Using Alphabet Drawers

Back in 2009, I created Alphabet Drawers for Maddie.  You can read about the initial process HERE.

I used a box from Lowe's (or maybe it was Home Depot?  Regardless, I think pretty much all hardware stores carry these plastic boxes for about $20).

Then, in 2010 I wrote about ways that we were using the tiny objects and drawers (she looks so young in those pictures!  Wah!!).

In 2011, Time for Tots started selling Tiny Objects collections, which means that every letter was sure to get an object!

And now, in 2012... We are really finding new ways to put those tiny objects to good use!

 I created an alphabet mat with pictures and Maddie has to match the letter card up to the picture.

She also dug through her tiny objects to match an object with a picture.

 We're learning about initial blends, matching pictures and tiny objects to the correct sounds.

 She loves matching tiny objects to the letter, too.

She likes it when I "trick" her by handing her a tiny object.  Then, she'll search the board to match the letter sound.

We started out doing this with initial letter sounds and then challenged her by doing final sounds (tricky but she totally caught on!).

All these printables, mats, and cards are now for sale in the shop!

*By the way, excuse the crazy hair and Angry Birds pajamas (aka Mike's shirt!).  As soon as she woke up and saw the new mats sitting out, she had to do them immediately!

And... she writes!

I'm going to start this off by being totally honest and say that the impetus to start teaching Maddie how to spell her name came from a place of total panic.

Kidding. Sorta.

When I worked in her classroom last week, the teacher was pulling kids back, individually, and casually asking them some questions (could they say their address, were they able to locate a specific color crayon, could they hand her a book about penguins, ect). I worked with the kids on their letter I craft and, of course, casually listened to the teacher. Haha.

I wasn't really thinking too much about the questions when suddenly I heard,

"Can you write your name?"

Now. I know she is only 3. I know this. I also know that she can write several letters.

But her name? We'd never worked on her name!

And so, out of curiousity's sake, I talked to Mike and he suggested that I casually start working with her to see if she would be interested and ready in writing her name.

Turns out, she was.

See, I turned that panic into production! Haha.

Anyway, we've been doing some fun activities with spelling her name (as well as other people's names as she is suddenly very interested in writing everything now).

Her favorite thing was when I got out my giant whiteboard (back from my teaching days), some markers and a towel.

She went straight to work and within about 30 minutes, was spelling her name.

*And yes, we work on that pencil grip. Slow but steady. :)

She worked on this whiteboard off and on all afternoon and evening.

She did this independently before bed tonight and aside from one backward D, I think she did quite fabulous!

It's funny because I never want to push her. I don't want her to ever dread doing "work" together and so sometimes, I think I step back and let her lead 100%. But, when introducing the letters of her name, and the specific sequence, she just took to it.

I love being her mom. :)

Winter Mini Unit

January's theme at preschool this month is all about Winter. They're learning about penguins, snow and snowmen, igloos and the weather.

Quick side note: I feel (and I know Mike feels the same way!) so blessed to have Maddie in such a nurturing, loving preschool. I got to work in her classroom on Tuesday and almost didn't want to leave after my hour because it was just a fun environment. Her teacher is gentle, there is such a sweet little group of girls that Maddie plays with and I know that this time is so invaluable for her.

Anyway. :) It's a big thing for me! I went for quite a while thinking that we'd skip sending her to preschool all together and now my heart is just so happy with where she is. Now I can't imagine her not going!

So to build off what they're learning in school, we've been doing some extension activities at home.

Crafts

I drew some snowflakes on paper and put out Q-tips, a paint dabber, white paint and some glitter.

She dabbed the paint along the lines and then sprinkled glitter over all the snowflakes.

They turned out great!

We did this one last year, but since it was fun, we repeated it this year!

I covered some paper with painter's tape and then gave her big paint dabbers and white paint.

She stamped paint all over and the sprinkled more glitter.

Then, we worked together to peel the tape off (it comes off really easily) and marveled at the "magic" snowflake left on the paper! :)

Sensory

*One that I don't have pictures of (even though I really thought I did) was when we made snow, using THIS product. This is a really fun sensory AND science experiment. I always find the snow at our local teacher's supply store, but add in small trinkets and tiny winter objects to make it a hide and find game. Maddie and her friend Mya played for quite a while with our giant bowl of snow we made!

For this one, I also grabbed an old dish and together, we sprayed shaving cream (Dollar Tree!) inside. We pretended that this was snow, too and Maddie had a BLAST smooshing and squeezing and spreading it all over.

Look at those snow monster hands! :)

It's such a great time to talk about textures, temperatures, sounds and smells.

To make bath time educational fun, we learned about icebergs and simulated lots of small icebergs by ice cubes in the bath tub.

She loved this and I think I finally drew the line after I'd refilled our ice bowl six times. Ha!

It was fun to hear the cubes crackle as they were dropped in the water and she loved watching them (sometimes helping them along) dissolve and get smaller.

