I’m honored and totally excited to be able to share with you the first lesson of Reading the Alphabet! If you have questions concerning this curriculum, click here to read more about it. You can also email me at becky{at}thisreadingmama{dot}com or post on my FB page if you have further questions. Click HERE to see all the lessons in this curriculum.
You can also purchase Reading the Alphabet Bundle Pack, stream-lined for easy downloading! It also features bonus material that you can’t find in this free version! Click HERE to purchase or read more about the Bundle Pack.
Lesson 1 reviews and applies the letter T sound and the sight word a.
On the download, is a 5-Day lesson plan for each letter (see above-it’s 2 pages on the download). On each day, I’ve included four separate activities you can do with the activities on the download. Directions for each activity are either on the lesson plan outline or on the activity printable itself. EACH lesson from this curriculum will have very similar activities and they’re designed to be taught in this order.
LETTER Tt READING ACTIVITIES
Letter Tt Reader: the focus is on applying the /t/ sound and practice reading the sight word a. You can use the colored version or print off the black and white version and have your child color it before reading. We read this book several times during the week and placed it where he could reach for re-reading after the week was over.
Pocket Chart Tt Reader: There’s also a pocket chart version of the reader to change things up a bit. You can use the black and white or colored Tt picture cards to go with the pocket chart reader.
SIGHT WORD: a
Sight Word Poke Page: My kiddos totally loved Erica’s poke pages (like the one in this lesson), so I made some for each sight word with permission.
Sight Word Maze (these are similar to Carisa’s alphabet mazes and I also have permission to “copy” her.)
Sight Word Search
PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS
Syllable Counting: {Update as of 3/2013- I have changed this activity to a Syllable Count and Clip with clothespin. You can view how we did it in this post.}
Cut & Paste Rhyming Activity (with top)
LETTER Tt BOOK & PRINT AWARENESS
Turtle Print Awareness: A fun craft time that gives kids the opportunity to work on print awareness.
T is for TITLE: Each time we read a book together, I made a big deal about the title, pointing to it and saying, “Oh, title starts with the /t/ sound!” There’s no printable for this activity.
LETTER Tt FINE MOTOR/WRITING
T is for Turtle Tracing Page
Cutting Practice & Pattern Cards: This activity is a 2 for 1! The child cuts apart the strips,
then works on creating and extending patterns with the cards.
I wanted to create something to incorporate letter handwriting practice, but I discovered Carisa’s Handwriting pages from each of her Raising Rock Stars Preschool and was hooked! They are AWESOME!! (This link is on the lesson plan download.)
Tracing Letter Tt
More Tt Tracing
LETTER Tt MATH ACTIVITIES
Letter Tt Grid: roll the die, count the dots, and place that many manipulatives on the grid.
Turtle Numbers: pick a number card, read the number, and dot the number (there are 2 versions on the download: #1-10 & #10-20)
We used a few printables from Erica’s Letter Tt activities (the link is also on the download); clipping /t/-/t/-triangles on the turtles.
At the end of the week, I placed the new sight word on his word wall.
All of the activities original to This Reading Mama
can be found on this ONE ZIP FILE.
~Becky
This is great – thank you so much. My son starts preschool in September and being the youngest in the year I’m aware that I will need to support him at home as well – this is fantastic thank you for all the time. Off to download
Thanks! Let me know if you have any questions!
A-mazing! Thank you so, so much for taking the time to create this and sharing. My daughter will start preschool next week, but it is definitely play-based learning (which I love). I’m excited to supplement the work she does at school with this curriculum!
Awesome! I hope it will be a good fit. Let me know if you have any questions.
Becky- this is amazing! I’m excited to use this lesson with my son. Thank you for all your hard work.
Shonda, you are so welcome. It may look like hard work; but really, I was having FUN!
Wow, what a huge amount of work you’ve put in! We have a reading readiness program but I think we will have to add yours in too since it looks like something my son would really enjoy. Thanks for sharing!!
You’re so welcome! Thanks for stopping by to encourage.
This is all so wonderful! You have enabled parents who want to teach to be able to do so! This is so very helpful. You’ve made many teacher and parent lives easier! Carolyn
Thank you, Carolyn. Thanks for sharing!! 🙂
great can not wait to see the rest! I will def be looking we are starting some initial sounds tubs this week so this will be great to go alongside them thank you.
