To promote letter-sound recognition, encourage children to hunt for objects around their home that begin with a specific letter. Write the focus letter in the students' homework journals so parents know what type of objects their child should be searching for. For example, if the letter is "B," parents can help their child search for objects around the house that begin with the letter "B." After finding the objects, parents can help their child write a list of the items they have found. Students can even bring in a sample of the items they've found to share with the class.
This homework game encourages children to practice counting. Draw and cut out pictures of umbrellas and raindrops; on the umbrellas, write numbers. Give the students the game to take home. To play, children must place under the umbrellas the number of raindrops that corresponds to the numbers printed on each umbrella. For example, five raindrops should be placed under the umbrella marked with the number five. Prompt parents to check their child's homework to ensure they are counting correctly.
This game provides children with practice reading sight words. On index cards, print sight words you have been working on. Provide children with the index cards and a bean bag to take home. To play the game, they spread the cards out on the ground, toss a bean bag onto them and read the word printed on the card the beanbag lands on. If a child reads a word correctly, she may collect the card. The object of the game is to collect all of the cards. If a child is struggling, encourage parents to offer help. Additionally, ask parents to record the words their child has difficulty with so you know what to work on in class.
Create memory games for your kindergarten students to play at home. Cut a piece of poster board into squares. On the squares, write or draw items for children to match; for example, pictures of rhyming words or upper- and lowercase letters. To play the game, the cards should be spread out, upside-down, on a flat surface. The student flips over two cards and if the cards match, he may remove them. If they don't, he must flip them back over. He continues playing until all of the cards have been matched.