So you’ve taught your kid their letters and sounds.  You’ve been through my entire FREE letter of the week curriculum.

Now what?

It’s as simple as sounding out words now, right?

Nope.  Not at all!

See your little Einstein there, may have a clear  understanding of graphemes & phonemes (lay-Mom’s term – letters and sounds), but they likely lack the ability to understand the difference between a letter, word, or sentence.  Or how letters and words function within a sentence to convey a meaning to a reader.

That’s because they do not yet understand print concepts.

Print Concepts are an awareness and understanding of how print contains meaning that is conveyed through a combination of letters, words and sentences.  It is knowing how these crucial elements work together to create a this meaning.

But… before we jump right in head first into teaching print concepts – let me briefly touch on something else they’re going to need before they start reading,  Reading Behaviors.

Teaching Reading Behaviors

Reading Behaviors are the things that come naturally to you as a reader. As a seasoned reader,  you know the correct way to hold a book and the direction text flows. Beginning readers do not. A lot of children who are read to frequently pick up on this just from being read to, but it’s important to know that your child understands a few different things before starting to read.  For example:

• Can they hold a book correctly?
• Can they identify the front, spine and back of a book?
• Can they identify the title and title page?
• Do they know which page to start reading?
• Do they know that we read from left to right?
• Do they know where to continue reading at the end of a line (top to bottom)?

These behaviors are very easily taught while reading aloud at bedtime.

Model tracking print as you read and emphasize the direction in which print travels.  Point out the different parts of a book. Let them practice holding a book and mimicking reading.  You will be surprised how naturally it all comes to them, after watching you.

RELATED READING:  Letter of the Week: FREE Complete Series

And…to help you keep track of these skills, I’ve created this FREE Reading Behaviors assessment sheet!  You can download it by clicking on the image below, or find it here.   When your child has mastered the skills on this assessment, they are ready to move on to the next part of the process.

Teaching Print Concepts

The second, and largest piece of this is Print Concepts. Readers need to know how print functions in text. They need to understand:

• the difference between letters and words
• the purpose of capitalization and punctuation
• how to identify words in a sentence and where words start and stop
• how to track print with their finger

Figuring out the difference between letters and words; and sentences and numbers, can sometimes be tricky for new readers.   In my many years teaching kindergarten, I found it important that instruction about this be very explicit.   We did lots of hands on activities: dictating sentences and cutting them apart, sorting letters/words/numbers/sentences into different groups, building words, and more.  It can take a lot of repetition, but eventually, after practicing this concept over and over, it begins to click, and from there your young reader will be reading to take off.

For my own daughter, I created this coloring sheet.  She has to identify each item as either a letter, number, sentence or word, and then color it accordingly.   This is also a great assessment if you are wanting to see if your child is grasping the concept yet.

You can download my freebie by clicking here, or on the picture below.    Be sure to keep read to the end to find out how to score more of these!

Additionally, you will need to be sure to break words down into their individual letters, identifying both the beginning and ending of the words.  You will also need to discuss the basic mechanics of a sentence.  That it begins with a capital, contains words with spaces in between, and ends in punctuation.  And more importantly, it conveys meaning.

Once your child has a good understanding of what the different parts of a sentence are, and their purpose, they are ready to begin practicing tracking print.

Simply put, tracking print is pointing at words as you read.  Most young readers begin their academic careers, plodding along pointing out word after word.  It’s a rite of passage, and an essential step in learning to read.

This skill can require a lot of practice.  I find it easiest to do with very simple texts.  In kindergarten, this is what we refer to as letter A/B texts.  These are short texts with a predictable language pattern that carries throughout the entire book, with the exception of the last page, where the text slightly changes.  For example:  “I see the blue ball.  I see the red ball.  I see the green ball.  Did you see the orange ball?”

These can be a bit tricky to find in your local library, but I have found a couple of great resources on Amazon.  These books are already leveled for you and are perfect for young readers.  They will be thrilled at how quickly and easily they learn to read these.

For your convenience, this post contains affiliate links. If you purchase from these links I may make a small commission at no cost to you.

Additionally, I have found it useful to practice reading individual sentences.  To help my daughter out, I designed this sheet, with three sentences to practice reading.  It’s pretty self explanatory.  She starts at go and ends at stop.  There are dots below the numbers so she knows where to point, and the dots are even numbered to help count the words.

You can download a copy of one of my sheets for free  by clicking here, or on the picture below.   And jump below to find out how you can get even more of these!

So in addition to the freebies included in this blog post, I’ve spent weeks creating  an entire Print Concepts pack.  It’s a 30 page download that includes a ton of great lessons and printables to teach print concepts.  In the unit, I outline each activity, and how to use them.  I also include additional ways to teach your child print concepts.

I know you are also a super busy Mom and/or teacher, There’s not enough hours in the day to get it all done.  Much less create your own activities and printables.

So  I have done it for you!  And while, I humbly offer parts of this pack for free, I also offer the full pack for a very affordable $4. 

This pack includes:

• 3 letter/word/sentence/number coloring sheets
• 1 -7 page,  large,  sort *for group practice
• 3 letter/word/sentence/number sort sheets
• 5 Print concepts practice mini books
• 3 Print tracking practice sheets
• 2 Build a Word sheets
• 2 assessments
• Print Concepts Scavenger Hunt
• 2  detailed pages explaining each individual activity

Four bucks.  That’s all.  And you help a work at home Mama pay the bills.  Karma + awesome lessons and activities!  It’s a win/win!  Be sure to check it out here!

But as much as I’d love you to buy it, I fully understand a tight budget.  So if you are unable to  purchase the full unit,  I sincerely hope you are able to find some use in the free sheets I’ve linked!   You may be able to find additional resources  on my Pinterest boards also.    Be sure to follow me and see everything I’m pinning!

Also, stay tuned.  I’m continuing to add to this curriculum, and will be returning soon to  discuss the next steps in teaching your child to read, and hand out some more freebies!  I’m even working on  a course and e-book, to roll out to you hopefully by summer! Be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already!!

Until then, if you’ve got any questions, feel free to leave a comment, or shoot me an email!  And don’t forget to pin this post for later!