Reading - The Mommy Teacher

Scrap-Book

My niece’s birthday is right around the corner so I am making her a book; I decided to share a sneak peek with my mommy teachers.

These are some of the materials I am using:

magazine tear-outs

ribbon

scrapbook paper

hole-punch (and a drill for the cardboard)

24″ x 12″ piece of cardboard

I cut a cardboard box that creased in the middle into a 24″ x 12″ foldable. Then I covered the outside and inside with cute scrapbook paper and a fun little title “Things To Do Just Me and You.”

I asked my husband to drill holes though the entire book (minus the pages) that I will use to bind the book with a ribbon. I am going to hole punch the pages for cleaner lines.

Next, I decorated the inside with pictures that I cut out from magazines. Each page will have a little date idea for us. This page is going to say: “We can pick out your birthday cake” and “We can go to the candy shop.”

This page is going to say something like: “We can make ice cream cones.”

Each page is going to begin with “we can” so that some of the text will be repetitive and the rest of the text will require her to use her reading strategies. I will share the final product when I get it done, but for now I hope this idea gives you a fun craft-book idea to make with/for your little one.

August 4, 2011 by Jessica | 0 comments

Pop Up Books

I went to a little one’s birthday party this weekend and I bought her a gift that I would want to do with my kids….a Pop Up Book gift set.
This one actually:

And then I went browsing around on the internet and there were instructions to making your own pop up books as well as alphabet pop up books, and I loved this one:

The template is here: http://www.fonts4teachers.com/Pop_up_Alphabet_p/new_pop-up_alphabet.htm

But, I thought that if I were to make it myself I would just print the block letters onto cardstock, cut them out, and glue them onto a thin rectangular slice of paper that was folded back and forth over and over again and glue the other end to a book page. Like this:

And then, OF COURSE you need to decorate it with apples, alligators and all the /a/ sound pictures 🙂

I am all about simplicity and I think your little ones will like it all the same. Just give him/her stickers, markers, and a whole lots of crafty stuff to decorate.

You could make a numbers pop up book, a shape pop up book, and more.

Here are some templates for ABC and 123 and change the print settings to “multiple pages per sheet” to save paper:

Alphabet Color Font PDF

Numbers Color Font PDF

July 25, 2011 by Jessica | 0 comments

Late Night Root Beer Float

This pregnancy my cravings are getting the best of me! I will have very specific cravings and then feel the need to feed my craving immediately…my last pregnancy this wasn’t really the case so I thought pregnant women who did this were a little crazy haha. But the other night, I somehow put it in my head that I wanted a root beer float even though I really haven’t craved many sweets this pregnancy, I decided I needed it at that moment. So, a little after 9:00 o’clock I told my husband I’d be “right back” and he laughed when I came back home with ice cream and root beer and didn’t hesitate for a second because I made my root beer float the second I walked in the door.

I wonder how many other Mommy Teachers are pregnant, trying to keep up with your little one and a meal plan for the week. This “Mommy Moment” made me think about one of the cutest Story Cook Books I have ever seen. My best friend made a cookbook that told children’s versions of recipes word for word. So for root beer float it might have said something like “Well, you need some ice cream and maybe some chocolate syrup if your mom will let you have it. Then you scoop two, no three, scoops of ice cream in a cup and pour the chocolate and root beer over it until it bubbles up and makes it foamy. Then you can eat it, but you have to hurry so the ice cream don’t melt!” So, to make a Cook Book of these “recipes” you would write each “recipe” – in your child’s own words and maybe ask some other questions to add to that page in the Cook Book like “When do you like to eat root beer floats?” or “What other kinds of ice cream would taste good with root beer?” or even “Does this recipe fit into one of the food groups?” haha that would be an interesting answer. And then you could put a picture of your child eating a root beer float on that page of the cook book.
I think that this activity is SUCH a great collection of your child’s thoughts. While it is a keepsake it also reveals their understanding of sequential order, how they use their senses to make observations, memory recall, quantities (if you ask them specific questions like “how much root beer?” etc.
Have so much fun with this and share pictures on the Mommy Teacher Facebook Page if you make one or already have something similar to this!

July 7, 2011 by Jessica | 0 comments

Weekend Project

Reading phones are one of the new(er) classroom trends, but for good reason:

Children can practice reading (or reading strategies) independently when you give them a tool that allows them to hear themselves more clearly. When I teach little ones to read they LOVE to use these phones. I usually incorporate them when I have already introduced the book, walked through it once with them, and then allow them to read it by themselves.

This is the best time for the little one to practice his/her fluency, articulation, and reading strategies using the phones.

Maybe your little one isn’t “reading” yet….then use this phone to help them practice their sounds, rhyming, or alphabet. This phone can also be great for tackling speech issues…. http://www.mommyspeechtherapy.com has great ideas and tools to help if that is the case.

You can make these reading phones for cheap! This can be your weekend project. Get a Daddy Teacher, neighbor, or your handy tools to help you cut one piece of PVC Pipe just two inches long and attach two 90 degree PVC elbows to make a child-size phone 🙂

Or, you can cut corners and buy one:

June 25, 2011 by Jessica | 1 Comment

A Book of Laughs

One day I spent an entire day with my niece making up knock knock jokes with her. We took turns being as silly as possible. All of my jokes were reminders that I was her favorite aunt:

Knock knock (who’s there) aunt jessie (aunt jessie who?) aunt jessie your favorite aunt! and then i did the same thing about another aunt and it was her “second favorite aunt” in front of that sister haha.

But Kaylee’s jokes were actually pretty creative and it makes me a little bummed that I didn’t write them down.

If I could do that again with her, I would write down each joke on a different page and turn it into “Kaylee’s Joke Book” for her to read and to have as a keepsake. I would have her illustrate the pages and date it so that she could look back and remember how old she was when she came up with those jokes.

This sounds like a simple idea, but book-making is one of the best ways for children to learn and become familiar with concepts of print.

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June 21, 2011 by Jessica | 0 comments