Thursday, May 24, 2012
little blue truck and lining up
Story: Little Blue Truck Leads the Way by Alice Shertle
Activity: playing with cars
We used this book to talk about being polite when lining up. This would be a great book for those first days of school when you are going over procedures. We used toy cars and trucks and lined them up. We even had a blue truck. We also went over ordinal numbers, talking about which cars went 1st, 2nd, etc.
Snack: little blue truck graham crackers
For our snack we made little blue trucks out of graham crackers, vanilla yogurt with blue food coloring, and blueberries for wheels. My daughter ate this up!
We used this book to talk about being polite when lining up. This would be a great book for those first days of school when you are going over procedures. We used toy cars and trucks and lined them up. We even had a blue truck. We also went over ordinal numbers, talking about which cars went 1st, 2nd, etc.
Snack: little blue truck graham crackers
For our snack we made little blue trucks out of graham crackers, vanilla yogurt with blue food coloring, and blueberries for wheels. My daughter ate this up!
Saturday, April 14, 2012
library week
Book: D.W.'s Library Card by Marc Brown
Activity: practicing writing names
This book is a great way to introduce the library to little ones. You can talk about how to get a library book, checking out materials, renewing, and taking care of library books.
Activity: practicing writing namesFor this story I was able to interest my little girl in starting to learn how to write her name. She can recognize it and tell you how to spell it, but she hasn't been really interested in writing it. She loves the library though so writing her name to get her own card has been a good motivation. I wrote it in a light colored pencil. Then I had her grip the pencil while I helped her trace the letters. Eventually, we'll work up to having her trace it or write it on her own. Then work on her full name like in the book.
Snack: bookworms
I love this idea from Sweet Serendipity!
Thursday, April 12, 2012
clouds
Book: It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw
This is a great book with simple text about the different shapes of clouds. Read it aloud to your early bird the first time then have them read it with you. Eventually, the predictable text should be easy enough for them to read it on their own.
Activity: Shaving Cream Clouds
Shaving cream seemed the best substance to imitate puffy clouds. I sprayed a bunch on the kitchen table and put out my daughters play dough cookie cutters so that she could make shapes in it. Some worked better than others. The fact that some of the shapes were harder to see, just resembled clouds even more.
Snack: marshmallows
The different sizes and shapes of marshmallows that are available make a great "cloud" snack.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
easter book list
Happy Easter Little Critter by Mercer Mayer
The Bunny Hop by Sara Albee
Owen's Marshmallow Chick by Kevin Henkes
Duck & Goose Here Comes the Easter Bunny!
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
Easter by Gail Gibbons
Happy Easter, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff
Happy Easter, Biscuit! by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
Shapes with Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
The Easter Story retold by Allia Zobel-Nolan
Here Comes Easter! by Caroline Jayne Church
The Easter Egg by Jan Brett
The Berenstain Bears and the Real Easter Eggs by Jan and Stan Berenstain
Thursday, April 5, 2012
caterpillars and ordinal numbers
Book:
Activity: pom pom number caterpillars
This book is great for practicing ordinal numbers! I printed off numbers 1 to 10 and had my daughter make her own caterpillars on the numbers. While she did this we talked about ordinal numbers: which one is first, second, third, etc. I didn't have her glue them because I want her to be able to do this activity again if she wants.
Snack: candypillars
I found a cute idea from the Celebration Shoppe to use rollos and M&M's, but I wanted something a little healthier. I used banana slices and the white chocolate M&M's. I used peanut butter to stick the candy on, but Nutella would be good too I bet.
5 components of reading suggestions:
{phonemic awareness}
have your early bird break up the word "caterpillar" into it's syllables; practice clapping, stomping, snapping, and counting the syllables
{phonics}
point out to your early bird the "r"s in caterpillar change the sound of the e and a; have your early bird find other words that the r changes it's sound, for example: horn, bird, garden, butterfly, cardinal
{fluency}
have your early bird help you read the first part of each page; "the ___ little caterpillar"
{vocabulary}
have your early bird practice recognizing ordinal numbers; print off the words or numbers and put in order
{comprehension}
quiz your early bird on what each caterpillar did
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
the amazing egg race inspired by jan brett
Book: The Easter Egg by Jan Brett
Activity:
There are lots of activities that could be done with this book (check out Toddler Approved!). I came up with my idea from reading the book and noticing that Jan Brett uses the word "amazing" a few times. I decided to focus on this vocabulary word with our own Amazing Egg Race!
which took them to the wagon...
then they took the stroller...
to a ride on Daddy's bike...
and finally a drive in her cozy coupe...
to brother who had the big prize: Jelly Beans!
This activity could be adapted several ways. One twist could be racing with an egg without cracking it.
Activity:
There are lots of activities that could be done with this book (check out Toddler Approved!). I came up with my idea from reading the book and noticing that Jan Brett uses the word "amazing" a few times. I decided to focus on this vocabulary word with our own Amazing Egg Race!If you don't know about the TV show, it's is about partners who race around the world gathering clues to get to the final destination with the big prize. The Amazing Egg Race is similar in that partners travel around to find eggs with clues in them directing them to the big Easter prize.
Setup:
1) Gather up as many kid vehicles as possible and stash them at various places around your house, yard, park, etc.
2) Print out clues directing the partners from one vehicle to the next and place them in plastic eggs. Hide the eggs on the vehicles.