Oh, I love sound tubs! Let me know if you have any questions.
Becky, this is wonderful! I love the way you’ve incorporated different areas of the curriculum (maths, etc.) into the lessons as well. Thanks for sharing all the work you’ve put into this curriculum.
Thank you for your encouragement and thank you for sharing!
They look awesome! I will definitely be adding some of your printables in when Ladybug does RRSP! 😉
Carisa, thanks for taking a peek and the time to comment. It means the world, really!
Thank you! This takes some of the pressure off of beginning Home Ed this year. I look forwardto using them with Tristan in a couple of weeks.
Wonderful. That’s been my prayer…to be able to help out other mamas with it. 🙂
Looks great and am looking forward to using some of this, especially with the preschoolers I get who are ready for more. I am getting a Bad Gateway error when I try to download from TPT. I will try again later.
It just decided to work for me now.
Oh, good! You had me worried for a minute.
Love it! I am a preschool sped teacher and love to have ideas for my parents when they ask what they can do to help at home. I definitely plan to use you as a reference for the kids working on these skills (hope that’s ok 😉 ).
Absolutely! Refer away! 😉
Thank you so much for these lessons!!! They are very helpful, and I can’t wait to use them with my son! Your hard work is shown in these lessons and I am so grateful they are free!
Thank you! The hard work is worth it, especially when I hear that it has been a blessing to others.
hi, i found you over pinterest. i am so excited to print the lessons however when i clicked on the link it is not working. 🙁 im ready sad now.. 🙁
I’m working on it right now. Thank you for letting me know.
This is really great. I’ve been looking for a hands-on approach for my 3 year old and this looks really fun! I can’t wait to get started and THANK YOU for providing it for free!! Being a homeschooler, the prices add up, so I’m always grateful when I find something this good at no cost. Please keep it up!!! 🙂
You’re so welcome, Missy. I enjoy sharing freely. 🙂
I’ve started incorporating some of your Reading the Alphabet activities into our weekly God’s Little Explorers Curriculum (from motherhoodonadime.com). We’re just about ready to start reading and some of the activities you have are just excellent.
Thank you for stopping by to comment. I’m so glad you’ll be able to use it!
I love this curriculum! My granddaughter is 3 yrs 2mos. do you think it is to so to start using this study? She does a good job of matching, telling the difference in a series of objects with one being different, and is practicing cutting and tracing. She loves to be read to and then wants to read the story back to me. I don’t want to rush her. She is so proud of her “homework” when she shows her mother.
I started using this with my son because he knew all of his letters and sounds and was ready to start reading words. The sight words won’t “stick” very well if she doesn’t have the schema of her letters/sounds. And she doesn’t have to know all of them perfectly. My son still confuses some of his sounds at times. If you think she’s ready, try it. Take 2 weeks on one letter. If it’s over her head, then stop and try it again when she’s a little older. Let me know how it goes. 🙂
I just discovered your site, and I am so stinking impressed by you- WOW. I’m going nuts clicking all your PreK alphabet and “Reading thru the Bible” things… I thought I had next year “done and planned,” but what you have here is just beautiful and well-done! THANK YOU for this labor of love! WOW! 🙂 I’ve already shared your site with all my co-op friends and many other moms of PreK-ers! 🙂
Thank you, Danielle. Love your choice of words (stinking). I use it all the time. And thank you for sharing with others. 🙂
Could you please tell me where I can find the letter T book printable? Are all of the materials necessary in the lesson plan? I wasn’t able to click on the link in the lesson plans. Than you. I am new to you’re site so still learning. Looks amazing and I am so excited to start using it with my children at home.
Were you able to open up the zip file for the letter T? Everything is in that zip file. And you are more than welcome to pick and choose the activities you’d like to do or add more. 🙂
i guess i wasn’t
able to open the file. any suggestions? thank you 🙂
amazing find for me, thank you very very much and God bless you…:-)
Thank you for providing this! Can I ask why you start with the letter T? I’m sure there’s a good reason–I was just going to go through the alphabet. My daughter knows a lot of her letters but sometimes it hit-or-miss on recognizing them.
