Alphabet Activities for Preschool

Swat the Fly Alphabet Activity

Pick a card and swat the matching letter. Differentiate by having children match uppercase to uppercase, uppercase to lowercase, or letter sound to letter.

Letter Formation Alphabet Boards

Practice letter formation with these hands-on alphabet boards. Trace the uppercase and lowercase letter, write it independently, and then build it with play-doh.

Mix Them Up Small Group Alphabet Game

Children pick a card from the deck and produce either the name of the letter or the letter sound (differentiate based on the group). If they get it correct they can keep the card, if not it goes to the bottom of the deck. When you pull a “Mix Them Up!” card, everyone pretends to mix a bowl and all cards go back to start.

Build the House Letter Sound Center

Play construction worker for the day and build letter-sound houses! The base of each house has an uppercase and lowercase letter, children will find the door and roof that has images with that letter sound.

Lock & Key Letter Recognition

Place the keys with the correct lock by matching up the letters of the alphabet.

Mama Mia Pizzeria

Build a slice of pizza by finding the crust, sauce and cheese with the same letters on them.

Sunny Letter Sound Puzzles

Complete the puzzle by matching the image to the beginning sound of the alphabet.

Splat that Letter

A fun way to practice letter recognition. Look at the letter n the top of the page and find all of the matching letters. Take your play-doh and “splat” it onto the matching letters.

Pencil Puzzles

Build pencils by matching the uppercase letter to the lowercase letter.

Bubblegum Consonant Vowel Sort

Sort the alphabet bubble gum pieces by consonants and vowels.

Alphabet Clip Cards

Use a clothes pin to clip the letter that represents the beginning sound of the image on the card.

Sandbox Alphabet Activity

Practice letter formation with this fun and tactile alphabet activity. Children pick a card and then form that letter in the sand with their fingers

. It even includes a spinner so they can determine how many times they should write the letter.

Beginning Sound Boards

Find the missing beginning sound and circle it. For added fun, build the letter with play dough.

Popsicle Alphabet Mats

Practice letter formation by building uppercase and lowercase letters with popsicle sticks

Play Dough Letter Sound Cards

Build objects that begin with specific letter sounds out of play dough.

Cube Alphabet Mats

Build letters of the alphabet using snap cubes.

Alphabet Books

Student-made books for each letter of the alphabet! Children illustrate each page of their book with items beginning with that sound. You can add as many blank pages as you’d like.

Alphabet Dough Mats

Build uppercase and lowercase letters with play dough.

Guided Readers

The perfect guided reader for small groups, based on sounds of the alphabet.

Dab-A-Dot Alphabet Mats

Work with the uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet with these dab-a-dot mats. They can use bingo daubers, dot stickers, pom-poms and more!

Digital Lowercase Alphabet Activity

Click and drag the matching lowercase letters

Digital Uppercase Alphabet Activity

Click and drag the matching uppercase letters

Digital Letter Sounds Activity

Select the UFO with the correct letter sound

The post Alphabet Activities for the Year! appeared first on Mrs V's Chickadees.

If you’re looking for a fun alphabet activity that will help your students master the alphabet and letter sounds, then I’ve got you covered! These free alphabet printable letter books are an amazing learning tool for your preschoolers!

Alphabet Activities for Prek

While teaching the alphabet, there are a lot of different skills to cover. We need to master letter recognition, letter formation, and letter sounds. The best way to help your preschool students with this is to give them plenty of opportunities to practice, along with a mix of printables and hands-on learning.

At the end of each letter study, we create our alphabet books!

Alphabet books come in the shape of each letter. The cover shows an image that starts with that letter for reference. Following the cover are blank pages. You can print as many or as little as you’d like.

Children illustrate each page of their alphabet book with an image starting with that letter sound.

Free Alphabet Printable Letters in Action

Let’s take a look at my preschooler working on his letter B and C books.

After they illustrate and color their book, they can label their pictures. If they are not ready to sound out words, you can always write it for them. I like to write it in a highlighter, which allows them to trace it and practice letter formation and proper pencil grip.

I love this activity because the finished product is one that they can save and look at over and over again.

Children get to be creative while also practicing a key phonics skill.

