EarlyLiteracyStages WildflowerRamblings PDF

Early Literacy Stages Ebook from Wildflower Ramblings
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Early Literacy Stages from Wildflower Ramblings
Early Literacy Stages

by Amy Smith
Copyright © 2014 Amy Smith from Wildflower Ramblings.
All Rights Reserved .
Cover Art by Crisp Apple Design.
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The information presented herein represents the views of the author as of the date of publication. This
book is presented for informational purposes only. Due to the rate at which conditions change, the author
reserves the right to alter and update her opinions at any time. While every attempt has been made to
verify the information in this book, the author does not assume any responsibility for errors, inaccuracies,
or omissions.
© Wildflower Ramblings 2
Dedication
This book is dedicated to all the students I had the privilege of teaching before becoming a mother. I
miss you and my prayer is that I helped you build a strong foundation of literacy when I was with you.
Disclaimer
I do not make any claims regarding your educational or homeschooling journey. Please refer to the
homeschooling laws according to your state.
Safety should always be our number one priority as parents, educators, and care-givers. Always assure
that activities are developmentally appropriate for your child’s skill level. Supervise your child at all
times, and especially when utilizing small or sharp objects.
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Table of Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................... 5
Early Literacy Stage 1 {Uppercase letter recognition} ............................. 6
Early Literacy Stage 2 {Tactile uppercase letter writing} ..................... 15
Early Literacy Stage 3 {Utensil prewriting and uppercase letter

writing} .......................................................................................................................25
Early Literacy Stage 4 {Lowercase letter recognition (and matching

uppercase with lowercase letters)} ............................................................... 36
Early Literacy Stage 5 {Lowercase phonetic sounds} ............................ 46
Early Literacy Stage 6 {Lowercase letter writing} ................................... 59
Suggestions for Early Childhood Workbooks .............................................. 69
More Resources ..................................................................................................... 74
Printable Checklist for Early Literacy Stages ............................................. 75
Printable Posters for Early Literacy Stages ................................................. 76
About the Author .................................................................................................. 78
Introduction
The development of early literacy skills progresses in stages. Children are sensemakers
and beginning concepts should be taught before introducing more difficult ones. This is in
order to set a young child up for success. By following a proper developmental
progression, we assist the child’s natural learning capabilities.
There are some children who may excel at learning more organically, in an immersion type
setting, and this is fine to follow a child’s lead. If a child is learning at a faster pace
than expected, breezing by the earlier concepts to move onto new ones is encouraged. It
is vital that educators, and parents, know their individual child and his/her learning needs.
The entire scope of literacy includes the following: reading, writing, speaking, listening,
viewing, and representing. I am focusing on reading letters and writing letters for this
book. However, the other components listed above are also very important in developing
the whole child towards literacy and becoming a lifelong learner. This is why I emphasize
reading books as my first suggestion for each early literacy stage. Reading with any
aged child will further develop their minds and attention towards language and literacy.
I do not label these stages by age. I have met 18-month-olds who have learned all of
their upper and lowercase letters and I have taught 5-year-olds who were still struggling
to learn both. It is important to meet the learner where they are and embrace each child’s
pace!
My hope is that this book will be a reference for you while teaching the precious ones in
your life.
Early Literacy Stage 1

{Uppercase letter recognition}
There is debate surrounding whether children should be taught uppercase or lowercase letters
first. Some teachers opt to teach them together. I believe that children should be taught
recognition of uppercase letters first. They should certainly be exposed to lowercase too, (we
call them “big” and “little” letters), as they are presented in many picture books together, but at
the beginning, the focus should be on uppercase. Certainly, children who are taught lowercase
first, or both together, can also become very successful (for example, a Montessori approach is
to teach the lowercase letters first and name them with their sound names: “This is aah” and
“This is “bbb”). My decision is based on the following reasons:
◦ learning 26 letters will set your child up for success sooner than trying to learn 52 letters,
◦ uppercase letters are more distinguishable from one another,
◦ they have many more straight lines, so when it comes time to begin printing letters,
children can excel, and
◦ uppercase letters represent the majority of letters in print outside the home (on street
signs, in the grocery store, etc), so learning these will expose your child to a world of
print outside the home.
Now how can we help develop this initial stage of

learning in our children?
1. Read, read, read! If you can do anything with your child at home, this is it! Reading to your
child opens them up to a world of imagination and developmental readiness towards print
awareness and learning. Reading doesn’t have to become “lesson time,” just enjoy a book with
one another morning, day, and night! Here are more suggestions:
◦ Books with no words teach story sequence.