If you introduce the letters in ABC order, sometimes kids only “get it” because you’re going in order of the ABC song. They’ve just memorized the song and order instead of learning their letter names. When you go out of order, you’re taking the letters out of their ABC order context and kids are more likely to really learn them. I started with T for several reasons. I mixed Handwriting Without Tears and the Montessori method together. The Montessori method introduces a few consonant sounds and then uses a vowel sound to form words. I picked the easiest letter to write out of M, C, F, T, and P to start with. Then, I added A so that mat, fat, pat, and cat could be formed for the next lesson. I hope that helps.
Brilliant! 🙂
Thank you.
Hi!! These are great! I can’t wait to start using them with my daughter.
I tried to use the link to the T handwriting page, but I can’t seem to locate it once I’m on the site. Am I missing something? Or did the site move the handwriting pages?
You have to scroll pretty far down on that link to a blue box with the letters. Click on the letter in the box that you need and the tracer pages are in each letter pack. 🙂
I’m so excited to have found your website, it’s fantastic. I’m going to try to first lesson before buying your pack. But I’m hopeless and cannot locate this link. I tried your directions there and still can’t find it. Is there a more direct download link? I found the blue box and clicked on the Tt and then I’m stuck. I can’t find the tracer pages.
I think you are referring to the tracer pages from 1+1+1=1. Once you click on the letter Tt in the blue box, scroll down past all the advertisements and click on the image that says, “Thou Shall Not Steal”. It says, “Click Image to Download!” above it. See if that works for you. 🙂
Just found this sight. SUPER grateful for all you hard work and willingness to share at no cost. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
Thank you for sharing this curriculum and making it so readily available! I have a question…
I just started with my daughter – we are on day 3 of lesson 1. We are both having a lot of fun and my daughter seems to be learning the letter and sight word. But some of the lessons are over her head (e.g. the syllable counting). My daughter is only 2 3/4 – do you think she’s too young? Or is it still helpful to continue with the activities she enjoys and learns from? Based on your development stages I would judge that she is somewhere between beginning and middle of stage 1. Thanks!
Does she know most of her letters and sounds, yet? If not, I’d revisit those before continuing.
If you feel she’s developmentally ready, keep in mind that you are only on the first lesson. 🙂 The lessons are repetitive.
I highly recommend modeling those concepts for her over and over as long as her attention span will take in each sitting. For example, say, “Tur—tle. {Really separate the sounds.} I hear two big sounds or syllables. Now, I’m going to clap them when I say ‘turtle’. {Clap on each syllable while you separate the syllables in the word.} Can you clap them with me while we say ‘turtle’ in a slow way? {Do it with her.} Look I can even pat my knees for each big sound while I say ‘turtle’. {Do it.} Can you do it with me? Oh, now, I’m going to stomp my feel for each syllable…make it a game.
If she is unable to do it with you after several times of modeling {on different occasions}, I would say it’s on her frustration level and she’s not developmentally ready for it. Instead of skipping the activity, you may just want to model it in a fun and hands-on way and let her hear you/watch you do it.
Hope that helps. 🙂
Thanks so much for responding. Yes, she knows all her letters and most sounds. I’ve realized her challenge is with counting and not with beating the syllables. She has no problem with clapping once for each syllable but struggles to count the number of claps. I’ll spend some time doing simple counting activities until she gets it. The good news… My daughter loves all these new activities and I love teaching her. Thanks!
You might want to try using objects to count the syllables so she can visually see them. For example, on your workspace, place 4 beans in a row. She can push one bean forward for each syllable in the word. Then, she will be able to “see” the syllables instead of trying to remember how many she has counted as she has clapped. See if that helps. 🙂
That is a really good idea (using a row of beans, then pushing 1 up for each syllable) to “see” the number of syllables. I still remember (30+ years ago) having a terrible time as a 1st grader trying to figure out syllables. I was concentrating on the clapping and hearing the syllables and could not count and clap at the same time! I also think it’s a two part learning…Hearing the syllables being first. (I found I could (incorrectly) clap once for long words and many times for small words (no rhythm here!). Took much practice to “hear” the syllables.
