My first reading and writing experiences First experiences with reading and writing on large whiteboards! On one side they see the phonetics and match them to the first letter of the word; on the other, they practice writing, tracing the words using the dry-wipe pen. The box contains 25 maxi cards featuring a full educational programme to give children a head start with reading and writing. Before they begin, though, the first thing to do is to learn the correct way to hold a pen. Every pre-writing task requires a proper grip of the pencil, or in this case, of the erasable pen. For detailed instructions on this, refer to the back of this card. Teaching steps Each card has a target letter on one side along with a object (illustrated) starting with the same letter. Ask the children to look at the target letter and to trace over it with the pen, following the direction of the arrows. Then have them sound out the letter a, for example, following it immediately with the word starting with the same letter, apple, as shown in the picture. After this, ask, “Did you hear that apple starts with an a?” Show them the word where the first letter a is in a dotted line and ask, “Write the letter a and complete the word apple”. After this, turn the card over and have the children practice writing all the words which start with the letter a. Continue in this manner with the rest of the letters in the alphabet, first completing all the vowels and then all the consonants. Recommended Age 3-6