Teaching the Alphabet

I love these fun play-dough mats that you can print out (the link is a pdf file). (Here are more ABC activities from the same site, Alphabet Resources) I love that it has a colorful picture of an object that begins with each letter, AND the upper and lower case of each letter! So many things only have one or the other of the letter case. You would want to print these on cardstock, and laminate the pages, and then your could have your child/children roll their play-dough into long snakes (a great fine motor activity) and lay them into the outlines of the letters. You could also use vis-a-vis markers or maybe something like these, Crayola 8ct Dry Erase Crayons Large Size, to work on tracing skills also. I found the link to these pages at this blog, it's a very cool Montessori style teaching blog. I love the Montessori way of teaching pre-schoolers. I love that it incorporates so many motor skills activities that the pre-school age needs to work on.

My son Joshua, who is 6, and has Angelman Syndrome, struggles with large and fine motor skills. I can find so many ideas, in the Montessori teaching style, that I can use to work on those skills with him. I need to do ALL activities with him using HOH (hand over hand), it takes a lot of repetition for his brain and hands to get on the same page. He KNOWS exactly what he wants his hands to do, but his arms and hands just don't cooperate with his brain. It is super frustrating for him, but he works SO hard, and doesn't give up! He is a such a fighter and I am always inspired by him, and he doesn't give up just because it's hard, but he keeps on trying over and over, AND he does it with the best attitude! I can, and do, learn a lot from him everyday about perseverance, and doing it with a happy heart! He is such a living example to me daily of Philippians 4:13: I can do ALL things through HIM who strengthens me.

Love one another!~Yvonne