15 Ways to Learn with Playdough

Posted in Colors, Inside, Letters, Math, Numbers, Reading, Shapes by teachingeveryday

Ah, playdough. How many ways can we learn with you? Let me count the ways.

counting- Make and count objects.
patterns- Make a pattern and see if your kiddo can continue it.
addition and subtraction- Use playdough to illustrate story problems. Make a nest with five eggs in it. What happens when you add two more eggs? How many do you have now?
guess the animal- Make animals and take turns guessing what it is the other person made.
pretend picnic/tea party- Make playdough food and good conversation during a pretend picnic.
textures- Play around with different materials to make imprint textures. Use lots of good adjectives to describe them.
write letters– Practice writing letters in playdough for a new handwriting experience.
form letters- Make 3D letters to feel their shapes.
2D shapes- Play “Name that shape!” Count sides and corners of shapes.
3D shapes- Make and compare 2D and 3D shapes.
colors- Let’s be honest. Playdough mixing happens whether we want it to or not. Make it a learning opportunity to make new colors.
hide and seek- Bury objects in have your child be the archaeologist or paleontologist. Use toothpicks and paintbrushes to carefully uncover the buried toy.
cutting- Practice cutting by rolling playdough into “snakes” and cutting them into little pieces.
match the imprint- Make imprints using objects and then have your child match the object to the imprint.
retell stories– Make characters to retell and act out books. How about re-creating The Three Little Pigs?

What is your favorite way to learn with playdough?

22Apr2014

Paper Towel Writing

Posted in Letters, Reading, Sight Words, Writing by teachingeveryday

What is even better than paper towel art? Paper towel learning! Just write with markers on a paper towel. Then use an eye dropper filled with water to “explode” the words into art. I think this would be a great way to get reluctant writers to practice handwriting. Watching water transform their words is built-in motivation. And how easy would it be to set your kiddo up with a paper towel and marker to practice her spelling words at breakfast?

Use paper towel writing to practice:

letters
numbers
his own name
sight words
spelling words

17Apr2014

Rooster’s Off to See the World- Activities

Posted in Book Activity, Common Core, Math, Reading, Writing by teachingeveryday

Rooster’s Off to See the World by Eric Carle is a second-grade reading level book. It is a wonderful read aloud to younger kids, especially when read with other Eric Carle favorites. It tells the story of a rooster who wants to travel and asks several animals to come along with him.

(Common Core Standards appear in italics. They correlate with specific standards in different grade levels. These standards are used in almost every school in the country. Click the Common Core tab above to learn more.)

Practice math- Do verbal or written story problems following along with the story. 1 rooster + 2 cats+ 2 frogs+ 4 turtles+ 5 fish = how many animals in all? When the animals leave, write the subtraction problems. (first grade- Solve word problems that call for addition of three whole numbers whose sum is less than or equal to 20)
Read with voice- This book makes a great read aloud. Try out different voices for each of the animals. Pay attention to words the author uses such as purred, snapped, or complained. (second grade-Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.)
Alternatives to said– This activity goes along with reading with voice. Make a list of all the words used instead of “said.” Talk about why the author used these different words. See if your child can use some of the new words in her writing.
Act it out- Use puppets or yourself to act out the story. Maybe you could be the rooster and your child play the part of the other animals.
Write the sequel– The story ends with rooster dreaming about a trip around the world. Where would he go? What would he do? Have your child make up the rest of the story and you can write it down.
Text to self connection- Ask your child to explain when he has felt like the characters in the story- excited for a trip, lonely, or homesick. (first grade- Describe people, places, things, and events with relevant details, expressing ideas and feelings clearly)

8Apr2014

Puzzle Easter Egg Hunt

Posted in Free, Inside, Letters by teachingeveryday

My girls love finding Easter eggs, so I had the idea of hiding puzzle pieces in them instead of candy. This might be a fun way to give kids a new puzzle on Easter. Or it can just be a fun non-treat egg hunt you can have around your house any day.

