I love using plastic screens for introducing and practicing letters and sight words. Plastic screens can be found in any craft store (Michaels or JoAnn Fabrics) or in the craft section of most department stores. When I use the screens for teaching letters, I typically cut one sheet into quarters and then for the sight words, I’ll cut 3 long strips. You can use ready-made templates of letters or sight words or you can simply write the letters/words on paper yourself. First have your students place the paper on top of the screen and, with a crayon, trace the letter or letters of the sight word. When they remove the paper, the letter/word will be “bumpy” on the paper. If I’m teaching letters, I have the student trace the letter with his/her finger while saying the letter name and then the sound (“a” says /a/). If I’m teaching sight words, I’d have the student name each letter as it’s being traced and then say the word (“c” “a” “n”- can). Just to help commit the letter or word to memory, I have them repeat this process at least 3 times.
There are so many different multi-sensory activities for teaching letters and words! When short on time, this activity is great as it’s quick and easy to prepare and there’s relatively no clean up.
If you’d like more ideas you may want to check out the Multi-Sensory Teaching of Sight Words product on the Make, Take & Teach website or in my Teachers Pay Teachers online store. The plastic screen activity is one of 10 activities that can be found in this file.
Leave a Reply