These free Pre-K reading activities for September can help your child get an early start on reading!

Print Awareness

Read every night. Let your child be the teacher and show YOU the parts of a book:  title, front cover, back cover and when to turn the pages. Empower your child to understand how to use a book by having to explain it to you!

Phonemic Awareness

Kids need to be directly taught what makes a “rhyme”, so point out that the ending sound of a word such as “hat” will match the ending sound of another word, like “pat”. Then practice it by doing something fun, like playing a fun game in the car.

Rhyming game: as you drive around town, see what words you can rhyme with places you see. (What rhymes with car? Light? Store?) You can think of real rhyming words or make up silly words that rhyme.

Letter Knowledge

• Don’t forget to sing the alphabet song everyday with your child as you get them dressed!
• Letters: s, i, f

Letter activities:

• S, s is for star and sun
  • Read: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and You Are My Sunshine by Carolyn Jayne Church. Each time you read a word that starts with S, hold your finger up and “sky write” letter S.
  • Write letter S in sand (pour sand or salt into a plate and have the child use their pointer finger to write the letter s) They may also practice other letters that they know.
•  I, i is for insect and ice
  • Read: Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni
  • Use a paintbrush and paint or crayons to trace letter I.
• F is for fish
  • Read: Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni
  • Use tin foil and a pencil to write letter F.
  • Can you make a letter F using tin foil in other ways?

Writing: Practice Your Pencil Grip

Kids usually move from holding crayons in the palm of their hand to write to grasping the crayon with their fingers and moving their whole arm to color. We want to help them transition into gripping the pencil between their fingers and having their fingers do the writing, just like adults do!

Try the Pinch and Grip Method to create a proper pencil grasp

• Aim the pencil: Have your child place the pencil in front of them on the table with the sharp tip of the pencil pointing towards them.
• Pinch it: Next pick up their pencil with their thumb and index finger.  
• Flip it: Then, gently push the pencil so it flips around and rests on their hand.  
• The thumb is bent and moving, the pencil resting on the joint of the middle finger and index finger, which is bent and moveable. The ring and little fingers curl softly into the palm, giving the hand stability. It is okay if they use their thumb and three fingers to grasp the pencil, too.
• You can fold a small paper napkin for your child to hold in the palm of their writing hand to remind them where their fingers should be curled.
• Use their non-writing hand as “the helper hand” that holds the paper in place while they write.

You should see space in the arch of their hand that looks like an “o”. For children who don’t know where to place their hand on the pencil, you can wrap a small rubber band around the pencil about an inch and a half (1.5 inch) from the tip of the pencil to remind them where to “pinch”.