◦ Nursery rhymes are especially wonderful for phonemic awareness.
◦ Begin pointing out the “Big” letters at the beginnings of sentences.
◦ Any ABC book is wonderful. Dr. Seuss is the master — our particular favorite is his ABC
book. This book focuses on uppercase letters while exposing children to the lowercase
letters! We also love There’s A Wocket in my Pocket — Dr. Seuss had an amazing ability
to speak to children through rhyme and this book helped my son learn about rhyming.
2. Singing songs at home, all day, every day! There are many songs that introduce letters and
sounds. The Alphabet Song can be coupled with simple ABC books for a fun and teachable daily
read-aloud. Our favorite children’s collections are Songs for Saplings ABCs, T he Little Series and
Jewel’s Lullaby and The Merry Goes Around.
3. Point out uppercase letters both in and out of the house. ”The ketchup has a K, K, K, K!” and
“The magazine has a P, P, P, P!” My son gets very excited about this, and he asks, “What’s that?”
when he sees a letter he doesn’t know.
4. When your child has learned the letters “A, B, C” from reading and alphabet singing, move to a
simple letter of the week focus (or curriculum)! Don’t be intimidated, just start small! Even if you
only do one or two of the below, that is enough, your child will learn as he grows! I find, for our
family, this approach is very helpful in instilling some of every day learning, like reading or
pointing out letters.
◦ This can be as simple as writing the uppercase letter A on a sheet of paper and sticking
it to the bottom of your refrigerator! Talk about the letter every day.
◦ Think about purchasing some magnet letters from Melissa & Doug. This linked set
includes uppercase and lowercase, and again, I would begin with the uppercase letter to
set the child up for success at the beginning! Here is our ever growing collection (with
many magnets purchased from garage sales — I have one lowercase letter for exposure
only).
◦ Create some tactile experiences for your child with sandpaper letters or Do-It-Yourself
puffy paint letters. Touch the uppercase letter and say its name and sound. Again,
exposure to the lowercase letter is fine, but the focus should always be on the
uppercase, so your child can focus on one letter at a time
◦ Consider an uppercase letter puzzle! Melissa & Doug and Lauri are both wonderful
options. My son got his start in learning letters with one of these.
◦ For more tactile fun, print out some magnet pages from Making Learning Fun and have
your child put magnets (or pom pom magnets) on the letter and image on a magnetic
cookie sheet.
◦ There are many free online printables available from many homeschooling mama blogs to
choose from — my advice is to keep it simple so you won’t be overwhelmed. Choose a
couple of pages that you think your child may be interested in. (We love
1plus1plus1equals1‘s Tot School ABCs as a model — the below pictures are all a part of
her wonderful - and free! - online curriculum.)
◦ Choose an object to focus on for your letter of the week. (A is for Apple, B is for Bug, C
is for Cat, D is for Dog, etc!) Find that object and keep it in a special place — in a small
bin or basket or reusable plastic container! — along with a handwritten or printed
uppercase letter for some informal phonemic awareness learning. Below we are learning
“H is for Horse”:
◦ Let your child color on a piece of paper with the uppercase letter, with a corresponding
object, like the “H is for Horse” above, with markers or crayons. (Remember not to expect
the child to hand-write / print the letter or even color in the lines of the picture — that
will come later – when they are developmentally ready!)
◦ Use uppercase letter stamps and stamp on a picture or a piece of paper or project.
◦ Print out or make large uppercase letters and have your child jump from letter to letter
(or throw a beanbag or other object) as you call them out for a review.
◦ Do-A-Dot markers are amazing tools. Write the uppercase letter many small times on a
piece of paper and have your child “dot” each letter and say it at the same time! My son
loves this!
◦ More tactile exploration can come from a letter sensory bin. Include a base (beans,
lentils, rice, etc.) and add the letter and objects corresponding to that letter. Below is a
“G Sensory Bin” — I included one lowercase “g” in addition to many uppercase ones —
please keep in mind that sensory bins can have only a few objects in them and children
will love them just the same as the extravagant ones! (Supervise children at all times!)
◦ Create letter collage pages by covering a letter with something that begins with its sound.
You can use these in many ways -- You can download these free printables, and see
more ideas from The Unlikely Homeschooler or Confessions of a Homeschooler or The
Measured Mom. More suggestions:
-Place letter-objects on the letter for a fun activity throughout your week.
-Glue your objects on the letter
-Use the natural tactile ideas from The Unlikely Homeschooler or KidsCount1234.
-Stamp the letter with alphabet stamps
-Place popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners on the letter to recreate the letter
-Or write the letter on a blank piece of paper with glue and cover the glue with a
tacticle element -- check out Growing a Jeweled Rose for inspiration.
You can make these as simple or extravagant as you want -- here is my son with a T is
for tea bag page!
◦ Make the letter on the floor and have your child jump around, have sensory play on it, or
drive trucks on it!
◦ Many more ideas are on my Pinterest Board: ABC Learning Pinterest Board:

{Tactile uppercase letter writing}
How do we further develop uppercase letter

recognition through tactile experiences?
1. Read, read, read! This was my first suggestion for my first stage of learning as well. A child
must have experiences with books morning, day, and night. Reading to your child opens them up
to a world of imagination and developmental readiness towards print awareness and learning.
Here are more suggestions to promote tactile exploration in book reading:
◦ Choose books that have a “touch and feel” element.

◦ Choose books that have sliding or folding pages.
◦ Choose books that have pop-up features.
2. Use shaving cream on your tabletop: (or yogurt or paint or lotion, be creative with what you
have available!) experiment with prewriting straight and curved lines by first showing your child
how to write with his/her pointer finger. The goal is exposure and not perfection
This is my son exploring shaving cream, but when he is ready, he will use his pointer finger and
try to write his letters.
3. Put a shallow amount of sand or sugar in a bin: prewrite straight lines and curved lines and
write the letter with a finger
Here is a friend working with blue sand in her outdoor sand / water table.
4. Tape a squishy bag to a table top or window and have the child write straight and curved
lines and the letter with a finger.
5. Use a push-pin-pen with a letter page and poke the letter to get a feel for its straight and
curved lines. Small push-pins are not safe for children to use, but I love this concept, so I
taped a push pin to a marker very securely. These sheets are from Confessions of a
Homeschooler by letter, or you can print the uppercase letters from Alphabet Printables
6. Use Do-A-Dot markers to write the letter. Here are some awesome printables and ideas from
Confessions of a Homeschooler.
7. Use play dough to create letters.
Creating the letter with beads.
Rolling snakes into the letter. Here we are using the wonderful Animal Playdough Mats from
1plus1plus1equals1.
Using straws and little playdough balls to create the letter.
Create the letter with a roller or knife (we use the Melissa & Doug play dough set).
Creating the letter with playdough imprints. (In this case, we just took out our beads, but you can
stamp with any object around your house — the tip of a pen or marker cap would work too.)
8. Create a sticky wall and provide straight and curved lines with various craft materials: popsicle
sticks and pipe cleaners or Wikki Stix. Ask your child to create a certain letter, with an example,
(or not!) or to write their name. The below is a picture from How Wee Learn. {Photo used by
permission.}
9. Letter pictures: Create pictures with the letter as a base. Check out Teaching Mama’s ebook
The Preschool Journey for wonderful ideas for each letter.
10. Create the letter using manipulatives! You can use blocks, crackers, candies, or anything
else you have lying around the house! I created these Lego Uppercase Alphabet Cards, so you
can create the ABCs with Legos (my son’s toy of choice)!
11. Create sandpaper and yarn letter pictures. This fun sensory idea is perfect for little hands
to learn how to create uppercase (and later, lowercase) letters -- from JDaniel4’s Mom. {Photo
used by permission.}
12. Have your child drive a car, (or trot a horse, etc!) on these Highway Cards from Making
Learning Fun!
13. Place manipulatives such as beads, stones, stickers, or blocks on the letter. Here is
my daughter putting jewel rocks onto the letter V.
14. Learn how letters are built using alphabet letter templates. This is an advanced step
and should be taken closer to when you think your child is ready to begin writing
uppercase letters — this will also be a part of my {Early Literacy Stage 3}: Utensil
prewriting and uppercase letter writing.
All of the alphabet letters include either straight lines, diagonal lines, and/or big and little
curves and these awesome letter builders help children to grasp the parts of the letters.
You can buy wooden ones from the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum. I love their no-
fuss approach to handwriting. They recommend the following schedule for learning to print
letters:
◦ Vertical & Horizontal Lines: L, F, E, H, T, I, U

