Pre-Reading Skills

I've been doing a lot of work recently with E on her pre-reading skills.  We play lots of games of I-spy around the house and when we're out at the store.  I recently came across some new BOB books that are for pre-readers!

I picked up the Alphabet set at my Barnes and Noble the other day and E has been doing so much better at finding the beginning sound of words.

Another activity we've been working on is our alphabet cabinet.  This is still a work in progress for me, but I do have a couple of drawers ready for E to work with.  This week, she got to work on /b/, /l/, and /c/.  In each drawer there are miniatures that start with the letter of the drawer.  I'm always on the lookout for good miniatures for our alphabet cabinet!

Since our Montessori materials arrived, I have brought out a new work for E - sandpaper letters.  I use them mostly for letter recognition now, she learned her capitals first through a couple of puzzles and our Leapfrog fridge alphabet.  She likes to feel the letters (not really tracing yet, just feeling them) and we match our capital letters to them as well, so she learns which letters belong together.

We also host a bi-weekly playdate with our friends, where we learn about a specific "letter of the week."  It's a fun chance to get together with friends, read a story, do a craft, and eat foods that start with the letter of the day.  Check out some of our previous letter playdates!

And of course, I can't leave out reading to E.  I think that's the MOST important thing.  We are constantly reading stories.  Fiction, non-fiction, fairy tales, picture books - anything and everything is fair game at our house.  Current favorites are: Skippyjon Jones, Olivia, Hooray for Fish, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, and Mother Goose.