Help, I need SUPER creative ways to teach letters and sounds!?

[mykdsmomy]

My Boo is a non conformist Well, that's the nice way of saying he doesn't like sitting down and doing school

He has some pretty significant learning disabilities (along with a difficult time focusing/sitting still)
We've done Starfall and a few other sites like that but I need something that I can use almost subliminally (if that makes sense). He needs constant repetition to learn something new.

Is there any curriculum or just simple ideas to drive home letter recognition and sounds? (If he thinks I'm trying to *teach* him anything, he shuts down so I need creative ways to teach).

Another thing is because learning new things is soooo difficult for him, he puts up a wall when a new concept is introduced. For example, he was typing on my computer the other day and he just wanted to type fast (just a bunch of letters together), then he wanted me to "read" what he typed (a lot harder than it sounds ). Anyway, because I knew he knew the letters O and K, I asked him if he knew what those letters together made. He just flipped and didn't want to have anything to do with even TRYING to figure it out. So that's what I'm dealing with: Any suggestions? TIA

[Lillian J]

How old is he?

Lillian

[mykdsmomy]

Lillian~ He's 6 (just turned 6 in Feb.)

[pigpokey]

A lot of people rave about those Letter Factory and Word Factory videos.

[magnolia_mama]

Originally Posted by pigpokey

A lot of people rave about those Letter Factory and Word Factory videos.

Yes, I was just going to recommend those! In addition to the videos, there are also "fridge phonics". My kids have a few of these and really enjoy playing with them.

[meetoo]

If you look through preschool sites, you will get a ton of ideas. I think I would hold off on doing any blending until he knows all the letters/sounds, can rhyme well, and can segment words into at least the first/last sounds. Here are a few sites and a few games I've played with my kids:

-letter bingo (you can make this one recognizing letters, being able to match small and capital letters, or letter sounds)

-letter treasure hunts (hide letters around the house and have him find them, say the letters/sounds once he finds them.)

-sound hunts, have him find everything he can around the house that starts with letter ______.

-letter twister put a few letters he knows and a few he does on paper plates. Doing like 10sih at a time. Then call out instructions." Hop to the A " "put your left foot on B" etc.

-letter/sound hunts in the store, have him go on a scavenger hunt while you grocery shop, looking for either every letter from A-Z (you could give him a check list to mark of) or if you do a letter of the week type thing with him give him just that letter. He can mark a tally every time he finds one. If he starts to get bored with this you can give him like 3 letters and tell him it's a letter "race". When you get hom have him graph his score to see which letter "won". My boy loves anything that is a competition.


http://delightfullearning.blogspot.c...for-tiger.html
she uses the Before the Code books, if you followed what she did for 26 weeks, if should be a lot of fun for him and help him really understand letters. She also incorporated other subjects.

http://www.preschoolexpress.com/

you might also want to look at kindergarten/preschool file folder games.

[limette]

starfall.com dd1 played on it when she was a toddler and picked letters up really quickly.

it's fun.

[AAK]

My kids love egg hunts (they are not just for Easter anymore!) For a learning activity I put slips of paper with a lowercase letter in them. My dd hunted for them and then as she opened them up, she taped them on top of their uppercase counterpart. She also told me the sounds as she did this. I originally was doing the egg hunt for my early reader (she was sorting words), but knew that my little one would want to do it too.

If you need more focus on sounds, you could put pictures of common objects OR actual small things in the eggs. One week they might all be things that start with b, f, or s sound. Have three letter baskets and as he opens them, he sorts them into the right basket.

My kids both loved the alphabet train puzzle. They love the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. If you get the recorded book, they turn it into a song. here is a youtube of it-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJEA0jzloK0 That is a favorite abc book of mine because it is fun, and the letters get covered without it just being Aa apple, Bb bear type thing.

Make sugar cookies out of letter cookie cutters. Make special ones for everyone in the house. D cookie for Dad, M cookie for Mom. Etc.

My dds preschool uses zoo phonics which associates each letter with a sound and movement.

Label things around the house.

Take carpet squares or whatever, and stencil a large lowercase letter (or do both, upper and lowercase) on each one. Arrange them around the house and hop on the letters. This is more fun with friends--Mom can call out a letter and the all race to hop on it.

Amy

[Momma Aimee]

subbing

[elizawill]

Originally Posted by pigpokey

A lot of people rave about those Letter Factory and Word Factory videos.

hands-down. yes!

[TEAK's Mom]

You've already gotten some great ideas. I just wanted to add some books if he likes to be read to. There are some truly wonderful alphabet books out there that are good books in and of themselves:

*Sharkabet by Ray Troll. Who couldn't love an alphabet of cool sharks both extinct and extant?

