I will probably be bombarding you with lots and lots of things I have been up to in the last month…
My first trimester had me bed-ridden after work, but I am 13 weeks now and feeling SO much better!
I used a lot of fun pinterest activities to gear up for Thanksgiving, so check out my Pinterest board “November Activities” to see a little of what I was up to.
We also made a classbook called “Save a Turkey” where each child drew a picture to brainstorm things that a turkey might say to get others to stay away: Eat more chicken, eat more beef, eat more fish, etc.
We did a lot of different activities about what we were thankful for.
We did math stories on a barn template to find out how many turkeys there were all together “4 on the barn, 1 on the ground….5 all together” re-stated “4 AND 1 IS 5.”
We played Gobble! Where we had words we know by site on turkeys that we flipped over to read and keep if we knew them, but if someone drew the word “Gobble” they had to put all their cards back.
We made Fall trees by painting with q-tips and fall colors.
And a lot of other little things here and there that I may add to this post (with pictures) soon….if I can gear up for it.
So, as you might know, I am a Kindergarten Teacher AND a Mommy Teacher. I like to share classroom ideas that are practical for Mommy (and Daddy) Teachers that WANT to have some supplemental learning fun with their kids at home…..
Or, maybe you are a homeschooler and you tie these fun activities into what you are already doing…..either way, don’t stop! You are making such a difference!
So, you might find this interesting…
We have a pumpkin in our class that a Reading Friend gave us. We call him Frank (short for Frankenstein) and we read to him, write to him, and teach him his ABC’s and numbers.
He has kind of become a member of our class…the kids tell him “goodbye” when they walk out the door at the end of the day. He has also given our class a sense of responsibility because he takes the role of class keeper who keeps an eye out for hard-workers and good friends.
I recommend painting a face on your family pumpkin and give him a role or two that might encourage your little ones to take ownership of their chores or homework. 🙂 Enjoy!
A friend of mine and retired Kindergarten teacher named Joy helps me in my classroom and has introduced me to one of many of my new favorite things!
A NAPKIN BOOK…. I mean, how many fun seasonal and themed napkins can you find at dollar tree or even leftover from birthday parties of ages past?!?
All you need to do is make labels with a chosen title and a space for your little “author” like “By ___________” and stick it on the front….. Unless you find an awesome napkin like Joy found that says “Boo!” which is the title of our frist napkin book.
Then print a fun sentence that coordinates with the book like “Boo said the __________.” multiple times on a single page, Cut it out, and staple it inside the napkin.
To make it that much more fun, Joy found Halloween themed stickers and that is going to be the illustration of each page of the book.
She even made a legend so the kids will know how to write the words in the free space of their sentence.
I love love this activity and will be making lots of books like it 🙂
For the last two years I really wanted to order Pottery Barn Baskets and Liners because I thought they were so cute, but SO expensive…even on sale! So, I attempted to make my own by going to my friend and neighbor’s house who could teach me how to sew elastic on the end of fabric to attach to a basket. But, she helped me pull together a GREAT idea instead….all thanks to a MISTAKE my husband made!!!
I saw these super cute, SUPER cheapbaskets on a stand at the PRODUCE market nearby:
And I chose this one for JUST $6!!!!:
I sent my husband to the store to buy pastel blue and pink FABRIC and he came back withBANDANAS because he thought they were “cooler” and only cost $1.79 a piece!!!
So, I brought them to my friends and said “What can I do with a basket + a bandana?”
And this is what she came up with:
1) Place the bandana in the basket with the corner’s lining up AROUND the basket handle.
2) Place something in the basket to weigh the center down.
3) Tie knots around both handles using the corners of the bandana, adjusting as needed after both sides are tied.
4) Tuck the extra material through the basket handle and hot glue it to the underside of the knot.
I started adding step-by-step teaching tips for some of my recent Busy Bag activities that Sean Patrick is experimenting with but this is taking me some time for a few reasons:
1) I like to introduce one activity every few days and really spend time maximizing the teaching opportunties from that “game” as Sean Patrick calls them.
2) I am a mommy teacher so I don’t spend much time on the computer – this blog is my hobby and I try to carve out more time in my day actually spending time working with and playing with my little ones 🙂
3) I like to spend time adding teaching tips for older children as well because I believe that EVERY activity can be and should be accommodated to each individual child.
So….at that….here is another activity….and one just in time to make use of all those Easter Eggs floating around your house 🙂
Egg Counting (The Link attached has other GREAT ideas, but try not to take them at face value….make a little step by step teaching plan for each activity because a “lesson plan” can structure the pace and aid the learning process)
This activity has MULTIPLE uses… to teach counting one to one and to teach addition in the most organic way by teaching about all the ways to get to a number (1 + 1 + 1 + 1= 4 ; 2 + 2 = 4 ; 4 + 0 = 4)
I suggest that you work on counting to, or adding to, ONE number at a time.
1) Start with the smaller side of the eggs on their backs….if you are working on the number four then place four egg halves on their backs.
2) “Let’s use the Easter Eggs to see all the different ways we can count to four!” or for older kids “Let’s……ways we can add to the sum of four”
3) Place one pom pom in each egg (I switched to the small pom poms after the first try because I wanted all of them to be able to fit in one egg half when attempted) One and one and one and one is four! (four younger kids you can use “and” in place of “plus” and “is” in place of “equals” just for now while they are being introduced to adding.
3) Dump them out and say – let’s see if there is another way to fill the eggs to count to four …One, two and one and one is four so two and two more is four.
4) Continue this until you have exhausted every means of arriving at the sum of four. For older children model and demonstrate how to write out each problem.
5) Pick a number close in proximity to the number you worked on (like 5) and do it again….together this time.
6) Pick a number easier than the original number (like 3) and allow your little one to try on their own as you watch and make encouraging comments.
