Oh exciting things are happening in this house of ours — Sammy is starting to read. As a teacher, I just love this stage of child development. He knows all his sounds and blends and he is starting to sound out words all on his own. He is so excited about it, he is ready for it, and it is a very positive, happy thing.
We are trying to sneak in a little bit of practice with word families and sight words here and there. One way that has been incredibly successful is by taping them to the stairs.
(Truthful note: Not our stairs. Ours are hard to photograph – as most old farmhouses would be I suppose. These are lovely, bright, borrowed stairs)
I hear him every single time he walks up those steps (well, not those steps) saying the words, sounding them out, pausing if he’s stuck, running quick if they are easy.
The best part about it is I have never even talked to him about them. I just popped them up one day and he is so eager to read that he took it from there.
Little Benjamin is starting to learn his letters, so he takes some time each trip up the stairs to see what letters he can recall.
Now that I’ve used this idea, I see so many other uses for it!
Sight words and word families are great, but we could even do simple sentences. A special message would be fun.
Letters, especially spelling a little ones name to begin practicing those very important letters —- B-e-n-j-a-m-i-n will be going up soon.
Counting or skip counting, or even multiplication facts would make for great practice on the stairs.
I think this idea is going to hang around for quite some time!
And if you have a little one who is 3, 4, or 5 please check out my video course, Play into Kindergarten Readiness.
It was designed and is run by me (a Teacher), and gives children the IDEAL foundation through play – so they can SOAR through school.
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you are having a wonderful week.
Hello Sarah,
I just love this idea for my 3 year old. She has been learning to spell now for a short while. She understands her letters and this idea on the stairs is perfect for us.
I would love to sign up for your videos but I cannot afford to pay for extra expenses. But I really appreciate you for sharing this.
Hi Annette, I am so glad this idea is just right for you and yours! Thank you for letting me know! I understand that the course is a large investment. I do offer an eBook that outlines the entire learning to read process – through PLAY! Right from beginning to learn letters all the way through to reading. You can find it here: https://www.howweelearn.com/reading-readiness-preschoolers/