Everyday Teachable Moments - The Mommy Teacher

Blending and Segmenting Sounds

I just have to share a funny moment between my 3 year old and myself today…

I have been working on blending sounds with Leyson and today I wanted to test his understanding…

Me: “/b/, /a/, /t/. Put it together…”
Leyson: silence
Me: “/b/, /at/. Put it together…”
Leyson: silence
Me: “/b/, /a/, /t/. /b/, /at/. Put it together…bat. Let’s try another.
Leyson: “No. /t/,/A/,/k/,/i/,/t/,/u/, /p/, /ar/, /t/. Take it apart!”

I don’t think he likes blending, but at least he figured out segmenting on his own! And it’s pretty obvious that despite my classroom background, my own kids aren’t always receptive to my teaching efforts.

However, when they ARE excited about learning, how do I teach about blending and segmenting? Blending is taking separate sounds and putting them together to make a blended sound and segmenting is taking them apart, separating the sounds. That’s easy to remember, right?

I blend and segment a LOT as if it’s perfectly natural to do in conversation. My kids and I will be talking about baseball and I will say something like, “Don’t forget your baseball bat! /b/ /a/ /t/ put it together… BAT!”

(Letters inside of / / represents the sound those letters make.)

When I say “put it together” I take my two index fingers and bring them together to add a little visual to our blending efforts. And would you believe that to “take them apart” I touch my fingers together and move them apart from each other? I’d like to take credit for that simple little trick, but alas, someone got to the wheel before me.

When playing I also use toys to help me sound things out as well. Today I used Hot Wheels to help me blend the sounds together. I grabbed three cars to segment DOG – /d/ /o/ /g/ – and each time I said a sound, I moved a car up an inch. This allows your child to visualize how many different sounds are within one word. Three cars = three different sounds.

Kids really pick up on this repetition, and through that they begin to do the same thing in their heads. They can better hear the differences between the sounds in words and how sounds work together to make words. This is beneficial for when we sit down with written words and can break them down sound by sound then piece them back together. Blending and segmenting are essential skills to learn in order to be able to READ! This is also a skill that is often looked over in early reading programs that teach reading through visual repeitions such as flash cards.

Even after all this talk lately about putting sounds together and taking them apart, Leyson still missed the mark completely when showing off his baseball trophy with his name on it…

Leyson: “L…e…y…s…o…n. That spells ‘mine.'”

So just because he’s blending and segmenting does not mean that he’s reading quiet yet, but baby steps!

Side note: your child does not have to know all 26 shapes of letters and their sounds for you to begin the habit of blending and segmenting sounds in everyday conversation. Your goal for this is EXPOSURE… and through repetitive exposure, your child will begin to grasp the CONCEPT of phonemic awareness: letters make sounds, sounds when put together make words, words are separated from other words and when put together they make phrases and sentences which make up our thoughts and conversations on and on and on! When we understand this concept, we are ready to learn how to READ!

June 19, 2013 by Casey | 0 comments

Summer Break Curriculum: Community

While a lot of students across the country are just kicking off their summer, Monday starts week 4 of our summer vacation! If you are just now joining our summer quest to never hear the phrase, “I’m bored,” please go back and read Part 1 and Part 2 of our summer learning curriculum and activity schedule.

WEEK 4: COMMUNITY

This week we are learning all about where we live and the people who keep our community safe and functioning.

Vocabulary: community, map, doctor, dentist, teacher, police officer, fire fighter, waiter, waitress, chef, mail person, garbage man/woman, plumber, electrician, cashier, construction worker, librarian (the list is endless)

Role Play/Dramatic Play:

"Dental Health" From the Hive — “Dental Health” From the Hive
Use Jumbo Legos, play dough and yarn to floss your patient’s teeth!

Role play different occupations so your little one can get a better understanding on what roles people play in our communities.Use an old purse as a doctor bag, head phones as a stethescope, ace bandages, bandaids, thermometer, medicine dispenser as a shot, etc.