At the end of our alphabet curriculum, we will have a full set of student-made books for letters A through Z!

These alphabet printable letter books are a part of our Alphabet Curriculum, but you can snag them for FREE here!

You Might Also Like:

• Hands-On Alphabet Activities
• No-Prep Alphabet Worksheets

Some of my favorite alphabet games and activities

The post Letters FREE Alphabet Printable appeared first on Mrs V's Chickadees.

Alphabet Theme Centers for Preschoolers & Kindergarteners

Let’s talk about alphabet theme centers for our preschoolers! This is my favorite time of day because I am all about hands-on learning! Watching students interact with each other, become engaged with a task, and learn at the same time…I mean, what more can we ask for?

Fun Alphabet Activities for Preschoolers

Let’s start with letter recognition activities. These alphabet theme centers are perfect for preschoolers as they are learning to identify the letters of the alphabet.

1. Mama Mia Pizzeria Center

It’s important that children are able to identify both uppercase and lowercase letters. With this alphabet center, preschoolers can build a slice of pizza, by matching the crust, sauce, and cheese with all of the same letters of the alphabet.

2. Fly Swatter Letter Recognition Game

This is an absolute preschool favorite. Put out the fly alphabet cards and give each child a fly swatter (you can grab them at the dollar store). Pull a card from the instructor deck and say the letter name. Children then have to swat at the bug card that matches.

Differentiate this activity by producing the letter sound instead of just naming the letter, and then have children swat the letter of the alphabet that produces said sound.

3. Lock and Key Letter ID

Here’s another great alphabet theme center. Print the locks and place them on a gift bag or a basket, anything students can drop the “key cards” into. Children pick a key card and find the matching lock. They place the lock into the bag.

4. Pencil Puzzles

Children not only have to be able to identify the letters of the alphabet, but they also have to be able to distinguish between uppercase and lowercase and know which two go together.

One alphabet theme center we love for this skill is our pencil puzzles.

Children complete each pencil by matching the uppercase and lowercase letters. You can do this activity by placing all of the pieces on the carpet or tabletop. Or you can use a pocket chart. I prefer this method because it keeps things organized and I’m able to set up the first half of the puzzle in alphabetical order.

Here is what our pocket chart looks like before we start the alphabet center.

And here is what it looks like once my children have completed it!

Alphabet Small Group Activities for Preschool

Alphabet theme activities not only make great centers, but they also work well in small groups. Whether it be guided reading warm-ups, phonics groups, or intervention work, these next few alphabet activities are perfect!

5. Letter Formation Sandboxes

Letter formation is tricky, so it’s good to find multiple ways to practice. Below are our Letter Formation Sandboxes.

6. Sunny Day Letter Sounds

Now let’s talk about some alphabet theme activities for preschoolers that involve identifying letter sounds.

Sunny Day Letter Sounds is a puzzle activity where children have to match the letter to the picture that starts with that sound.

7. Beginning Sound Clip Cards

Clip cards are awesome because not only does it practice a given skill, it works on fine motor skills as well. Preschoolers have to look at the image in the center and clip a clothespin to the correct letter.

8. Beginning Sound Dry Erase Boards

Beginning Sound Dry Erase Boards are fun and also help children with identifying letter sounds and letter identification. There’s a picture clue and then the word. Except the word is missing the first letter. The board gives three options on the bottom for children to pick from. Two letters are incorrect and one is correct. If you laminate these boards children can use a dry erase marker to circle their answer. For extra fun I always have them then build the letter with play-doh and put it in the missing spot.

9. Build That House

Let children become construction workers for the day and have them “build” alphabet houses! The base of the house has a letter on it. Children must find the roof and door that have images that start with that letter sound.

Other Alphabet Activities You Might Like:

• Our full-year Alphabet Curriculum that provides everything you’ll need to create fluency with your preschoolers.

• No-prep alphabet worksheets
• Alphabet mats for centers
• How to successfully implement hands-on learning

The post Alphabet Theme Centers for Preschoolers appeared first on Mrs V's Chickadees.

There are so many wonderful alphabet activities that can help children. As a part of our alphabet study, children work on identifying objects that start with that week’s letter sound. Once they’ve brainstormed their own list, they work on their Letter of the Week Take Home Book.

