Home-made Computer Fun! (Diffidently no IPad)

In-laws in town this past week = lots of running around town and not enough time for blog!  Sorry this post is short and sweet!


 Something that I'm truly beginning to love about homeschooling is the ability to really let your children drive your instruction!  For example, I (the teacher) had BIG plans for our word wall and family name cards last month, but my boys are enjoying the name cards so much right now.  MY PLAN (a month ago) was to put the cards up on our ABC word wall right away, but that plan quickly changed!  So this is what I did with them:

Moved a pocket chart into Jackson's room along with family name cards and added a keyboard.  Jackson practices "typing" his "I see..." sentence or the family names.  And Nixon is great at picking out his cousin Landon's name card and walking around the house with it.  It's also been a great way to see how they use them during independent playtime. Proud to say that even Nixon has "read" the "I see" sentence in his own little way!
Here's more pics of the set up!

Told ya!  Short and Sweet!  This week, we will be getting back on track with learning at home!  So I'll be sure to keep ya posted on what we decide to do with these name cards!  

Happy Learning Everyone!

Mini-Mathematicians

"It is THAT time!" said Jeremy, when I asked him what was the next step we needed to take for creating mini-mathematicians in this house!  We both decided to "move forward" after we were sure Jax understood sorting, counting verbally to 30 and using one-to-one correspondence using manipulatives,  more/less and a few other skills.
 So here's how I started intro to addition, last week...VERY SIMPLE!

Index card folded in 1/2 to make 2 sides, a foamy dice (Dollar Tree) and some round dot stickers

Keep in mind, my whole new idea in planning for my "school at home project" is to "work smarter, not harder"!  I do this by planning activities that can be used for Nixon AND Jackson.  (Same materials; different  lesson focus)  And keep in mind, we made these cards (in about 5 minutes) and then used them in a lesson 3 days later!
Here's what we did:

Nixon - fine motor skill development/one-to-one correspondence = peeling and placing stickers on cards while I count
Jackson - used dice to see how many stickers he need to stick on each side of the cards to make it "look like a domino"

I HAVE A VIDEO OF THIS LESSON BUT IT'S NOT UPLOADING!  I WILL TRY AGAIN OR JUST EMAIL ME (mommyslittlelearners@gmail.com) AND I WILL SEND IT TO YOU!

Dominoes are great way to introduce addition!  We just decided to make our own = child's ownership and to develop other skills.

This week, we are using foods (goldfish crackers, mini-marshmallows, cheerios) and placing one on each sticker of our homemade dominoes.

Once again, this helps Nixon with counting and one-to-one correspondence while Jackson is introduced to addition (for example: he puts 4 cheerios on one side, then 4 cheerios on the other side of this domino...pushes them ALL TOGETHER to see the "sum" of his addition problem.)  Hope this makes sense!

What a fun way to make your little learners into mini-mathematicians!

Color Bags - Littlest Leaners

One of Nixon's skills this month is learning his colors! Our focus colors are red and yellow. Just picked these two colors to start with mainly because he LOVES Lightning McQueen and he just happens to be Red.  Added Yellow because when you mix red and yellow together, it makes Nixon's favorite color...Orange!  Perfect for when we paint with red and yellow!

Jackson and I created these Color Bags for Nixon.  One afternoon, I handed Jackson a galloon zip-lock baggy and asked him to put 5 Red things inside. "Easy Breezy", he said as he handed me the bag.  So then, he worked on the Yellow Bag.  I added a few things as well before showing them to Nixon.

Nixon with his Red bag

Nixon with his Yellow bag, but more interested in the book that I picked out to go with this skill.

 I cut out a simple rectangle out of construction paper and taped it on the front of each bag.  This helps Nixon and I with sorting skills (which colored object goes into which bag)  I even included the word "red" and the word "yellow" (written in their colors) on sentence strips.  This is more for matching up the word with the color.  But more useful for when Jackson is working with us because he can "read" the color words on the sentence strips and put them in the correct Color Bags.

Here's Nixon and I working one day while Jackson was resting...

I don't "formally instruct" him everyday...he is only 16 months.  Right now, he learns so much more through mommy-baby talk and Big brother-baby brother talk during play.  So I'll keep it that way!