Literacy

These next printables are from Making Learning Fun.

With this one, I'd call out a letter (this page was all lowercase letters) and she'd peel off a sticker and cover the correct letter.

*And no, she can not write her name. She did make the letter M, but the rest was done hand-over-hand.

We also read and colored a book about a melting snowman. :)

Fine Motor and Logic

This started off as a simple fine motor skills practice with objects, an ice cube tray and chopsticks.

She had fun transferring the objects from the bowl into the tray.

But, then I decided to try something new and it was a major hit (major as in, we played for a solid 30 minutes and the minute Mike got home from work, she made him play, too!).

Her job was to match the winter objects side by side in the tray. Then, she'd close her eyes and I would make an error. We started off with her having to open her eyes and correct that one error, moving all the way up to her having to identify and correct up to six errors at once.

I know, it doesn't sound huge but she loved the challenge and it was a great logic activity. She'd have to move several of the pieces around to get them all back to their matched state.

So, that was our mini-unit and I think she had a blast! I love that I'm able to tie her preschool curriculum into our home learning because I think it just makes everything so much richer!

Tot School: Fall

We had another group Tot School today and, as always, had a blast. The kids are really getting into such a great rhythm and were just awesome in all their work!

Here were our outdoor centers and crafts:

Make a Fall Tree

I always put directions, as well as a completed example (thank you Maddie) up as a reference. All the necessary materials for each activity are right underneath.

My tiny model is totally blocking it, but there was a big box full of silk leaves, pumpkins and beads that the kids could explore.

Corn Cob Painting

Dot Stamping

Sensory table with pinto beans, rice, tiny pumpkins, leaves, scoops and measuring cups

Sink or Float Science Activity

(There was a big bucket of water underneath)

The kids loved this one.

Marble Painting

(also a huge hit)

Now, onto the tray work...

Dry pouring with lentils, peas and beans

Tonging acorns in a real/plastic pattern in the paint tray

Tonging pumpkins in a color pattern

(I realize that I own 7 different types of tongs; ha!)

Tweezing foam beads into the ice cube mold

Tweezing pompoms into pumpkin mold

Creating a number line with fall leaves and counting out the correct number of pebbles

Color sorting of tiny objects into a divided plate

Turkey math mat with foam dice and wood chips

Pattern strips with fall pieces and early phonemic awareness (listening for initial sounds)

Matching picture to word card to tiny object

Counting with pumpkins, leaves and acorns

Adding play dough berries to a pie :)

Scarecrow count and clip cards

Letter assessments with magnets

And, I think that was it! We had such a fun time. In circle time, we worked in our journals, learned a fall poem and decorated cupcakes. LOVE our Tot School days!

Tot School: Dinosaurs!

Last week, we had another group Tot School and, in my opinion, it was the greatest one yet!

We have a lot of tots in our Tot School (anywhere from 18-22) and I knew that we had to implement some changes to make the whole thing run more smoothly.

So, I created centers and groups and all sorts of fun stuff to keep the tots engaged and learning. It really helped things and I think the kids got more out of it than ever before!

I broke our big group up into three groups, and set the house up so that people could rotate in and out. So, instead of 20 tots doing the trays, all at once in our family room, there were only 6 and that was fabulous!

Trays:

Missing number and clip cards

(I think all printables were found HERE)

Sequencing the dino life cycle with numbers to label the cards

Rice bowl with ten dinosaur eggs hiding inside :)

Count and clip cards

*I should say that I laminate everything for durability and everything is also back to back.

Dino grid game with dinosaur rock counters :)

Count and roll out play dough eggs for the dinosaur nests

Dramatic play with finger puppets (dollar spot at Target!) and foam dinos

Finish the pattern and clip cards

Roll out play dough and make dino tracks with figures

Magnet matching

Alphabet cover up with glass pebbles

Open and close tray with beads inside that spell out DINO

Pouring dino eggs between pitchers

The snack:

I baked cupcakes and then "hid" a small dinosaur inside. My friend Brandie then frosted the tops, covering the dinos in a thick layer of sugary goodness.

To say that the kids were excited by excavating their dinos would be quite the understatement! Ha!

The Outdoor Activities:

I'd had Maddie do a sample of every single project so that moms and tots had an idea of where we were going with each one. I think that was super helpful. I also made posters, explaining what each activity or craft was.

So anyway, they made handprint stegosaurus pictures...

And dino shape-o-saurus pictures, too!

They made dino sticker scenes in their journal,

dot stamped,

did pretend play with a foam dino mat (thank you Jenny for the mat and thank you Brandie for assembling it beforehand!)...

And finally, I filled our sand and water table with pinto beans (they LOVED this), small dinos, palm trees and measuring cups. This might have been one of the kiddos favorite things!

And so, that was our Tot School! I really couldn't do it without the love and support of all our amazing friends. From people pitching in with their time or their supplies, everyone makes it the awesome thing that it is.