Alphabet Activities for Preschoolers

First, let me share some of the alphabet activities we do prior to our alphabet books.

We do a lot of great hands-on work. We use cubes to build our letters on our Snap Cube Mats.

We build items that start with our letter of the week out of play-doh. Here’s an example from our Letter A unit.

We also work on a variety of no-prep worksheets.

And to finish off our alphabet study, we create student books that each child can take home and practice with.

Alphabet Learning Activities for Preschoolers

Our alphabet books can be used in so many ways. Not only do they focus on the given letter sound, but they give children an opportunity to practice reading, sight words, and tracking (one-to-one correspondence).

When I introduce this alphabet activity, children are given each page. They trace the letter on the front cover and then color it in. Following that, children take a picture walk and name each object, focusing on the letter sound they hear at the start of each word.

Afterward, we read the text, focusing on tracking our words, identifying sight words, and hearing the letter sound. Children can color and cut each page so that we can staple it and form a true alphabet book.

Here’s a sneak peek of some of the other components of our

Alphabet Curriculum

All of these alphabet activity printables for preschoolers shown in this post are from the Alphabet Curriculum: Letter of the Week. You can see more about this curriculum here!

Looking for more alphabet activities for preschoolers (printables and hands-on)?

• Swat the Fly Letter Recognition Game
• Build that House Letter Game

• Splat that Letter Book
• RTI Letter Identification Pack
• Alphabet Dough Mats

• Digital Uppercase Letter Match
• Digital Lowercase Letter Match
• Digital Beginning Sounds

The post Alphabet Activities: Letter Books appeared first on Mrs V's Chickadees.

Teaching children the alphabet is a long process, so why not make it fun! These alphabet activities for prek are a great way to engage students while also practicing letter identification, letter formation, and letter sounds. Check them out!

Fun Alphabet Activities for Prek

I love activities that can be used more than once. These alphabet learning activities do just that! All I have to do is laminate them, and now they can be used over and over.

These make great literacy centers, work for fast-finishers, and intervention group activities. Children take a mat, and form the uppercase and lowercase letter using play doh. Each mat has one set of letters, an image that starts with that sound, and the uppercase and lowercase letter in a traceable font.

Another alternative is to use cubes to build the letters. Children take snap cubes and place them on the mat to create both the uppercase and lowercase letters.

My son loves these mats. He makes sure to match the cubes to the color on the mat.

You know all of those craft supplies you hoard and never use? I bet you have some popsicle sticks laying around. So why not have children build the letters of the alphabet with them?

Alphabet Books

Alphabet Activities for Preschoolers at Home

These alphabet activities for PreK work great for homeschool settings as well as classroom setting. Like these dab-a-dot worksheets. You can use a variety of manipulatives to fill in the dots on the sheets. My go-to items include pom-poms, dot stickers, and bingo dabbers.

Here’s an example of a sheet that was completed using dot stickers.

Here’s an example of a sheet that was completed using pom-poms.

All of these alphabet mats are a part of our Alphabet Curriculum, which can be found here!

Fun Alphabet Activities for Preschoolers

The last activity I’d like to share today is our Sound Mats. Similar to the above play-doh mats, this works with the child using play-doh. However, this time, they will build an item that starts with a specific letter sound. This alphabet activity is perfect for our prek students who are beginning to learn all of their new sounds.

Other Alphabet Activities

Repetition is key when it comes to learning the alphabet. Here are some other great letter activities for your preschool/pre-k and kindergarten children.

    Alphabet Worksheets                 Letter Sound Dough Mats            Splat that Letter

You Might Also Like These Posts and Resources:

• Free phonics pacing guide
• How to Successfully Implement Hands-On Learning
• Sunny Day Letter Sand Boxes
• No-Prep Letter Sound Worksheets

The post Alphabet Activities for Prek appeared first on Mrs V's Chickadees.

Learning the alphabet is one of the first phonics skills you will teach your preschoolers. This is a lengthy process as it includes so many different aspects. Preschoolers need to learn to visually discriminate between letters, recognize uppercase and lowercase, learn how to write letters, and memorize all of the letter sounds. Below are some of my favorite alphabet activities for preschoolers, in the form of no-prep worksheets and printables.

