Tuesday August 25th / Feelings Photo Album
Preschooler
This is basically the same thing as the toddler idea, except instead of naming people you are talking about feelings.
This week I read a book called Touch Point: Three to Six, which described the preschool years as learning and becoming more aware of feelings. It is a time of frustration because they have feelings they never even recognized before such as; anger, jealousy, guilt, and more.
To help your child recognize and talk about these feelings, take pictures of yourself, them, and others with different facial expressions and put them in your album with labels. Sit down and "read" the book with your child and discuss these feelings. Make up stories about the emotional and why the person feels this way. Ask your preschooler if they have felt that way. Ask them to "tell me more about that." Be sure to use open ended questions that can be answered with yes or no.
What does it feel like to be angry?
What makes you angry?
What does it mean to be guilty?
Have you ever felt that way?
sad, mad, happy, loved, embarrassed, proud, joyful, silly etc etc.
Tuesday August 25th / Family and Friends Photo Album
Toddler
Buy a small 99cent photo album.
Take pictures of everyone in your family, friends, and pets.
Print and label each picture with the person's name.
Put the pictures in the album.
Sit down with your toddler and read the book.
Talk about each person and tell your toddler stories about each person or animal.
Next time you read the book have your toddler name the people and tell you about them.
Do they sit and read the book to themselves?
Wednesday August 12th / My Shoes At Night
This is a rhyme to say before bed with your child. Make sure to do the actions.
Highlight this section and print it our for yourself to remember.
Before I jump into bed at night Jump
Before I dim the light switch off the light
I put my shoes together put shoes together or move hands together
So they can talk at night make hands or shoes talk
I'm sure they'd get lonesome shake head like yes
If I left them here and there toss hands or shoes
So I put them close together put shoes or hands together
For they're a friendly pair
Sunday August 3rd / Your name in GLUE!
Write your child's name on a paper.
Outline or trace there name in glue and let it dry.
Now give them the paper and show them how they can trace and feel their name.
When they are done with feeling there name they can take markers and draw over the glue, it is a different texture than just drawing with markers.
Lastly, peel their name off the paper and look at it in just glue!
For added fun use glitter in your glue or colored glue.
Tuesday July 28th / Preschool Letter Recognition
Preschooler
You need:
magnetic or plastic alphabet letters
a bag
Show your preschooler 3-4 letters
Name them and feel them together
Now place the 3-4 letters in the bag and see if your preschooler can find the letter you ask for.
You want your preschooler to feel successful. Start with letters that are not very similar in feel such as; A T and C.
Do not use things like N and M together or lowercase d and p.
Saturday July 18th / Read! Read! Read!
Toddler and Preschooler
You need:
books
a place to cuddle up
Tips for reading to kids
Read Slow
Change your voice
Cuddle
Look at the pictures
Have your child turn the pages
Point to the words as you read
If you have read the story many times, pause, and let your child fill in the word thank them for "helping you read"
Let toddlers and preschoolers talk through out the book by naming objects, telling personal connections (I have a dog too), and asking questions
THINK OUT LOUD ... "I wonder what will happen next, I guess I will turn the page and see." or "Wow, she is really a nice girl to share with her brother" or "Oh no, he is in trouble, I think he should ..." You are modeling reading is thinking!
After the story is over, talk about it. Ask your child what happened or to retell you the story. Your child will be asked to do this in Kindergarten frequently. Then ask them what their favorite part was.
Sunday July 12th / Sign the ABC's
Have you ever considered learning the ASL alphabet? Watch the video and teach yourself first. Then teach your kids.
Toddlers:
When you first learn the ASL alphabet you probably can't sign the alphabet and sing it because the ABC song goes too fast. This is actually good for toddlers. You need to slow down and say each letter and think about the sign. It gives your toddler something to watch and they hear each letter and associate it with the sign.
The ABC song also confuses many toddlers and preschoolers into thinking LMNO is one letter or word!
Preschoolers:
They have the ability to learn the ABC's in sign. It will not happen over night but is a great way to learn letters. Once my son could sign the alphabet he wanted me to finger spell words for him. I am much better at finger spelling thanks to him! He can tell me what word I spelled if I do a short word like mom or cat. We have had a lot of fun with this but it took time to develop.
Monday July 6th / Hallway Letter Hop
Do you have a foam letter mat? This is a letter recognition activity that requires a Full Body Response. This is much better than sitting at a desk and trying to memorize letters. Get 'em moving!
Toddler:
Lay out the foam letters on the floor. Don't have foam letters? Make a set of the alphabet using stencils. (laminate them) Start with your child's name. What is the first letter of their name? This is a great letter to start with. Ask them where it is. Now show them several times. Ask them again and see if they can do it on their own. Another trick I used to teach my toddler the ABC's is that we always change her diaper on the foam letters. (Before you say that is gross.. I do not let anything touch the letters because I put the new diaper under her before taking the other one off AND it is cleaned after each change.) Anyways, I ask her what letter she wants to change her diaper on. This appeals to the toddlers need for control as well. If she says "A" and lays down on a different letter I just tell her the correct letter. Then while she is laying there I tell her the letters all around her head.
Preschool:
Be prepared to demonstrate! Preschoolers need you to model what you want them to do. Then do the activity WITH them. Lastly, let them do it on their own. This is a great formula for every thing you want them to do! Don't have foam letters? Make a Hopscotch type board outside with chalk, but put the alphabet in the squares.
Lay out the foam letter down the hallway.
You jump on the letters like hopscotch and say what letter you jumped on.
You and your preschooler jump down the Hallway Letter Hop together several times.
Now let them do it on their own.
Saturday June 27th / Fishing For Letters
This all started with buying those littler nets for the kids. I bought them to take to the cabin so they could catch snails, minnows, and other things in the lake. Then we got home and they wanted to bring them into the tub. Originally I was going to have them fish for our rubber ducks and fish but I decided fishing for letters woud be a better idea.
Toddler and Preschooler
You need:
Foam letters
Small nets (Mine cost 59 cents)
bath tub
Fill the tub, add letters, show your kids how to "fish" for the letters. Now ask them what they caught! Tell them all the letter names. see how many letters they already know. Literacy, water play, learning and fun all rolled into one!
Care Giver Info / Songs
When children learn, create, or dance to songs, they experience flow and phrasing. When the songs have lyrics children must ponder the meaning of words. And because those words are important to them, they have much more relevance than vocabulary lists or a spelling test.
-Jump Into Literacy: Active Learning for Preschool Children
Rea Pica
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