Use a play tool set to pretend to be construction workers and discuss the different types of things that need to be fixed in a community: houses, buildings, roads, signs, etc.

Take turns being a chef/waiter/customer, cashier/shopper, teacher/student, doctor/patient, etc.

Here is a great resource for dramatic play as community helpers: Growing by Grace.

Reading: LMNO Peas by Keith Baker

My kids absolutely love this book and I love this book because it talks about different community roles with each letter!

Visit your local library and you can find books on each different occupation.

Writing and Field Trip: Write letters and teach your older child how to address envelopes. Decorate a box to use as a mailbox to deliver the letters. Take it a step further and visit your local post office to learn how the post masters deliver mail.

Field Trip: Schedule a field trip with your local fire station!

Safety: Help your child memorize your address and phone number and Mommy and Daddy’s first and last name.

Teach your child how to dial 9-1-1 in an emergency (and also teach that we do NOT dial 9-1-1 if it is not an emergency).

Math: Counting teeth. Roll the dice and add the correct number of marshmallow teeth.

Subtraction: “Sally lost 3 teeth. How many does she have now?” Use “pliers” to pull the teeth like a dentist.

Social Studies: Draw a map of your neighborhood/community and give it to your child as you walk around the neighborhood (or since we live out in the country, as we drive around our town).

Reading Craft for Social Studies: Make a book. Either draw simple pictures or use your camera (or Google clip art) to take pictures to illustrate your book. Each page builds on the bigger picture of where you live.

I live in a home. My home is on ________ Street. My street is in a neighborhood. My neighborhood is in a town/city. My town/city is in a state. My state is in country. My country is on the continent. My continent is on the planet Earth.

I will be posting our completed crafts and activities soon from the past few weeks, so please stay tuned!!! I also pinned BEAUCOUP activities and crafts for Community Helpers! Please visit The Mommy Teacher Pinterest Board for an overwhelming amount of incredible ideas! Comment below with any other ideas for activities to teach about our communities!

June 17, 2013 by Casey | 1 Comment

Summer Break Part 2: A Theme a Week

Yesterday I posted about SUMMER SCHOOL and how we will be bridging the summer gap between Kindergarten and 1st grade for my older son, with my 3-year old tagging along in our school adventures, too. However, yesterday’s post was mainly about desk work which will only be taking up no more than 20 minutes per day.

Each week we will have a different THEME which will allow us to EXPLORE in depth different things that kids already ask a bazillion questions about. The days will be filled with discussions, field trips, science experiments and art projects that go along with that week’s theme. Will you join us on our journey to have the best summer ever???

Below I have posted activity ideas for weeks 1-3! Enjoy and help me brainstorm more ideas and comment below!

WEEK 1: SEASONS (May 27-31)

Here are a few ways that we will be exploring seasons:

Music: Four Seasons by Harry Kindergarten

And Dr. Jean’s song Macarena Months. If you remember the Macarena, you can do those motions along with this song. Who doesn’t love Dr. Jean and the Macarena? Double bonus!

Art: 4 Seasons Art Project: We will be gathering lots of random items around the house to design landscapes for each season (ex. cotton balls for snow, green leaves outside for summer, Popsicle sticks for trees, etc.)

Math and Gross Motor Skills: Sorting Clothes and dressing for each season! We haven’t put away all of the winter wardrobe yet, so we will sort through clothes and create outfits for winter, spring, summer and fall.

Writing: “What is your favorite season?”

Vocabulary: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall/Autumn, temperature, months of the year

Science/Math: reading a thermometer, exploring the tilt of the Earth and how it affects the seasons

Math: Calendar – taking a look at the summer months and seeing what we have planned

Reading: We will be heading to our library each week to choose books to accompany our themes. This is where it’s great to get to know your local librarian because he or she can help you find the books you need – maybe even before you get there!

http://www.abcteach.com/free/p/partly_cloudy2_rgb.jpg — ABCteach.com

WEEK 2: WEATHER (June 3-7)

Music: Weather Song For Kids: “The Sun Comes Up!” from Dream English Kids

“Weather Song” from Have Fun Teaching! This one is very informative and catchy!