Alphabet Knowledge Activities for Preschoolers

Letter discrimination is a huge part of learning the alphabet. This “I Spy” worksheet is great because it helps children practice letter recognition and also helps with visual discrimination between uppercase and lowercase letters.

Grab the full Alphabet Curriculum Here!

They must identify the uppercase letters in the first half and color them in, and then work on the lowercase letter on the bottom half.

Alphabet Books

Alphabet Writing Activities for Preschoolers

We also need to give our pre k students ample practice with letter formation. By sprinkling alphabet writing activities into their work, they can begin to develop fluency with not only letter identification but also letter formation.

Here are some printable alphabet activities for preschoolers that we love!

“Looks Like, Sounds Like” allows preschoolers to recognize the letter, trace the letter of the alphabet, and hear the letter sound.

Alphabet Review Activities for Preschoolers

A definite class favorite is our color-by-the-code worksheets. I personally like these alphabet printables because they work on reviewing more than one letter at a time.

Alphabet Activities for Letter Sounds

Alphabet Activities for preschoolers must also include letter-sound printables! Take a look at some of my favorite letter-sound worksheets for preschoolers.

Working with images is a great way for children to make the connection between the word and sound they hear at the beginning.

All of these alphabet activity printables for preschoolers shown in this post are from the Alphabet Curriculum: Letter of the Week. You can see more about this curriculum here!

Looking for more alphabet activities for preschoolers (printables and hands-on)?

• Swat the Fly Letter Recognition Game
• Build that House Letter Game

• Splat that Letter Book
• RTI Letter Identification Pack
• Alphabet Dough Mats

• Digital Uppercase Letter Match
• Digital Lowercase Letter Match
• Digital Beginning Sounds

The post Alphabet Activities for Preschoolers: Printables Edition appeared first on Mrs V's Chickadees.

Let’s talk about the Tryin’ Lion and Skippy Frog reading strategies. I like to talk about these two strategies together because they go hand-in-hand. Keep reading to find out what I mean.

What is the Tryin’ Lion and Skippy Frog Reading Strategy?

Tryin’ Lion and Skippy Frog reading strategies are for children who have mastered the other Beanie Baby strategies. Sometimes children can try every strategy and still struggle to figure out the word. That is where Tryin’ Lion and Skippy Frog come in. 

Tryin’ Lion tells us to try a word. Ask yourself, “does this make sense?”

Skippy Frog tells us to say the first sound and then skip over the word. Hop back and read the sentence again.

Introducing the Chunky Monkey Reading Strategy

The reason for using Beanie Babies to help teach reading strategies is because children find it easier to remember the characters than just the name of a strategy. And with remembering the characters, children can then make the connection to the reading strategy. It’s a win-win!

I refer to each Beanie Baby as our “Reading Buddies.” Whenever I introduce a new reading buddy I follow this routine:

• Show students the actual Beanie Baby and introduce them by name.
• Explain the reading strategy that this particular Beanie Baby wants us to remember.
• Model using the strategy. I display an appropriately leveled text on our smartboard for this.
• Give children a reading buddy  “watch” to wear. This gets them excited and wanting to use their new strategy. You can see a picture of my son rocking the Eagle Eye watch below!

• Do a group activity that encourages children to try the new strategy.

Chunky Monkey Reading Strategy Activities

So now let’s talk about the kinds of activities we can do to help support the Tryin’ Lion and Skippy Frog reading strategies.  Here are some examples.

1. Using Context Clues to Complete the Sentence

Part of being able to “try a word that makes sense” is understanding context clues. With this activity, children read the sentence and then use the picture card that makes the most sense to complete it.

2. Fill in the Blank Activities

I love these sentence strips with one missing word. There is no one answer, so it allows children to think and be creative. The goal is to make sure that whatever word they write in the blank, makes sense within the sentence.

3. Hop the Word

This is a fun activity that gets kids up and moving while also working their brains! I place the lilly pads on the floor in a line to make a sentence. One word is covered by a frog. Children have to hop next to each word as they read it. When they get to the frog, they have to jump OVER it. Once they get to the end of the word they must go back and try to figure out the covered up word.

