Summary
Learning to read begins at home through everyday parent-child interactions, long before children attend school. Your continued support of literacy development throughout elementary school positively affects your child's reading ability. We are pleased to provide these Family Activities with easy-to-follow instructions to help your child practice foundational reading skills. We invite you to view the short Family Videos for tips on how to use the activities to help your child grow as a reader. Using the Family Activities at home can help your child develop language, link sounds to letters, blend letters and word parts to read and write words and read for understanding.
Kindergarten
Introduction
These Family Activities include easy-to-follow plans to help you support your child's foundational reading skills at home. Materials needed for each Family Activity, such as letter cards, are included. They begin with simpler activities and progress to more difficult ones. You may want to start with the first activity and move to the next when you notice that your child has a firm understanding of the content from that activity. We encourage you to select appropriate activities for your child, and feel free to set aside an activity that seems too difficult. The goal is to engage your child in activities that promote learning in a positive environment, not to induce frustration. The activities should be completed with the child, frequently, with patience, and positive feedback. Using the activities at home will be a fun way to spend family time together!
The Family Literacy Videos show families engaging their child in the Family Activities. The key points about the videos can help you know what to focus on for a specific activity.
The Family Activities were excerpted from a Kindergarten Teacher's Guide to Support Family Involvement in Foundational Reading Skills, which is free online:
A Kindergarten Teacher’s Guide to Supporting Involvement in Foundational Reading Skills
You can also access these videos free online: REL Southeast's K Family Involvement Guide - YouTube
Kindergarten: Recommendation 1: Developing Language
Talking While You Read
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Supporting Oral Language and Vocabulary Development
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Kindergarten: Recommendation 2: Linking Sounds to Letters
Sounds in Words: Syllables
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Sounds in Words: Rhyme
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Sounds in Words: Individual Sounds
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Letter Names and Letter Sounds
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Linking Sounds to Letters
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Kindergarten: Recommendation 3: Blending Letters, Recognizing and Reading Words
Blending Words
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Word Families
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Decodable Words
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High-Frequency Words
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Challenging and Important Words
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Kindergarten: Recommendation 4: Reading for Understanding
Accurate and Efficient Word Identification
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Recognizing Misread Words and Correcting Errors
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Oral Reading Practice
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