Confession: my original idea was to hide regular puzzle pieces in the eggs, but they didn’t fit. 😦 Never fear! This Melissa & Doug alphabet puzzle worked perfectly. Plus it had the added learning component of identifying the letter found in the egg and then finding its spot in the alphabet. puzzle Easter egg hunt

Place puzzle pieces in eggs and hide around the room (or outside).
Bring in the kids and let them look for eggs!
After finding an egg, the kiddo needs to run over to the puzzle and put in her piece before she hunts for another egg.
To make it fair for younger players, you might want to have kids take turns finding eggs and adding pieces to the puzzle. One kid can’t go find a second egg until everyone has found their first egg and so on.

7Apr2014

Seasonal Book Library

Posted in General Ideas, Reading by teachingeveryday

I read Simplicity Parenting and it recommended de-cluttering kids’ rooms so there were fewer toys and (gasp) books available to them. I forgot the exact number, but I think the book advocated having five books out at a time for young kids. Um, we can’t do that. We started out with about five books when my oldest was born. Now we have three shelves full of kid books. I love books. My daughters love books. We have lots of books.

But I get it. The idea is if you only keep a few books out a time, it won’t be so overwhelming to kids. Five favorite books is easy and simple. Too many choices can be a bad thing. And admittedly, it is difficult to find a particular favorite book on our overcrowded shelves. I like the idea of focusing on only a few books at a time. I also like the idea of weeding out some of our books. So I took out all the seasonal/holiday books and put them away in a closet.

When it was winter, we had all of our snowmen and mitten books on a special shelf downstairs. Now that it is spring (hurray!), the winter books are gone and replaced with flower and Easter books. It makes the books a little more special and exciting that they only come out during a certain times during the year.

You could do this with any books, not just seasonal. Just put away some of your books and then create a rotating library in your child’s room. It can change every week, month, or season…depending on when you remember. 🙂

31Mar2014

10 Ways to Play “I Spy”

Posted in Car, Colors, Free, Letters, Math, Numbers, Reading, Shapes, Sight Words, While You Wait by teachingeveryday

One of our favorite car games is “I Spy.” The traditional game uses colors (at least the one I always played)…

Player 1 chooses a color of an object in sight of all players and says “I spy with my little eye something (insert color of object here).”
Other players take turns guessing objects that are the given color.
Some people allow players to ask yes/no questions such as “Is it inside the car? Is it smaller than my hand? Is on the left side of the car?”
A player wins when she guesses the object correctly. Then it is her turn to say “I spy….”

I Spy is a fun way to pass the time on a long car ride or in the waiting room of the doctor’s office. As a bonus, kids are also learning! What concepts could you work on using the game I Spy?

colors- “I spy with my little eye something blue.”
shapes– “I spy with my little eye something square.”
numbers– “I spy with my little eye three of something.” This would work best if you are in a room where the kids could walk around and easily count objects.
letters- “I spy with my little eye the letter B.” You could spy letters on billboards while you are driving, or letters on a page while you are reading.”
words- “I spy with my little eye the word go.” Again, this could work on billboards on the road or in books in a waiting room.
spelling- “I spy with my little eye something that begins with the letter C.” You could just give the first letter, spell out a whole word, or maybe even letter patterns inside the word like “ee.”
phonics- “I spy with my little eye something that begins with the sound /s/.” Same playing with letters, but this time use letter sounds.
rhymes- “I spy with my little eye something that rhymes with bee.”
adjectives- “I spy with my little eye something smooth.” This is another game that would be best played in a room where kids could feel the different textures.
measurement– “I spy with my little eye something about one inch tall.” Be sure to review unit measurements before you play. If you play this at your house, they could walk around and measure things with a ruler.

19Mar2014

Writing in Shaving Cream

Posted in Inside, Letters, Math, Numbers, Reading, Sight Words by teachingeveryday

I am a little messophobic. That’s a word, right? I love to give my kids new experiences and it is fun to watch them get messy…but the clean-up. The clean up. Sometimes I don’t know if it is worth it. Sigh. Despite my messophobia, I got out the shaving cream one day. I remember playing with shaving cream on the table when I was little and I loved it. And of course, so did my girls. Although Little Sis did not like to get it on her hands, so she used stick. Maybe messophobia is genetic?