I keep Nixon's Color Bags in a Basket in the kitchen along with some books on Colors.  He enjoys dumping the bags out (to find the Red Tractor), plays for a few minutes and then he is usually off to something else!  I usually invite him back to help clean up.  And this is when I add a sprinkle of instruction.

Other "Bag" ideas?
Shape bags, Letter/Sound Bags, Touch and Feel Bags

Got some ideas? I'd love to hear them!

From "Letter list" to "Word Wall"

***Might wanna read "My Name is" post before this one...it'll give you some schema for this post***

If you saw our kitchen at home, you'd see one of our many, "mini-classrooms" that are set up all around our house!  And the kitchen seemed to be a place we always are...so it's pretty much turned into our main learning location.  Plus I like the fact that I can multi-task if the kids are doing some independent work/play!  I have no problem cooking a meal while shouting and slapping letters on our new WORD WALL! (Jax is very proud of it !)

Everything we do, I make sure that both boys (now that Nixon is old enough) to have a sense of  "ownership" in each of our projects.  If I put things up or make books without their input, they show zero interest in it.  But if they are involved, they gain some pride and it becomes apart of them and their learning.

Now on to the Word Wall...FYI it took us about 1 week to get all the letters up...and this is the fun way we did it!

I would lay the alphabet letters (bought at Lakeshore) out of the floor and the boys would use a new&clean flyswatter to slap the next letter...then we use the flyswatter to point and "read" the ABC song to find out what comes next.
(I have a video of this somewhere in my files but can't find it!)

Nixon using his "word wall"while sitting on Tank (good dog)

Now that Jackson is reading and writing his name...we are on to bigger things!  WORDS and READING:0)  I'm so excited (and such a reading dork)! Here is our fabulous word wall!  

Word Wall (Nixon has a placemat sized abc chart-bottom right corner)
-Words COMING SOON!

Didn't throw away letters from our "Letter List"  - just hung them above his work space in our kitchen/classroom - he refers to it ALL they time when he writes his name!

Since we just returned from a Texas trip where we got to see LOTS of fabulous family members, I figured it would be our first step towards Word Wall excitement!  So I printed off pictures of family members and wrote names on sentence strips. (boys in blue marker, girls in pink: just a good visual when teaching young readers.  Gives them another clue if they are trying to read that name)

Here is Jackson finishing up our lesson one night.

Side note - I am really trying to plan my curriculum/learning games so that I can differentiate my instruction for a 3 year old and a 1 year old.  I keep the same focus/skill for both kiddos, just make it more 3 year old friendly or littlest learner-friendly.

For example: 

Focus/Skill:Names

Nixon's task: finding faces of family members using pictures - I would say "Which picture is of Uncle Nick?" And he would point to that face/picture of "Uncle Nick"

Jackson's Task: to match picture with actually name of family members written on Sentence Strips then use glue stick (fine motor skill)

We have only put up one name for now because I haven't done a "lesson" on how the word wall works.  But because we had a Fathers Day card for Daddy this past weekend, but HAD to put him up! 

This week, we will be working on how this wall really works and will be adding our family's names.

Some of you might not have the wall space/giant sliding door for a wall at home, so create a family photo book using cheap, plastic photo books or add pictures into a 2 litter coke bottle with rice and have your littlest learners learn names in a fun way.
A few more ideas: play matching games while reading names - create matches for boys (Day and Bob-o go together because they are both grandpaws) or by beginning sounds.
You might even make a family "train" using these cards from youngest to oldest!  Bet you observe some funny chit-chat with your learner if you try this one!  BUT ALWAYS REMEMBER TO make them apart of making anything!  They will show pride and ownership!


 Would love anyone to share ideas with me!  Feel free to leave a comment.
  
Happy Learning with your Littler Learners!

Sing it! Read it! Love it!

I am so sorry about not blogging in a good month!  My excuse....It's SUMMER TIME, baby!!!  We spent 2 weeks back in Texas with family.  I had every intention to post a few blogs while I was there, but it just didn't happen!

But thought I'd share this idea real quick!  I'm going to bed in 10 minutes!  

If you come into our house, the TV is usually off and music is playing!  OR music is playing on the TV!  

