Joyful kindergarten literacy
through music, movement,
and writing-to-read Heart Words
It can’t be underscored enough that Nellie Edge’s classes and workshops not only inspire, they bring about improvement in instruction for children!!”
— Mary M. Spillman, former Kindergarten Program Director, Salem-Keizer Public Schools
Grow young writers
Whether you’re a kindergarten or first grade teacher looking for ways to engage and motivate early learners or a homeschooling parent who wants to share the gift of writing, reading, and loving books — start here.
Everything Nellie Edge has created is waiting for you.
Three pillars work together
Heart Words, Handwriting, and Writing are not three separate programs. They are one proven system, woven together to grow young writers.
Heart Words
The words young writers learn by heart.
Our action-research supports the writing-to-read approach to early literacy. Heart Word sentence fluency builds early writers and readers. We teach them the way the brain remembers best: sing them, sign them, fingerspell them, write them, and use them in a real sentence the same day. Multisensory practice turns sight words into words early learners truly own. And once they own them, writing and reading open up together.
Writing-to-read Heart Word sentences grow young writers.
Handwriting
Handwriting that goes straight into real writing.
When letter formation is still a struggle, it crowds out everything an early learner wants to say. So kindergarten-friendly handwriting is never taught as isolated tracing. Letters are practiced inside real words and anchor sentences, beginning with “I love you.” Lowercase first, starting with the child’s own name, with fingerspelling, music, and movement patterns build the writing brain. Letters become automatic, and thinking takes over.
Handwriting fluency supports the writing process.
Writing
Early learners write their way into reading.
From the first weeks they draw, label, make books with Heart Word sentences and write real messages for real people — every authentic writing experience accelerates writing and reading fluency. With Heart Word sentences in hand and handwriting that flows, writing workshop is the place where phonics, spelling, and voice meet. Simple scaffolds, high expectations, and early learners who see themselves as writers from the very beginning.
This is where the whole system pays off.
Research confirms it: free the hand, grow the writer
When a child forms a letter stroke by stroke, it activates the thinking, language, and memory regions of the brain in ways that strengthen both writing and reading at the same time. Research confirms what Nellie Edge has built her curriculum around for more than thirty years — that handwriting fluency is the single best predictor of writing quality in the primary years, and that the hand and the brain learn together.
Writing by hand does something a keyboard can’t
Here’s what people say about Nellie’s work
Looking back on our process I feel that hiring Nellie Edge was the single most important action that led to a program which provides for the highest caliber of learning...”
— Mary Spellman, Kindergarten Program Director, Salem-Keizer Public Schools
This is amazing and has changed how I teach sight words into a method that is more meaningful, engaging, and appropriate for kindergartners. Thank you!”
— Anastasia I.
I Love Nellie! I have been using her resources since I took her online seminars. My students love the Heart Word boards and posters and are so excited when a new color is pulled out.”
— Ciara Z.
Early learners arrive with less language experience than ever, and many classrooms now include English language learners and children who need speech and language support. The rules around teaching literacy have shifted, fast. And whether you teach preschool, kindergarten, first grade, or special education, you’re being asked to do more with less time and less support.
Now’s the time for something that actually works, fits your day, and lights up your students. That’s exactly what Nellie Edge has spent thirty years creating for dedicated teachers like you: classroom-tested methods that make teaching real and meaningful.
Teaching right now can be challenging
Sing, Sign, Spell, and Write to accelerate literacy
Brain research shows young children learn best when they can see it, feel it, hear it, say it, and move with it. Here's how to teach that way — with joy, precision, and results you can see.
Language feeds writing and reading.
Handwriting feeds Heart Words.
Heart Words feed writing workshop.
Writing feeds reading.
Nothing stands alone.
That’s why it works.
Parents are Partners
Learning continues at home.
The best literacy teaching happens twice — once with you in the classroom, and once again at home.
When families know the same songs, signs, and Heart Words their child is learning, every car ride, bath time, and bedtime becomes practice. Not homework. Just life, with a little more singing in it.
It's simple to start. Share the fingerspelling video. Slip the ABC phonics chart into a backpack. Kids love being the expert — teaching grandma to sign the alphabet, reading their own Heart Word sentences out loud at dinner. Families see the growth week by week and can’t wait to help.
For kindergarten homeschooling parents, you're already the partner. This is your whole toolkit: fingerspelling, songs, signs, Heart Words, and the routines that turn your kitchen table into an engaging place to build young writers.
Multisensory ABC Phonics
26 letters. About a month. Total mastery.
Four new letters every two or three days. Early learners sing each letter, fingerspell it in American Sign Language, and say its sound — building memory hooks that make letter-sound knowledge stick. Short, lively lessons, then quick reviews woven through the day (lining up, heading outside, packing up to go home), keep every letter fresh.