◦ Magic C: C, O, Q, G, S, J
◦ Big & Little Curves: D, P, B
◦ Diagonal Lines: R, K, A, V, M, N, X, Y, Z
These templates can be found for free from the following two sites — I made mine out of
colorful paper-foam: Build-A-Letter Templates (includes mats) from Tired, Need Sleep Blog
or Magnetic Alphabet Builders from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

{Utensil prewriting and uppercase letter writing}
How do we introduce utensil prewriting and letter

writing to our children? How do we set them up for
success in handwriting?
1. Read, read, read!
Literacy begins from infancy on. Reading to your child will always be my first suggestion to
parents. Children are opened up to a world of imagination and developmental readiness towards
learning through books and fine literature. If affordability is an issue, please go to your library
and check out some books! Also, you can visit garage sales and buy a library of books for your
child for a very low cost. If you read to and with your child, you are already setting them up for
success for the rest of their life!!
In addition to making books available for your child, your child should see you reading in the
home to know that reading and literacy is an important and worthwhile investment of your time.
2. Using markers and crayons:
{I have an extensive list of our suggested Preschool Materials here.}
Give your child experiences with writing utensils from an early age -- while knowing that every
child has different interests and abilities -- I know some 18 month olds who could draw for
hours, and I know four and five year olds who are uninterested. Every child is different. (I wrote
about connecting with my son’s interests here.)
Until recently, my son had not been interested in drawing or coloring. For example, during our Tot
School, I have asked him to color the apple on the "A is for Apple" page, and he would scribble
on it briefly, but then want to move on. Lately, he has paid closer attention to actually coloring
the object, and he has wanted to do more pages as well. My advice is to follow your child's lead
and have materials available for them to work with!
Keep in mind that short utensils promote proper finger grip. Here are some art bin suggestions:
• Triangular Crayola crayons -- to promote proper grip -- and they don't fall off the table!
• Markers: we love the the short Pip Squeak Crayola markers.
• Dry-erase markers: These can be used with heavy-duty sheet protectors, so you won't be
"wasting" paper and it is also a great practical life skill for your child to learn how to
erase on his own!
3. Proper "pencil grip":
Children aged two to five are working on the development of their fine motor skills (small
muscles). If a child lacks the ability to: pick up small items, lace beads, use a tweezer, or do a
knobbed puzzle, then your child's fine motor skills need to be further developed. At a very early
age, your focus should be on promoting learning, and playing, to develop these fine motor skills,
rather than perfecting the pencil grip. You do not want writing to be a negative time or
experience, and you should always teach with the learner's abilities in mind. However, with that
being said, if they learn (somewhat) the proper grip from day one, it will be that much easier
and smoother for a transition into more advanced learning and writing. Here are some helpful
steps and tools:
• Determine which hand is the child's dominant hand.

• Holding a writing utensil requires the "tripod grasp": using the thumb and index finger and
resting the middle finger on the index finger.
• A trick to learning proper pencil grip: lay the pencil, point facing you, pinch pencil about a
half inch up with thumb and index finger, and flip the pencil so it rests on the fatty part
of your hand.
• We have the Pencil Grip Writing Claw which also may be helpful.
• And I have also heard good things about trying the Pencil Grip Ergonomic Writing Aid.
• I found another great (and free!) suggestion from Teacher Lisa's Class about using a
rubber band around the wrist and around the pencil.
• See Handwriting Without Tears 4 Steps to Teaching Writing Grip for more beneficial
information.
Here my son is working on his pencil grip -- this is a quadropod grip (which is discussed in the
Handwriting Without Tears link above) -- and includes holding with four fingers instead of three.
He is, of course, still learning!
4. Prewriting tracing sheets:
• There are many free resources from many wonderful bloggers. We use
1plus1plus1equals1's Tot School ABC's tracing sheets. These sheets focus on straight
lines, while promoting left to right familiarity for reading and writing. (Below is my son
using dry erase markers with heavy duty sheet protectors.)
• Many learning packs are available for free from many blogs which include more
challenging tracing. Packs are available from 1plus1plus1equals1, Homeschool Creations,
and Mamas Monkeys. 1plus1plus1equals1 has compiled free packs in alphabetical order --
so check out her list! You can always download the whole pack and just print out the
tracing pages.
The above is from 1plus1plus1equals1's Nativity pack and Mama's Monkeys Fall pack.
5. Ordered letter writing: When it comes time to write uppercase letters, a proper sequential
order is needed to set your child up for success in handwriting. I wrote about the Handwriting
Without Tears curriculum in my {Early Literacy Stage 2} post. Since all of the alphabet letters
include either straight lines, diagonal lines, and/or big and little curves, this curriculum helps
children learn the letters in a sequence that is easiest. It begins with allowing children to create
their letters using alphabet letter templates.
These templates can be found for free from the following two sites -- I made mine out of
colorful paper-foam: Build-A-Letter Templates (includes mats) from Tired, Need Sleep Blog or
Magnetic Alphabet Builders from Confessions of a Homeschooler.
I highly recommend the Handwriting Without Tears book "My First School Book." It includes arrows
as well as large, thick prewriting lines and circles to help your child succeed with handwriting. The
following is the recommended schedule for learning to print letters:
◦ Vertical & Horizontal Lines: L, F, E, H, T, I, U

◦ Magic C: C, O, Q, G, S, J
◦ Big & Little Curves: D, P, B
◦ Diagonal Lines: R, K, A, V, M, N, X, Y, Z
Further resources to use in addition to, or in place of, purchasing the "My First School Book" by
the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum:
• Erin at Royal Baloo created an amazing free printable series called Zoomin' Movin'
Alphabet. These truck printables include pre-writing pages to prepare children to write
their letters as well. You could use her wonderful curriculum with your child using the letter
sequence above.
• ABC Jesus Loves Me has a wonderful Learning to Write series for free individual (not
classroom or commercial) download pre-writing and letter practice. I recommend the
letter sequence above, as written by the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum.
• Carisa at 1plus1plus1equals1 created Raising Rock Stars Preschool which includes wonderful

printing pages. You can also buy them from Teachers Notebook. She recommends an
order similar to the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum.
• The Measured Mom created three wonderful worksheets for little hands to learn
uppercase letters. These are a wonderful resource -- you can see all of her printables
here! {Photos used by permission.}
• Gentle Shepherd Curriculum provides a wonderful approach to handwriting -- it also

developmentally builds letters from straight lines to curved lines.. I especially love their
first pages. Children trace their finger on the hand-drawn letter, then try writing on the
dotted lined letter, and finally, in the three boxes provided.
• Here are two additional letter writing free printables that may be helpful to you -- from
Homeschool Creations and 123Homeschool4Me:
• You could also decide to ask your child write his/her letters in a notebook. Have
your child create a journal in a simple notebook to begin recording their letters and
pictures. This encourages both handwriting skills and early storytelling skills. Allowing
children to write letters on their own -- without lines to trace or stay in between can
build their confidence in their own learning! This can become a wonderful memory book
for later years.
For further resources, check out:
This Reading Mama - Letter Sound & Tracing Sheets
Teach Preschool - 6 ways to encourage writing in preschool
Golden Reflections Blog - Teaching Handwriting in Preschool
This Reading Mama - Effective ways to teach handwriting to Preschoolers

