Water Creatures- Opening Activity

 With our impending trips to the Great Lakes, I decided it would be a great idea for our next unit to be water related.  So, we started out by using a Melissa & Doug Magnetic Habitat Set E has.  We talked about the word habitat, and discussed what kind of animals would live in the three habitats included in the set. 

 One by one, I would hand an animal or creature to E, and she would move around the room placing it on the correct habitat.  We also used to the time to discuss the names of each animal and anything we knew about the animals.

This was a great opening activity to get E's mind thinking about the different water creatures we would be talking about.

Bugs- Worksheet Notebook

Ever since I have been getting onto Pinterest, I have been interested in using a set of worksheets with E from  1+1+1=1.  Here you can find the link to a list of their preschool packs, including the Pretty Bugs packet that I printed out, cut and laminated parts of, and placed in page protectors.

I know some people are very anti worksheets, but the truth is, once kids are in a formalized school setting, they are expected to show skills on paper.  I think the pages serve a great purpose as filler activities to supplement the activities we are doing.  

This particular activity involves graphing.  E rolls the die (or spins a spinner) and charts which bug the die lands on.  It was great for her object correspondence, as well as getting used to writing in a particular box or area of the graph.  

We have played or E has completed about half of the worksheets from the packet, and has had a blast doing them.  It is great seeing her work through some of the sheets on her own, and the games allow us to work on various skills together, too.  My labels for this post will reference the packet as a whole.  A big thanks to the creators of the worksheets!

Filler Activity- April Fools' Day

For April Fools' Day, I found this adorable book at a discount store called Garden Ridge. If you have a store by you, it is worth a look through their books. Books there are typically less than $5, usually closer to $3. I would much rather spend a few dollars on a book than close to the same amount on a card!

Anyway, this book called Lettuce In by Tina Gallo. Each page is a knock-knock joke with a door flap. Knock-knock jokes are great exposure to the concept of puns and multiple meanings. Some of the jokes are too difficult for E to fully understand, but she definitely finds humor in the ones that are based on sounds (such as "Boo who?). We have read this book at least 10 times since the first reading. She now understands the sequence of a knock-knock joke, and has memorized most of the book!

Springtime- Book and Fishing for Letters

After having a few days away from "formal" activities (instead we were actually outside enjoying the very springtime weather), we were stuck inside when the March downpours arrived! So, we got back on track with the nonfiction book, Every Season by Shelley Rotner and Anne Love Woodhull. It is filled with great photos from each of the four seasons showing popular seasonal activities and how nature looks in each of those seasons.

After reading the book, we moved over to our fishing pond I set up while E was napping. It is a colorful beach towel covered with the magnetic letters needed to spell each of the four seasons. Also, I put a magnet at the end of the fishing pole so E could use the pole to catch the letters she needed to spell the words from the clings (see next post) she was using to practice her letter identification.

Catching the letters were more difficult than what I anticipated. A lot of the time E was sitting on my lap and we worked through it as a together activity. My advice would be to spread the letters out as much as possible on the pond. It is definitely a great lesson in motor skills and hand-eye coordination!

Also, if you take a peak at the fridge, E made a little pattern of her own with her letters and magnets. It was interesting to see her make the pattern on her own! What a fun rainy day activity!

The Five Senses- Review and Phonics Activity

For the first part of this activity, I created two sets of note cards, one set with the five senses written out, and the other set with pictures of the body part used for those senses. I had also picked up the rubber face puppet that E is holding to use with this activity. I used the funny puppet to read the letters and then the words on the cards to E using a fun voice. It was her job to match the picture card with the word card. This acted as a review for all that we have been talking about. Some of my pictures were not so great, so the puppet would ask her to point to his body part if she was confused by the picture. E enjoyed the puppet part of this very much, and matched up all the cards between giggles.For the second part of this activity, I had sorted through a box of lettered short bread cookies to find the letters that match up with the senses words on the cards a few days beforehand. E then would take a cookie our of the container, tell me the letter, and look for a letter to match it up with. We had never done an activity like this before, but she did a great job. She had a few letters she didn't know, and a couple she couldn't match up, but I was very surprised with how easily she accomplished this task. Of course, she kept asking if she could eat a cookie.

And, as she completed a word, I did let her eat the cookies for that word. I love the built in motivation and reward of this activity! What a fun and productive half hour!

The Five Senses- Listening Activity

Like most toddlers, E loves music and instruments. I thought incorporating these instruments into a listening activity would be both fun and challenging for E. I pulled out about seven of her instruments with varying sounds. I took a picture on the iPad to act as a reference for later in the activity, then I let E play around with the instruments to make sure she was familiar with the unique sounds that each one makes.

Then, I took the instruments over behind the puppet theater, leaving E with the picture of the instruments on the iPad.

From behind the puppet theater, I played each instrument, one at a time, and had E identify what I was playing. Being able to look at the iPad pictures was a very helpful step that I would suggest to not leave out. One thing I would do differently if I did this activity again would be to make sure to review the names of each of the instruments we were using. There was a lot of "the shakey thing" and "the whistle." I missed an opportunity to expand on vocabulary on the front end of the activity. In the end, though, E enjoyed this simple activity!

The Five Senses- Texture Activity

While shopping at a dollar store (one of my favorite places to find materials to use with E), I found this plastic dish with two compartments (a dog or cat bowl, I believe), which I thought would be a perfect container to have on hand to do sorting activities. So, I created this activity to work on feeling different textures of ribbon and twine. I knew I wanted to use the materials in this activity to do a measurement activity later on, so I cut the ribbon and twine to a short length and a long length for that activity.

