Hmmm…. I have a child napping and one at a birthday party that my husband brought him to. Adding those little nuggets together equaled getting my fingers to the keyboard and writing a long overdue post. You know me, I am SIMPLE. An idea can go a long way.
One idea you can take today and run with it (in your own way) is introducing the concept of addition if you havent already. You can start with language as simple as “You plus mommy equals happy together” OR “One cookie and one more is two for YOU!”
Addition sounds scary, but it is so important when kids start realizing that two groups of numbers can be put together to make one new number. And there are so many fun ways to practice…. drawings, crafts, and it gets really fun when you incorporate food 🙂
I usually start out by introducing the language for a while, like I mentioned earlier (examples are: and, is, more, plus, equals, together).
I cant help of think of that cheesy song “You (plus sign) Me (equal sign) us” that I’m pretty sure was one big joke and I actually cant believe I am bringing it up in this post…. don’t judge hah 😉
Then I simply incorporate all of this into every day learning opportunities like….
“Daddy has a fishing pole AND Sean Patrick has a fishing pole. How many fishing poles do we have all together?”
If he doesn’t know then I would say “Let’s count!” and then, “So, one and one is TWO.”
After there is familiarity with the language, I bring it to a more concrete level by adding our snack time foods together or adding two groups of blocks to one tower.
Finally, we might draw pictures to represent adding, and then introduce word sentence in writing (one and one is two) and then the symbols (+,= ).
Your turn mommy teachers…. how do you use addition in your every day home environments…. send pictures for me to share and post ideas for other moms to see! jessica (at) themommyteacher (dot) com.
Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day y’all! Today is packed with purpose, historical and monumental.
So many great discussions can take place in your house on Inauguration Day; AND, who could pass up the chance to celebrate the day that we remember such a powerful figure in the Civil Rights Movement…. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
It is a quick read, but I mean, if this doesn’t inspire you I don’t know what will!
I didn’t snap pictures from today, but with my two year old I mostly introduced vocabulary today while we watched the Inauguration…. like “President” and “Speech.” etc.
I shared the following picture on my facebook page but I wanted to also share it here. My kindergarteners made these simple books (from an idea on pinterest) and it is a beautiful depiction that we are in fact created equal.
(She wasn’t finished coloring but I think the way she colored the clothing too is adorable )
Okay, so today I am going to reveal one of my GREATEST math resources for little ones…. it is an OLDSCHOOL book that is still relevant and always will be for teaching number concepts.
WHATEVER YOU DO…. DO NOT BUY A NEW COPY OF THIS BOOK! Buy a used one….. it is an old book and there are TONS of afforable copies!
If you are a homeschooling mom then you do not want to pass this up, but whether you are, or aren’t, this is a great activity book.
It is informative, and extremely hands-on. If you worked on one “game” a week from the book and did it every day by the time you get through the progression of the activities your child will truly understand the foundations of math, and I wouldn’t be surprised if your child embraced math from then on.
This book is outdated in appearance but NOT content. There are more updated books broken up into Book 1, Book 2, and Book 3, but they are just visually more appealing. If you get the cheaper old school book you wont regret it.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I have been soooo busy soaking up time with my little ones as a working mom that I haven’t made time for posts. But I assure you, I have TONS in the “Posts Drafts” Section of my website that I my new year’s resolution is to share 😉
Here is a quick share for you…
My sister showed me this Montessori Crosswords App that her TWO YEAR OLD was playing and I immediately wanted it on my phone for my little one. It amazes me how many tools there are in the tech world these days and I love learning about them.
This App is a letter-sound matching tool that sounds out the first, middle, and ending sound of each word one letter-sound at a time. A child matches the letter to its sound by dragging and dropping the letter in the correct space. If a child isn’t sure what letter matches the sound, he/she can click on the question mark at the top to show the way the word should look. Then, the skill changes to a letter recognition skill.
I was amazed that my niece was using deductive reasoning to figure out the right letter that makes the matching sound. She was either trying different letters until she found the correct one or she was using the self-correct options to check the right letter.
See what I mean here:
This App is great for ages 2-7 in my opinion. It is a great pre-requisite for phonetic spelling.
My two year old has known all of his upper case for almost a year, but this is a great tool to help him with lower case letter recognition by changing the letter case option to lower.
