Overview

The children will rub a rough letter R as they recognize and name the letter R.

Literacy Activities
Rub a rough R

• Cut sandpaper or corrugated cardboard into several pieces and scatter the letter cards around the room.
• Write the letter R on a whiteboard, name the letter, and have the children say the letter name as they write the R in the air with their fingers.
• Let the children gather the letter cards and help them decide whether or not each letter is an R.
  • If the letter is an R, have the children put it near the sandpaper (or cardboard) pieces.
  • If the letter is not an R, have them place it in a discard pile.
  • If a child misidentifies a distractor letter as an R, have him or her look at the R on the whiteboard and compare it to the letter he or she picked. 
• Allow the children to glue or tape the R letter cards to the sandpaper or cardboard.
• Let the children rub the letter cards with their fingers and comment that the R is rough.

Color a rough R

• Give the children an R coloring page and have the children trace the R.
• Help the children place the coloring page on sandpaper (or cardboard) and rub the R with a red crayon.
• Comment that the rough pattern shows up on the R when the children rub the paper with the crayon.
• Have the children find the letter R in the word red on the crayon wrapper.

More Practice
Identify the target letter

• Have the children show you their red R pages.
• Write a letter R on a blank spot on each child's papers. Have the children trace that letter R with their red crayons.