Wall Work Series 4

 Here is another poster in the Wall Work Series.  This one helped students develop and practice pre-reading skills.  Once students can match objects that they are familiar with or are larger images, they should practice matching items that require a little more discrimination-Such as letters or lines that are similar.  My students had fun with this one!  It was very easily created using a basic word processing program.

 This poster uses velcro as well. (gotta love that stuff)  At first it was difficult for some of my students and they would need to be guided to look at specific parts of each picture.  Then they were able to identify the similarities and differences on their own. 

I got this idea while using a reading program called Edmark. This program was appropriate for some of my students at the time and the pre-test included similar matching items.  Some of my students did not pass the pre-test and so I set this up in this large format to help them learn the expectation.  Another in between step that is sometimes easily forgotten.  Gotta have some stepping stone between matching pictures and reading words and this is one of them! 
Other Ways and Simpler Formats:  This could also be eaily done on a piece of paper or white board.  You could have lines or words on one side and their matches scrambled on the other and you could have the child draw a line between the two matches.  (Best accomplished for children who have some fine motor skills.)  But never allow a lack of fine motor or verbal communication skills to come inbetween a child and reading if they are cognitively ready.  Edmark was a nice program for students who were non-verbal to learn to read and have it documented without them even needing to utter a sound.  I am glad there is stuff like that!!  People are so on the ball.