{Lowercase letter recognition (and matching
uppercase with lowercase letters)}
In Early Literacy Stage 1, I explained why I teach uppercase letters

first.
There is debate surrounding whether children should be taught uppercase or lowercase letters
first. Some teachers opt to teach them together. I believe that children should be taught
recognition of uppercase letters first. While children should certainly be exposed to lowercase
while learning to master uppercase, the focus should be on uppercase. We call them “big” and
“little” letters.
However, if your child is picking up his/her letters very quickly, teaching upper and lowercase
together may not be too overwhelming for them. I know from my teaching days, and my
experiences with my son, that choosing to teach him uppercase letters has set him up for
success as a learner. Remember to always follow your child’s lead in learning! My decision to
teach uppercase first is based on the following reasoning:
◦ learning 26 letters will set your child up for success sooner than trying to learn 52 letters,
◦ uppercase letters are more distinguishable from one another,
◦ uppercase letters have many more straight lines, so when it comes time to begin printing
letters, children can excel, and
◦ uppercase letters represent the majority of letters in print outside the home (on street
signs, in the grocery store, etc), so learning these will expose your child to a world of
print outside the home.
How do we help children recognize lowercase

letters? How can they understand the letter name
(and phonetic sound) of uppercase and lowercase
letters?
The world of literary print exposes your child to letters. Your child will understand that letters
create words which create sentences and thoughts and stories.
Point out lowercase letters in books. Lowercase letters appear much more than uppercase in
print, so when reading, point out the letters! Once your child has a grasp of his/her uppercase
letters, you can begin to really focus on pointing out the “little letter.” We call them big and little
letters – some refer to them as Mommy and baby letters
2. Lowercase letter recognition can be aided by the following tools:
◦ These Melissa & Doug magnet letters are so versatile for learning. You can give your child
the letters you are working on in both upper and lowercase on a magnet sheet (I found
mine at Michael’s).
◦ Your child can further recognize lowercase letters using s andpaper letters or D o-It-
Yourself puffy paint letters or DIY Sandpaper Cards. Touch the letter and say its name
and sound. Practice with both upper and lowercase letters.
You may find it helpful to print off and laminate some simple, no-fuss flashcards — since most
flashcards usually have both the upper and lowercase letters — which means the uppercase
letter will always seem more prominent to your child. Here is a link to a set of lowercase
flashcards at Reading with Kids. (Scroll down to the bottom of the page.)
◦ This Lauri A to Z Lowercase Crepe Rubber Puzzle is such a great learning tool. It is a
puzzle with soft, squishy letters for little hands to remember the feel of the letter — and
its little picture behind the letters help children correlate a beginning sound to the
lowercase letter. You could also hide these in a bin of rice or beans and have your child
find where to put them in the puzzle!
◦ You can make your own little letter discs made from laminated letters and wooden discs I
found at Michael’s. Check out Confessions of a Homeschooler for her letter template. She
also made these awesome upper and lowercase letter mats. She has so many great
suggestions for her Letter of the Week curriculum – you can download them for free
from her site.
3. Further tactile learning with creating lowercase letters: At this stage, your child is not ready to
write their lowercase letters with writing utensils — they may be beginning to write uppercase
letters — but creating using various methods can continue their exposure to lowercase letters:
◦ Playdough is such a wonderful tool for children to create letters. I have found several
mats that are all wonderful and to save you from laminating 26 mats, we slip these into a
heavy duty page protector. (This letter Kk mat is from 1+1+1=1′s Animal ABC mats — we
also love mats from Homeschool Creations, as well as any pages from 1+1+1=1′s Tot
School ABCs.)
◦ 1plus1plus1equals1 created some Q-Tip Painting Alphabet printables which promotes the

pincer grasp and focuses on fine motor skills. Such a fun way to continue learning both
upper and lowercase letters!
◦ Use Do-A-Dot markers to write the letter. Here are some awesome printables and ideas
from Confessions of a Homeschooler.
◦ Create a dig for your child. Hide letters (magnetic, foam, whatever you have) in your
child’s sandbox or in a box of dirt (or get creative, it could be anything!) Check out this
learning post from Playdough to Plato. {Photo used by permission.}
{Check out more tactile suggestions for uppercase letters in Early

Literacy Stage 2 for more ideas that you could use for lowercase. }
4. Lowercase to uppercase letter matching ideas:
◦ 1plus1plus1equals1 made this super cute and versatile clothespin match. You can use
clothespins to find the little letter or use these fun links!
◦ There are many upper and lowercase letter sorts in free printable packs at so many
amazing homeschooling blogs (links below!), I will be using Royal Baloo’s Zoomin’ Movin’
Alphabet series packs and I love her very simple letter sort. I like that it is black and
white and very straightforward.
(Check out 1plus1plus1equals1‘s list of printable packs from A to Z so you can find a pack that
suits your needs! Most packs for tots and preschoolers will have some kind of letter sort!)
◦ Here is another upper and lowercase matching letter sort. This one is “matching the
apples” from 2 Teaching Mommies.
◦ Alphabet Spoons: Put the capital letter on the white spoon and lower case letter on the
clear, and you have an educational matching game from From Kindergarten With Love.
{Photo used by permission.}
5. Build upper and lowercase letters with manipulatives, such as pattern blocks, legos, unifix
cubes, cuisinaire rods, and more!
◦ Try these pattern block alphabet templates from Confessions of a Homeschooler. A lot
of alphabet work shows both letters together, like these. It is best to save this type of
work for after the child has a grasp of uppercase letters. {Photo used by permission.}
◦ Try this amazing Cuisinaire Rod Alphabet book. This book can also be found at My
Father’s World. This teaches math concepts while learning to create upper and lowercase
letters with Cuisenaire Rods!
◦ Here is another fun and free Lego Alphabet printable for phonemic awareness: Play
Learn Love (free animal alphabet cards), {Photos used by permission.}

