5 Senses: Hearing Day 2

Last day of the 5 senses!  Next month we move onto the body...  (that's going to be interesting).

For our letter review today, we did two new things:

I made 2 sets of letter cards (I plan to add some pictures to them in the near future, but it took me quite a bit of time to make the cards and with two kids, time is a luxury).  With the cards, I took the A-D and we played memory.  We took turns picking cards and we had to say the name of the letter we found, while looking for matches.  Of course, she cheated a little, but she really enjoyed it! And she is doing a pretty good job at recognizing the letters.

Our second game was Alphabet Olympics.  I printed off the paper that tells you what each letter stands for.  We used the cards and I laid them on the floor.  She jumped to the first letter, we did the chant, the action, and the sound several times, then she jumped to the next one.  We went through A-D and then did them 3 or 4 more times through.  She enjoyed the actions and although she wasn't stellar with the chants, I figure we'll do this every week, adding that week's letter and she'll get good at it as time goes on.  Overall, I am pleased with her efforts so far with the first 4 letters.

We also of course read her "D" book from this week and she practiced writing her 4s and her Ds.  She is having a hard time separating "b" and "d", so I am going to do some research on best practices for that and add that to next week.  (Seriously, my kid is so cute.  :) )

Then on to our "hearing".  We first played "Simon Says" and she had to listen for the magic words.  She LOVED the actions, but she sucked at listening for "Simon" to tell her to do it.  She got a chance to be Simon and thought that was hysterical, telling me what to do.  Once again, she most often forgot to say "Simon Says" and then was confused as to why I wouldn't do it.  :)

Then we played "Marco Polo" hide-and-seek.  She would hide and I would yell "Marco".  She forgot to say "Polo" half the time and instead would giggle, but once again, she loves it.  Then I would hide and she would come find me.  This time she kept yelling "polo" instead of "Marco", but overall, it was an easy, fun day full of giggles.  What more could you want?

5 Senses: Hearing Day 1

Today was Syd's doctor's appt, so school was pushed back a bit.  I have been thoroughly pleased with her progress with her letters.  A few weeks back it seemed like she wasn't getting anything with her letters, but this week she has been pointing them out to me all over and has successfully been identifying As, Bs, and Cs.  So I feel like what I am doing is working, to some extent.  So why break what isn't broken?

Number 4 this week:  we practiced couting different objects, then practiced drawing them.  She was doing an awesome job at identifying her numbers 1-5 (even though we haven't done that one yet!  Like I said before, she learned that number when we lived on the 5th floor of a hotel for 3 months).  She could even go backwards and identify them, which I thought was a big deal, cuz that shows she isn't just memorizing the order, but she has learned the numbers by sight!  And we have ironed out her counting so instead of counting 1 2 3 6 9 4 9 11teen... she does 1 2 3 4!!  Yeah baby!

Letter D this week.  We read the little book (see welcome post for the link).  (Right before we read this book, she read to me the C book from last week.  I know she wasn't actually reading it as much as looking at the pictures and remembering the sentence, but she did AWESOME!  Cow starts with c. Cuh cuh cuh.  I love that she is starting to memorize the sounds!  I am optimistic about the Alphabet Olympics we are doing tomorrow that will help that even more.  After she colored the book, we did our "D Path" page, she just marked all the big and little ds with a marker.  Then she practiced writing her Ds with the whiteboard marker.

Then on to our sounds.  We read the book, The Magic Flute.  It is a picture book based on the theater production by Mozart (or something like that).  We then built our own magic flute out of straws!  It wasn't super loud, but you can distinctively hear a difference in the short straws and the long straws.  We then made her shoes into penny tap shoes. (This link was what I have on pinterest and the pictures shows shoes with pennies glued/taped to the bottom.  When I looked through the link, I can't actually find the picture, but anyway, I'm pretty sure it came from this link, since it has several other AWESOME ideas for things to do with kids).  I pulled out some pots and pans and we had our own little band!  She blew in her flute and jumped around with her "tap boots" on and I banged on the pots and pans and made beautiful music.  My original plan had been to tap out a pattern with the pots and see if she could imitate the pattern with her boots.  We never got that far.  She just wanted to switch musical instruments for awhile and then I had to make dinner.  Good enough! 

Fine Motor Friday: Stickers

This week's fine motor activity was super easy and INCREDIBLY motivating.  I took some scratch paper and wrote 1 2 3 on one page and Aa Bb Cc on another.  Then I gave her stickers and she had to take the stickers off herself, then put them on top of the letters.  It helps with the fine motor skills in the removing of stickers and placing, as well as reviewing the shapes of the 3 letters and numbers we've learned so far.  She had a great time!