I don’t like to buy apps but this is one that I caved in and forked out the $2.99 because I know what a reading benefit this kind of tool can be. Check it out and let me know what you think.
The Montessori Numbers App from the same group is pretty great too! It covers Numbers, Quantities, Numerals, Numerals from quantities, and tracing. Awesome skills to build on!
Leave a comment with other Apps you like….I love to check them out and see what’s out there 🙂
Hi, Mommy Teachers! It’s Casey, stopping by from Kidspired Creations! I am Mommy to James (5) who just started Kindergarten, Leyson (3) and Lena (6 months). I currently stay at home with the younger two but I taught Pre-K and Kindergarten before my Mommy days.
Leyson and I were playing (learning) today and were toying around with different Busy Bag Exchange ideas. We will be participating in a Busy Bag Exchange soon where all the moms participating bring gallon baggies filled with simple, hand-made activities for each of the kids who will be there. If 15 moms participate, your child has 15 new Busy Bags full of super fun (and educational) activities!
Leyson and I came up with 3 different ideas today and I thought they would all be fun to share with you Mommy Teachers!
PATTERNS:
We used word strips (found at the Dollar Tree for, you guessed it, $1 per package) to glue colored squares in AB, ABB and ABC patterns. I cut additional colored squares for Leyson to COPY the patterns on the strips by placing each of the colored squares below the square on the strip. This will get him used to making patterns. Saying the color out loud reinforces the pattern so he can also HEAR the pattern (helpful for an auditory learner – someone who learns better when hearing information).
After he was able to copy the pattern, I then taught him how to EXTEND the pattern. At the end of the strip, he must finish the pattern by placing the appropriate colored squares that would come NEXT in the pattern.
The next step is to create his own patterns without looking at the strip. From there you can create more complex patterns! The options are endless! Patterns are difficult to understand, so it might take a little time for your little one to be able to catch on.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?:
Kids are so funny when it comes to learning how to spell their own names. Most often kids learn how to spell their names before they completely understand the concept that letters make words when put together. Take my son Leyson, for example; anytime he sees a word that starts with an L, he says it spells Leyson. He thinks he owns the letter L. The same goes for the letters E, Y, S, O and N… he owns them all. You see, for young toddlers, they will not understand that the ORDER of letters actually makes a difference when spelling words.
Even in my kindergarten classroom, students who knew how to spell their names would sometimes slip into the idea of “owning” all the letters in their name and would write their names out of order. LUIS would spell his name UILS… still thinking that it spelled the same thing. Even more common would be for kids to write their names backwards (SIUL)… and several, get this, would write their names in mirror image! I can’t even do that! All of these are totally normal progressions when your child is learning how to spell his/her name, so here is an easy activity to help:
You need two word cards (or index cards). Write your child’s name evenly and legibly on each card. Leave the first card whole, and cut out each individual letter on the second card. First, have your child put each cut out letter on top of the letters on his/her name card, matching letter for letter. Then, have your child put his/her name together underneath the name card. Last, take away the name card and have your child put together the letters to spell his/her name from memory. Be sure to say the letters out loud in order so your child can hear how to spell his/her name in addition to seeing it. Jessica had a great post on singing a catchy song to learn how to spell a name.
HAMBURGER PLAY:
This game was Leyson’s idea. He picked up a circle I cut out and pretended to eat it, saying it was a hamburger bun. Bam! Instant Busy Bag idea!
I used construction paper to cut out a top and bottom bun, hamburger, tomato, cheese, ketchup, mustard, pickles, lettuce, and bacon and we made a hamburger! Not only is this a great pretend-play activity, but it was a great way to encourage language development and sequencing. I had Leyson explain to me exactly how we should make a hamburger. I encouraged him to use words such as “first,” “next,” “then,” and “last” in his explanation. You can also add an extra element by writing numbers on each of the pieces to teach your child number order (1: the bottom bun, 2: the hamburger, 3: cheese, etc.). For the beginning reader? Write the words “bun,” “pickle,” etc. on each of the pieces and then enjoy your nice, tasty treat!
I am still brainstorming different Busy Bag ideas! If you have a good one, please comment below and share! Hopefully after the Busy Bag Exchange I will have another post for you, so stay tuned!!!
—
Casey Dellinger Hilty
“One day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.”
Teach For America
LA Corps 2005
