Sequencing - The Mommy Teacher

Thanksgiving Headdress Activity

Today, I am sharing a template with you so that your little one can make a personalized headdress.

I always loved doing holiday crafts as a kid, so I am trying to keep that tradition going!

I got this craft idea when I went to my son’s Thanksgiving Feast.

The kids wore headdresses and one class had Native American nicknames written on their headbands, but I thought it would be cute to try it on the feathers.

I thought, I could do that. And as you may know, I like reproducible activities.

So, I made this template for you.

The feathers have upper case letters, lower case letters, and numbers so there are lots of directions you can take this craft.

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When I did this at home:

My goal today was simply to get Sean Patrick to put the letters of his name in order after I scrambled them up, and give him a fun accessory to wear to go with all of his little Indian songs he has learned.

So, I scrambled them up and asked him to find the letters in his name. He found S, then ‘e,’ then ‘a,’ then ‘n,’ etc., colored them, and then I taped them onto his headband that I cut from a brown paper bag..

You Could:

1) Use this as a number order activity or assessment by teaching your little one to put the feathers in order from 0-9 and then mix the feathers up and see if your little one can put them in order himself.

2) Let your kiddos come up with names for their stuffed animals, put small feather headbands on stuffed animals heads (use a print setting that prints multiple pages at onto one sheet of paper to print small feathers).

3) Place paper feathers on the inside of construction paper to give it a pop of color if you don’t print them onto colored paper or if you children don’t color them in much.

4) Or, come up with something original and share it on The Mommy Teacher Facebook Page or as a Mommy Teacher Spotlight because we are always looking for more ideas to do and to share!

A creative mommy-teacher friend of mine put her own twist on this activity, and I love it! Had to share:

November 24, 2013 by Jessica | 0 comments

Food Fun

Hi! I’m Casey from Kidspired Creations! I have been a guest blogger a few times on The Mommy Teacher am very excited to now be co-blogging with Jessica! I am a former Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten teacher and am currently a stay-at-home Mom of 3 little ones ages 5, 3 and 10 months.

I have to admit that despite my best attempts, not all of my Mommy Teacher moments get the best reception from my kids. I think if I say, “Let’s make a pattern!” one more time, my 3-year-old might throw a toddler tornado-sized tantrum.

Yes, my kids can get burnt out on lessons from this Mommy Teacher; however, I know how to win them over every time: food, particularly pizza.

I recently saw a recipe on Pinterest that involved cutting zucchini in half long ways, carving out the insides and filling them with various deliciousness. I decided that these “zucchini boats” would make great pizza crusts! This idea perked interest with my kids so quickly that I couldn’t prep fast enough.

Zucchini Boat Pizzas

-Ingredients: zucchini, pepperoni, mozzarella, pizza sauce

-Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut zucchini long ways and spoon out a trench on the inside. Spread a few spoonfuls of pizza sauce inside. Fill with mozzarella cheese. Top with pepperonis. Place on the oven for 15-20 minutes or until zucchini is tender.

Easy peasy… and so delicious that even my super-picky 3-year-old was digging into the “green crust.”

Here are the different skills we covered while making our pizzas:

Math

– Sequencing: “What is the first step to making our pizza? What comes next?”

– Measuring: “How long is our zucchini? Let’s measure in pepperonis.”

– Adding: “Our pizza needs 3 pepperonis. There are 2 pepperonis on the pizza now. How many more do we need to add to make 3?”

-Counting: “How many pepperonis are on your pizza?” How many pepperonis are there all together?”

-Multiplying: (for the school-aged child) “If we have 3 pepperonis on 10 pizzas, how many pepperonis are there all together?”

-Time: “Our pizzas need to cook for 20 minutes. Let’s set the timer.”

Motor Skill Development

-Pouring and spreading the sauce with a spoon

-Sprinkling the cheese using our fingers

-Using the pincer grasp to separate the pepperonis

Language Skills

-Sequencing Vocabulary: first, second, next, then, last, before, after etc.

Health and Nutrition: Learning about making healthy choices by substituting with fresh vegetables and what food groups are being included in dinner

Following Directions and Recipes: Following step-by-step or a series of directions is different than following one direction at a time. “So, I put the pepperonis on first right??? No? Well, what do the directions tell me to do?” You can take this a step further than I did by drawing or writing out the recipe for your child to have a visual to follow.

Social Behaviors: being a happy helper in the house! It is important for kids to take ownership over household tasks and doing it with a happy heart!

* * *

My kids do not like to try new things, but since they made the dish themselves they were eager to dig right in! More surprisingly was my 3-year-old who didn’t shed any tears before his taste test! That’s quite an accomplishment at our dinner table! Everyone was happy… even the baby who got pureed zucchini that was scooped out of the middle of our boats. Bonus!

March 6, 2013 by Casey | 1 Comment

FaVoRiTe Book(s)

Sean Patrick has more than one “Favorite” book. In fact, the other day I bought a book and before I read it to him he said, “Mom, read me this one. It’s my favorite book.”

So, as you can tell, he isn’t very credible if you are to ask him about his favorite book. But, I can pretty much guess his favorite book(s) based on the ones he asks me to read to him OVER and OVER again 😉 I actually enjoy teaching him new things each time but sometimes I find a gem in the book that makes for the best teaching experiences. And here is one example:

We have been reading “Curious George Makes Pancakes” a lot lately.

I always seem to look for extension activities but the following page jumped out at me because it provided the perfect set up for sequencing and retelling.

I made a copy of the page that showed how George made the pancakes (onto a piece of cardstock that I keep handy in my desk).

Then I split the page into the four steps (yikes I need a new color ink cartridge!) so that I could display them in our kitchen when we make pancakes:

When SP is a little older I will use them as sequencing cards (to observe his thought process as he orders the steps), and as retelling cards to tell me how to make pancakes.

Hope this inspires you to find extension activities in your little one’s favorite books. If so, please share on my fb page!

July 16, 2012 by Jessica | 0 comments