(Sorry the pic is small, but you get the idea).

5 Senses: Smell

I was not super into it today.  For whatever reason, I was kinda grumpy. Normally I don't do big school two days in a row, maybe that's why today was harder to be excited about.  Maybe it's because I moved the schedule so tomorrow I could (FINALLY) get my thyroid biopsied, but during school they called to reschedule.  Well, forever reason, here is today's attempt at teaching my child.

She has got her numbers down, no big deal.  She can count to 3, easy.  And she ATTEMPTED to write a few 3s on her own.  Haha.

 For our letters we played a game where I labeled little ramekins a b and c.  Then I hid a pom pom under one.  I mixed them around, then she had to guess where it was by calling out the letter to the ramekin.  She did ok, but had a hard time with a.  I guess it had been too long.

 Then we made c with cheerios.

 For our smell we read a book about smell and then did smell jars and kool-aid scratch and sniff paint.  She had fun, though I was only half into it.

So that was our day.  And the pictures really do smell DIVINE!!

5 Senses: Taste

Since I only have 4 weeks this month and there are 5 senses, I decided to combine taste and smell into one week.  Plus they are really hard to come up with 3 year old hands on activities.  So today we did taste.  (Plus today is a holiday and I only eat sweets on holidays, so today was a perfect day to do taste and cook something sweet!)

We started with our usual calendar, weather, number and letter.  She is doing a great job at counting, we counted to 3 and drew some.  Then we started on the letter c.  We reviewed A and B and their sounds, then did C.  We read and colored her C book (same site as the B book we did last week), then identified Cs on a page by putting pom poms on them.  (This is the same activity we did with Bs where she got to stamp the "B path", only today we just put pom poms).  Then we drew some.

Then we moved on to our 5 senses taste stuff.  We read some books, a book about animal tongues and a book called "Our tongues teach us" or something like that.  Both books were a little advanced for Brooklyn and had a TON of words, so I may have skipped over the really technical stuff.

Then we talked about the 4 types of taste and she got to sample each of the 4.  Sour:  lemon (didn't like it), salty: pretzels (she LOVED them and had about 100 by the time we were done), bitter: cocoa powder (she actually liked it and kept licking her fingers and dipping them in again) and of course, sweet: marshmallows.  Obviously, her favorite (and mine).

So we then used the sweet and made a treat!  We made caramel marshmallow popcorn.  It was delicious and the perfect treat for quiet time.

Fine Motor Friday 2

Today we did a pom-pom sorting activity.  I sent the hubs to get some pom-poms and he actually did an awesome job and bought a little pack that had two sizes!  I feel like the smaller size was harder for B to pick up, but she did a great job!

I took a muffin tin and cut out little circles for every color I had in the pom-pom set.  She then had to take the pom-poms and sort them into the right spot.  Not only was she practicing her fine motor skills, but her colors and her "organizing".  There were 250 pom-poms to start with, so the last 50 she asked for my help.  :)

I also started on Tues our little "workbook".  As a teacher, that word makes me anxious.  We always tried to avoid it if at all possible.  But I guess once a week isn't going to make me a bad person, right?  :)  We only did the first two pages, where we focused on the color red.  It had her color some objects red, then trace the word red, then find something else red that we could draw in the box.  It was fine.  Though B just wanted to spend the time "reading" the book.  haha

We also incorporated some computer time.  A friend of mine suggested trying pbskids.org.  So we signed up (they offer a free 10 day trial).  I was worried that she would struggle with using our Mac since we don't have a mouse, but it took her about .3 seconds to figure out how to use the computer.  She's a genius!  And she LOVES the computer games.  We did a sorting game yesterday for about 15 mins, then today she did 15 mins of a phonics game and then 15 mins with a same/different game.  I am a huge fan and it would be an easy thing to add to the end of my planned school activities every day.  We'll see.  I am bummed it's only for 10 days, (then it goes to $10 a month, I'm too cheap for that), so we'll find another cool site!

Happy teaching!

5 Senses: Sight Day 2

Another successful day!  When I told her we were done today, she pouted for a second (until I said it was "quiet time" and she perked right back up!).

So today for our number practice we once again practiced counting to 2 using pictures, objects, and 10 frame cards.  Then she practiced drawing 2s.  She even did a few on her own!

