I am back in business because FINALLY, after two weeks, I have a working computer…thanks to a friend named David who helped us fix our problem. So because I am so happy about having my computer back I am doing a GIVEAWAY.
My awesome friend Lauren with Lauren Haddox Designs painted this picture for her little boy’s nursery:
I loved it so much that I took a picture of each letter, and edited it to make a set for my playroom. I am going to back them to coordinating colored cardstock and hang them from a line using clothespins. They are so stinkin cute that I had to make a set, with Lauren’s approval, for my Mommy Teachers too.
Maybe you dont want them for your playroom; maybe you want to use them as “flashcards” or make a “picture book” out of them! But however you plan to use them, here’s how to ENTER:
I have been patiently waiting to write about these mats ever since I saw them 2 weeks ago on the pioneer woman’s site. I contacted Leslie who has a super cute blog and asked if I could help spread the word about these awesome placemats because well, they are awesome! I mean, what better way for your little one to practice writing their name, family members names, practice sounding out the names of the menu items, draw the shapes or other observations they see, etc.
If you are grossed out by chalk at the dinner table, SET a kid’s table and let the adults finish enjoying their food and the kids can retreat to the kid’s table to develop their fine motor skills and enjoy their creativity. I love the thought of turning the dinner table into a learning table. The possibilities are endless really. Order them HERE!!!
My computer has had a virus for a week and a half and you would swear I am lost in my own home. We have got to get it fixed…even if it costs us. Speaking of costing us…. today we are gonna talk about MONEY, HONEY.
When I taught kindergarten one of the grade level expectations is that children can identify coins and their values. But coins can be difficult to teach unless you teach them ONE coin at a time. Kids always seem to recognize a quarter because they need quarters to buy candy haha, but the other coins all blend together in their minds. So, when I teach coins I will spend a week or more on each individual coin so that the children can really store and organize the information in their minds.
So, go on a penny hunt today and collect as many as you can and put them in a coin purse or a wallet. Then write various numbers with the cent sign on post-its and place them on toys in your child’s room or playroom. First, teach your little one about the penny. The penny is made of copper and it is worth one cent. President Lincoln is on the front and the Lincoln memorial is on the back (you can just say “a building.” In small handwriting you can read the words “one cent.” “When we use pennies we count by ones….let’s count some together.”
Explain to your little one that you put a pretend price on the toys in the playroom so lets go shopping. Tell them that you work in the store so if they want to buy anything they need to count out the right number of coins and pay you in exchange for the toy.
If your little one has already had plenty of practice with the penny, teach him/her about nickels and how to count them by fives, writing all of your value amounts on the post-its in multiples of fives.
A few years ago I decided to make my super-amazing niece a personalized ABC book for Christmas.
To start, I wrote out the ABCs in a powerpoint document (one letter per slide) and then I inserted pictures that I had of my niece and her loved ones in front of the letter that corresponded to the beginning sound, like this:
A – picture of Kaylee at an “Astros” Game
B – picture of Kaylee with her “Becca”
C – picture of Kaylee with her Uncle “Chris”
D – picture of Kaylee with her “Daddy” and so on.
I put the book to a song so that Kaylee could read it and develop fluency independently. The song was Dr. Jean’s “Who Let the Letters Out” to the tune of “Who Let The Dogs Out?” For each letter the page read “Who let the “A” out? /a/ /a/ /a/ astros and you simply replace the letters like this “/a/” with the letter sound. Then,I printed the pages onto colored cardstock, laminated them, and bound them together with a spiral.
Kaylee called my husband “Patrick Uncle” when she was two.
This would be a great book for you to make for your little one because it really makes the letter-sound associations so meaningful.
My sister, Ali (the beautiful “Mommy” on the letter M page), had a GREAT idea…. When she went to re-create the book for a friend, she started a digital book (examples are shutterfly, mypublisher, or snapfish).
Here she added a dedication and a title page with the instructions.
And here she added the words in ABC order in the user friendly way that you would read/sing the lyrics. She was going to add pictures of the word associations in the drop-boxes after she received them.
This method of making the book is really practical because these companies make it pretty foolproof and they send you the bound book which looks very professional. So, it is up to you – if you are the type of person who likes to make things by hand or if you are the type who likes to save the time and make it online! Either way, if you make one, send me a picture or attach it to the Mommy Teacher Page to share with other mommies!
Do you remember the rhyming tree from Casey’s Playroom?
I love this tree and think that if your little one is READY for this skill, then it is a great space to create. Creating spaces for interactive learning is so beneficial for your little learner, but making those spaces age-appropriate and developmentally-appropriate is MUCH more beneficial. Your child may not be at an age where the rhyming tree is appropriate for him/her; maybe your little one still needs to work on the bulk of their oral vocabulary. Think about it….if you are trying to teach your child that “king” and “ring” rhyme but you haven’t introduced those words with pictures first then your little one is going to have a hard time understanding what you are asking of them.
So, I am suggesting that you take some time to figure out what type of information to display for your little one:
1. Start with just the pictures of shapes, colors, animals, people, places, things, etc. (NO WORDS)
2. Letters –upper and lower -they can match them 🙂
3. Pictures of opposites (Big & small, open and closed, etc.)
4. Pictures of rhyming words
5. Environmental print (Burger King, Cheerios, etc)
6. After introcuding vocabulary start to include pictures combined with the words for colors, shapes, animals, opposite words, rhyming words, etc. So, an example would be a picture of a cat with the word cat written on it.
7. Sight words
8. Spelling words
Casey with Kidspired Creations shared yet another variation to her playroom Tree….an Easter tree!!! Because another GREAT way to introduce RELEVANT oral vocabulary is by displaying SEASONAL pictures and words. This gives you so much material to talk to children about the season, the holidays, and to introduce a world of knowledge that pertains to their world. Casey came up with the idea to make an Easter Tree so that she could introduce all of the vocabulary that James would be exposed to over the course of the next few weeks. So not only did Casey share her picture, but she decided to make it super-easy for you to re-create….she shared her images: Click here to get them!
Here is how she modified the tree for Easter.
And here is the close up!
And a word from Casey:
“James and I brainstormed different words that are associated with Easter and we discussed what they mean. We read “The Jesus Storybook Bible” about the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. We then wrote down our new words and searched for clip art on the computer to match. I wrote the words on word strips, and James glued the pictures with the corresponding word.
This activity is a great way to build ORAL language. I used the words and pictures of the word to help James create a visual association to what the words mean. The goal of this activity was not to have James learn to READ the words and SPELL the words, but to have him be able to understand the words, use them correctly in a sentence, and explain what they mean. Visuals help kids to learn oral vocabulary because they can now relate the oral word to a picture.”
We expect children to understand everything about the language and culture they were born into, but it takes time and there is so much to learn. Mommy Teachers have the opportunity to shape our little one’s understanding of their world, one word at a time!