Because we LOVE songs, I made a rebus puzzle for the boys using one of our favorite songs..."The Itsy Bitsy Spider".

Just used some sentence strips, clip art pictures laminated onto stickynotes, and a pocket chart.  

If you know Dr. Jean songs, you know that she can't sing AT ALL, but she is wonderful at making FUN music for learning.  

The fun twist to this classic children's song ...she changed the lyrics from "Itsy Bitsy Spider" to "Big, Fat Gorilla" and "Teensy Weensy Ant" which is why my kiddos LOVE singing this song!

This simple activity promotes:

*Left-to-right reading ready skill

*Sight word introduction

*Phonemic Awareness 

*Picture to Word match-up 

(1 minute until bed time)

So Happy Learning with your Little Learners!

And google Dr. Jean Feldman...she has an amazing blog and website!

Trash turned into a teacher's treasure!

My littlest learner, Nixon, is really into "opposites" right now.  Anything that he can open/shut or put in/ take-out will keep him busy for a good 10 minutes! (enough time for me to teach Jackson a quick homeschooling lesson or start some dinner)

My husband keeps asking my WHY I am collecting trash in a Target sack in our kitchen!  Plastics with a lid are my favorites!!  My answer...just turning our trash into my teaching treasures!
 Here's a great example for recycling trash AND help build your littlest learners fine motor skills...

All you need is:
1 Clorox Clean up Wipe Container with lid (once it was empty, I washed it in the dishwasher to get all the cleaner out of it)
ALOT of babyfood lids, milk lids, large magnetic letters or just about anything that makes a fun noise when you drop it into the Clorox container. **Just make sure it's not to small!**

I usually dump out the contents, then put the yellow lid back on.  Sometimes I sit with him and count as we drop and other times I just let him explore on his own.  I've even added a magnetic wand that he can use to pick up the lids.  He LOVED using that and so did Jackson! 

Wanna "bump it up" for your older Learners? 

 Use 2 different containers for a Letter Sort: one container holds lowercase letters 

while the other container holds uppercase letters

Start with a mixed-up-pile of upper and lower letters.  

OR

To segment words and hear their sounds use 3 different containers: 

Drop letters in each as you "sound spell" the word.  

1st container - /c/ (drop in magnetic letter C)  

2nd container - /a/ (drop in magnetic letter a)  

3rd container - /t/ (drop in magnetic letter t)

Then ask your child what word you just stretched out..."cat"!  Dump all the letters out of containers and put the letters together to spell the word c-a-t!

Something so simple~ that I haven't seen on Pinterest, yet :0)

Enjoy learning with your littlest Learner and all of your little Learners!

Show me what you know, Jax!

I knew there HAD to be a way to check Jackson's understanding on specific skills that we have been working on!  After weeks of reflecting on how to get this done...this is what I came up with.  I just started it yesterday (May 8), so I'll keep ya posted on if it's something that we will continue to use or if we will try something new.  But today, this worked, just like I had planned!

Meet our Morning Work box!  

I actually don't really like this title, but it's all I could really come up with.  Jackson's best time for independent work and play is first thing in the morning or right after nap (because once he gets going, he doesn't stop!)...so that's how I came up with such a "fancy title"!
I am also going to add a "Morning Work" icon/flip card to his morning procedures (see Morning Procedures HELPS your Mommy post)

Here's how I organized the inside of this old file box:

3 different colored hanging file folders that holds independent work and materials inside.  I wanted EVERYTHING to be stored so it's a "grab and go do" kind of deal.  I hate looking around for paper, crayons, scissors!  I feel like it breaks up the focus and momentum for big and little people.  I have an obsession with always being prepared and thinking ahead!

Plastic Wipe Container that I slide into folders that can hold  crayons, scissors, gluesticks, stickers, or sticky notes!

And the Clothespin clips are for showing me that he is finished with the work that he choose (see next picture)

Jackson shows me that he is finished by flipping around the clip that shows the blue sun sticker.  

This morning, he picked his Highlights Magazine page that has the Hidden Pictures exercise on it.  For the past 3 subscriptions, Jackson and I have been doing this activity together.  I've showed him how you circle the small picture once you've found it in the BIG picture.  Then mark an "x" through the picture you've found to let you know..."YOU FOUND IT!"
  Check out his independent work!  