{Lowercase phonetic sounds}
While teaching both upper and lowercase letters, it’s important to teach the letter sound and the
letter name. This is a process and you should not expect your child to know all of the letter
sounds at once. All of the previous stages should be preparing your child with knowing that
letters makes sounds that make words that are read!
How do we teach our children how to sound out their

letters?
Books teach your child letters and sounds far better than any other tool or manipulative ever
could. The world of literary print exposes your child to the understanding that letters create
words which create sentences and thoughts and stories. Help your child create a love of books
by reading morning, nap and night with your child.
◦ Have a book bin or basket available in his/her room, so they can have a special area to
read.
◦ With every letter you learn, print out a special book for that letter (we like to use the
free, easy printables from Kidzone) and have a special area for these special little books.
◦ When reading to my children, I will often slow down my reading to sounds out the words
to begin to learn phonetic sounds and to develop phonemic awareness. This beginning
sound recognition will begin showing up in your child’s speech too! For example:
“Ggggossssieeee wears bright rrrreeeedddd boots. Ggggertie wears bright bbbblue boots.”
(From Olivier Dunrea’s Gossie & Gertie.)
2. Letter order and learning curriculums.
There are many educated opinions on what order a child should learn his/her letters to make the
slow progression towards reading. There are so many curriculums and workbooks to choose from
and it is best to understand the primary difference between them:
◦ there are those that teach consonants first — as they slowly add vowels to build words,
◦ and there are those that teach all of the vowels first — and then add consonants to the
vowels.
I prefer teaching children different sounding consonants at first. Aaa, Eee, Iii, Ooo, and Uuu can
sound very similar when you are first learning them. However, if you learn three letters that are
different in sound (and shape), you are setting your child up for success! Here is a short list of
letters that many of the below curriculums teach first. It is much easier to learn these, and to
begin making short words, than to learn all of the vowels first!
s, m, a, t
You can make many words with the above: Sam, mat, sat, am
Here is an example of a letter sequence that I may follow, and most of what I am
recommending below follows this type of letter order:
s, m, a, t, l, n, u, d, o, w, i, g, c, h, e, p, k, z, r, j, b, f, x, v, q, y
The following curriculums teach consonants first, with only one vowel at a time. I am
recommending many programs because they are all slightly different (and there are cost
differences too!) and every parent and child has different wants and needs.
◦ Alpha-Phonics is the program my mom used to help me learn to read. Sometimes sticking
with time-tested materials is best! I love this program — they recently added a cd-rom
version for their no spiral-bound phonics book (for using with an iPad, etc.) as well as a
workbook and small books set.
◦ Blue Manor Education provides a wonderfully-sequenced phonics curriculum and I love that
they begin phonics learning with uppercase letters. This is an ebook program, so you
would need to teach on an iPad or computer, but you could easily print all of the
materials out and put them in a binder! After teaching through the Level 1 Phonics
Reading book, your child will have learned the majority of his sounds — as well as a few
carefully thought-out sight words — the program acknowledges that phonics reading
benefits a child’s learning before memorizing.
Your child will begin with sounds to create words within the first three lessons. For
example, the first three lessons include the sounds: “U(h)”, “P”, and “UP”.
◦ Explode the Code (Workbooks A, B, C) are very repetitive and include penmanship lessons
along with matching letters to corresponding beginning-sound pictures. I love these little
books, they are simple and designed with the child in mind.
◦ First Start Reading from Memoria Press (Books A, B, C, D) are all excellent workbook
choices. I don’t have this series, personally, but I love their classical approach to
education.
◦ How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons is a great little book, which does not
include workbook pages, but is an effective way to teach your child, especially for the
parent or educator who likes to take the lead a bit more. You can use blank lined paper
for you child for writing, and you could couple this with many of the free resources from
so many blogs that make handwriting sheets. This is a very cost effective choice.
Check out 1plus1plus1equals1’s list of printable packs from A to Z to find {free} supplemental

