Reading Readiness for Preschoolers

Reading Readiness
by Donna Lybarger, an early childhood education teacher from Houston, TX.

Learning the alphabet is a major milestone for preschoolers. But in addition to being able to rattle off the ABC song, they need to learn to connect letters with the sounds they make, and you can help! As you’re out shopping, point to things as you coast down the grocery aisles. Make casual observations and ask questions, such as “Broccoli starts with the “buh” sound. What letter do you think that is?”

Use every excuse to play with letters. When your child says a word like “cat”, ask her what other words she can make by rhyming, or give her hints like, “What word might happen if you switch the “cah” sound and use a “sss” sound instead?” Challenge your child to come up with words that start with the same letter as his name, or the same letter as Grandma’s.


Make an Alphabet Book
by Donna Lybarger

Topics: Phonics, Preschool

Let your child play with scissors! Put her to work, creating a book that will keep her busy, and help her practice her letters, too. Long after all those preschool finger paintings have left the front of your refrigerator, you can look back at this book, for a glimpse at what your preschooler thought was special.
What You Need:
• Construction Paper
• Glue stick
• Markers
• Magazines, newspapers, stickers, and other materials with pictures
• Binding material (a hole punch and yarn, staples, or whatever else you choose)

What You Do:
1. Ask your child to pick 26 pages of construction paper. Take a marker and write one letter of the alphabet at the top of each page.

2. It’s time to work that alphabet! Give your child a stack of newspapers, photos, magazines, and anything else with pictures that you don’t mind cutting up. Start with the letter A and ask your child to go through the gathered materials in search of words that begin with that letter-- apples from the grocery store ad, Aunt Thelma’s picture from last Easter, an alligator from a magazine, an ant sticker… If your child needs help, you can make the sound the letter makes, to help her in her quest. When she makes a mistake, gently correct her, but without criticizing. For example, “That word starts with “eh” and the letter A sounds like “ah”.

3. After your child has collected all the images, ask him to help you label each one. Your child can tell you what the picture and you can write the name below. Or older preschoolers might want to take a crack at it themselves, writing the words with a little help from mom or dad.

4. Repeat this process with each letter of the alphabet. For tougher letters, like x, you may need to go to the computer and print out some pictures to have on hand.

5. Once you’ve finished with all the letters, stack the pages in order, from A to Z. Let your child decide on a title, for example, Michael’s Alphabet Book, and then write the name on a cover page, with a byline beneath. Let your child decorate to his heart’s content.

6. You’ve reached the final stretch! Now it’s time to bind your book. The fastest and easiest way is to punch holes in all of the pages and use yarn to tie the book together. If you don’t have yarn or a hole punch, you can use staples. Or, for a spill proof version, take your creation to the copy store and have them laminate and bind it for you.

Don’t forget to read your book! As you look over the letters, both now and in the future, you’ll remember how much fun it was to create (and how hard it was to find a picture of a xylophone!)

Name Game- Sid the Science Kid

We use this cute name game song for the beginning of our Mommy & Me Classes.

I’m looking for my friends. I’m looking for u! Hey there’s _____!! Look what she/he can do! (dance or do something funny).
Repeat until all children have gone.
We’re looking for our friends! And look what we found! We found eachother…..FRIENDS!!

At the Beach

Get your little bathing beauties ready for a trip to the beach. Before reading At the Beach by Anne and Harlow Rockwell, pack a beach bag with items you might take to the beach, such as sunglasses, sunscreen, a pail, a shovel, a towel, a book, a juice box, and a bag of pretzels. Make sure you have one item in the bag for each child. After enjoying the story together, tell the class you are going on an imaginary trip to the beach. Pass the beach bag around your group as they sit in a circle, and have each child select one item to hold. Next, sing the poem:

Let’s go to the beach
Let’s pack up right away.
Let’s bring everything we need
Fore the perfect beach day.

Now give a child the empty beach bag and have her say, “I will pack (item).” She then places her object in the bag and passes it to the next child. That child says, “I will pack (the previous item) and (his item),” as he puts his item in the bag. Continue in this manner until every child has a turn. Encourage youngsters to name the items in the same order as they were placed in the bag. If a child has difficulty remembering the items, solicit help from the class.

Source: 2002. Busy Kids Busy Days Themes Organized for the Way you Plan. Prek-K: The Mailbox. The Education Center, Inc., http://www.themailbox.com/.

Math Starts Early

Math games for very young children

Here we used cupcake holders and pans to sort and count arts and craft items. On the bottom of the cupcake paper write a number. Have your kids sort out items from the craft table and drop the correct number into the holder. For example the number 3, we would drop 3 bells from the bell pile or number 2, drop 2 buttons from the button pile. Grouping and sorting are the fundamentals of all math skills! It's never to early to start.

Math games for toddlers are ever so practical! It's all about introducing mathematical concepts and relationships to infants - which really isn't so difficult, even if you're not the world's greatest math genius!
You're probably already chatting away to your little one about all the different things that are happening during the day. Which no doubt includes the following:
things that are bigger and smaller...
heavier and lighter
less and more
tall and short
big and little

- and this is probably the most important point: if you're involving your child in day-to-day activities and explaining what you're doing, there's almost no way you can avoid comparing things or describing things. Underneath it all, you're pointing out differences - which at a later age can be measured :)
Other math games for kids at this stage involve sorting activities. Grouping things together, separating them, pairing them up... think socks, fruit, toys, or candy!

These primary skills help with later skills like multiplication (2 groups of 3 = 2x3… 3rd grade here we come!)

Sort out the toys together - cars in that box, blocks in the block box, cuddly toys on the bed
Pair up the socks from the laundry basket - what a chore!
Sort those blocks into colors - then muddle them all up again! Then sort...then muddle... fun!
Point out shapes during the day. Find square things and round things.
How about some matching fun? Matching shapes using household items or toy shapes, or shape/play dough cut outs can develop into a fun game.
Or match numbers - use a mini whiteboard or chalkboard, and write a number - now your child has to copy it. Or draw a wiggly line or a straight line - and your child copies that. And so on. Then swap roles. See if your child notices if you draw it wrong!

Do this activities every day with your little ones and help make that transition into kindergarten easier!
Source http://www.littlekidsgamesonline.com/math-games-for-kids.html

Sombrero Hats!

We are getting ready for Cinco de Mayo! Today we listened to fiesta music and decorated our sombrero hats! (googly eyes seem to make their way onto all art pieces)! :)

It's simple and fun! Print on cardstock and decorate with pom-poms. Sombrero Hat PDF