Shaving cream might be the “fun factor” your kid needs to practice writing letters, numbers, or words. Even toddlers can practice straight and curved lines that they will need to make letters. Little Sis made lots of lines, while Big Sis did some writing. She might need a little more practice on her numbers….

And the clean up was not as bad as I expected. Luckily no one started throwing shaving cream, so it was just the table to clean up. I could wipe most of it off the table with my hands and then wash it off in the sink. Then a wet towel did the rest. Shaving cream is officially approved for messophobes everywhere.

Here’s a round-up of 67 art and learning ideas for shaving cream from The Artful Parent.

10Mar2014

Great Day for Up- Activities

Posted in Book Activity, Common Core, Reading by teachingeveryday

Great Day for Up by Dr. Seuss has a kindergarten reading level. It has short sentences with lots of repeated words and picture cues. Reading it to babies and toddlers will introduce lots of new vocabulary. Preschoolers, kindergartners, and first-graders will appreciate the humor at the end of the book. Here are some activities that go along with Great Day for Up…

Go on a sight word hunt– Of course this book is a great way to introduce and practice the word “up,” but there are other sight words repeated in the book. Find the words and, for, on, great, and day. (kindergarten- Read common high-frequency words by sight)
Count the “up”s– Every time you read “up”, make a tally mark. Then count them up by practicing skip counting by 5’s.
Make flashcards- Pick out the more difficult words in the story and make quick flashcards. Go over these words before you read and hopefully, they will be able to read them in the story. I wrote a word and a picture to illustrate it on a small piece of typing paper. If I did this for my classroom, I would use cardstock and clipart.
Sort the words- Using the word flashcards, ask your kiddo to put them into groups. What things go together? Maybe there is a group of animals, sports, or people. You’ll be surprised at kids’ creativity.
Explain exclamation points- This book would be a good introduction to exclamation points since there is at least one on each page. Point them out and talk about why the author would use them in this book. Practice writing them. (kindergarten- Recognize and name end punctuation)
Make plurals- Show how adding -s or -es to the end of a word means more than one. Make a list of plurals in the book. Make plurals out of singular words in the story like “wire” or “pup.”(kindergarten- Form regular plural nouns orally by adding /s/ or /es/)
Find the rhymes- Can they identify the rhyming words on each page? Take a close look at words that rhyme, but have different spellings like “wire” and “higher” or “waiters” and “alligators.” (kindergarten- Recognize and produce rhyming words)
Make your own “up” book– Brainstorm things that go up. Make a book together by writing a word on each page and illustrating it. Depending on the age of your child, she can color the pictures, come up with the “up” words, or even write it all herself!

5Mar2014

Slush

Posted in Letters, Math, Outside, Reading, Shapes, Writing by teachingeveryday

The snow is melting! The snow is melting! Can you see my smile through the interwebs? It’s big. We went outside to play and celebrate. And we got out hoes. Yes. I’ve never tried it before, but sidewalk scrapers and hoes easily pushed around the slushy snow on our driveway. And if you have similar driveways/weather conditions…give it a try!

We made…

straight, curvy, and zig-zag lines and then walked on them
shapes
letters
numbers
words
and our favorite- “snow castles” or the if you want to be honest…piles of slush

28Feb2014

Letter Flashcard Path

Posted in Letters, Reading by teachingeveryday

Little Sis is learning her letters. We have several packs of alphabet flashcards that people have given us, but going through flashcards is not her (or most kids’) idea of a fun time. I don’t think flashcard memorization is the best way to learn letters. However, I do like flashcards as a quick assessment tool.

I wanted to see which letters she knew, so I laid the flashcards down in a path for her to jump on. We started with them in alphabetical order so she could sing the ABCs. Then I made a new path with the letters out of order. To jump to the next card, she had to say the letter name. If she didn’t know it, I told her and then took the flashcard after she hopped to the next one. We finished with a path of letters that she knew, and a stack in my hand of letters that she needed to work on.

Other ideas to try:

making the path a zig-zag line, circle, or different shape
spreading the letters out to cover a whole level of your house…or even up the stairs!
jumping, hopping, skipping, tiptoeing, walking backwards to the next letter
building the path as you go (the kiddo says a letter and puts it on the floor to step on and builds her own path)