materials for these inexpensive curriculum choices! Homeschooling does not have to mean high
cost!
As a personal note, we plan on utilizing My Father’s World for Kindergarten, along with many of
the listed materials as supplements. However, I will follow my son’s lead and base our work on
his needs! I appreciate the letter order used in MFW K, as they coincide each letter lesson with a
biblical/science element.
3. Invest in a book set that teaches your child their sounds in a studied
progression that is phonics-based.
◦ My favorite phonics-based book set is from Primary Phonics. (The first ones are the
Storybooks Starter Set 1.) Primary Phonics also has consumable workbooks (beginning
with Workbook 1), but they start with knowledge of all sounds and beginning to create
three-letter words. This is a program my mom loves to use while tutoring.
Here is the site description: Storybooks 1 includes 10 decodable storybooks that feature the
phonetic concepts introduced in Workbook 1 and only contain previously taught phonetic
concepts. The first book is Mac and Tab, a story about a rat named Mac and his friend Tab the
cat, who are recurring characters in the series. All books feature engaging black and white
illustrations; lively contemporary themes; and inside covers which clearly list phonetic concepts
and sight words. Books in Set 1 include: Mac and Tab, The Tin Man, Al, Tim, The Jet, Ben Bug, Ed,
Meg, Ted, and The Wig.
◦ All About Reading - Pre Reading Program. This program incorporates crafts, games, and
read-alouds to help your child learn how to read! Children learn five very important pre-
reading skills: Print Awareness, Phonological Awareness, Letter Knowledge, Listening
Comprehension, and Motivation to Read. These skills lay the foundation for learning to
read.
◦ Blue Manor Education makes some wonderful phonics books - I love that these start with
reading uppercase letters, rather than lowercase. These are ebooks, so they can be
printed any number of times to suit you and your child’s needs.
◦ I also have the phonics books from Sonlight. Fun Tales are the first readers, followed by
their I Can Read It! series. I love the fun pictures in the first set, and the very thorough
second set is an excellent reference for what and when to teach consonant digraphs and
long vowels.
◦ Abeka uses program that learns vowels first, which I do not prefer, but it may work for
some children, especially for a review after all of the vowels have been introduced. They
have a lot of books past the learning letters stage, which I love for variety for the child —
they are, in order of difficulty:
Little Books.
Owl Books
Basic Phonics Readers Set
◦ Also available are the BOB Books Readers that many wonderful homeschooling bloggers
have created free printables to coincide with. I do not own them personally, but they
sound wonderful in their sequence.
◦ When your child is first starting to learn sounds, you may like to use books that focus on
one letter at a time, such as AlphaTales. These are fun, silly books that can help your
child be excited about each new letter that you are learning.
Please note: Though many of the above listed are biblical companies, none of these books are
“religious.” Also, please do not confuse the above phonetic readers with sight word or guided
reading books. These types of books are fun to build confidence for young readers, but they
can lead to false assurance in a child’s abilities. I tend to avoid these at the beginning stages
of reading. Learning sight words is important, and all of the above recommended phonics
programs include 1-2 new sight words with their lessons, rather than all at once. Memorizing
does not equal reading.
4. Vowels.
These hand motions really help children learn these vital, and sometimes difficult to distinguish
between, sounds. Children love this hands on element to learning vowels:
Aa: say “aaa – apple” as you pretend to bite an apple
Ee: say “eee – elephant” as you hold your hand to your ear
Ii: say “iii – icky” as you dot your nose with your finger
Oo: say “ooo – octopus” – as you circle your open mouth with finger
Uu: say “uuu – umbrella” as you pump your stomach with a fist
5. Tools to help learn letter sounds.
◦ LeapFrog Letter Factory: The story is about a family of frogs as they visit the “Letter
Factory” — each room in the factory is devoted to a letter and objects corresponding to
that letter — it is filled with humor and an all-around great learning time.
◦ I have many ideas for lowercase letter manipulatives in my {Early Literacy Stage 4}. Tools
include Melissa & Doug magnet letters, s andpaper letters or Do-It-Yourself puffy paint
letters or DIY Sandpaper Cards.
◦ You may find it helpful to print off and laminate some simple, no-fuss flashcards — since
most flashcards usually have both the upper and lowercase letters — which means the
uppercase letter will always seem more prominent to your child. Here is a link to a set of
lowercase flashcards at Reading with Kids – scroll down to the bottom of the page.
◦ Create color coded word building blocks -- see this awesome post at Critters & Crayons!
{Photo used by permission.}
◦ The Lauri A to Z Lowercase Crepe Rubber Puzzle is a great learning tool. It is a puzzle
with soft, squishy letters for little hands to remember the feel of the letter — and its little
picture behind the letters help children correlate a beginning sound to the lowercase letter.
◦ You can also look into investing in a moveable alphabet. I plan on purchasing this down
the road — here is an amazing post from Living Montessori Now to further explain this
amazing learning tool.
6. Make an alphabet box.
We have a n alphabet box at home to aid in learning the letters’ sounds. Each letter has a drawer,
and each drawer contains several objects that begin with that sound. Check out my post on our
Montessori Alphabet Box to learn more about how you can make your own and what to put in
each box!
Children can learn the sounds that letters make from the beginning. If you are working on the
letter Aa — you may focus on an apple or alligator for the week. And for Bb — you may focus on
a ball or a bear. You may not notice at first, but slowly, these objects will become correlated
with the letters in your little one’s mind, and the sounds will come! Here are content examples
for the Montessori Alphabet Boxes:
7. Have fun with learning!
Learning can go as slow or as quickly as needed for your child — I recommend doing other fun
activities based on the letter (or letters) that you are working on. There are countless activities
to couple the above listed curriculums for fun hands-on learning! I plan to do these three
specific, yet easy activities with my child:
◦ Make letter collages into an alphabet book: use some type of painting or coloring or
gluing medium that coincides with your letter, for example, color your lowercase a with
apple prints or color your lowercase g with glitter! Check out The Unlikely Homeschooler
or Confessions of a Homeschooler or KidsCount1234 for a list of ideas for each letter
(and for free printables for both upper and lowercase!)
◦ Do alphabet scavenger hunts: Have a small box and put items that begin with your
focused letter in the box! Confessions of a Homeschooler has a printable for the
scavenger hunts, and ideas for what could go in the box. This is similar to my Montessori
alphabet boxes above, but is lifesize for the child to search for around your house or
outdoors. For example, for letter m, your child could find a stuffed mouse, mitten, marble,
magnifying glass, or for letter p, a stuffed pig, pizza, popcorn, pen, pencil, pillow, etc.
◦ Make lowercase alphabet letters with my free Lowercase Lego Alphabet Printables!
Many more ideas are on my Pinterest Board: ABC Learning Pinterest Board:

{Lowercase letter writing}
Ensure your child has had success with prewriting and uppercase letter writing before moving on
to printing lowercase letters. See Early Literacy Stage 3.
How do we teach our children to print their

lowercase letters?
Reading to your child is the most important experience you can give to an early learner. Looking
at the pages, ingesting the print, pointing to letters and pictures — all of these help a child
understand that letters make words which create ideas and stories! Books teach your child letters
and sounds far better than any other tool or manipulative ever could. Help your child create a
love of books by reading morning, nap and night with your child.
◦ Create a reading nook for your child, with a special pillow or stuffed animal and a book
bin or basket, so your child has a special area to read.
◦ Consider investing in developmentally appropriate books — the phonics lists suggested in