Tryin’ Lion and Skippy Frog Visuals

Providing visuals is a helpful tool for children. I like to hang up posters, provide desk plates, bookmarks, and more, to help children easily access our reading strategies.

Teaching Children to Use this Reading Strategy

When it comes time to start working on these strategies with your students, there are a few things you can do to guide them.

• Remind them to try all of their other strategies first
• Model getting stuck on the word and exhausting all other reading strategies
• Model trying a word and asking “does this make sense?”
• Use Skippy Frog to check your guess by reading to the end of the sentence and then going back to check your guess
• Do activities that help reinforce this new reading strategy

I typically follow the above at the start of our guided reading lessons. This provides an opportunity to remind children of important strategies, but it also gives me a chance to work closely with individual children.

2. Buddy Badges: When I catch students using their reading strategy, I give them a Buddy Badge. Buddy Badges go on a chain and they say “I was caught using Tryin’ Lion”. Children can wear these Buddy Badges during reading groups and reading time. Throughout the rest of the day, they have a place to hang them in our room.

3. Self-Checking Charts: Another way to incentivize students is by providing self-checking charts. These charts are to be completed and filled in by the students themselves. Whenever they catch themselves using a strategy, they color the reading buddy in.

What’s Next?

While working with children in small groups, make sure to collect data so you understand which children need more support, and which are ready to move forward.

It is imperative that you find a system to help you monitor and track reading and comprehension progress. This will help you determine the next steps and plan the appropriate reading lessons to help them grow.

Taking notes during one-on-one reading conferences doesn’t have to be difficult. It can be a matter of jotting down keywords or phrases.

For me, these are the main things I want to collect data on:

• The date, name, and level of the text they are reading at the time of the conference
• The strategies they are using independently (with or without success in deciphering the word).
• Specific decoding observations. Example: “Attempts to sound out words but struggling with blending the sounds.”
• Specific comprehension observations. Example: “Answers recall questions easily”
• Goals and next steps. Determine what you want to work on with this specific child in order to push them to the next reading level.

Here’s an example of the sheets I use to track this information.

The post Tryin’ Lion and Skippy Frog Reading Strategies appeared first on Mrs V's Chickadees.

Let’s talk about the Chunky Monkey reading strategy. Using Beanie Babies to help students remember key strategies is a great guided reading tool. Chunky Monkey teaches children how to break apart words to make them easier to decode. There’s a few ways to do this, so let’s get into it!

This is part five of a six-part blog series. If you haven’t already, make sure to check out the other posts.

1. Tracking Words
2. Eagle Eye
3. Lips the Fish
4. Stretchy Snake

What is the Chunky Monkey Reading Strategy?

The Chunky Monkey reading strategy helps children break apart larger words. They look for “chunks” that are easier to read individually and then blend it with the rest of the word. Here are some examples of different ways you can use the Chunky Monkey reading strategy.

Introducing the Chunky Monkey Reading Strategy

The reason for using Beanie Babies to help teach reading strategies is because children find it easier to remember the characters than just the name of a strategy. And with remembering the characters, children can then make the connection to the reading strategy. It’s a win-win!

I refer to each Beanie Baby as our “Reading Buddies.” Whenever I introduce a new reading buddy I follow this routine:

• Show students the actual Beanie Baby and introduce them by name.
• Explain the reading strategy that this particular Beanie Baby wants us to remember. It would sound like this:

This is Chunky Monkey. Sometimes there are big words that are hard to read. Chunky Monkey reminds us to look for chunks in the word. Chunks are smaller words hiding inside bigger words.

• Model using the strategy. I display an appropriately leveled text on our smartboard for this.
• Give children a Chunky Monkey reading strategy “watch” to wear. This gets them excited and wanting to use their new strategy. You can see a picture of my son rocking the Eagle Eye watch below!

• Do a group activity that encourages children to try the new strategy.

Chunky Monkey Reading Strategy Activities

So now let’s talk about the kinds of activities we can do to help support the Chunky Monkey reading strategy.  Here are some examples.

1. Finding Smaller Words Withing Large Words

With this activity, children have to find a smaller word within the original word. I laminate these boards so that they can use dry-erase markers. This allows us to use these over and over again, and with a variety of guided reading groups.