Science and Math: charting the week’s weather by observation, predicting what the weather will be later in the day and tomorrow

Art: painting different weather scenes

Gross Motor Skills and Science: playing in the sprinkler (rain) and making rainbows

Vocabulary: temperature, precipitation, weather, sunny, cloudy, windy, rainy, storm, types of clouds, meteorology, meteorologist

Science: making water tornadoes with 2 -liter bottles. Fill one 2-liter 3/4 of the way and duct tape the two openings to the bottles (leave the caps off) together, turn your bottles upside down and gently move the bottles in a circular pattern to make a water spout inside.

Computer: Interactive Weather for Kids: http://www.theweatherchannelkids.com/

Weather Wiz Kids: http://www.weatherwizkids.com/

ABCteach: Weather: http://www.abcteach.com/directory/subjects-science-weather-10012-2-1

http://www.abcteach.com/free/t/toesrgb.jpg — ABCteach.com

Music: “My Whole Body Can Move” by Jack Hartmann

Dr. Jean’s “A Tooty Ta” always gets everyone moving and shaking!

Science and Vocabulary: Discovering Outside Body Parts (arms, legs, hair, skin) and Inside Body Parts (heart, brain, lungs)

Art: Bones Project (creating a skeleton using Q-tips)

Chalk Outlines: we will trace our bodies with chalk in the driveway and will add hair, face, clothes, shoes, etc.

Hand puppets: we will make sock puppets to use on our hands using old socks, yarn, googly eyes, markers and more

Stick Figures: drawing specific objects is a learned skill so I will be teaching my kids how to draw stick figure people

Math: counting fingers, toes, eyes, nose, mouth… What do we have the most of? How many fingers do you and I have together?

Science: the 5 senses: Hear(listening for sounds), Taste (e ating salty and sweet snacks), Touch (feeling different textures), Sight (turning off the lights and shining flashlights on different objects), Smell (flowers, different foods)

Reading: My Body by Angela Royston and Sally Hewitt

Gross Motor Skills: Exercise! Practice hopping, skipping, jumping jacks, bending, and moving your body in every way! Talk about how important it is to exercise and move your body to stay in shape!

Science, Health and Nutrition: http://www.nutritionforkids.com/

ChooseMyPlate.gov has information on nutrition for families, eating healthy on a budget, daily food plans, sample menus and recipes and more! Amazing resource!

Field Trips: Bowling! Check your local bowling alley to see if they have the Kids Bowl Free summer program!

Find a local inflatable warehouse for your child to let loose and jump away (great for long naps later in the day)!

Playgrounds with equipment for climbing and balancing!

Computer: http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/

Please post below if you have any other activity ideas for our first 3 weeks of summer! I hope you will join us on our quest to have the Best Summer Ever!!! Stay tuned for updates on our activities, projects and ideas for the our other themed weeks!

May 25, 2013 by Casey | 2 Comments

Summer Break Part 1: Summer School

Happy Summer, Mommy Teachers!!! Oh wait, MOMMY teachers don’t get a summer break! For those of us with school-aged kids, we get to spend extra time with our big kids too – which means extra busy bodies in the house.

It is really important to me to maintain some type of schedule during the summer or the kids and I could easily fall into the routine of staying in our pajamas, never leaving the house and then by 3 o’clock everyone is completely stir crazy. Because of this, I am mapping out a daily schedule that includes play dates or errands, Bible study, school time, free time and more so my children will never have the opportunity to say, “I’m bored” or “Mom, when can we play the Wii?” They will have one opportunity per day to either play the computer or video games. Summer is a time for kids to unplug (for the most part – I mean, let’s get real… even Mommy enjoys her Mario Kart).

It is also important for school aged kids to stay on track for their next school year. Many kids have to play catch up at the beginning of each new grade level because they forgot most of what they learned the year before. As Mommy Teachers, it is our job to bridge the gap between grades on both an academic/cognitive level and a social level.

