which letter he is actually
matching! Not only does he get exclamation for matching them physically, but if
he can tell you it is an R and it says, “ERRRRR” he gets extra high fives!

You’ll see on my flashcard I
have a dot under each of them which I put there with a Sharpie. That is my
phoneme system which I came away with when I did my student teaching work
sample on Reading Literacy. It comes from the Read-Well
curriculum that we used in our Kindergarten classrooms. I confess I don’t use
every piece of this program in my daily lessons with my boys, but the dots are
one thing I did like. I am in no way affiliated with Read-Well or the Voyager
Sopris Learning Company. I’m just telling you where it came from J

The idea is that pointing to
the letter you say the name and pointing to the dot you say the sound. This
scaffolding later builds into arrows for blends and swooshy lines for pronunciations.
It trains readers to put their finger under the letter and recite a sound thus
promoting a “Reading Finger” and tracking skills from left to right. I’ll tell
you more about how I educate with flashcards in a later post I promise! But let’s
keep this one simple for now Ha! Ha!

Shape recognition

Matching

Bonus: Phonemic Awareness
and Memory building