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!  

Number 1 Activities

Number 1 Activities

N began learning the attributes of the number 1.
She will learn to:

1) Recognize the number 1 is different places, sizes, and scripts.
2) Write the number 1.
3) Understand the value of the number 1.
4) Count 1 object.

Standards

Common Core Standard:
CCSS.Math.Content.K.CC.A.3 Write numbers from 0 to 20. Represent a number of objects with a written numeral 0-20 (with 0 representing a count of no objects).

Kansas Early Learning Standard

MK Standard 1:  Demonstrates an understanding of number concepts and numerical operations

Resource: Number Pages @ www.1plus1plus1equals1.com

N went on a number hunt in the neighborhood. 

Recognizing and tracing the number 1.  N also stamped one time in the circle.

Pre-K Practice Sheets

L is now attending preschool 4 half days a week.  I have decided to make some practice sheets for him to do at home when he wants to do schoolwork.

Materials:

1) card stock
2) contact paper
3) wet or dry erase marker

Numbers and Number Words

Color Words

Lowercase Letters (o-z on back)

Uppercase Letters (O-Z on back)

First and Last name

Side note on the first and last name-I taught L how to write his name with all capital letters.  Which is fine, they are usually the easiest to form.  But the second he stepped into his new classroom his name was written with the capital "L" and the lowercase "andon".  I'm thinking I should have done this to begin with.  Also, his school has adopted the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum, which is okay because I taught him using Zaner Bloser handwriting, not D'Nealian.  I would suggest finding out which handwriting curriculum your student's future school uses and try to teach that.

Create your pages, print on card stock, cover with contact paper (or laminate them) and use a wet or dry erase marker to practice forming the letters, words, and name.

This activity reinforces letter and number formation, number word recognition, color word recognition, fine motor skills, and writing skills.  This is such an easy and cheap activity to make! My next thought is to punch holes in them and store in a 3-ring binder.  Then L will have a binder full of dry erase practice pages!

Other variations could be:

~ a page with shapes to trace (with the names)
~ a page with random dotted lines to trace
~ print any tracing page off your favorite website 

Once your student is reading:

~ sight words
~ family names
~ days of the week
~ months of the year
~ print any practice page off the internet (laminating reduces the wasted paper-although we have wasted our fair share of paper)

The possibilities are endless!  See my favorite websites for more ideas of pages to print and laminate!

By the way, all of my kiddos LOVE having their own activities and places to keep their activities.   When I make a new activity and we find a place for it I make sure to reinforce ownership of it (meaning they are to take care of it, use it correctly, and put it away correctly).

Sorting and Counting

 This activity has several steps.  But it keeps L busy!

Materials:  Pom poms, dice, sorting cups, pickle tongs or tweezers of some kind.

I made this activity sheet and then made copies of it.  You can make one that fits your child's skill level. (I used my do-a-dot paints, a sharpie, and a straight edge to make this sheet.  You could probably make something on your computer, too.) 

L rolled the two dice and then put that number of pom poms into each cup.  He did this only once but you could have your child roll the dice more than that to get a larger number. 

Next he started filling out his chart.  Sort the colors in each cup.  Write the number in the correct box. 

Counting

I then had him add the two columns together.  Cup 1 + Cup 2 for each color.  Then I had him add all the  pom poms together 

There may be lots of steps to this activity, but they all keep L's mind busy.  I like to have some activities that are more involved.

You could also use beads instead of pom poms.

This activity reinforces counting, sorting, one-to-one correspondence, number formation, addition, and fine motor skills.

Domino Addition Game

L is working on his addition skills, number formation, and counting.

We started off this activity by using a game board L made with his Grandma (thanks Grandma!). The game board is made from a file folder, stickers, and window decals. Pick a starting point and ending point, and then make a trail of stickers from one to the other. Laminate for durability.


We also used a set of dominoes to play this game. I store mine in a translucent wipes container that I am no longer using.

To play the game:

1) Turn over all the dominoes.
2) L picks a domino and turns it over.
3) L adds the dots together and moves his marker (he has some Cars character erasers to use as his markers, but they have been played with elsewhere...so he is using a carrot eraser).


Add To It:

1) L turns over the domino.
2) L writes the # from each side of the domino in the boxes I drew on his paper.
3) L adds the #'s together and writes the answer in the last box.
4) L moves his marker.


This activity reinforces counting, number formation, one-to-one correspondence, and addition.