Heard about the “Reading the Alphabet” curriculum from The Measured Mom. While we are totally not ready for this yet, I am saving this for later. I can totally see how this will be great for those preschoolers who are ahead of their peers but not ready for kindergarten work. (My little one is only 25 months. Thanks to repeated readings of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom she now recognizes a few letters. (Her favorite page is the back with all the letters. She points to M (her letter) and D, G, & U (for daddy, grandpa & uncle). Thanks for all the hard work. I don’t want to to grow up fast, but I can’t wait to do this with her in a year or two! 🙂
Woohoo! for finding new things! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
I just saw this site.. Its perfect curriculum for my son. I have been searching a lot for the right one and I am so glad I found this. Till now I was combining from some of the different materials but now your hardwork saved me a lot of time and effort. Thanks a lot for sharing with all of us for free.
Hi.. this is my first time to visit your website and i love it..I’m just a new homeschooling mom and is so excited to use your reading curriculum.. thank you for your hardwork and effort on this..may God bless you more 🙂
You are so welcome!
Just wanted to thank you for your fabulous curriculum! I’ve almost done with week 4 with my three-year-old, and he loves it. It’s a well-balanced curriculum that’s fun but also challenging, and I’ve seen growth in him every week — in his pre-reading skills of course, but also cutting ability, writing, and counting. The best part is how excited he is to do his “M games” and how he can’t wait to learn C! Thank you so much!
Thank you for your sweet comment. I’m so glad your son loves it. 🙂
Thanks again for the fabulous curriculum! I wanted to report back now that my son, who is not yet four, has finished Reading the Alphabet. We did some acceleration, but I was definitely not allowed to skip a single letter. He’s learned blending, knows many sight words, and is reading simple books with confidence. We’ll be back for the updated curriculum when little brother is ready.
Thank you for that wonderful report! That is awesome and you’ve made my day!
I am curious about if this would be age-appropriate for my son who’s turning 3 in June. He already knows his letters, but not their sounds. I just don’t want to overwhelm him if it may be too advanced. Thanks !
I would wait until he knows many of his sounds to use it fully. You could always use bits and pieces at first to teach him his sounds, like the letter sound cards for each letter. I use those with my 3 year old daughter.
I am going to use the alphabet activities as part of my daily five and the letter books in my guided reading.Thank you very much.
You’re very welcome! 🙂
We did Day 1 today and my girls loved it. I am probably missing it but is there a Word Wall Printable?
There is in the bundle pack, but not in the free version. Sorry!
No worries! Thanks for the quick answer. 🙂
Thank you so much! You have helped me out tremendously!! Just a quick question…where do I find the Word Wall Words printable that you mention on the first lesson, day 5? Thanks!! 🙂
They are not in the free version, but in the bundle pack. Sorry about that.
Thank you thank you!!!! I am a new homeschooling mama and the Reading the Alphabet curriculum is just what we needed. My 3 year old learned her letter sounds last year in a couple of months and we started working on 3 letter words, but I didn’t know where to go from there and then I found this site. So thank you! I did have one question about a good start age for this curriculum. My 2 year old knows her letters, recognizes upper case, and knows some letter sounds, today she was able to match the T words with the picture even when they were not in order of the book. Do you think, from an educators perspective, that she is too young (I work with college age and honor students so I have to force myself to not push to far to fast)?
Sorry the post if so long.
How do you download the free versions? The links all send me to spam websites. I’d like to try it out before I purchase the bundle but can’t seem to locate any of the actual content.
My link with all the downloads is at the very end of each lesson…a pinkish/reddish link.
Hi could you tell me what the paid version has that the free version does not have? I am an EC teacher looking for something to help my younger kids learn to read and learn letter sounds/id.
You can find all that info here, with images of the extras. https://thisreadingmama.com/reading-the-alphabet-updated-expanded/ I hope that helps.
Thank you so much for this! I was a teacher for 5 years and am now a homeschooling mama. My son is in Pre-K and is about to finish all his alphabet skills ahead of what I had planned. I have been trying to find something to use as a transition for the rest of the school year before he begins a full kinder program next year. This is perfect!
You are so welcome!
This is great! Thank you so much! But, I had a little problem…when I downloaded the zip file, my computer said that it can’t open it, that there was a problem with the zip file. I will try lesson #2 now and see how that goes…
Hi
I have a 3 year old who knows all the letters and sounds and tries to write. Would it be overwhelming to do this and another curriculium or is there enough in this curriculium to do by itself. I homeschool her for preschool. How long would you say each lesson takes your child?
Each lesson takes us about 20-30 minutes a day, depending upon how long your child likes to do them. Sometimes, we do them more than once. For a child that’s 3 years old, that’s all the structure I would want in a curriculum. The rest of our day is play and learning through play.
