Kindergarten · Writing · week 22

Say it, count the words, write it

Say a sentence out loud, count how many words it has, and write it with a word for every count.

Before you write a sentence, it helps to know how many words are coming. Say your sentence, then count the words on your fingers.

Each finger is one word. If you say "I like dogs," that is three fingers, three words.

📋 For the teacher
Teach it (10–15 min):
  • Model counting words on your own fingers first, exaggerating a small pause between each word.
  • Have your child hold up one finger per word as they say the sentence slowly, then write matching that count.
  • After writing, count the written words together and check the number matches the fingers.
  • This habit prevents missing or squishing words together, and builds real sentence awareness.
Talk about it:
  • How many words were in your sentence today?
  • Did counting on your fingers match the words you actually wrote?
  • Was any word tricky to remember by the time you wrote it?

Mastery looks like: They say a sentence, correctly count its words on their fingers, and write a matching number of words in order.

Common stumbles: Losing track of the count partway through; writing more or fewer words than they counted; forgetting the sentence before finishing writing it.

See it visually

Interactive, spoken-aloud tools that show this idea in motion.

Sentence BuilderDrag word tiles into a real sentence, with a capital and end mark.try →
Homework for this lessonType it, write it with a stylus, or print it for pencil & paper.open →
Records attendance + 15 min of Writing for this learner.
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