3) Have a fun prize at the end!
For our race my husband and daughter became Hoppi and the Easter Bunny who were racing around the campus where we live looking for the eggs hidden on one of our rides. They started with the tricycle...
which took them to the wagon...
then they took the stroller...
to a ride on Daddy's bike...
and finally a drive in her cozy coupe...
to brother who had the big prize: Jelly Beans!
This activity could be adapted several ways. One twist could be racing with an egg without cracking it.
Snack: Jelly Beans!
5 components of reading suggestions:
{phonemic awareness}
have your early bird make up silly words using the rime -oppi and adding new onsets
{phonics}
have your early bird hunt for short e sounds in the story
{fluency}
have your early bird read the text in italics and with exclamation points with the correct emphasis
{vocabulary}
have your early bird make a face like they would when they see something "amazing"; play a game making other faces like happy, sad, mad, etc and throw in amazing
{comprehension}
have your early bird draw pictures of all the different eggs that the bunnies made in the story
Thursday, March 22, 2012
robins, nests, and clifford
book: The Little Blue Easter Egg by Sarah Fisch
activity: making a nest helper
A nest helper is a bag of things that birds could use to make their nests. We used a mesh bag from our clementines and added bits of string, thread, ribbon, and hair. We cut the string, ribbon, and thread into small pieces (3 or 4 inches in length) and then my daughter stuffed them in the bag. Then she hung it outside near her window where she could watch for birds.
snack: chocolate butterscotch nests with candy eggs
I found this idea on pintrest and they are super yummy!
supplies:
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 bag butterscotch chips
1 pouch fiber one cereal
mini egg candies
wax paper
cookie sheets
scoop or spoon
Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips in microwave for 1 min. Stir. Repeat until melted. Gradually stir in cereal. Scoop cereal into balls and place on wax paper lined cookie sheets. Press the middle down to form nest. Refrigerate until firm. Place eggs in middle and enjoy!
5 components of reading suggestions:
{phonemic awareness}
Write _est and _ird on a chalk or white board. Have your early bird write the onset that begins each word and draw a picture.
{phonics}
have your early bird list short e words like nest
{fluency}
read and have your early bird repeat each sentence
{vocabulary}
help your early bird find things around the house for the words bright, scampered, lavender, cotton, whimpered
{reading comprehension}
have your early bird draw a timeline of the baby robin's growth
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
books for a sick day
Seems like a lot of little friends have been sick over spring break. I've got a stash of books that I save for my little one when she doesn't feel like doing much else, but cuddling on the couch with a book. Here's a few of our recommendations:
How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon
by Jane Yolen illustrated by Mark Teague
Bear Feels Sick by Karma Wilson illustrated by Jane Dyer
Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon
LLama LLama Home with Mama by Anna Dewdney
first day of spring with bears
Book: Bear Wants More by Karma Wilson illustrated by Jane Dyer
Activity: building a bear den
We read Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson at the beginning of winter and discussed hibernation. For the first day of spring we read Bear Wants More and talked about what animals do when they come out of hibernation. (You could also read Bear Snores On first.)We built a bear den and my daughter took her nap in there like a bear.
Snack:
After her nap we ate berries (and some grapes that she insisted on) just like Bear in the story. Other snack ideas would be graham crackers like the honey cakes or honey Teddy Grahams.
Links to other activity ideas:
Karma Wilson's website
For a Bear Snores On and Bear Wants More event kit click here.
5 components of reading suggestions:
{phonemic awareness}
have your early bird tell you the individual sounds when you say "den"
{phonics}
have your early bird work on the r-controlled vowel "ea" by writing -ear and using replacing the consonant in front of the word to make new words
{fluency}
you and your early bird can read "the bear wants more" out loud together each time it appears in the story
{vocabulary}
have your early bird act out the words hibernate, waddle, nibble, scamper, tramp, shuffle, romp, sniff and snuffle, wail, gobble
{reading comprehension}
have your early bird draw pictures of the food bear eats and put them in order
Sunday, March 18, 2012
making rainbows
Book: The Magic School Bus Makes a Rainbow by Joanna Cole
Activity: flashlight rainbows
This activity was inspired by the book. We used flashlights and colored plates to make rainbows and talk about how the white light goes through the colored plate to make colors on the walls. Cellophane would also work.
Snack: fruit rainbows
This is a popular activity on Pintrest, but a good one. I wrote the color words on the rainbow stripes to help practice recognition. We used fruit that I thought my daughter would eat, but there's a lot of choices.
This is my daughter's version.
5 components of reading suggestions:{phonemic awareness}
have your early bird replace the onsets {r} in rain and {l} in light to make new words with the rimes -ain and -ight
{phonics}
have your early bird identify words with long a and long i sounds
{fluency}
this book is pretty long and detailed so it would be a great one to read aloud to your early bird
{vocabulary}
have your early bird practice recognizing color words
{reading comprehension}
use rainbow colored sticky notes to mark pages with questions for your early bird
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About Me
- dshrock
- I am a wife, mom, teacher, and student. I love my husband, daughter, son, and pug! I'm currently finishing a doctorate in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in reading from Baylor University, but also have degrees in elementary ed and school counseling from The University of Tulsa. I've taught in Memphis and Waco. We are now living in the dorms at a boarding school in Oklahoma for junior and senior high school students where my husband teaches.