2. Consonant Blends and Chunk

I love these banana puzzles for our phonics centers. It allows children to work with consonant blends while also working on breaking up a word.

3. Chunk the Digraphs

These no-prep worksheets are a great way for children to practice breaking up words by separating the digraph from the rest of the word.

4. Compound Words

These cards are a perfect guided reading warm-up. We use these to practice breaking up compound words.

5. Word Endings

We use no-prep worksheets to help identify word endings. This helps children practice breaking up the word so that it is easier to decode.

Chunky Monkey Visuals

Providing visuals is a helpful tool for children. I like to hang up posters, provide desk plates, bookmarks, and more, to help children easily access our reading strategies.

Teaching Children to Use this Reading Strategy

When it comes time to start working on this strategy with your students, there are a few things you can do to guide them.

• Remind them that big words don’t have to be scary, because we can often find smaller chunks within them
• Model getting stuck on the word and using the Chunky Monkey reading strategy to decode it
• Have children ask themselves, “Does this word make sense?”
• Do activities that help reinforce this new reading strategy

I typically follow the above at the start of our guided reading lessons. This provides an opportunity to remind children of important strategies, but it also gives me a chance to work closely with individual children.

2. Buddy Badges: When I catch students using their reading strategy, I give them a Buddy Badge. Buddy Badges go on a chain and they say “I was caught using Chunky Monkey”. Children can wear these Buddy Badges during reading groups and reading time. Throughout the rest of the day, they have a place to hang them in our room.

3. Self-Checking Charts: Another way to incentivize students is by providing self-checking charts. These charts are to be completed and filled in by the students themselves. Whenever they catch themselves using a strategy, they color the reading buddy in.

What’s Next?

While working with children in small groups, make sure to collect data so you understand which children need more support, and which are ready to move forward.

It is imperative that you find a system to help you monitor and track reading and comprehension progress. This will help you determine the next steps and plan the appropriate reading lessons to help them grow.

Taking notes during one-on-one reading conferences doesn’t have to be difficult. It can be a matter of jotting down keywords or phrases.

For me, these are the main things I want to collect data on:

• The date, name, and level of the text they are reading at the time of the conference
• The strategies they are using independently (with or without success in deciphering the word).
• Specific decoding observations. Example: “Attempts to sound out words but struggling with blending the sounds.”
• Specific comprehension observations. Example: “Answers recall questions easily”
• Goals and next steps. Determine what you want to work on with this specific child in order to push them to the next reading level.

Here’s an example of the sheets I use to track this information.

The post Chunky Monkey Reading Strategy appeared first on Mrs V's Chickadees.

Sounding out words is one of the most important reading strategies you will teach your students. My favorite way to help children remember this skill is to introduce them to Stretchy Snake. Stretchy the Snake tells children to stretch out each sound in the word. Using Beanie Babies to help students remember key reading strategies is a great guided reading tool. Let’s get into it!

This is part three of a six-part blog series. If you haven’t already, make sure to check these out:

1. Tracking Words
2. Eagle Eye
3. Lips the Fish

How Does Stretchy the Snake Help with Sounding Out Words?

Stretchy the Snake reading strategy is all about sounding out words. Stretchy the Snake reminds children to stretch out the sounds and then blend them together. This reading strategy works really well with new readers who have a solid understanding of letter sounds. 

In order to teach children how to sound out words, they must know their letter sounds. You will also want to introduce other reading strategies prior to this, such as Eagle Eye and Lips the Fish. These strategies are great for our new readers, but there comes a point when you need to do more in order to decode words. That is when we teach them how to sound out words. Remember, you want to start with the easiest form of words there are for students to sound out, and that is cvc words. If you want to know more about cvc words (consonant-vowel-consonant), make sure to check out these posts before you read any more.

Introducing Stretchy the Snake Reading Strategy

Using Beanie Babies to help children remember their reading strategies is an excellent technique. They tend to think of these characters as their reading buddies. And with remembering the characters, children can make the connection to the reading strategy. It’s a win-win!

I refer to each Beanie Baby as our “Reading Buddies.” Whenever I introduce a new reading buddy I follow this routine:

• Show students the actual Beanie Baby and introduce them by name.
• Explain the reading strategy that this particular Beanie Baby wants us to remember. This is what it would sound like:

This is our new reading buddy and his name is Stretchy the Snake. He wants us to stretch out each sound until we can hear the word.

