The Learning Box

Welcome to the Learning Box series.

Reading and Writing Kit.

This kit comes with comprehensive instructions to help you, to help your bright star, shine their best, in reading and writing. A solid foundation will be their building blocks for tomorrow.

 A lot of the activities we suggest help you to teach an A.D.H.D or A.D.D child easily by including activity and movement to their learning. Both sides of the A.D.H.D brain are active at the same time and both need to be used at the same time. Pick one of the activities per day, per section, so that the child does not get bored.  It is also not normal for a child to sit dead still for extended time periods. A company we are proudly associated with, TLC Organic has an organic kit for A.D.H.D / A.D.D and anxiety that helps naturally with the A.D.H.D / A.D.D child. Stopping the inner worry and noise so that they can focus. Contains no cannabis. If you would like further details please contact TLC Organic on 074 580 1771.

This kit contains

• Writing boards for Upper and lower case alphabet, numbers & writing patterns.
• 220 Dolsch sight words
• Word families
• Letters for words & games.
• Fidget toy.

Writing boards

These are our beginning points. Start with the writing patterns.

• Allowing the child to trace the patterns on the board 2 to 5 minutes a day is sufficient.
• Let the child trace the patterns on a carpet / floor with their foot or with their hands in the air. First the left side, then the right side.
• (Always start with the left for many reasons. Here are a few. The left is usually the weaker side. We also write and read from left to right. You also look left first when crossing a road.)
• Let the child copy the patterns with play dough.
• Show the child how to draw using these patterns. Putting one swirl pattern at the top and one at bottom, circle for a head, round the bum and you have a caterpillar. Squares are the turret walls of a castle, etc. We also teach children to draw using squares, circles, triangles etc. Ask them to draw funny monsters and creatures, allow them a bit of silliness and fun to learn these patterns. They are still children after all. These are the building blocks for reading, writing, drawing and 3 dimensional perception as well.
• Give the child chalk and allow them to draw shapes and patterns. Games such as hop scotch. Let the child draw an obstacle course of monsters and they have to avoid the monsters. Draw shapes and they may only hop on certain shapes.
• Give the child paper to draw the patterns onto.
• These are the shapes and patterns that help children with the shape of the letters of the alphabet and eventually cursive writing.

Alphabet boards are used to teach muscle memory of the shape of the letters. As the child does not see the mistakes it does not impact them negatively. Start with the lower case board. Let the child hold the pencil and you hold their hand. Guide their movements the first few times, thereafter just watch and direct. Example of how to explain while writing a, is a tummy with a back, b is a back with a tummy. C is just a tummy. Kicking K is a back, down to the middle of the back, one leg up, one leg down, etc. Practising like this with each board for 5 minutes a day is sufficient.

• Draw the alphabet onto a driveway, pathway etc., Let the child trace it with first the left foot and then the right foot. Using both sides of the body, lessens the block between the 2 sides of the brain and allows creativity. This also strengthens co-ordination and fluid mobility. Make a game out of this for everyone in the group[. Who can trace accurately with both feet? Who is faster?
• Ask the child to be inventive and see how they can make the letters of the alphabet using their body.
• Then ask them to make the letters using their hands.

We have pasted a link below for the pronunciation of the alphabet, both the phonetical and the normal. Phonetics are so important because if you come across a word you don’t know, you need to sound it out.

https://youtu.be/WP1blVh1ZQM

Another important thing to teach is word blends. Please see the word blends on the same site as above.

Then the other confusing one is the silent e. Here is a link for that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnanlcyRuuI

220 Dolch sight words

Using the Dolch sight words, helps kids learn and recognise over 220 of the most commonly used words in the English vocabulary.  Between 50% to 75% of all words used in schoolbooks, library books, newspapers, and magazines are a part of the Dolch basic sight word vocabulary. Sight words also generally cover the words that don’t follow the general rules of English.

How to use the cards:

All the cards are divided into grades. Each grade will need to know those words for what they need to read and write..

• Let the child trace over the words with a finger on the cards when learning them.
• Let them copy the words with play dough.
• Use the cards as flash cards
• Give the child chalk & allow them to write their words on the driveway or a wall. Chalk doesn’t stain and the rain washes it away.

Word families

There are 2 sets of word families in this kit. The three letter word families build vocabulary and confidence.

The more words a child can easily decipher, recognise aswell as understand, the better their overall achievement and communication will be. Later on this will help with reading comprehension and the ability to follow instructions. Also teach the child to rhyme by selecting a word family. Try all the letters of the alphabet as the beginning letter of the word. These words will generally rhyme because they are from the same word family.

Start with the three letter word families. Then teach the second set of word families.

• Stick these laminated sheets up on the fridge or a wall. (Have the child read a minimum of one list of one of the word families a day. This can easily be done while you are busy with a physical activity but can still listen to the child.)

Letters for words & games.

These have so many uses all it takes is a little bit of imagination.

 

• Scrabble is a great way to see how many words the child has learnt while having fun as a group. Game rules are included.
• When testing their spelling of words allow the child to use the scrabble tiles to spell out words.
• Make a game of spelling out a word with the tiles, change the first or the last letter to make a new word. See how far the child can go by changing the first or last letter. The person who makes the most words wins.
• Set out 16 tiles as a block of four by four. Has to contain at least 4 vowels. Each player gets a piece of paper and a pencil. Write down as many words as you can find on the grid. All words have to be linked from one letter to another. You may go backwards, forwards, sideways and diagonally. The same as word search.

Fidget toy

The silent fidget toy is a very handy tool for the A.D.H.D / A.D.D child. Since both sides of the brain function at the same time we need to occupy both sides. There are times when they need to sit still such as when reading or writing. Let the child fidget in the one hand while they write or read with the other. Asking these kind of children to sit still and not fidget is like asking them to chop off half their body. Another idea is to let them sit on a gym ball or to tie a band around the bottom of the chair legs.

If you need more than one set of boards, letters, lost pieces etc. you are able to order these from us. Custom orders available aswell. e.g. the child’s name on the boards etc.

Should you have any questions about the kit, instructions and its contents, you can contact Need It Find It on 076 982 5957.

Wishing you and your star the greatest success and fun as you start this new journey together.