Melanie Said:

pre-k phonics lesson.. letter recognition?

We Answered:

Jump into Literacy is an excellent book for hands-on, easy to implement (very little material) for literacy activities, including phonics and phonological awareness. Check your local library. Have you checked the parent-teacher resource shelves for resource books? Lots out there! One of my favorite publications is The Mailbox. They have preschool and Kindergarten (and higher). They have books and "magazines".

I find with writing their name...daily practice is the key. I made a page on Print Shop for my students. At the top was the block letters of their name with a dot of where to begin. If necessary I used hand over hand, describing the letters as I wrote with them. The bottom half was their practice space. They had to at least try to write their letters in their name. (Some scribbled and that was fine. But they must leave marks down there. After about 3 or 4 times of the sheets I began to see them trying to write the letters in their name. I put the sheets in sheet protectors and in a binder. We used dry erase markers. Giving them a description such as for lower case e. Baseball, hit the ball, run the bases. Really helps them visualize it. Remember they think in pictures up until age 8 or so. Handwriting without tears has a free printable of how to write upper and lower case letters with suggestions of what to say. Some I change, some I keep. www.hwtears.com Click on the Learning Lounge Tab. Then click on classroom downloads. Scroll down to Letter Formation Charts. Very helpful!

I find with letter recognition...songs play a big part in our learning. There are many alphabet songs out there besides the ABC song. The key is to provide visuals when singing the songs. Ideally, a set for each child so they can point to or use a pointer on their own page. Typically these children who are behind are lost during group activities because their attention isn't focused.

Tactile letters really are helpful. You can purchase them...or perhaps your class has them already. But you can also make them. Index cards/card stock traced with glitter glue or sand is the easiest way. Then the children can trace them. I find that working in small groups or 1:1 works best with these children which are behind. Hiding them around the room and having them bring the letters back to the table and working with them...putting them in abc order, tracing them with their finger while saying the phrase that goes with it (hwtears.com), sorting by sticks, curves, or both. Sorting by what is in our name and what isn't in our name.

The song BINGO can be changed to :
There is a student in our class who has the name of Kenzie.
K-e-n-z-i-e, K-e-n-z-i-e, K-e-n-z-i-e
and Kenzie is her name-o!
Providing visuals or having them trace their name using rainbow writing and then using those pages to close the group activity with the song and review the letters is a fun and easy way to help them with remembering how to spell and write their name.

Often children who are not up to speed with writing find writing of all kind difficult. Most likely it's because their muscles in their hands have not developed enough to make holding a pencil and writing easy and comfortable. Playdough can help strengthen their hands and also can be used to help reinforce letters and letter formation. Rolling the dough into snakes and creating letters with the stick and curve method is very beneficial. They can also trace over top of it with their fingers. You can have them put beans in their letter (more fine motor) using the correct formation. So for the letter b they would make a playdough worm for the stick and a playdough worm curve for the "belly". Then they would poke the beans going from the top of the stick down to the bottom and around the belly in the correct formation of the letter b. The beans allow for the extra sensory input when they trace the letter. Then removing the beans in the correct formation reinforces it again.

Chalk boards are excellent. I often have them write their letter or word and then use a paint brush and "erase" the letters using the same correct formation. So they are writing it at least twice. For children that need more practice, I use hand over hand to write the letter, then they erase it with the paint brush dipped in water, then they trace over their water letter with chalk and erase it once more. That's 3 times they worked with the letter on their own and once with me.

Oh, I can give you more ideas if you need them. :-) Just message if you want more.

Yvonne Said:

I'm teaching high school kids (14-15 yr olds) a lesson on writing blogs. The focus is on writing style. Tips?

We Answered:

The key to writing a blog, as anything else on the internet, is to make sure that the spelling is atrocious, the grammar is terrible, and that the content shows a general sociopathic trend. Make sure that your students insult as many social groups as possible, and put lots of links to porn in their blogs. After all, we want to teach them how things are written on the internet don't we.

Carlos Said:

Can someone please help in writing a letter to a judge requesting home monitoring instead of serving jail tim?

We Answered:

A letter is not the way to go. No mean intent meant but judging from the question you wrote you might have more problems if you write a letter.

You need to talk to a lawyer.

Ruby Said:

How can i write a really nice letter to a teacher saying i've quite her music lesson?

We Answered:

make up an escuse, e.g ur too busy or u cant afford it