I'm so proud!

He clearly understands and has applied what  I've taught him!  What an amazing feeling!
I pointed out the GREAT things that he did on his work!  He said that he was finished for the morning, but needed to  keep his clip turned around (no sunshine showing) so he could finish it another day.  Fine with me!

Keep in mind that the material that I am putting in here are skills and strategies that we have worked on for months!  This is a tool that I am using as a teacher to see if what I am doing is effective for my student!  I even plan to just throw in some fun stuff like a "Free time on the computer" card to research something we've been learning about or some blank paper just to doddle on!   Just to keep the interest there for this lil 3 year old.

And does he HAVE to do his "Morning Work" every MORNING?... Nope!  That's why there's only 3 folders...Jackson can pick which folder and what day/time of day he would like to work on them.  I am a teacher and a mother that believes ALOT in giving children the choice to choose!  Builds independence and reasoning skills, right?

Happy Learning with your Little Ones!

Quick and easy ideas

My "dinosaur" of a computer is running super-slow tonight!  So I'm gonna make this a quick one!  My patience is shot after a day with no naps (for either boys) and NOW a computer that wants to take it's precious time...grrrr! Here's a few here and there ideas for you to try with your little learners:

Do a Puzzle...add some labels!

I can't get enough of sticky notes!  They are the best things to keep around for labels, lists, or just a fun way to get your kiddo writing!  

Thanks to Pinterest, we enjoyed this little Science experiment using magnetic letters, construction paper and the SUN!

It also gave me to the chance to assess Jackson on his name knowledge!

Think your little learner might be ready for reading?  Try this first!  

I was curious to see if Jackson REALLY knew the difference between Letters and Words, so I made up this mini-assessment.  

I made the HUGE mistake of saying "You can have candy for a snack if you just do this for Mommy!"  Check out how fast this sort goes...and how wrong it went!

"One over here...One over here...one over here...One over here!  Now where's my candy?"

So we tried it again...and I think he clearly understands the difference between a word and a letter...

Happy Learning with your Little Learners!

Morning Procedures HELPS your Mommy!

Jackson's has turned into the "I can do it...by MYSELF" kid already!  I was hoping his dependency would hang around alittle while longer...but he is a WHOPPING 3 years old now!  So grown up!  And if you are ready to be independent, buddy, then all that does it help your momma (and makes me sad at the same time...sniff, sniff)

I have been going back and forth about Jackson having a chore chart.  My "mommy brain" was telling me that he just wasn't there yet.  BUT...
we could always start with Morning Procedures!  If this works well, then we'll start with chores maybe this summer.  All this could do is make my life ALOT easy!

And if I can handle teaching morning procedures to first graders, this should be a piece of cake, right?
This is what I came up with!

First, I took 4 pictures of him actually doing his "morning procedures" today!  1) Go Pee Pee 2)Wash your hands 3)Brush your teeth 4)Pick out clothes
(Four task/pictures, at this age, is a good number...not to many, not to little)

I printed the pictures and typed in a short question sentence at the bottom of each picture. "Did you wash your hands?"  (Because THAT'S the question I ask EVERY morning)

I stuck a number using scrapbooking stickers at the top of each picture to show sequence/ordinal numbers
(Math Lesson coming soon!)

On the back of each card is a smiley face and "Yes I did!" in text!  I added fun stickers just to make it look...well...fun and like an accomplishment!

Next step... LAMINATE and hang!

The idea: after every procedure is done, then he flips the picture over to show me "Yes I did!" it!

I just introduced this to him today (Sunday), but it officially starts tomorrow!  I'll let you know how it goes!

Happy Learning with your Little Learners!

My little Animal!

My littlest learner, Nixon, is really starting to understand language these days!  He can use it when he signs, when he wants something (using usually his pointing finger and a squeal) or when a certain "someone" messes with him (using his SCREAM!)

His first words were Momma (thank you very much!) and Elmo!  Yep, ELMO!  He has never seen an episode of Sesame Street or Elmo's World, but this boy has been to Busch Gardens just about every week for the past 6 months and Elmo is everywhere!  We even got a picture with that furry, red thing and his buddy Big Bird.  Being that it was the cutest picture EVER, it made the fridge!  But I never knew THAT picture being up there would help Nixon say his very first word!