 (Ok, so a few of the 2s weren't so good.  Hahaha)

We then moved onto our "B" practice. We reread the book we colored on Mon emphasizing the sound and words that start with B.  She is still confusing a's and b's, which tells me she can recognize that we've learned these two, but isn't solid on which is which.  Ok, that's a lie, she's INCREDIBLE with identifying a's.  She finds them in the store, in our books, on objects in our house, she even pointed one out to me on a truck that we were driving by.  For whatever reason, she can't remember what a B is called.  So we just did more recognition practice today.  We started using stamps and paint (I don't have an inkpad).  I printed off a "b path" page here.  We started at the top and she had to stamp each "b" we saw, following a path to the bottom.  She had a hard time grasping "find a b near that one" and instead just wanted to find one anywhere on the page.  She also had a hard time distinguishing b's and p's, but once we talked about how the stem goes up, she did just fine.  Towards the end she was going crazy finding them so quickly!  (And of course, we had to change colors and stamps every couple of times...)

 Then we took the big b's I had made as a reference and I let her cover them in noodles.  :)  I've read about using these kinds of crafts just to help them get used to the "design" of the letter.  Plus it was fun.

 Then on to our "sight" activities.  Today we did an "I Spy" theme, starting with an "I Spy" book from the library.  This one, "I Spy a School Bus" was very simple since it included a picture reference and not just words of what to look for.  It made it easy for her to go back and check herself or remind herself what she was looking for.

 Then we did an "I Spy" I made out of a diet coke bottle, rice, and small objects I found around the house.  I took pictures of all the objects before I put them in and made little cards so she could tell what to look for.  She kept wanting to open the bottle and take everything out to find them, so she kinda missed the point.  Haha.  But she eventually did find them all.

 Lastly, I made little cards with a type of thing to find and we went out in search of that thing in the house.  I let her put the card on the object and take a picture of it when we found it.  Here are a few.

 (Triangular was really hard, I may have assisted with this one)

I also had cards with all the colors (I spy something red), but my camera battery died, but I think you get the idea).

All in all, so much fun!  And now she's watching Monsters, Inc for quiet time.  :)  I love quiet time almost as much as she loves school!

5 Senses: Sight Day 1

I love that Brooklyn is loving "school".  She begs me for it every day.  And when she found out today was a "school" day, she kept asking me all morning, "What are we doing next?"  in hopes that I would say "school".  Love it.  :)

So today's school began with our routine, the calendar, the weather, the number of the week (2) and the letter of the week (b).  Since we lived on 5th floor of the army hotel for 3 months and the ground floor was the 2nd floor, she has been able to identify 2s and 5s for quite some time.  So we didn't need to focus on finding the 2 today, as much as counting to 2 and then drawing it.  I pulled out several objects in groups of 2 and we practiced counting them.  Then she traced her 2s.

For the letter B, we started with our "B" book, which we read together (and she colored with our "school markers"), talking about the sound the b makes and several words that start with b.  For whatever reason, she is doing a good job identifying and finding the letter, but she can't for the life of her remember what it is called.  If I show her a page with letters and ask her to find the "B", she can, but if I point to a b and ask her what it is, she can't tell me.  She keeps trying to call it a "Big A" like we did last week.  On Weds I'll do some practice showing her a's and b's in hopes to help keep them apart.  And every time we read, I'll keep pointing out "b"s and we'll practice naming them.  It's only day 1, right?  We practiced identifying big bs vs little bs (which she did great at), then we practiced tracing them.  She did excellent with the tracing.  We did not attempt straight drawing.

Then we moved into our 5 Sense activity of the day.  Since we are focusing on sight and seeing things, I decided to do a pirates theme.  We read "How I Became a Pirate" by David Shannon.  I pointed out the map and we talked about how maps help lead us to places.  So we put on her eye patch and headed out in search of our treasure!

I showed her the map and she helped identify the next location.  (I made the map myself, nothing fancy.    I found the idea here.  I just printed off the outline and the little dotted paths and then cut and glue them onto the map with hand drawn pictures of the next location.  And yes, maybe there were a few pictures she couldn't figure out on her own.  I did not claim to be a great artist).

So then we set off!  She LOVED this part.  She insisted on carrying the map until we got there and then made me hold it while she found the next "x".  (I put an "x" at each location so she knew we found it, then we consulted the map to see where to go next).  

 When we finally got to the last spot, (the fridge), we found an "x" on top of this coloring sheet.  The site has a whole bunch of color by number sheets.  I chose an easy one where we would be coloring the  letter B.  (There were only two numbers to color, 1 and 2, which was perfect for what we've learned so far!)