Early Literacy Stage 5. I Can Read Level 1 books, or check out the book lists from
Memoria Press or Education.com.
◦ When your child is first starting to learn the lowercase letters and sounds, you may like to
use books that focus on one letter at a time, such as AlphaTales. These are fun, silly
books that can help your child be excited about each new letter that you are learning.
◦ Print out a special book for the lowercase letter that you are focusing on. {Check out the
adorable little cut out books from Mrs. Meacham’s Classroom Snapshots — scroll down
about half-way and click on the pdf icon below “Zaner-Bloser style.” I prefer this to the
frills in De’Nelian style which are too much like cursive.}
2. Letter order:
After mastering printing uppercase letters, you may choose to either: (Your choice should depend
on your child’s abilities!)
• Begin printing lowercase letters according to phonics learning (usually a, m, s, and t are the
first letters because they can make several words together — you can see my suggested letter
sequence in {Early Literacy Stage 5}), or
• Learn how to write according to how lowercase letters are printed. Handwriting without Tears
is a handwriting curriculum that teaches a sequential letter order for handwriting; this is
assuming the child has mastered uppercase letter writing. It is no secret that I love this program.
Here is their suggested letter order to make printing as smooth as possible:
cosvw t adg uielkyj prnm hbfqxz
3. U
tilize tactile means to help your child print successfully.
◦ I have listed an abundance of hands on and tactile ideas for uppercase letters that can
be used for lowercase letters as well.
◦ Write the letter with a finger in sand, salt, shaving cream, or paint!
◦ I have many ideas for lowercase letter manipulatives in my Early Literacy Stage 4. Tools
include Melissa & Doug magnet letters, sandpaper letters or Do-It-Yourself puffy paint
letters or DIY Sandpaper Cards. The Lauri A to Z Lowercase Crepe Rubber Puzzle is a
great learning tool to trace the letters in the proper printing order. You can also look into
investing in a moveable alphabet for the same purpose.
◦ Use lacing cards in the order and direction your child would write. Check out this DIY
version from Live Eat Craft.
◦ Print on a piece of glass or a mirror with a marker to help a child print their lowercase
letters.
◦ Handwriting Without Tears recently came out with an iPad App called Wet-Dry-Try Suite
for handwriting practice!
◦ Download and print out and laminate the free amazing lowercase letter templates from
Tired, Need Sleep! This is a great way for young learners to recognize the straight and
curved lines in each letter. I love these!!
◦ Or you could invest in the Letter Construction Set. These look incredible, especially with
the included cards!
◦ Use Do A Dot markers and create lowercase letters! These free printables from
3Dinosaurs are perfect — and they include tracing letters too!
4. Materials for handwriting practice:
To begin, tracing will help your child become successful. There are many free resources available.
I will list these in order of difficulty. (Handwriting without Tears uses a box and two line method
instead of the traditional three lines with a dotted middle line — try what you think is best for
your learner!) You can laminate any of the following pages, so they can be reused with a dry
erase marker.
You can find free handwriting practice sheets resources online:
◦ These sweet round lowercase letter tracing cards are perfect for little hands. You could
print these out, laminate them, and put them on a binder ring for writing practice. The
size is perfectly big for beginners. These Alphabet Tracer Cards are free from Playdough
to Plato. {Photo used with permission.}
◦ I love these colorful sheets from Guru Parents – there are no lines to get in the way!
Perfect for beginning tracing work!
◦ This printable from Teacher@Home is my favorite! I love the different colored boxes for
children to practice one lowercase letter at a time!
◦ These pages from Zonae Coloring fade the tracing.
◦ Homeschool Creations has some lowercase tracing sheets with cute pictures!
◦ ABC Jesus Loves Me has printable lowercase letter sheets with all letters on one page.
◦ Check out 1plus1plus1equals1′s list of printable packs from A to Z to find {free}

supplemental materials for these inexpensive curriculum choices! Homeschooling does not
have to mean high cost.
Or you may choose to purchase a workbook:
◦ Handwriting without Tears: Letters and Numbers for Me Book (Grade: Kindergarten) I will
use this program along with the sheets provided by my chosen Kindergarten curriculum. I
love the simplicity of this program and may have to use these sheets exclusively,
depending on my son’s needs.
◦ Explode the Code (Workbooks A, B, C) are very repetitive and include penmanship lessons
along with matching letters to corresponding beginning-sound pictures. I love these little
books, they are simple and designed with the child in mind!
Suggestions for Early Childhood Workbooks
It can be stressful to choose which resources and ideas are best when we look online and there is just
too much to choose from between all the curriculums, blogs, and the sometimes awful, guilt-invoking
Pinterest. There are a lot of us moms who don't have the time to print free resources online -- and it
takes loads of time -- and sometimes purchasing a few workbooks can be much easier and more do-
able for parent and child.
My son is not the "sit down and color" type at two years old. Now that he is three, he enjoys art projects
a bit more. He will work on something for 5 to 10 minutes, and be very proud of himself, but he won't
spend an hour on coloring or a craft like I've seen other children do. This is why I can't stress enough
that we must, as parents and educators, meet the child at their interest and skill level. {I wrote about
this in Connecting with my son and how boys learn.}
Some children need more sensorial opportunities, while some thrive with a paper and pencil.
At this early age, playing equals learning! There are so many opportunities to utilize toys as learning
manipulatives. This is where my son thrives. But your child is different from my son. Just as my daughter
is different from him. That is why I present many choices below. I hope you can take a little time to
evaluate each of these. I've stripped down my choices to my most-highly recommended learning
materials, but there are differences in each, so keep your child in mind when you purchase! As always,
please don't hesitate to contact me if you have a specific question. I'd love to try to help you and him/
her on your learning journey together!
I use basic ages as a starting point, but remember, every child learns at a different pace, and you
should meet your child at their level! I am also including the subjects other than literacy, for your
convenience: Letters, Basic Skills, Art, Math.
Working with your child, whether you choose to homeschool or not, will always be beneficial to your child.
First, read together. Next, try some of these suggestions. But remember that the precious young days of
learning through play will come to an end all too soon, so if your child doesn’t want to “sit and do school”
— that’s okay! Doing any of these workbooks before age five is not necessary for long term success.
Instead, make being together and playing together a priority.
Age 2
Early Literacy Stages 1 & 2: Uppercase letter recognition, Tactile uppercase letter writing
Basic Skills:
Abeka – (I love Abeka's bright pages for early coloring and crafting. These books make teaching
easy for any parent!)
• Child Art for 2s

• Numbers and Skills with Button Bear
• Arts and Crafts with Button Bear
• Learning Numbers with Button Bear
Age 3
Early Literacy Stage 3: Utensil prewriting and uppercase letter writing
Letters:
• All About Reading - Pre-Reading Program

• Handwriting Without Tears – My First School Book
• Schoolzone - Uppercase Alphabet Book
• Abeka – Letters and Sounds for 3
Basic Skills:
• Heart of Dakota - Little Hands to Heaven (This program requires more planning for the
parent, but is an all inclusive, biblical program for preschool learning ages 2 - 5. More
recommendations for Bible learning are here.)
• Rod and Staff:
-Adventures with Books (For a child interested in cutting, pasting, colors, drawing
lines and circles)
-Bible Pictures to Color (Consists of sweet pictures to go along with simple
Bible stories to Read)
-Counting with Numbers (Introduces math concepts and shapes and writing
numbers)
Art:
• Abeka – Child Art for 3s, Arts and Crafts with Amber Lamb 3s, Summer Fun with Amber
Lamb
• Doodles: Alphabet Coloring Fun
• Super sweet, inexpensive ABC coloring books by Dover: Little ABC Coloring Book, A nimal
ABC Coloring Book, Nature ABC Coloring Book (There are lots of books in this series!)

