All About the Front Cover of a Book

Kindergarten Friendly Apps for Handwriting

Here are some kindergarten friendly apps for handwriting that might be worth trying out at home. These are listed in no particular order, and they may have a cost. These are optional, and feel free to choose an app most appropriate for your child. I have not tried all of these apps (I only have so much storage--ha!). As a parent, one of my go-to websites to learn about apps and other media before deciding whether to share it with my boys is commonsensemedia.org. Feel free to use that site to check out any media before exposing it to your child.  

Click on the picture to find more information from iTunes.

Little Writer

(currently free)

Handwriting Without Tears
(currently $4.99)

iWrite Words
 (currently $2.99)

Letter School
 (currently $4.99)

Writing Wizard
(currently $4.99)

There are more handwriting apps out there.  Feel free to do your own search if you are looking for other options.

Handwriting

We're learning how to write letters correctly.  We want letters to be the right shape and the right size. Before we started learning how to write specific letters, we noticed that letters had common strokes like vertical or diagonal lines.  We took some time to sort letters by their lines.

Here we are looking for letters.

 Can you find a letter with diagonal lines?

 Can you find a letter with a curve?

 Can you find a letter with a vertical line?

When out and about, go on a letter hunt.  What letter(s) do you see with a horizontal line, etc.?  Also, ask your child where letters start!

What Can You Do with Pattern Blocks?

What can you do with pattern blocks? You can explore, build, design, sort, and make patterns! Which activity can you see happening the pictures?

Working with pattern blocks is fun!

All About Turn and Talks

What is a turn and talk? It's a time for students to share their thinking with others!

Here's how it works. Someone poses a question to the whole group. Students have a partner to turn and talk to about the answer to the question.

It's important when talking to someone that we face them and look into their eyes. Like this:

Then we are ready to take turns and share about the question or topic. Once both partners have had a chance to give a response, we come back together as a group and a few of the students share some ideas. Turn and talks are a great way for every student to be able to share what they have to say!

Pair, Longer, Shorter

One of our first activities in math was a partner match game.  Each child had his or her own length of paper.  The task was to find someone with a paper the same length to make a pair.  Someone with a longer strip couldn't make a pair or someone with a shorter strip couldn't make a pair.  We started our hunt for a match to make a pair!

Once the students matched a pair, we had a getting to know you activity.  Students could interview each other to get to know their classmates.

It was fun learning about pair, longer, shorter, but most of all it was fun to learn about each other!