Fundations

During this school closing it is so important that your child continue to practice forming both upper and lower case letters correctly. The children know that there are no letters that start from the bottom. The majority of letters start from the top with only 'e' and 'd' starting from the middle. The directions for the formation of all letters can be found below.

Fundations primary focus is on phonemic awareness activities, letter recognition and phonics as a part of the decoding process. In Level K, students learn letter formation by using “sky writing” involving gross motor movements, before they practice writing on paper and/or white boards. The letter names and sounds are learned, the alphabetic principle established and phonological awareness is emphasized. Through the use of multi-modality methods involving auditory input, manipulation of tiles and sound cards, “tapping” phonemes on their fingers to learn to blend words, and writing, students learn to read CVC words and the fundamentals of early reading and writing.

Fundations lessons focus on carefully sequenced skills that include print knowledge, alphabet awareness, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, decoding, spelling, handwriting and vocabulary development. These components provide a foundation in literacy on which they can build for the remainder of their education.

Lowercase Letter formation directions

c - cat - /c/   Start at the top, curve around, stop

o - octopus - /o/   Start at the top, make a c and curve back up

a - apple - /a/ Make a magic c, go up and back down

d - dog - /d/   Make a magic c, go way up and back down

g - game - /g/ Make a magic c, go up, go way down and make a fish hook

q - queen - /q/ Make a magic c, go up, go way down and make a monkey tail

s - snake - /s/ Start at the top, curve in, curve out

l - lamp - /l/ Start at the top, straight line down

t - top - /t/ Start at the top, straight line down, cross in the middle

k - kite - /k/ Start at the top, straight line down, go out to the middle, slant in, slant out

j - jug - /j/ Start at the top, go way down, make a fish hook and add a dot at the top

i - itch - /i/ Start at the top, go down and add a dot at the top

b - bat -/b/ Start at the top, go down, go back up a little and make a tummy

p - pan - /p/ Start at the top, go way down, go back up and make a tummy

m - man - /m/ Start at the top, go down, go back up, make a hump, go back up and make another hump

n - nut - /n/ Start at the top, go down, go back up, make a hump

r - rat - /r/ Start at the top, go down, go back up and make a roof

h - hat - /h/ Start at the top, go way down, go back up a little, make a hump

v - van - /v/ Start at the top, slant down, slant up

w - wind - /w/ Start at the top, slant down, slant up, slant down, slant up

x - fox - /ks/ Start at the top, slant down, start at the top, slant the other way

y - yellow - /y/ Start at the top, slant down, start at the top and slant way down

f - fun - /f/ Start at the top, curve up, go straight down and cross in the middle

e - Ed -/e/ "rule breaker" Start in the middle, go out and around

u - up - /u/ Start at the top, go down and curve up then back down

z - zebra - /z/ Start at the top, go over, slant down, go back over


*** We have now learned all of the lowercase letters and their corresponding sounds as well as a key word for each letter to help us remember their sound.

A — slant down, slant down, across

B — pull down, up, around and in, back and around 

C — pull back and around 

D — pull down, up, around 

E — pull down, across, across, and across 

F — pull down, across, across

G — pull back, around, across 

H — pull down, pull down, across

I — pull down, across, across

J — pull down, curve around, across 

K — pull down, slant in, slant out 

L — pull down, across

M — pull down, slant down, slant up, pull down 

N — pull down, slant down, pull up 

O — pull back and around

P — pull down, up, and around 

Q — pull back and around and cross 

R — pull down, up, around, in, and slant down 

S — pull back, in, around, down, and back around 

T — pull down, across 

U — pull down, around, up, and down 

V — slant down, slant up 

W— slant down up, down up 

X — slant down, slant down 

Y — slant in, slant, and down 

Z — across, slant down, across

Digraphs: two letters that work together to make one sound.
We are working on th, sh and ch in kindergarten.