In my last post about teaching phonics to preschoolers, I mentioned that one approach is starting with most commonly used letters in the alphabet. Which letters are the most frequently used you might ask? I came up with the mnemonic MEATPINS to help you remember. The most frequent letters are a, e, i, m, n, p, s, and t — and the only word I could come up with is the nonsense word “meatpins.” (I welcome other suggestions.) ;p
Anywho,… back to the matter at hand: phonics. I naturally started teaching Lil Miss Mouse the letters m and d first because of “mom” and “dad” and also because her name begins with an M. After I started teaching her some letters I found this “common letters” approach and it just made sense. I recently realized just last week that she’s been exposed to the words “mom” and “dad” so much, along with hers and her siblings’ names, that she can now recognize each of them consistently. She surprised me though when she also recognized the words “dog” and “cat!”
It’s time to start working on phonics more.
Now that she’s learning to recognize words, pretending to read, asking how to spell words so she can write them, and pointing out letters on signs and billboards, it’s time to give her more opportunities to expand her skills. Remember: without pressure to perform though — she just turned four and there’s no rush. She gets to learn at her pace.
To this end, I’ve made a little CVC word kit using these most frequently used letters… and what’s more, I’m putting it in the store for free so you can you use it, too. In this kit is a word list in two options (one with an ant and one with a butterfly depending on what your child likes,) some flash cards to cut out, and some tracing words to trace. You can laminate the flash cards and reuse them again and again. You could even laminate the tracing sheets and use dry erase markers with them.
As I suggested in my previous post, combine these with physical ABC letter manipulatives (wooden letters, magnetic letters, scrabble tiles) for a more hands on approach and let your kids build the words they’re learning before trying to write them. Writing can sometimes be frustrating for young children because their hands really haven’t developed enough to do it as well as they would like.
The free kit is in the shop.
You’ll find the free kit in my shop, here. Just add to cart, checkout (for free) and download. Let me know if you have issues.
Enjoy your word kit and leave some feedback on it, if you will. Tell me what else you would like to see in the shop, too. I have a running list of about a dozen projects I want to make in Canva, more ideas are welcome. It’s just a matter of choosing which one to work on next. 😉
Happy teaching!
