My kindergartener is struggling: Advice?

I had my son do Kindergarten a second time. He didn’t catch on and wasn’t ready imo to move on and Kindergarten is the easiest grade to hold them back in. And it really helped him
He’s in 4th now and doing great… Just a thought…

Be patient give her time practice with her

Dot out the letters and have her trace them. When she masters that, start taking away some of the dots. Start with her writing her name.

We use an ABC wooden puzzle to help with identification.

Maybe try JUST working on capital letters first and work on a couple of letters a day so she doesn’t get overwhelmed. You could also use it kind of like a key for her do a fun activity. For example, if she tells you she wants to go outside…show her a letter and if she gets it right then she can go outside. She can’t go out until she tells you the letter.

Also dry erase books… they worked wonders on my kiddo.

There is a neurological correlation between crawling and reading, you might try adding some play that requires being down on all fours to help stimulate that between reading and doing letter work.

I know it seems silly, but my son was not interested in writing at all. Until I bought bathtub crayons. When he could write on the wall,tub, himself, he changed and it got a lot better from there bc he was motivated. He had to work on his writing to get the bathtub crayons lol.

In my town there was a store that sold learning books, everything from everyday learning to summer books as well. I don’t remember what it was called. They sold decorations for teachers for their classrooms, pretty much anything a teacher or parent could ever imagine to look for. But I would look for something that has the alphabet with dry erase board so they can do it over and over again, also the puzzle alphabet to put together. Pretty much anything that has letters or numbers would work, magnets on your fridge. Biggest thing is making it fun.

You can take salt, sand, rice, etc. Put it in a big container ( just to dust the bottom) show her a letter and write into the container. Its something fun. There are videos on youtube you can look up CVC words or the sounds of the letters. My kinder watches those for school to.

1 Like

Flash cards or dollar store get the erasable markers and a erasable sheet protector. Print the alphabet in lower and uppercase. Have her trace them.

Or shaving cream on the bathroom wall or a table. Have her write the letter

Be relaxed… It’s just too early…
Get a wooden alphabet board… And make your kid identify the right place to fit it on…
Also get a chalk board and give your child to trace the alphabets…
I did the same with my child…
Please be patient… And make your child learn by enjoying and playing…
All the best maama…

How does your child do with rhyming? Singing nursery rhymes? Can she manipulate sounds in a word (e.g., Say “cap”, now make the /k/ say /l/. Now add /f/ at the beginning. Now make the /p/ say /t/. The child’s responses should be cap, lap, flap, flat. If those tasks are difficult, you may be looking at difficulty with phonemic awareness, which is a hallmark of dyslexia. And dyslexia is entirely fixable with multi-sensory, structured instruction by a skilled teacher. (Orton- Gillingham is the gold standard for dyslexia.).

1 Like

Make it fun and visual with lots of practice. :star_struck:

Have her evaluated by a doctor to begin with to rule out if there are any medical problems

Kahn Academy Kids has always been my kids’ favorite.

It’s not an app, but my two youngest absolutely loved this. It helped them identify all their letters and they sing them many different ways, so they didn’t just memorize the song. Later, they became interested in trying to write out the letters themselves. The songs are cute & YouTube is free, so it wouldn’t hurt to try and see if she may enjoy it as well? Good luck :smiling_face: