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

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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!

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Snack Graph

My husband didn’t eat many “Sugar cereals” (as he calls them) when he was a kid. I, on the other hand, ate cinnamon toast crunch, reese’s puffs, fruit loops, and all the tasty stuff on the cereal aisle. So when I brought home “Fruity Cheerios” the other day my husband had a skeptical look on his face when he said “these taste like fruit loops.” So I respond, “Yeah, they’re great right?” And he responded with a comment about it being a sugar cereal, but I disagreed and I still claim that its Cheerios so it can’t be that bad for you.

Anyway, all that to say, in my Kindergarten class I LOVED to graph colorful snacks like fruit loops, gummy bears, colorful goldfish, etc.
So, I made a graph for you so that you can graph your colorful snack, whatever it may be, at home!

Colorful Snack Graph

All you will do is ask your child to take their serving of their snack and see if they can sort the colors into the right columns that line up above the color name. Then, when all the pieces are in place, you can ask your little one some of the following questions…. but some of them might be inappropriate for their level of understanding “number sense” – so dont push it:
– Which color of your snack did you have the most of? How many are there of that color?
– Which color of your snack did you have the least (or the smallest amount) of?
– Were there any colors that had the same/equal amount of that color snack?
– Which colors have more than 5? Less than 10?

The point is to teach your little one how to use and analyze a graph. This is a learning experience for YOU and your little one. You should feel proud of yourself for attempting this because you are introducing your little one to an activity that causes him/her to use higher order thinking skills to navigate his way around this visual data chart that he assembled….pretty advanced for such a young mind huh?

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Make a Phone Book

Alright, I know not many of us use hard copies of phone books anymore. Most of us use google, online white pages, etc. to find what we need. But, one element I LOVED in a classroom dramatic play center that would be GREAT in your home playroom is to put a homemade phone book by an old phone and allow your little one to role play calling their special friends.

Kids LOVE to roll play and this little activity gives them number recognition practice, familiarity with names starting with different letters of the alphabet, and research skills because they have to “look up” the names to call the characters.

My suggestion for how to make the phone book is to go online and find printable coloring pages of your children’s favorite TV or movie characters like Woody from Toy Story, or Dora the Explorer, etc. (try to find coloring pages WITH the character’s names on them), print them, and write made-up numbers on each page. Allow your child to color the pages and then place them in ABC order (you can even buy the alphabet dividers and make a binder of character’s numbers if you really want to be fancy). Another more simple option is to find an old coloring book and write the names and “numbers” of the characters and use that as a phone book.
Either way, jazz up the idea to your kids and get them excited about calling all their favorite “friends.”
Here is one example from PBS kids COLORING Pages:

After you print it you would add the number (I saved it as a screenshot, opened it in Paint, and added the text number just to show you what it might look like)

 

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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!

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