Pom-Pom Patterns

 Activity:  Making Patterns

1) Create a pattern using the colored pom-poms for the student to repeat.

Standards:

Kansas Early Learning Standard:
 MK 2  Demonstrates an understanding of patterns and relationships.

Kansas Pre-Kindergarten Mathematical Standards:
PK.2 Demonstrates an understanding of patterns and relationships (Algebra) 
PK.2.2.1.Pre4 1 Uses blocks, beads or other materials to make or extend patterns

I found this cute pumpkin ice cube tray to use for lots of activities!

Little learners can work on their sorting skills, too.

Pom-poms in a Jar

 For this activity I opened up the jar of pom pom balls and gave K a can.

K decided to fill up her can.

My can is full.

K then chose to dump the balls into the jar.

I love how little ones don't always need insturctions in order to learn something new.  She pretty much played with the pom-poms and jar on her own for a good chunk of time.  (We also discovered our cat enjoys playing with the pom-poms, too!)

Animal Magnets

K loves animals!  We just happen to own a great set of animal magnets from Melissa and Doug that I picked up on sale at an Atwood's store.  (They have some great stuff their for kids!)

These magnets are a fun way to help little learners identify animal names and sounds.  As they grow and are ready to learn more you can start talking about characteristics of each animal (ie. color of fur/ skin, tall/short, fat/thin, wings/hooves, live in water/ on land, etc.)

Counting the animals one at a time will reinforce one-to-one correspondence.

If you have older ones that know their letters you can use your magnetic letters to match up the beginning sound for each animal.

You could also make name cards to pair up with each animal.  I'll put that on my to-do list!

I made my magnet boards with cookie sheets I bought at the Dollar General Store in a 3-pack.  I then spray painted them and attached command strips to the back.  My boards usually hang on the wall, but we (K and N) sometimes like to take them off.

K really loves "ellies" and  'quack-quacks" right now!

Beginning Drawing

 Drawing straight lines, dashes, and "t's".

Standards:

 

Kansas Early Learning Standard:

 

CL Standard 4: Demonstrates emergent writing skills

 

Common Core State Standards:

 

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.5 Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.  (this activity would be a pre-cursor to this standard)

 

 

N working on her "t's"

 Most preschool assessments have this box to check off:  

Writes using pictures/symbols/letters

This activity will strengthen this skill.  Many parents don't think about their child being able to draw lines and dashes, but it is a necessary pre writing skill to learn.
 

Drawing simple shapes

 N is copying a simple shape that I had drawn of a pumpkin and a square.  This type of drawing activity reinforces following directions.

Tracing Book

 Almost each school day N works in her tracing book.  It is simply a 3-ring binder with pages I have printed off from various sources slipped into sheet protectors.  She uses a wipe off marker to do her work.  Here are some of the pages she works on:

pre writing lines

Source:  abcjesuslovesme.com

Letter practice

 Source:  3dinosaurs.com

Numbers

I added a dot with a highlighter to help N know where to start.  She tends to want to start at the bottom.

Source:  lilbunnyhops.com

Shape Tracing

 I have pages of each common shape in the book and N works on whatever shape we might be working on.

Source:  confessionsofahomeschooler.com

More number tracing and number words.

 Source:  confessionsofahomeschooler.com

Number tracing

 Source:  learningpage.com

lines, dashes, and t's

One of the skills preschoolers are assessed on is if they can draw a straight line, a dash, a "t" and some common shapes.  They will also be asked at different times throughout the year to draw a person including at least 3 identifiable body parts (arms, legs, eyes, etc.)

Source:  preschoolpalace.org

Letter Tracing

I have these pages from A-Z all in the same sheet protector.  My plan is to switch them out as we work on each letter.  I also go back to letters we have done before just to keep N familiar with them.

Source:  momto2boys24.blogspot.com

N does not do everything everyday.  I vary it from day to day, depending on what letter, number, or skill we are working on each day.  Or if I need to set up an activity I use some of the pages as busy work.

You can easily create your own book for your little one to work!  You could laminate your pages, but sheet protectors are cheaper!  

Calendar Routine

 I have been working on this for a while now.  I knew I wanted to set up a calendar area this year for N's preschool.  But I didn't know where I would put it.  Saved by the grandparents I was blessed with a wonderful set of bookshelves!  And so my calendar area found its home on the backside of one of the bookshelves. 

 I created the space using duct tape, posterboard, paint chips, and some cheap supplies all found at my local Dollar General. Well, the paint chips were from a home improvement store.  My laminator also came in handy!

Days of the week squares were created using FREE paint chips!  They are attached with blue sticky tack (the yellow doesn't work very well IMO!)

My apples were created with a free template from Teachers Pay Teachers.  I then created a PDF document with 6 apples.  I opened this in Photoshop and added the numbers or letters, printed the pages off, and then laminated them with my Scotch laminator.  You could easily use contact paper as well.  This took the most time and you could easily create something similar with post-it notes or paint chips.  Or if you are really crafty you could use a cute paper punch and make some adorable letter/number cards!

