Educational Help

As a former early childhood teacher, I have been considering blogging about some of the ideas and creative ways I used to help students learn. So stop by from time to time and look under the Teaching label. Hopefully you will find some ideas worthy of your time.

The first idea is for parents of young children preK and K age. If your child is struggling with learning the alphabet, I suggest turning to a kinesthetic methodology. Most children do not learn just by sight or sound, they usually need some form of hands-on stimulation. I recommend placing some kosher salt or sand in a cake pan. Use enough to cover the bottom about an half inch thick. Then have the child make the letter in the salt, with you helping to hold his/her finger the first couple of times. Have the child say the name of the letter while writing in the salt. Remember, most curricula start with the lower-case letters first, not capital. As he/she becomes proficient at tracing the letter, have him say the sound that goes along with that letter. For vowels always start with the short sound first. Do not teach the long sounds until after a full grasp of all short sounds has been mastered. So you would start with "a says /a/ in apple, a says /a/, /a/, /a/"...while the child is tracing in the salt. Try this and let me know how it works for you.