Age 4
Early Literacy Stage 4: Lowercase letter recognition (and matching uppercase with lowercase letters)
Letters:

• Memoria Press - Alphabet Books
• Queen Homeschooling - Printing with Pictures Primer
Basic Skills:
• Developing the Early Learner Volume 1 - 4 (Provides your child practice with visual,
auditory, motor, and comprehension skills - Used by Sonlight Preschool curriculum)
• Memoria Press - Coloring Books (this is a two-book set with beautiful, simple alphabet
and numbers-based pictures)
Art:
• Abeka – Art Projects K4, Bible Activity Book K4

• Memoria Press - Book of Crafts, Junior Kindergarten
Math:
• Memoria Press - Numbers Books
Age 5
Early Literacy Stage 5 & 6: Lowercase phonetic sounds, Lowercase letter writing
Letters:

• Memoria Press: First Start Reading Books A - D
• Explode the Code workbooks: Books A, B, C (consonant phonics work), Books 1,1 ½ (vowel
and consonant phonics work)
• Abeka - Writing with Phonics K4
• Alpha-Phonics - Developmental phonics program.
• How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons
• Primary Phonics: Storybooks Starter Set 1.
Reading: See suggestions in Early Literacy Stage 5 to receive more details of each of the below.
• Alpha-Phonics Companion Readers

• Primary Phonics: Storybooks Starter Set 1
• Abeka: Little Books, Owl Books, Basic Phonics Readers Set
• Sonlight: Fun Tales, followed by their I Can Read It! series
• BOB Books Readers: Phonics based reading
• AlphaTales: Fun books, from A-Z, to learn beginning letter phonics from A-Z.
• Developmental reading books: I Can Read Level 1 books
Basic Skills:
• Abeka - Readiness Skills K4
Handwriting:
• Handwriting Without Tears - Letters and Numbers for Me

• Abeka - ABC, 123
More Resources
10 reasons to read to my child

Our personal chosen curriculums for Ages 2 - 5
Suggestions for Early Childhood Workbooks {Ages 2 - 5}
Preschool Bible Learning resources & suggestions
Tot School & Preschool Learning Essential Materials
Homeschooling & Crafting Essential Materials for Moms
What is Tot School {and how can I do it at home?}
Our Tot School Posts {A - Z}
Our Preschool Plans
Quiet Boxes for Little Ones
Reggio Inspired Early Childhood Learning
Free printables on my blog: Wildflower Ramblings
Early Literacy Stages Checklist
Can my child......
Recognize uppercase letters?
Write uppercase letters with a finger?
Create a letter with a tactile object?
Trace a straight line with a utensil?
Trace a curved line with a utensil?
Write uppercase letters with proper pencil grip?
Recognize lowercase letters?
Match uppercase to lowercase letters?
Sound out uppercase letters?
Sound out lowercase letters?
Write lowercase letters with proper pencil grip?
Choose activities in the order above to set your child up for success with literacy learning!
1 - uppercase letter recognition 2 - Tactile uppercase letter writing
3 - Utensil prewriting and 4 - Lowercase letter recognition

uppercase letter writing (and matching uppercase
with lowercase letters)
5 - Lowercase phonetic sounds 6 - Lowercase letter writing
About the Author
Amy received her Masters in Education from the University of

Michigan and taught kindergarten before she became a stay at home
mom. She has two children: four year old John and two year old May.
She loves to watch her children learn through play during their early
years, and is particularly interested in Classical, Montessori, and
Reggio-inspired education. Amy blogs about homeschooling, natural
living, and her grace-filled life and hopes she can be a resource and
encouragement to other moms. She enjoys cooking, gardening,
photography, spending time with her husband, and serving as a
Sergeant First Class in the Army Reserve.
Connect with Amy: Wildflower Ramblings |

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Early Literacy Stages

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Early Literacy Stage 1 {Uppercase letter recognition} ............................. 6

Early Literacy Stage 2 {Tactile uppercase letter writing} ..................... 15

Early Literacy Stage 3 {Utensil prewriting and uppercase letter

Early Literacy Stage 4 {Lowercase letter recognition (and matching

Early Literacy Stage 5 {Lowercase phonetic sounds} ............................ 46

Early Literacy Stage 6 {Lowercase letter writing} ................................... 59

Suggestions for Early Childhood Workbooks .............................................. 69

More Resources ..................................................................................................... 74

Printable Checklist for Early Literacy Stages ............................................. 75

Printable Posters for Early Literacy Stages ................................................. 76

About the Author .................................................................................................. 78

Early Literacy Stage 1

Now how can we help develop this initial stage of

◦ Books with no words teach story sequence.

Early Literacy Stage 2

How do we further develop uppercase letter

◦ Choose books that have a “touch and feel” element.

7. Use play dough to create letters.

Creating the letter with beads.

Using straws and little playdough balls to create the letter.

◦ Vertical & Horizontal Lines: L, F, E, H, T, I, U

Early Literacy Stage 3

How do we introduce utensil prewriting and letter

2. Using markers and crayons:

{I have an extensive list of our suggested Preschool Materials here.}

3. Proper "pencil grip":

• Determine which hand is the child's dominant hand.

4. Prewriting tracing sheets:

◦ Vertical & Horizontal Lines: L, F, E, H, T, I, U

• Carisa at 1plus1plus1equals1 created Raising Rock Stars Preschool which includes wonderful

• Gentle Shepherd Curriculum provides a wonderful approach to handwriting -- it also

For further resources, check out:

This Reading Mama - Letter Sound & Tracing Sheets

Teach Preschool - 6 ways to encourage writing in preschool

Golden Reflections Blog - Teaching Handwriting in Preschool

This Reading Mama - Effective ways to teach handwriting to Preschoolers

Early Literacy Stage 4

In Early Literacy Stage 1, I explained why I teach uppercase letters

How do we help children recognize lowercase

1. Read, read, read!

2. Lowercase letter recognition can be aided by the following tools:

◦ 1plus1plus1equals1 created some Q-Tip Painting Alphabet printables which promotes the

{Check out more tactile suggestions for uppercase letters in Early

4. Lowercase to uppercase letter matching ideas:

Early Literacy Stage 5

How do we teach our children how to sound out their

2. Letter order and learning curriculums.

s, m, a, t, l, n, u, d, o, w, i, g, c, h, e, p, k, z, r, j, b, f, x, v, q, y

Check out 1plus1plus1equals1’s list of printable packs from A to Z to find {free} supplemental

Basic Phonics Readers Set

Aa: say “aaa – apple” as you pretend to bite an apple

5. Tools to help learn letter sounds.

6. Make an alphabet box.

7. Have fun with learning!

Early Literacy Stage 6

How do we teach our children to print their

◦ Consider investing in developmentally appropriate books — the phonics lists suggested in