Think about how many times you walk in and out of the kitchen as a mom?!  And I don't know about you, but I usually have a baby on my hip!  So EVERY time we would pass that fridge, I would stop, point and say names of people in THAT picture..."Elmo, Big Bird, Nixon, Jax and Addie (my niece)"  After about 4 days of this, Nixon started pointing and saying "Elmo".  Ta DA!  Who would have thought?  So....

...I pulled out these amazing animal cards, slapped a piece of magnetic tape on the back and put them on the fridge.  And EVERY time we walk to and from the kitchen, we stop and talk about the pictures.

Sometimes we talk about their sounds, maybe their colors, or the word/name/letters printed on the animal card.  Just talking to your child can be an amazing thing!  It's so cool the language (good and bad) that they can pick up from us!

Something SO simple has become SO effective!  The best confirmation that this lesson is working is when Nixon reads a book with Jer or I, he is pointing and saying animal sounds!  Yippy!  Happy Mommy/Daddy and a Happy Teacher!  Way to go, Nixon!

We have, now, added pictures of family members back in Texas.  I think I need a BIGGER refrigerator!

Happy Learning with your Littlest Learners!

M is for Monkeys, Money and Muffins!

Nixon was turning 1 and his birthday theme was "Sock Monkeys"!  I'm thinking that is where Jackson got the idea for learning about monkeys...cute boy!  So off to the library we went and checked out every Curious George book they had.  I threw in a few non-fiction monkey books too.

Before this thematic unit, I had noticed Jackson had the letter N and letter M mixed up when he was asked to recognize them "out of context".  He knew Nixon's name began with the letter N, but would get confused if I asked him what "N" was by itself.  Boy Howdy, after these lessons we have no problem recognizing N and M!  Something must have clicked!

My first lesson (picture above) with Jax was a literacy/math combo lesson!  And it really helped with his small-motor skills as well.
Literacy Focus: Letter M; Sound
Math Focus: Sorting and patterns revisited - we had been doing sorting and patterns for about 6 months.  This was a mini-assessment to see if he really "got it".
Small Motor Skills - Money pick up, glue and stick in circles

I found this great website (http://totschool.shannons.org/) that has all the "Dot Marker" print outs.  I use these ALL the time!  We've used round stickers, money, fingerprints and yep...our Dot Markers.

After talking about the shape of the letter M and the sound that it makes, we sorted out our pennies from our dimes.  I started sorting them, then gradually handed over that job to Jax.  Before I knew it the whole bowl was sorted into 2 different piles.

He was still interested in the lesson, so I continued with my A(penny), B(dime) pattern assessment!  Once again, I showed him what I wanted him to do, then gradually "released" the responsibility to him.  Here are two, great videos of our lesson!

Jackson got an "A+" on this assignment and he proudly hung his "Money M" up on the fridge.  It only took 15 magnets because it was so heavy, but it was totally worth it!  A few weeks later, we picked off the money and put it into his piggy bank.

For our "Fun with Food" Friday lesson we made Muffins one week and then made Monkey Bread the next!  Friday's are our favorite days of the week...cooking for fun AND Daddy comes home from work for the weekend!

I actually NEVER played  the game "Barrel of Monkeys" until now!  Jackson, Nixon and I had LOTS of fun with this simple (and cheap Target $4.99) game!  We even used them on our Monkey Vines, later...

Another quick and fun Math lesson, was making Monkey Vines.  We decided to make 5 different vines and hang them shortest to longest.  Later (I didn't get a picture) we hung monkeys on them using the "Barrel of Monkeys" game pieces.  I just used a hole punch in the last green ring, and the monkeys hung from there.  I'd have to say, it turned out pretty, darn cute and Jackson was very proud of his Monkey Vines.

In another post on Making Books, I showed our "Where's JoJo?" book that we made.  Making this book was part of this thematic unit on Monkeys!

Sideways...sorry!  

And the BEST part of our Monkey Theme was celebrating Nixon's First Birthday!  

Happy Learning with your Little Ones!