On an academic and cognitive level, this can be achieved by simply doing activities to reinforce what your child learned the previous year (think back to all of those homework assignments your child’s teacher sent home) or visit the website for the Common Core Standards which is what each child should know by the end of each school year (these have been adopted by the public school systems of most states). And if your child had a super awesome teacher like my kindergartner did, chances are they will have sent home a packet for practice this summer.

Now, I am not particularly a fan of “hand outs” and worksheets, however, the 2 months off of school can break kids of the social behaviors that they learned in the classroom this year. Social behaviors aren’t just interactions we have with other people, the are also what is expected of us when we are in different social situations such as sitting in a classroom, standing in line, and waiting our turn. Just think about how those things prepared us for sitting at our office desk, standing in line at the grocery store, and waiting our turn to use the ATM machine. So, in this case, a handout or worksheet a day, where your child sits correctly in a chair, pulled up to the table (not on the floor) is more than just working on maintaining academic knowledge; it is helping them retain that social behavioral expectation that they will need for the fall when they have to sit quietly at their desks to do work.

I recently made a trip to our local school supply store (it’s like the IKEA for teacher supplies – ah-may-zing!) and purchased a few summer school supplies for my kids. Now, you can absolutely find free templates for a lot of these worksheets online (there are plenty on The Mommy Teacher alone), but my printer is B-R-O-K-E-N and this was cheaper for me than replacing the printer.

I bought 2 Summer Bridge Activities workbooks (on e for each of my boys) that are specifically designed to align with the common core standards, reward charts, stickers, lined paper, and lined journal paper. For every page they finish in their workbooks (or for when they work extra hard on a particular activity) they each get a gold star sticker (highly coveted). When they fill up the chart we will take a trip to Jump Zone (their choice) as a reward for all of their hard work.

The lined paper is to specifically practice handwriting (one area that my 5 year old struggles in) and the journal lined paper is to practice writing paragraph stories and drawing a picture of what happens in that story (a kindergarten skill). Many kids will write a story of say, going to the store, and they draw a picture of a tree. This summer we will practice creating complex stories and adding detail to our drawings. My ultimate goal is to make this activity FUN for my 5 year old because he absolutely despises writing and drawing (totally my husband’s child). I may have to ::gasp:: resort to bribing for this one!

* This weekend I will be following up with posts about our summer schedule and weekly themed curriculum, so I apologize for the clumped posts, but summer starts today and I’m already off schedule! Eep!

May 24, 2013 by Casey | 3 Comments

Playroom Toy Labels

I have been searching for a LONG time to find some cute and affordable playroom labels. I wanted labels that had a coordinating picture with the word for each of the cubbies that I wanted to label in my playroom. Well, I couldn’t find any that I loved so I made my own and love how they turned out!

I feel so organized! — The black and white polka dot theme toy labels.

I am REALLY excited to launch my newest hobby with something I have wanted to develop for so long!

I made a few different backgrounds and I am selling them for an affordable price:

[Click HERE to become a member – get unlimited access to these playroom labels and ALL The Mommy Teacher Printables including this one!

OR CLICK HERE to purchase this Sets of Playroom Labels individually from my TeachersPayTeachers Store.]

So, I hope they work for you.

I printed the black and white labels on white cardstock.

Cut them to the size of my bin.

Ran them through my Cheap Laminator (that I love!)

Scotch Thermal Laminator Combo Pack, Includes 20 Letter-Size Laminating Pouches, Holds Sheets up to 8.5" x 11(TL902VP)

and hot glued them to my canvas bins (careful… this will strip the fabric a little if you need to pull them off)

Office depot can print them onto card-stock and laminate them for you if you want to bring your jump drive there because they have paper cutters there you can use, but I like the DIY approach 🙂

I hope you enjoy them, share them, PIN them, and find them useful for years to come.

PS. Let me know if there are any other backgrounds or labels you are interested in with a comment because when I get a chance I can try to add some custom labels just for you 🙂

May 22, 2013 by Jessica | 3 Comments

Previous 1 … 12 13 14 15 16 … 28 Next