• Model using the strategy. I display an appropriately leveled text on our smartboard for this.
• Give children a Stretchy the Snake reading strategy “watch” to wear. This gets them excited and wanting to use their new strategy. You can see a picture of my son rocking the Eagle Eye watch below!

• Do a group activity that encourages children to try the new strategy.

Sounding Out Words Game and Activities

So now let’s talk about the kinds of activities we can do to help support the Stretchy the Snake reading strategy.  Here are some examples of Stretchy the Snake reading activities.

1. Sounding Out CVC Words

One reading strategy I teach my students is to touch each letter in the word as they make the sound. After touching each letter and making the sound, they drag their finger under the letters as they blend them together. This helps them with tracking and not omitting any letter sounds.

Below is an example of a guided reading warm-up that I use while teaching about Stretchy the Snake. The snakehead images are a visual reminder for children as to where they should put their fingers. The arrow reminds them to blend the sounds together to form a word.

2. Sounding Out Words Phonetically

Here’s another Stretchy Snake reading strategy activity that I like to use in small groups. It’s the same concept as the above activity, but slightly harder. Children will look at a picture and stretch out the sounds to write the word.

I’ve laminated these boards so that we can use dry-erase markers and then wipe them clean. This allows us to practice over and over again.

Stretchy the Snake Visuals

Providing visuals is a helpful tool for children. I like to hang up posters, provide desk plates, bookmarks, and more, to help children easily access our reading strategies.

Teaching Children to Sound Out Words

When it comes time to start working on sounding out words with your students, there are a few things you can do to guide them.

• Remind children of all of their reading strategies
• Model getting stuck on the word and trying prior strategies. When those don’t work, stretch out the word to sound it out. 
• Have children ask themselves, “Does this word make sense?”

I typically follow the above at the start of our guided reading lessons. This provides an opportunity to remind children of important strategies, but it also gives me a chance to work closely with individual children.

What’s Next?

While working with children in small groups, make sure to collect data so you understand which children need more support, and which are ready to move forward.

It is imperative that you find a system to help you monitor and track reading and comprehension progress. This will help you determine the next steps and plan the appropriate reading lessons to help them grow.

Taking notes during one-on-one reading conferences doesn’t have to be difficult. It can be a matter of jotting down keywords or phrases.

For me, these are the main things I want to collect data on:

• The date, name, and level of the text they are reading at the time of the conference
• The strategies they are using independently (with or without success in deciphering the word).
• Specific decoding observations. Example: “Attempts to sound out words but struggling with blending the sounds.”
• Specific comprehension observations. Example: “Answers recall questions easily”
• Goals and next steps. Determine what you want to work on with this specific child in order to push them to the next reading level.

Here’s an example of the sheets I use to track this information.

The post Sounding Out Words With Stretchy Snake appeared first on Mrs V's Chickadees.

Let’s talk about the Lips the Fish reading strategy. Using Beanie Babies to help students remember key strategies is a great guided reading tool. Lips the Fish is a key strategy for your new(ish), readers. It involves teaching children to get their lips ready to make the first sound of the tricky word. Let’s get into it!

This is part three of a six-part blog series. If you haven’t already, make sure to check out parts 1 and 2.

• One to One Correspondence
• Eagle Eye: Using Picture Clues

What is the Lips the Fish Reading Strategy?

Lips the Fish reading strategy is about getting your lips ready to make the first sound. This reading strategy works really well with new readers who have a solid understanding of letter sounds. This works especially well when paired with the Eagle Eye reading strategy. Children should practice looking at the illustrations, and then the first letter of the word they are trying to decode. When paired with appropriately leveled texts, this can be very beneficial in figuring out the tricky word.

Here’s an example of a book I use with children when I first introduce the Lips the Fish reading strategy.

The combination of Eagle Eye and Lips the Fish can make decoding tricky words a breeze! With this introductory text, children have the Lips the Fish image above the word they should try to decode. In some cases, Eagle Eye is enough to help children read the word. However, there are instances where a picture can possibly represent more than one word. For example, looking at the images below, if children are only using picture clues, they may mistake the gorilla for a monkey. However, if they start to make the initial sound, they can self-check themselves and know that it is not a monkey.