 As apparent in this picture, it was a little harder than I thought.  She did a great job finding all the 2s and coloring them (after an initial scribble across the top of the sheet), but she didn't quite grasp coloring the WHOLE space the 2 is in.

So she said I could help with the 1s and I quickly colored the B so we could talk about what our treasure was!  (Isn't it great how a treasure can be something as lame as a "B" to color in, and yet she was so excited!!!

So now our "B" will stay up on our school board all week (it's right in the kitchen by the table so we can see it during every meal) and we keep working on learning the name and the sound.  (The itsy bitsy letter b book does a great job at talking about the words that start with b as well as the sound, buh buh buh.  Super short, but I thought it did a great job!)

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Fine Motor Friday

Fridays are going to be our day to focus on fine motor skills.  I read a blog (don't remember which one) that talked about things kids should be able to do by the time they are in kindergarten.  It was a really comprehensive list (I should probably find it again).  As I was reading through it, I felt pretty good about things B can already do.  And I found several other things that we need to work on.  One of the things being fine motor skills.  Not that she is terrible, just that I've never done anything with her in this area.  A lot of the things I found as suggestions for activities seemed pretty simple.  And let's be honest, by Friday, everyone needs simple.  (Maybe I shouldn't admit this, but as a teacher, I was excited when a Friday was a "test day".  I know kids hated it, but it made for an easy day for me.  Until I had to take it all home and grade.)

Anyway, back to Fridays.  Our first fine motor activity was something I saw on Pinterest.  (Are you surprised?)  As I am going back to try to find the source so I can give credit where it is due, I am ashamed to say I can't find it again.  I am sorry to the person whose incredible idea this was!  Just know, it was not my own.

I told B it was a game, and fortunately, she has no idea that "game" doesn't mean, "something you think is fun".  And she definitely thought this was fun!  Building towers is one of her favorite activities!  (I mean, who doesn't love building towers all day long?)  So here it is!  Fine Motor Friday #1!  Take some skewers, shove them into a mound of playdough and let her stack cheerios on top of each other to her heart's delight!

 (I think for every cheerio she put on the skewer, she ate 2 or 3.  :) )

The 5 Senses: Touch Day 1

Today was our first day, so it was a bit of an experimental day for me, but I think it went well.  We did the warm up routine (see the previous post for an explanation of that).

We focused on the number 1.  She was able to tell me how many dots there were and how objects there were (I had gathered 1 of a bunch of things). Since it was just 1, I'm not sure if she understood "counting", but we also practiced writing 1s.

We also did the letter "a".  We mostly focused on identifying Big As and little as in isolated places as well as in books.  She has a hard time with the "a" when it looks like it does in this font.  But when it's just a "circle and a line", she can pick it out.  We then practiced tracing them with whiteboard markers with the tracing sheet inside a page protector.  One, it saves the pages and we can do them over and over, two, the fat markers are easier for her to grip, and three, she LOVES using markers, so this was a huge motivator for her to use them.  (We did need to have 5 minutes where she could just color with the markers anywhere she wants since this was a new thing for her).  We then pulled out her "a" book and read through the objects that start with a and talked about the sound that "a" makes (we focused on the short sound).  This is the part I'm not sure how much she is getting.

 We then moved on to the theme.  This month we are focusing on the 5 Senses.  This week I chose the sense of touch.  There is not necessarily a "skill" or an objective that I had in mind, as much as trying to develop the idea of school as fun for her.  Plus, sensory activities are supposedly really good for kids.  So we started with some balloons.  I took 10 balloons and filled 2 with the same kind of material for a total of 5 pairs.  She then had to feel them and find which two went together.  (Idea found here.) She did really well with the water, the sugar, and the quinoa beans.  She could match them without any assistance.  The chick peas and the black beans were too close in feeling that she needed a little help.

 We then took a bar of Ivory soap (it HAS to be Ivory) and put it in the microwave.  If you didn't know, Ivory soap expands and forms a HUGE cloud.  It is super cool to watch in the microwave, so make sure you get close to see!  (Idea found here).

 If you just play with the soap after microwaved, it turns into powder.  We did that for a bit.

 Then we added a bit of water, stirred it, added some food coloring and shaped it into different shapes.  So Brooklyn has her own little soaps!  (At first she loved mixing the soaps, but once her hands got dirty and dyed purple, she decided she hated it and made me finish.  Haha).