Hi there, this all looks like wonderful stuff and I was really hoping to be able to download one and try it. But everything I click on prompts me to sign up with my email and credit card number before downloading the “free” lessons. I have tried emailing the email address listed and have received no reply. Is there any way to get these downloads without having to give a credit card number?
You should not have to enter any information before downloading these. The download links can all be found at the end of each blog post. Usually it says in large letters something like, “Download this Letter T Pack HERE.” or something to that affect. It sounds like what you clicked on was an ad. All MY clickable links will be a reddish/pinkish color. I hope that helps.
Thank you for the response! Could you possibly email me when you have a minute. I have a few other questions. danashirlane@hotmail.com Thanks!!
I am a self contained K-2 spec. ed teacher…with 10-12 students…I am looking for a reading curriculum that works…what would you suggest for some students who do not know all letters/sounds and others who do.?
Hi Margie, please send me an email and I’ll be glad to help you out becky {at} thisreadingmama {dot} com. 🙂
This is AMAZING!!! Thank you!!! When I click on the link to the handwriting/tracing pages raising rock stars preschool, I can’t find them? Are they not still available?
I am homeschooling my 3.5 year old daughter. She just finished learning to identify all the letters and their sounds so this is the perfect next step in our curriculum. I’m so excited to have found this. She is eager to learn to read, but I was clueless as to how to start. Thank you so much!
thanks a lot readingmama.this will be very helpful for my special children class
You are very welcome! 🙂
Hello, I am so excited about implementing your wonderful program in teaching my 4-year-old son. I am probably revealing my computer illiteracy…but when I try to access the file, I get a message stating, “Hmmm, we can’t seem to access this page.” Would you mind helping me figure out what I’m doing wrong? I’m so sorry to be so clumsy 🙁
Try using a different internet browser to see if that helps.
Thank you for providing this wonderful resource! I’m so excited to share it with my daughter whom I am homeschooling before she enters kindergarten next Fall. Sadly, I’m having difficulty with the download. I’m working with an iPad, and while I was able to download the Zip drive, it will not open in my Dropbox. Not sure how familiar you are with Apple products or have had others use them successfully with your curriculum, but hoping for some insight so that we are able to utilize your fantastic program. Thanks much in advance.
I have Apple several products, but haven’t used my iPad to download the zip files or save to a Dropbox. Sorry I can’t be of much help.
I just started teaching preschool, and just got thrown into it. We have no curriculum that can guide me. The kiddos are on all different levels. Do you suggest learning or reading the alphabet. I only have 4 kids, ranging from a special needs child who just copies what everyone says, then a girl who is all ready for kinder. Thanks in advance!
Hi. I came across your site from The Measured Mom (TMM).
I am torn between your Reading the Alphabet and using Bob Books (with your Bob printables).
My 4.5 year old knows most her letters and sounds. She does letter of the week at daycare and they are almost done the alphabet. I do “some” additional activities from TMM’s Letter of the week to reinforce what she does at daycare. Mostly the “dot marker” pages and finding items to glue to the big block letter pages. This working mamma likes the low prep stuff!
However I feel what she does at daycare (and home) is nothing compared to the lessons found here and in TMM site.
We read a lot together. And she shows interest in reading. Mostly by trying to finish a sentence I am reading from memory. And thinking she actually read it herself. Lol.
So I’d like to step things up a bit. And give her a head start for kindergarten. But again not sure between Reading the Alphabet and Bob Books.
You might want to borrow the BOB Books to see if she likes them first before you jump in and go all the way with them. My oldest didn’t care for them, but my 2nd and 3rd kiddos did. Reading the Alphabet is more interactive. But you could totally mix the two, if you have the BOB Books already. I know that after about Lesson 7, the BOB Books work well with it. Hope that helps a little! 🙂
Thank so much for all you do to help other moms prepare their children. I love the activities.
You’re welcome! 🙂
so sorry if this question has been answered, but can you help me find the instructions to the numbers 1-10 & 10-20 pages? it says to look on page 1 of printable, but I have printed all of it and still do not see it. what am I missing? Thanks!
See if this post helps guide you a little. It has a similar activity for numbers 1-10 and 10-20 –> https://thisreadingmama.com/free-apple-prekk-pack/