Introducing the Lips the Fish Reading Strategy

The reason for using Beanie Babies to help teach reading strategies is because children find it easier to remember the characters than just the name of a strategy. And with remembering the characters, children can then make the connection to the reading strategy. It’s a win-win!

I refer to each Beanie Baby as our “Reading Buddies.” Whenever I introduce a new reading buddy I follow this routine:

• Show students the actual Beanie Baby and introduce them by name.
• Explain the reading strategy that this particular Beanie Baby wants us to remember. It sounds something like this:

“I want to introduce you to our next reading buddy. This is Lips the Fish. Lips the Fish reminds us to look at the first letter of the word we are trying to figure out so we can make that sound. She tells us to get our lips ready.”

• Model using the strategy. I display an appropriately leveled text on our smartboard for this.
• Give children a Lips the Fish reading strategy “watch” to wear. This gets them excited and wanting to use their new strategy. You can see a picture of my son rocking the Eagle Eye watch below!

• Do a group activity that encourages children to try the new strategy.

Lips the Fish Reading Strategy Activities

So now let’s talk about the kinds of activities we can do to help support the Lips the Fish reading strategy.  Here are some examples of Lips the Fish reading strategy activities.

1. Initial Sounds in Words with Pictures

Find pictures that could be perceived as two different words. For example, garbage or trash, jet or plane, bunny or rabbit.

If you haven’t taught children about Eagle Eye yet, make sure to check out this post before you go any further.

Below is an example of a guided reading warm-up that I use while teaching about Lips the Fish. Children have to look at the picture to help them figure out the word. However, the images on the cards can be perceived as something else, so it is imperative that they self-check by using the initial sound.

2. Using Lips the Fish in Sentences

Here is another Lips the Fish reading strategy activity that I like to use in small groups. It’s the same concept as the above activity, but slightly harder. Children will read a sentence and use both the picture clue and the initial sound to figure out the tricky word.

Lips the Fish Visuals

Providing visuals is a helpful tool for children. I like to hang up posters, provide desk plates, bookmarks, and more, to help children easily access our reading strategies.

Teaching Children to Use this Reading Strategy

When it comes time to start working on this reading strategy with your students, there are a few things you can do to guide them.

• Have children take a picture walk prior to reading
• Remind children to look for the pattern in the text
• Encourage them to track words on the page
• Review Eagle Eye and Lips the Fish
• Model getting stuck on the word that doesn’t match the pattern and using the illustrations to figure it out. Check your guess by now using the initial sound of the unknown word.
• Have children ask themselves, “Does this word make sense?”

I typically follow the above at the start of our guided reading lessons. This provides an opportunity to remind children of important strategies, but it also gives me a chance to work closely with individual children.

2. Buddy Badges: When I catch students using their reading strategy, I give them a Buddy Badge. Buddy Badges go on a chain and they say “I was caught using Lips the Fish”. Children can wear these Buddy Badges during reading groups and reading time. Throughout the rest of the day, they have a place to hang them in our room.

3. Self-Checking Charts: Another way to incentivize students is by providing self-checking charts. These charts are to be completed and filled in by the students themselves. Whenever they catch themselves using a strategy, they color the reading buddy in.

What’s Next?

While working with children in small groups, make sure to collect data so you understand which children need more support, and which are ready to move forward.

It is imperative that you find a system to help you monitor and track reading and comprehension progress. This will help you determine the next steps and plan the appropriate reading lessons to help them grow.

Taking notes during one-on-one reading conferences doesn’t have to be difficult. It can be a matter of jotting down keywords or phrases.

For me, these are the main things I want to collect data on:

• The date, name, and level of the text they are reading at the time of the conference
• The strategies they are using independently (with or without success in deciphering the word).
• Specific decoding observations. Example: “Attempts to sound out words but struggling with blending the sounds.”
• Specific comprehension observations. Example: “Answers recall questions easily”
• Goals and next steps. Determine what you want to work on with this specific child in order to push them to the next reading level.

Here’s an example of the sheets I use to track this information.

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