 Here is our rourine:

1.  We sing a good morning song followed by the months of the year song and a days of the week song.

2. Next we talk about what day yesterday was, what day today is, and what day tomorrow will be. I will throw in some color activities here, too.  I am working on new color cards with the color words on them.  Those will be added soon.

3.  We find the number of the date and add the apple, then count all the days of the month. I would like to work on making another set of numbers, either another color set or a completely new set.  In the classroom setting this is where teachers work on patterns.  All of the odd numbers would be one type of card (apples for example) and the even numbers would be another type of card (oranges for example).  So students would repeat the pattern after they have counted the days.  Plus my apples don't really go with the zebra duct tape (but I love it!).

4.  Add one more number to our # of days in school.

We count each day we do our calendar time as a day of school.  Some days there is not enough time to do other seat work or activities.   But N is still learning from the calendar activities that we do.  We are beginning the process of place value with tens and ones.
(source: homeschoolcreations.com)

5.  We add one tally mark to our days of school in each month.  N is beginning to learn a little about tally marks.  Eventually we will practice counting by 5's.
(source:  homeschoolcreations.com)

6.  We also use sticks to count our days.  The tub is an icing tub wrapped in duct tape (thanks to my oldest daughter for buying some!)  Once we reach 10 sticks I bundle them with a rubber band and then we will start our counting from 10 (ex.  10, 11 12... instead of starting with one).  Counting up starting with a random number builds sequencing skills.  As we get more bundles of 10 we will begin counting by 10's. 

7.  Each day N decides what the weather is and chooses on or two weather cards to describe it.  We talk about the temperature, but we are not graphing it yet.  That will come soon.

8.  N adds a sticker to her chart for each day she is in school.  We do some counting activities each day for that number (clap 19 times, hop 19 times, do 19 jumping jacks, etc.).  I will be writing numbers by 10's down the right side eventually working up to counting by 10's.

9.  Each day I remove the apples (made the same as our number apples) and ask N to build her name.  Eventually I plan on making apples to build sibling names, parent names, pet names, color words, and later on sight words.

10.  One last calendar activity we do is our Alphabet Clap.  I am teaching the alphabet in order so we started with A.  Alternate clapping once and slapping your knees once and repeat the following:

A (name), short A sound, alligator
B (name), B sound, butterfly
C (name), hard C sound (ck), caterpillar

We say it as many times as N would like to.  Sometimes she says it with me, other times she repeats it.  I am thinking of adding the long A sound and the soft C sound eventually.  Right now the focus is on the most common uses of each letter sound.  We also talk a little about consonants and vowels.  Mostly I just state that A is a vowel and B is a consonant. 

Side Notes:

We are taking our time getting through the alphabet, focusing on each letter.  As she learns all the routines and knows what to expect we will speed things up a bit.

One of the most important things you can do for your child is to go at their pace-especially while they are young.  I don't allow N to be lazy, but I also don't push her.  I want this to be a fun learning experience for her so that when she does start school she will be ready.  

Is a calendar really necessary for your child?  Not at all!  You do what works for you!  I taught my older two children without a calendar routine at home and they are doing fine!  I just wanted to create one at home for my next two.  Maybe I'm getting the itch to go back to work!  Maybe I'm considering teaching preschool when I do!  Who knows!  Teaching N and K at home fills that desire for me to teach right now. 

There are so many ways to create a calendar space for your child!  Get on pinterest and start looking around!  You can purchase pre-made ones or order the fabric ones!  You may even be crafty enough to make your own with fabric! I wanted to try and create mine with as little cost as I could to show readers you can create things while being frugal.  There is a plethora of resources out there and they are free!  All you have to do is look for them!

Letter B Activities

Letter Bb Activities

N completed a variety of activities to establish knowledge of the letter B.  Repetition is very important for memorization.  N repeated the name of the letter B and the sound of the letter B several times during each activity.  It is also important to include upper and lower case letters together when working with individual letters.

Standards

Common Core Standard:  
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.1a Print many upper- and lowercase letters.

Kansas Early Learning Standard:  

CL Standard 4:  Demonstrates emergent writing skills

Resource:  ABC printables @ www.3dinosaurs.com
                  Large B @ preschoolpalace.org
                  Do-a-Dot @ www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com

Pre Writing Practice tracing B to b

Stamping B's

B is for Bandaid

Do-a-Dot Paint Bb

Counting Beads

Additional Bead Activities:

1) roll a dice and string the number of beads
2) string the number of beads according to the date
3) string a pattern
4) string according to the number of letters in your name (family members' names)
5) string according to the number of family members you have

B is for Butterfly Color Book

Each box contained a butterfly to color a specific color.  N worked on this throughout the week.  It seemed to be a lot to color in one setting.

Do-a-Dot B

N decided to use each color once and then repeat them.

Tracing Bb

N is still learning correct writing skills.

Letter Bb Hunt with Do-a-Dot paints

N had to distinguish between Bb's and other letters including Dd's. 

Miss K using Do-a-Dot

K loves to do schoolwork with her big sister.