I then labeled the sticks and added example ribbon to help to show what rough and smooth feel like. We discussed the words rough and smooth, we talked about how it feels on our fingers, then E began the sorting! She actually did a great job of determining the texture. The was a simple and fun activity.

Exploring Valentine's Day and Emotions- Book and Transition

As we wrapped up our discussion of Valentine's Day and Emotions (which, of course, I didn't get to everything I wanted to), I ended with another book we have read for a long time, Hugs and Kisses by Christophe Loupy and Eve Tharlet. This book is about a dog named Hugs who gets kisses from various farm animals who love him like a horse, a duck, and a butterfly. All of the pages are textured, and use description to tell how the kisses are different from his mother's kiss.

All of the texture and description lead us perfectly into next week, when we will begin discussing the five senses! I have been doing a lot of prep work, and I will dedicate my next blog post to the planning behind a cohesive group of activities around a theme.

Exploring Valentine's Day and Emotions- Crystal Growing

All over Pinterest, there have been crystal growing recipes and methods. We did ours as part of exploring what the heart symbolizes. We also did it in conjunction with exploring the states of matter (liquid, solid, and gas) since boiling the water is one of the parts of getting this project to work.

We used the recipe from http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/ht/boraxsnowflake.htm. We began by shaping pipe cleaners into hearts. I asked E to get two red pipe cleaners from the box, and she grabbed a metallic one and a regular one. I'm not sure that affected the outcome of the experiment or not (using the metallic one), but I didn't have the heart to tell her to put it back. She also helped me get the yarn to tie the hearts onto the popsicle stick we used to hang the hearts across the jar.

As the water was boiling, we measured out the Borax into a cup to dump into the Mason jar. I made sure I was very careful with this project. After all, we were using boiling water and Borax. I did take E close to the pan on the stove to discuss once again the recent activities we had performed to see water as a solid, liquid, and now a gas. We talked about how we could tell the water was boiling, and how it is important to never go near the stove unless she asks Mommy and Mommy helps her.

We finally got the mixture all ready to go, and set it up to see the crystals form throughout the day. Unfortunately, about five hours in, we still didn't see any crystals. So, I added a little more Borax. The crystals started forming almost immediately.

This is the final outcome of the project. Although I enjoyed the process, especially talking about the states of matter, I can't say I would do this again. It was relatively boring and lacked a lot of hands-on interest for an almost three-year-old child.

Exploring Valentine's Day and Emotions- Journal Entry

The official title of this journal entry is "Things I Like and Love." Before we began on today's journal entry, I talked about some things that I like and things that I enjoy. I had cut out a bunch of "things" I thought may appeal to E one night when I was going through magazines for another project (thank you, Pinterest). I placed all of those items out on the coffee table, and we talked about what some of them were. I then told E to choose 5 items that we would write about in her journal. She picked out her items.

Today she did struggle a little bit with elaborating on why she liked the things she had chosen. I did some modeling (Mommy likes ice cream because it tastes good, it is fun to go get ice cream with you, and because I love chocolate). She still had some trouble, but we finally got through it. I know that by working through those tough learning experiences she is beginning to understand that she can eventually get through a challenging situation, and she is smarter than what she even thinks she is! I have been reading a lot lately about the importance of fostering resiliency in children, and I think working through challenges without giving up is a good way to build that important characteristic. Also, she is hopefully beginning to understand that her Mommy will not give up on her...another important lesson!

Exploring Valentine's Day and Emotions- Book and Journal Entry

Today we read the book I Like It When... by Mary Murphy. As the title and cover imply, the book is about actions that make the baby penguin and parent penguin happy, such as holding hands, helping around the house, and reading stories. We read the book, and then went through the book a second time with E reading to me, using the pictures to help guide her. No...she is not able to actually read YET, but she practices all those other literacy and comprehension skills every single day. You would be amazed at how many middle school and high school students I have worked with over the years who do not have skills like using graphics to help further understanding and rereading to help solidify comprehension.

We then did a journal entry where E answered questions (and I wrote the answers) to finish the statements "I like it when Mommy/Daddy/our dog/my friends..." Her answers are surprising, hilarious, and simple. Try it for yourself!

Exploring Valentine's Day and Emotions- Introduction

The first unit we are beginning is Exploring Valentine's Day and Emotions. I like the idea of introducing a big concept first, then going from there. I began by talking with E about the idea of feeling and emotions, giving her examples of times she has felt happy and sad, then giving some examples of times I have had more complex emotions which she has witnessed (and probably caused) like frustration and excitement.

Next, we used these cards (a past gift from her Gigi) to explore the concept a little more. The cards show little scenarios that express an emotion, with the opposite emotion on the back. E can tell the difference between a positive and negative expression/emotion, but has a small vocabulary when it comes to being specific about what they are feeling. That is something pretty simple for us to work on.

If you don't happen to have these cards sitting around, another great way to explore emotions of people is to simply flip through a magazine and find faces and situations to explore the same types of emotions.

We did about half of the cards in the box in one sitting, planning to come back to the activity in a couple of days. But, later that afternoon she brought them to me and wanted to continue. We expanded on the pictures, telling little stories for what might have made them feel what they were feeling.

To expand, I have been very conscious of using descriptive vocabulary for how I am feeling and to describe how she is feeling. It is a good vocabulary builder for both of us, and a good lesson in cause and effect, as well. (When you are being cooperative it makes Mommy so joyful!)