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What To Do With A Clinger

I was at the park with some friends and I noticed one of my friend’s little girls clinging for dear life to her dad’s leg while the other children played across the park. I know this little girl to be a VERY sweet little one, but she is just naturally shy when it comes to social settings.

So, I walked over to her, knelt down to her eye level, and asked her what her favorite area of the park was. She hesitated as she pointed to the swings. Right then, I held out my hand, and I said “Why don’t we go together to the swings and see if we can find one friend that we can play with by the swings?” She didn’t hesitate at all! She grabbed my hand and we headed over to the swings together.

Then, I called one of her well-known playmates over to the swings, and I asked my shy little friend to “use her words” and ask that friend if she would like to swing with us. She hesitated and I said it again. On the third try she asked that friend to play with her, and the other playmate gladly accepted.

After that, I stayed around for another 5-10 minutes to spark activity ideas and conversation between them, and then walked away to let her play independent of my guidance for a little while, but I kept my eyes on her in case it looked like she needed more prompting.

I wanted to share this with all my Mommy Teachers because I don’t want us to loose sight of the teaching opportunities we have in developing our little ones SOCIAL skills as well as cognitive skills. I hope this inspires you 🙂

If you have any similar stories or questions PLEASE share them with me via email: jessica (at) themommyteacher [dot] com or on my facebook page.

I borrowed this picture of my friend Casey and her kids because she is such an awesome Mommy Teacher who plays with her kids and teaches them social skills as well.

May 11, 2011 by Jessica | 1 Comment

Make a Little Book

If your little one knows ALL of their letters, upper and lower, and has demonstrated a lot of the reading skills that shows you that he/she is ready for books, then you can actually start making books and teaching him/her “sight words.” Sight words are common words in books that you want your little ones to know at first sight. I called them “heart” words because I told the kids I wanted them to know the words by heart. Whatever you call them, you can start teaching your little ones words to memorize and then give your little one practice by reading the new word in a SIMPLE book.

Here is what I mean by a SIMPLE book:
The book will only have about two words per page. The first word will be the same on EVERY page, and the second will be the word for the picture on the page.
So your first page might say “The cat” with a picture of a cat, and then “The dog” on the next page with a picture of a dog.

This is so that you can teach your little one the word “the” before you read the book and then ask them to figure out what the next word on the page is using some clues:
What sound does the word start with? What word tells about the picture? Does the word make sense with the theme of the book? (animals, pets, etc)

Casey with Kidspired Creations shared the book that she made with her son called “The Pets.”
Her son is reading the word “the” and sounding out the second word, but not all children will be able to sound out the second word just yet. That skill is a product of practicing other reading skills.
Here is the book that Casey made:

And here is her description of the book:

“The Pets.
the dogs.
the cat.
the frog.
the pig.
the bug.
the duck.
the pets.

CVC words, sight word “the”, 2 plural words and one “ck”, /k/ sound.”

For More on Mini Book Reading Readiness, Read:
When Can I Start With Little Books

And Little Books For Your Little Ones to Read

May 10, 2011 by Jessica | 1 Comment

And the Winner of the Art Prints Giveaway is….

I used Random.org to pick my winner and then I just couldn’t help myself….i picked the number 2 winner too 🙂
SO, the winner(s) of the Alphabet Art Prints Giveaway Are….

Rachel B.
“I would love to put these in my son’s room. He’s in love with letters and would have a blast going over them…over and over again!”

AND

Lola G.
“I am going to use the prints for my daughter on her bedroom wall!”

Congrats 🙂
I’ll be getting your address shortly via email!

Thanks again Lauren Haddox Designs for making this giveaway possible!

May 6, 2011 by Jessica | 1 Comment

Alphabet Art Prints GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!

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:

You can have UP to FOUR entries:

1. “like” Lauren Haddox Design Facebook Page

2. “like” The Mommy Teacher Facebook Page

3. “share” either one of our pages and let me know you did (either in your comment or on facebook)

4. “comment” on this post by telling me how you are going to use the prints!

The giveaway ends at Midnight on Cinco de Mayo and I will announce the winner on Friday, May 6th! Good luck!

April 30, 2011 by Jessica | 35 Comments

Personalized ABC Book

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!

April 11, 2011 by Jessica | 1 Comment