Teaching Ideas

Instead of formal instruction I would have a print rich environment. Label everything with words! I do think it's ok to talk about the letters and what sounds they make - but only when it goes along with another activity that you are doing and not sitting down with paper and pencil.

Do you have a playdough area? Print out large letters - maybe the first week you use the letter A. Make several on 8 1/2 x 11 paper and have them laminated. Put them in your playdough center and the children can form the letters on top, etc.

Do you have a center with paper, crayons, tracers, etc? Put sandpaper letters in this center and they can make crayon rubbings with them. Just some ideas.

Allow them to be 3, there is too much emphasis on learning letter sounds etc for little kids at the moment. As others have said learning to write their name using lowercase letters is probably the most important.

If you do want to teach letter sounds focus on the ones in their name but they don't really need a phonics focus. Phonological awareness skills such as rhyming, syllables etc would be a highly valuable skill to arm them with.

Fine motor skills too. All of these will allow their phonemic development to come easier in the future. There are some great phonemic awareness songs that expose younger kids to skills they will learn and develop later on.

Please allow them to be little children. Sometimes preschools go overboard and we spend half of Kindergarten "unteaching".

Pencil grip, tracing and other activities designed to improve fine motor skills are invaluable. Counting to and from ten, making patterns, and learning names of colours and names and attributes of simple 2D shapes are also useful.

Teach them to write their name properly - NOT in capitals, but in the correct way: First letter cap, others lower case.

Above all, help to do things for themselves. I am constantly amazed at how unable many Kindergarten children are to do things for themselves.

Many of them cannot pack their bags, unpack their lunch boxes, unscrew a drink bottle lid, dress themselves, buckle shoes (to say nothing of tying shoelaces!!!!) and the list goes on. MUCH of this problem needs to be addressed with parents also.

Many parents do not take the time to teach these skills, they would rather do it quickly themselves than wait the extra time required to help the child learn.

Teach them social skills and values like resilience and acceptance, how to get along with others, turn-taking, sharing, cooperating etc.

I have found the Letterland programme to work really well with young children. If you love having "themes" then just disregard the letter sequence that is recommended, brainstorm the content you want and do those letters. - Under the Sea - 'f' for fish, 'j' for jetty, 'o' for octopus, 's' for sun and sand and seaweed. The kids love the characters and their names give a great prompt for the phonetic sound. Buy the CDs with the songs too - my kids love them

I don't think I'd introduce phonics formally at that stage, but I'd be doing things like singing the alphabet, getting them familiar with recognising their written names (eg. paint or collage a page with their name printed on it in big letters), identifying their name within a group of names (eg. look for their name on a card to put somewhere else to show they are there today - maybe begin with a sticker next to their name to help them find theirs, then remove the stickers so they need to rely on initial letter or word shape, etc). Read them lots of stories and get them to respond to them - paint their favourite part, create a popstick puppet of one of the characters, etc. Lots of cutting, painting (including with smaller brushes) and gluing to help their fine motor skills for when they begin more formal writing/pencil holding activities.

Hi
Please teach letter names and practise HEARING sounds in words. Also, teach children to write their name correctly, that is, start with a capital and the rest lower case. It takes ages to unteach that one!!!!

Another thing to watch is pencil grip - I do a lot of unteaching of that too. Counting is important - to and from ten, sets etc. Most importantly, listening to good literature, developing a wide and rich vocabulary and oral comprehension. Vocabulary includes maths too.

Research shows that children who generally succeed at school have a wider vocabulary, have an understanding of the alphabet and some phonemic awareness when they begin Kinder.

Socially - turn taking, looking after their own belongings, helping to clean up and so on.

Above all, try to embody a love of learning and a willingness to take a risk or challenge.