Lions and Tigers and Homework... Oh my!

One of the skills that students are expected to master early in kindergarten is the ability to isolate the first sound in their name and then think of other words that start with the same sound.  To practice this skill, we asked parents to help their child find pictures that start with the same first sound that starts their child's name for homework.  We were so impressed with the work of our families that we highlighted it on our first bulletin board which goes up right before Open House!

Jai is one of several students from the Portside Community that takes advantage of free tutoring at the MARC.  Jai, who is a second language learner, completed his homework with Mrs. Ruark using pictures he identified and searched for on the Internet.  His /j/ words that start with the same beginning sound as his name are jump, juice, juggle, jaguar, and jungle.

One of a kindergarten teacher's challenges with a project like this is students whose names start with a vowel that is neither long or short.  Parents seem to help their child find pictures of words that start with the first letter of the child's name instead of the sound.  No so with Austin's family.  They helped him find pictures that start with the same /aw/ sound that starts his name and even provided an answer key on the back!  Austin found August, autograph, Autumn and auto racing!  Very impressive!

Sanela is another of our second language learners and her homework is sent to her family in Spanish.  Even with the challenge of a second language her family helped her find pictures that start with the same beginning sound as her name.  Her mom even wrote sol under sun in Spanish.  She found both pictures and words with the /s/ sound..

This first homework is a family project with the children finding pictures of things that start with the same sound that is in their name!

World traveler Finn said Mommy helped him find pictures that start with the /f/ sound, but he cut them all out.  He found pictures of face, fun, family, football man, fork, fish, France, fries, Florida, feet, fingers, feet and flex!  He said all of these words start with the same sound that begins his name!

I have no idea how many of our children have learned the /sh/ sound because it starts Shane's name! I have overheard many children say, "I know it is sh because that's the sound that starts Shane's name!"  Shane found Chevrolet, shoes, shirt and shampoo.