Beginning Sounds

The time is almost here!

I can't believe how quickly it came!

READING!!!

Macy is now interested in letters, their sounds, and how things are spelled...oh, exciting times are sure to follow!  When we are riding in the car, she asks what letter everything we pass starts with.  Then, we have to say the word accenting the first sound.  Then, she wants me to spell it for her.  

She has also really enjoyed Old MacDonald had a Farm lately, so we are spelling all of the animals in the song, too.  She can't get enough of spelling!

For an active activity at home, I took out the trusty alphabet blocks and some of her favorite items from around the house.  I give her an item, and she has to decide which sound/letter it starts with.  I only give her 3 or 4 letter/sound block choices at a time to make it a little easier but still challenging.  

Tomorrow, I plan on playing I spy with her using beginning sounds.  I spy with my little eyes something that starts with the b sound, etc.

Computer games are a favorite at our house, so here is a link to some letter/sound games that are pretty easy to navigate for a preschooler...who am I kidding, she can navigate this computer better than I can sometimes!      

      Happy Reading!  

Sensory Exploration ~ Touch

They aren't just pulling your earrings and reaching in the toilet water for nothing...they are learning about their new and crazy world!!!

So, here are some fun ways to engage your little one's sense of touch...

(without ripping your earlobe or ingesting the forbidden!)  

1. Put some shaving cream in a zip lock baggy.  Put in a few drops of food coloring but don't squish it around to change the color just yet.  Instead, let your little one do the squishing.  Fun, yet non-messy!
2. Sit in the grass with shorts on.  (don't forget that legs can feel, too and help us learn about our world, as well)
3. Make your own touch and feel book with scraps such as fabric, carpet, aluminum foil, curly ribbon, cotton balls, sand paper, etc.  You can hot glue the scraps onto pages in one of those dollar store picture albums. 
4. Put objects in a shoe box with a hole cut just big enough for your little one's hand to fit through.
5. Finger paint ~ Yes, it's messy, but so worth the effort when you get those priceless pictures!  As the weather gets warmer, don't forget you can also enjoy art outside in swimsuits and then just hose off.  Twice the fun!!!

Here is our Touchable Teachable Moment from this weekend.  What fun we had with my precious nephew!!!  (shhh!!! Don't tell his mommy & daddy about the mess!)

I hope you get to enjoy a Touchable Teachable Moment with your little one this week!!!

St. Patrick's Day Activities for Preschoolers

• Sort & Count the marshmallows in Lucky Charms cereal 
• Cut a green bell pepper in half, dip in paint and stamp on paper to make a shamrock print
• Read That's What Leprechauns Do by:  Eve Bunting

• Search for 4 leaf clovers outside
• Make a rainbow out of Fruit Loops and glue 
• Search for Gold ~ hide gold covered chocolates and let your little one find them

That's what we have planned for St. Patrick's Day.  How about you?  What fun stuff do you and your little ones do to celebrate/learn about St. Patrick's Day?

Weekend Extension ~ Jellybeans

We borrowed this book from the library 2 weeks ago and just HAD to recheck it.  Macy loves it!

It's a cute, little story about 4 friends who are all different but go well together...just like jellybeans.

Now for the extension activities and some bonus Teachable Moments...

1. Graph a bag of jelly beans by sorting them by color.  Then, put each color in a line to see which color has the most, least, same, etc.
2. Have your own "Big Book Bonanza."  If your child is too young to give an oral report like in the story, you might have them draw a picture of their favorite story or find pictures in a magazine to cut out that remind them of the story.  For even younger children, a book report could just involve you asking questions about the story and your child pointing to the correct picture in the book.  Ex.  Where is the yellow dress?  Point to the apple.
3. Visit the library!
4. Fill different sizes of containers with jellybeans.  Have your child guess which container contains more jellybeans.  Then, have them estimate how many jellybeans each container holds.  Finally, count the jellybeans in each container to see how close their estimations were to being correct.  
5. Spell "jellybeans" with glue.  Let your child place real jellybeans on top of the glue to make jellybean letters. 
6. In the story, the friends wear shirts that each have a different letter, B-E-A-N.  Cut out a shirt shape for each letter.  Then, let your child make a collage of things that begin with that letter.  They could go on a word hunt and actually write words that begin with each letter on the corresponding shirt, or they could draw, cut out pictures, use stickers, or glue small objects.  Don't forget to let them try to make a shirt with the first letter of their name on it!         

Weekend Extension ~ What's in a Name?

Macy has been really into her name lately.  As most kids are, she is proud of each letter in her name.  She loves to point out each word that has letters like hers.  "Mommy, that word has a C just like my name!" she will say.  So, with all the excitement about the ABC's (I mean the M-A-C-Y's) I can't help but try to encourage and extend her love of letters!

Here are some ideas to encourage your little letter lovers to enjoy their precious names even more...

• Write her name out really BIG, laminate it, and then give her Wikki Stixs or playdough to practice making the letters over the top of your writing.  This is also a great fine motor skill for kiddos with disabilities.
• Look in magazines together to find and cut out each letter in his name.  Then glue them on paper.
• Play I-Spy in the grocery store or riding in the car to find letters.  See how many times you can find each letter.
• Let her write her name in shaving cream or pudding on the table.
• Make a book.  Put each letter in his name at the top of a page.  Then, let him find words that start with each letter to put on the corresponding page.
• Make "bean letters" by writing her name in glue and then have her place beans on the glue. (another great fine motor activity)
• If you don't have an aversion to glitter, write his name in glue, and then let him shake glitter all over it. 

Letter exploration is one of my favorite Teachable Moments...enjoy the pride that each letter brings!   

   

Ten for Tuesday ~ Teachable Moments Outside

1. How many different types of leaves can you find?
2. What shapes or pictures can you see in the clouds?
3. What sounds do you hear?  Instead of calling them out, print out pictures of things that you might hear, such as a dog, a bird, trees blowing, and a car.  When your child hears each item have them circle or color in the picture.  
4. On a windy day, collect some things from your home or outside that might fly away in the breeze, like a cotton ball, leaves, a feather, and a scarf.  Release one thing at a time and see which one goes the farthest.  Which things fall directly to the ground?
5. After rain or when snow is melting, place a leaf in the run off water by the curb and see how far you can follow it before it gets stuck or falls in the drain.
6. Go on a nature walk to collect grass, seeds, acorns, twigs, leaves, etc. in a basket.  Then sit under a tree and make a nature college on paper with your collection and some glue.
7. Plant flowers and care for them as they grow.  How tall do they get?  How wide are they?  Giant sunflowers are a fun choice!
8. Plant veggies and care for them as they grow.  Kids are more likely to eat them, if they helped grow them!
9. Go on a bug hunt.  Let the kids take a picture of each bug and then compare and contrast where each one lives.
10.  Play, play, play!!!  Freeze tag ~ Frisbee ~ Hide-n-go-seek ~ Catch ~ Etc.