2011 June

Shape Guessing Game

Today I wanted to tell you about a little geometry game for little ones that you can modify for your young learner. If your little one is already familiar with several two-dimensional shapes (squares, rhombus, trapezoid, circles, etc.), then you can accommodate and teach your little ones three-dimensional shapes (spheres, cylinders, cones, etc.). I know you might be thinking….you want me to teach my 3 year old what a trapezoid is? And I say….why not? Teach the simple and basic shapes first, but go ahead and introduce the “fancy” shapes that your little one will learn later anyway.

If you have not yet invested in some form of pattern blocks, you might want to….OR make them yourself by printing some shapes onto cardstock and cutting them out.

Basically, you want to teach your little one shapes by introducing the shape, some of its features (how many sides, how many sides are the same, what types of things in the house are shaped like it, etc.) and then you can play the following guessing game to see if your little one can become familiar with these shapes.

Basically, with my lack of artistic ability, I wrote on a brown bag and drew shapes to make it my official shape grab bag. There are three ways you can play (more if you are creative):

1) Place shapes in the bag and have your little one pull one out and guess the name of the shape. If he/she gets it wrong he has to put it back in the bag, but if he/she names it right he gets to “keep” it.

2) Place shapes in the bag, and grab hold of one without taking it out of the bag. Describe the shape you are feeling to your little one in detail as best you can. Draw the shape in the palm of their hand with your finger, or use other ways to hint at what the shape is until they guess it.

3) Place shapes in the bag, and have your little one stick their hand inside and describe the shape to you until you guess it.

June 17, 2011 by Jessica | 0 comments

Mystery Letter Game

When I am working with beginners on reading simple books, I like to do letter-sound warm ups like today’s activity. But this activity can also be done without a book in hand, just by using your surroundings.

I would simply use an alphabet spinner like the one below, a scattergories dice, or a grab bag of letters (or ABC flash cards) and just have the little ones stick their hand in the bag and pull out a letter….so any of these 3 materials will do.

Then depending on what letter is chosen, ask the little one to name the letter, the sound and to find something in their book that starts with that sound….it can be a word or a picture, but for beginner readers it is better for them to find a picture because then your little one will learn the strategy to use the picture clues to help them figure out the words in a book.

This game can also be played by having your little one look around the room for something that starts with the letter-sound chosen.

June 15, 2011 by Jessica | 0 comments

Father’s Day Ideas from Kidspired Creations

As I was brainstorming some fun and educational activity ideas for you Mommy Teachers for Father’s Day, I couldn’t get Casey’s ideas out of my head so I wanted to share them with you all.

Not only did she share her very own Father’s Day Craft idea HERE that I thought was so perfect, but she also has a project for Teachers that I thought is a perfect Father’s Day gift for the office as well…. Check it out HERE.

You can put your own personal touch on these projects, as far as the materials go, but these ideas are too great to pass up.

You need to read about these ideas but here is a sneak peak:

June 13, 2011 by Jessica | 0 comments

Sorting Letters of the Alphabet

Two days ago I decided that my next post was going to be on sorting letters of the alphabet because every time I teach letters I make my own sorting mats. This is a great skill for children to practice, not only because it is a grade level expectation for children, but because it is a skill that teaches children how to organize data and focus on grouping based on similarities and differences. When children can do this with letters of the alphabet it gives them a stronger memory recall for the letter formation and the aspects that make up a letter.

Usually the mats I make have three columns and usually look something like this: Alphabet Sorting mat.

Other ways to sort include 1) upper and lower case, 2) tall letters, short letters, and letters “with a tail.” 3) letters in my name vs letters not in my name, etc.

Casey must have read my mind because she shared with me this AWESOME idea from a cool blog.

You can make your own game pieces the way she did, you can use magnetic letters, or other loose alphabet pieces you have around the house, or you can cheat all together and buy the following game from lakeshore:

Sort & Learn Alphabet Center

June 10, 2011 by Jessica | 3 Comments

A Puppet for Every Letter of the Alphabet

When I teach little ones the alphabet or awareness of the sounds for each letter of the alphabet, I like to incorporate visuals that can represent the letter – like stuffed animals, puppets, or dolls. Each week that I focused on a different letter I had a stuffed animal or puppet as a mascot for the letter all week. I would use the puppet to speak for me: “______ do you see anything that starts with the /_/ sound?” or the puppet would “help me” introduce the letter by telling the little ones how to make the letter, how to make the letter sound, how to match the uppercase letter to the lower, and how to find things that started with the letter-sound by using the puppet as a clue.

When using a puppet/stuffed animal as a tool, it is easy to grab the attention of a child….even if you feel silly at first. It also pays off in the long run because it really helps your little one to recall information about the letter and letter-sound based on the memory of the puppet you used to teach about it. You can write a letter on a small blank card and attach it to the stuffed animal or not. It can be simple or a little more detail-oriented, but just use your resources and take it one letter at a time.

Initiate the stuffed animal letter awareness by stating something simple like: did you know that your doll’s name starts with the letter “s” and it stands for the sound /s/ like silly, spots, stripes, and soda? What other things in our house start with the same sound as Samantha? Maybe Samantha can help us find some other things that start with “s.”

I used a sock puppet snake with some stripes and spots glued to the top as my “s” puppet, because I was given a set of puppets based off of the awesome oldschool books:

They have stories full of alliteration made up about each puppet and DIY puppet making tutorials as well. “Alphabet Stories” is printables. “Alphabet puppets” is for all you crafty people who like to sew.

But, you know you….just do what you can do 🙂