2011 February

Read A Songbook!

I love to sing. More than that, I love to sing to kids. Whether I am singing “This is the way we pick up our toys…”

Or “This is the day the Lord has made…”

Kids seem to be mesmerized by music, and shame on me, but they are so pleasant when they are in a trance.

Today, I want to help you mesmerize your little one for academic purposes, and maybe even for a quiet car ride on an errand run.

The cheap-o that I am will warn you that you may want to invest in a binder and sheet protectors for today’s activity, but you can technically do without it.

This is a songbook that I made for my sweet little friend Carsyn. I wanted it to be meaningful because I was filling it with a lot of educational songs too. So I simply uploaded a picture of her into a word document and picked a fun font (Kristin ITC).

Then I simply picked the songs that I targeted with the skills I wanted to teach her at the time. The FREE printables for these songs can be found at Kelly’s Kindergarten, Kid’s Count under School Is Cool Big Books , New Jack Hartmann Big Books, and Dr. Jean Big Books, as well as Dr. Jean.org.

Print them and put them together in sheet protectors back to back.

The book will be unique depending on the songs you pick.

If you are an over-achiever like me, you can download the songs you picked to print and make a CD that goes with the book. Or find a friend who has a lot of children’s songs on their computer and borrow.

**Sing-along books are great for SO many reasons**

Sing-along books:

Make it easy to follow along with the pictures and words.
Engage and maintain a child’s interest.
Help children follow along with print, one word at a time (one-to-one correspondence).
Teach children to read independently and with purpose.
Teach skills through rote memory (just from hearing a “Days of the Week” song over and over a child will memorize and learn the days of the week).
Help kids connect stories with pictures.

“Carsyn loves her songbook! She reads it all the time. She loves to sing along and read it to her little sister.” ~Kasey of Baton Rouge, La

The Starter songbook I made for Carsyn were the following picks:

Alphardy –sing to learn Album by dr jean (Letter Naming and Sounds Awareness)
Down by the bay – raffi singable songs (Rhyming)
Color farm –sing to learn (Colors and Color Word Recognition)
The Shape Song – Shape-A-Loo song fromTotally Math by dr jean (Shape Identification)
Five Fish – Sing Silly Songs Album by dr jean (Adding On)
Chant and write – totally math Album by dr jean (Number Identification and Formation)
Today is Sunday –dr jean and friends Album (Days of the Week)
The twelve days of school –keep on singing and dancing Album by dr Jean (Ordinal Numbers)

February 16, 2011 by Jessica | 1 Comment

5, 6, Pick Up Sticks

I am always encouraging you to find materials in your house for teaching opportunities. Why?

1. I like to save money!

2. You are more likely to do the activity if you can access the materials right away.

3. It is more meaningful.

4. Did I already say that I’m a penny pincher?

Well, here is a GREAT idea from A Mommy Teacher named Casey and you probably even have the materials in your house already (because you can always substitute), but if not she gets her materials for this activity at the Dollar Tree….Penny pinchers think alike!

From Casey:

“This is our new math activity that James and I do. I bought all of these little tins at the Dollar Tree 3 for $1 in the wedding favor section. So, I bought 12 for $4. Then we got 1000 Popsicle sticks at Hobby Lobby for like $3. We could have used a 40% off coupon if I had it, or waited until they went on sale for 50% off to get them cheaper, but I was impatient.

With a permanent marker, I wrote the numeral on one side, and spelled out the number on the other. We do lots of different things with these…
– put them in numerical order
– put the correct number of Popsicle sticks in each of the tins
– add (he can see the quantity of sticks then count them all to see how many he has)
– subtract
– count by 2s
– find the missing number in the number line (put out the tins for 1…2…_…4… and find which number is missing)
– count backwards
– read the words for the numbers (have all of the numbers facing us, then turn one number around showing the word so he can start recognizing the spellings)
– count by 2’s

Things we do with the popsicle sticks:
– count by 5’s
– count by 10’s
– draw things in sand or rice
– use them to make squares, rectangles, triangles or letters with straight lines

Hitting lots of math standards for only $7 w/o waiting for stuff to go on sale ”

Thanks again my Friend!

February 15, 2011 by Jessica | 2 Comments

LOVE-ly After-School Activity

Ahhhhh…I remember when I was a kid and I would come home with heart shaped paper-plates, stapled together,and full of candy on Valentine’s Day. My dad wrote us poems that he would read to us (I am a grown woman and he still does this-what a sweetheart). He would then ask us about our Valentine’s Day party and we would pour out all of our candy on the floor so that my dad could “check” to make sure it was safe, picking out his favorites of course haha.

My advice for your time spent with your kiddos is an educational spin on my after-school activity with my dad.

First, the no-brainer, ask them about their Valentine’s Day. What activities did their teacher choose for Valentine’s? Reviewing is great for memory recall so be specific like “What was your favorite craft? What did you do first thing in the morning? What was your group time about? Or Did you get a chance to share today?”

Second, ask your little one to sort out their candy to see how many of the same candy there is and how many different kinds of candy there are. Or sort small, medium, and large candies.

Third, compare piles, have your child estimate which pile has more than the others or ‘the most’ (explain that most means the highest number and give some examples first).

Have a Happy Valentine’s!

February 14, 2011 by Jessica | 0 comments

Last minute Valentiners!

I am a certifiable procrastinator. And I don’t know about you, but how many of you are running around like cupid trying to buy and fill out Valentine cards, buy candy and bake cookies all before tomorrow morning?!?

Well, simplify just a bit…if it is already too late for you….remember this tip for next year!

Here is a FREEBIE (as usual because that is how I roll)…

Open Valentines Quick Templates I found on Microsoft
Choose a POWERPOINT template that your child likes from the sidebar
Download and Open
When you click Print choose to print it as a HANDOUT with 6 slides per sheet
Then Print them onto any colored paper/cardstock your child chooses
Have your child write the students name first (with your help)
Finally, have your child write their name on each card and voila!

***If your child cannot write well at all you can always insert text on the template such as to: and from: your child’s name in tracing font, but to save paper write the other children’s names yourself.

Cheap and easy and a writing activity to keep your child busy while you bake cookies!

February 13, 2011 by Jessica | 0 comments

Formation Fun with CARS

When I was chatting with my friend about her 3 year old, very active little boy, she told me how hard it can be to sit him down with a writing utensil of any kind. She often does other tactile (syn. tangible) means of getting him to write like writing in shaving cream or rice, but when I suggested “highway letters” – writing with cars, she printed them right away knowing that he would love this activity! So, here is a link to the Highway Letters from makelearningfun.com and this is how I suggest using them:

1) Print each letter onto cardstock (bought almost anywhere paper is sold…walmart, hobby lobby, etc)

2) Place them (back to back) in sheet protectors.

3) Focus on a few letters at a time.

4) Give them 5 minutes to free play with them first so they get their excitement out.

5) Show your child how to drive the car along the “A” to make the right formation. Teach them to “stay on the road”.

6) Drive the car with your child “Let’s try it together” by holding his/her hand while you do it.

7) Let your child drive without your help.