*Alpha Oopsby Alethea Kontis and Bob Kolar. Z rebels and goes first.

*The Skull Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta and Ralph Masiello. The whole alphabet of skulls and the coolest part is that you have to figure them out.

*A is for Salad by Mike Lester is another one with things to figure out.

*A is for Zebra by Mark Shulman and Tamara Petrosino. This one focuses on the last letter.

[sbgrace]

Another vote for the leapfrog videos (Letter Factory specifically). Unless you are opposed to video I would do them no matter what else I selected reinforcement wise. They may well (I'd say likely) solve the whole issue for you.

[Just1More]

I'd just make letters MY obsession for a while. Oh look! Target. Tatata. Target. That T says Ta! And I might even sing an annoying little song to go with it.

And in every way I could find, I would be pointing out letters and talking about sounds, etc. I would constantly be rambling and muttering and sounding things out out loud. I may tend to be a little more obsessive about the long a sound for a while, etc. You get the idea.

[BellinghamCrunchie]

On the swings, and hold up two big letters, one in each hand: "kick the one that makes the "puh" sound!" Act crazy when he gets the right one.

Tape letters to the floor or draw outdoors big letters with sidewalk chalk. Then you can have him bounce on a hippity hop, or jump with his feet, to the letter sound you call out (e.g call out the sound, not the letter name). Eventually hop to make words.

Sometimes things that combine gross motor with more academic stuff get past the resistance.

[AAK]

Just a suggestion though (since I am seeing people type references to sounds like "ta" and "puh") When you say a sound, especially consonants, try to isolated it. "P" says "P", not "puh"--probably doesn't matter for most kids, but for those who have trouble blending, it makes a big difference. If you are sounding out "pig" for example. It goes p i g, not puh i g.

Amy

[whiteisle]

I, too, have a very-resistant-to-being-taught-anything almost 6 yo DS. Letter Factory is what did it for him. I reinforced with made up games here and there but that DVD was the main source of his learning. Now I'm trying to get DD, just turned 4, into watching it. She's picking up the sounds pretty well, too.

I also agree with combining gross motor activities with learning. That helps tremendously with DS. We rhyme while he swings or I spell words he calls out; we talk about all kinds of stuff on that swingset . Another fun, but kinda tiring game (lol), is letter chase. We have the typical letter blocks and I would pick 3 random letters. Then I would ask him to find a particular letter out of those 3. If he got it right he would grab it and run like mad through the house with me chasing him and try to beat me back to the blocks. Fun, but like I said, exhausting.

HTH!

[mykdsmomy]

I knew I could count on all the creative minds here Thank you all for the wonderful ideas. This gives me a good variety.

Boo has such a difficult time rhyming. He says things like "mommy, cat rhymes with Kuh Kuh Kuh calender!" I've explained rhyming and have given a bazillion examples over and over but he still doesn't quite grasp it. Part of it is his speech too. While he has a great vocabulary, he doesn't always use it due to him "pulling the wrong file" when he is thinking of a word.

I'm going to get the letter and word factory videos (I had them with our older kiddos but gave them away). The key with him is repetition and creativity in the delivery of new concepts.

I'll try some of the games you've all mentioned and report back

[LoMaH]

Originally Posted by elizawill

hands-down. yes!

One more vote for the Leapfrog videos.

Check out if your library has them before purchasing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1mlsQWJjCE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IiFI...eature=related

[Momma Aimee]

Originally Posted by mykdsmomy

I knew I could count on all the creative minds here Thank you all for the wonderful ideas. This gives me a good variety.

Boo has such a difficult time rhyming. He says things like "mommy, cat rhymes with Kuh Kuh Kuh calender!" I've explained rhyming and have given a bazillion examples over and over but he still doesn't quite grasp it. Part of it is his speech too. While he has a great vocabulary, he doesn't always use it due to him "pulling the wrong file" when he is thinking of a word.

I'm going to get the letter and word factory videos (I had them with our older kiddos but gave them away). The key with him is repetition and creativity in the delivery of new concepts.

I'll try some of the games you've all mentioned and report back

my 4.5 yo can't rhyme either -- they are thinking aut processing disorder -- can't be DX till 6 though...

[Lillian J]

Leapfrog also makes more toylike hands-on products that can be played with independently, bringing in more multlsensory connections and leisurely exploration.

I personally loathe the idea of turning toys for younger children into tools for introducing letters and such long before they have any reason for them, but that's a whole other thing. For a child like yours, they might be just the trick that could lesson the tension for both of you.

Lillian