Fingerspelling does double duty: it locks in phonics and builds the small finger muscles children need for handwriting. One routine, two goals, no wasted time. And because it’s music and movement, not drills and worksheets, early learners can’t wait to do it again.
Most early learners master all 26 letters and sounds within 20 to 30 days. Every child becomes an ABC Phonics expert — and that confidence carries into everything that follows.
Poetry: Sing, Say, and Read!
One poem a week. A room full of readers.
Bring back the out loud culture. Early learners (PreK-2) memorize a poem, recite it, act it out, illustrate it, and then read it — again and again — from their own Poetry "I Can Read!" Notebook. Every rhyme and chant builds vocabulary, comprehension, oral language fluency, and early reading skills, all at once.
Poems are the great equalizer. English Language Learners shine, shy kids find their voices, and everyone shares the same songs and rhymes — the language traditions that turn a group of learners into a community of friends.
By spring, each child holds a notebook of illustrated poems they can read with comprehension. They’ll treasure their Poetry "I can read!" Notebook for years. Some keep it forever.
Music and sign language give children many ways to understand and remember language. That makes this approach a natural fit for special education, speech and language support, and English language learners, helping diverse learners grow without pressure or frustration.
The ABC phonics song develops phonemic awareness. Writing-to-read Heart Words teach with meaning, emotion and connection. Children write them, recognize them and use them with confidence. By the end of kindergarten, they’ll announce, “I am an author!”
Everything here is designed to help you bring memorable learning to your preschool, kindergarten or first grade classroom, or to your kitchen table for kindergarten homeschooling, simply and confidently.
On Teachers Pay Teachers, you’ll find ready-to-use guides, templates, and curriculum bundles you can print and use right away, for teaching handwriting, Heart Words, and early writing.
We’ve seen young children learn best when learning is engaging and meaningful. Through songs, fingerspelling, and Heart Words, children don’t just memorize—they connect.
Proven tools to accelerate literacy
Children are born ready to sing, move, and connect. We start right there.
For more than thirty years, teachers and families have used these strategies to help early learners read, write, and fall in love with words. The approach is simple. It’s joyful. And it works — because it’s built on how the brain actually learns.
This is NOT another packaged curriculum. It’s a proven, integrated literacy model that brings writing-to-read to life — and goes beyond to build young authors and illustrators who write and publish books by the end of the year.
In this comprehensive approach, writing and reading aren’t taught in isolation. Fingerspelling, handwriting, Heart Words, writing, and the arts are woven together to create a foundation that makes learning to write and read come alive.
Sing it
The brain is a musical brain. One song chunks all 26 letters, sounds, and key phonics symbols into a single memory space. Children don't just memorize — they build pathways for reading that stick.
Sign it
Fingerspelling and American Sign Language create physical memory hooks. Children who sign while they sing recall letters and sounds faster — and they can’t get enough of it.
Write it
Start with three powerful words every child wants to write: I love you. Watch writing and reading grow together. Heart Word sentences build writing and reading fluency.
Heart Words
These are the Heart Words — high-frequency words children learn to write and read by heart. From that first “I love you” sentence, they build: I love … I see … I like … I can … I have … Daily repetition of these sentences builds writing fluency.
Start here: Learn from Nellie Edge with three free seminars
Sign up to watch and learn from the Masterclass seminars that changed thousands of classrooms
For more than thirty years, teachers like you have left these Masterclass intensives ready to teach differently. Then they went home and watched their classrooms come alive. Early learners sang, signed, and wrote their way into reading, and the joy came back into teaching.
Now you can watch all three seminars free. Sign up below to get your link to our free teaching library.
More free resources to grow confident, joyful young writers
Whether you teach kindergarten or first grade, work in special education, or teach your own children at home, you're in the right place.
Try any of these free guides and see the same joyful, multisensory strategies Nellie has shared with teachers nationwide, with real photos and writing samples from real children becoming writers.
Visit our Resources page to see more free guides and Nellie’s teacher-favorite bundles on Teachers Pay Teachers.
FREE: Kindergarten-friendly Handwriting Lessons Good handwriting is one of the most important skills we give young learners. This guide shows you simple, joyful lessons that work.
FREE: How to Create a Moveable Word Wall Turn a magnet-friendly steel oil pan into a moveable Heart Word wall. Learn how and when to add new writing-to-read Heart Words.
FREE: Drawing Templates Children love to draw, write, and make books with Heart Word sentences. These simple cat and dog guides show them how.
More praise for Nellie Edge and Heart Words
I absolutely love this program! Integrating handwriting with sight word practice is amazing! Very authentic learning.
— Jessica H.
I love this resource for my guided groups, and I love the heart word sentences that come with it.
—Shakti B.
The joyfulness that is always embedded in Nellie’s materials is so meaningful for me and how I teach my littles. Thanks again, Nellie!
—Kathy M.