Clothespin Name Making

We have been working on name recognition with the Pea. She does really well with it so I decided to introduce an activity where the Pea can make her name, and begin to identify what letters make her name. I decided to use clothespins for this, although you could easily do plain old letter tiles, magnetic letters, anything! I also decided to use felt hearts glued on to the clothespins for a couple of reasons: 1) to incorporate a fine motor skill - pinching the clothespin to open it 2) the colors provide a sort of pattern - this may aid her in remembering what order the letters are in. You could do a simple a-b-a-b pattern rather than the one I chose 3) we had the hearts from Valentine's Day!

Here are the clothespins with letters.

I told the Pea that we were going to make her name. I set down each clothespin and asked her to tell me each letter. This was done in a random order. I told her that her name begins with C and asked her to find C. She found the C clothespin right away. I asked her to clip it onto the plate. That's when I realized that she doesn't know how to use the clothespin! I showed her hown to pinch the ends to make it open. She tried and tried but couldn't get it on her own. So, we resumed the name-building and I put them on for her. After we made her name, I repeated "C-L-A-I-R-E says Claire". She really liked this activity and we did it about 5 more times. She still couldn't get the hang of working the clothespins, but by the fifth time of the activity she was starting to be able to say which letters came next to make her name! Which was the whole point! :) You could also write the letters of your child's name on the paper plate and have him match the clothespin letters to the letters on the plate. This may give him a sense of independence and would be a great matching activity.

Name Recognition

One quick and easy thing I do with the Pea each day is name recognition. She has demonstrated an ability to do this for a while now, since one of things she has loved to do outside is ask me to write her name in chalk outside. I remember her little itty bitty self saying "Claire" as I was writing it one day! I was so excited! So, at "Mommy School" I start by having her pick out her name from a set of names. I use the following as the set she chooses from.

After a while with this set, I typed out a bunch on the computer using different fonts. The idea is to make sure that she can identify her name using the letters. Using different fonts or cards will ensure that your child is not using other means to memorize what the cards say. (For instance, some kids may pick up on that their name has a tattered edge and use that feature of the card to pick out their name.) You want your child to attend to the letters that make up their name. We are on the third set of names and Claire is doing great with picking out her name. She likes to ask "Does this say Claire?" pointing to each card. Instead of answering for her, I say "I don't know. Does it say Claire?" And she answers, "No, that says Daddy." She now knows the words "Mommy", "Daddy", "Anna", "Claire", and our last name most of the time. I give her practice in other settings, such as at Gymboree. We use nametags there, so I write out our names and ask her which one says Claire. She is doing so well with it!

Duck for President

I read this book to the Pea during lunch. Sometimes I do storytime during lunch since she is busy eating, sitting in one place for a longer period of time than normal. AKA The chance of her running away like a nut is less. So I began by activating her prior knowledge like any good reading specialist mommy would do. (Roll your eyes.) Here's how the reading went:
Me: Have you ever been to a farm?
Pea: No.
Me: Are there animals at the farm?
Pea: Yes. Duckies are at the farm. Piggies. Horses. Sheeps.
Me: That's right. Who do you think is in charge at the farm?
Pea: The duck is in charge. (I had the book already out so she probably said that because there was a duck on the front. I should've left the book out of sight until after this discussion.)
Me: Actually it's the farmer who is in charge. He runs the farm and does a lot of work. This book is about a duck who thinks he should be in charge. First he wants to be in charge of the farm. Then he wants to be in charge of the town. And then he wants to be in charge of the state. Last he wants to be in charge of the country! (At this point I can tell I am losing her so I quickly begin reading!)
When I reached page 12 and guided the Pea to use picture clues, here is the dialogue:
"How do you think Farmer Brown is feeling." The Pea answered, "Sad." This was a great answer but it showed that she did not fully understand the real meaning of furious! (*Note: Always ask your child why they think that so that you can see their thinking. I forgot to ask the Pea why but it would've been great insight for me.) Because the farmer is actually angry, I pointed to the picture of the farmer, who was waving his fists and had a furrowed brow.
Me: "Is the farmer angry or sad in this picture."
The Pea: "Mad."
Me: That's right. The farmer is really mad! He is furious. "Farmer Brown was furious." Furious means he was very mad.

The Pea liked the book and asked me to read it again. There were a lot of other teaching elements that could have been incorporated with older kids.
Overall, it was a fun read for President's Day!

Theme of the Week: Leaders

Since Monday is President's Day, I thought "Leaders" would be an appropriate theme. At first, I thought it might be a little over the Pea's head but more often than not we underestimate kids. So "Leaders" week it is.

Book: Duck for President by Doreen Cronin

This book is perfect for a discussion about Election Day, government, or community leaders. It is about a duck who decides to become leader of the barn. So he sets up an election and wins the animals' votes. He works his way up to winning the presidential election. A great comprehension strategy to tie in is Using picture clues to determine a word's meaning on page 12 of the story. The story reads "Farmer Brown was furious." This may be a new word for your child, but your toddler most likely knows the feeling of being furious! Ask, "How do you think Farmer Brown is feeling." Discuss the picture of Farmer Brown to use the picture to figure out the meaning of furious.

Book: Arthur Meets the President by Marc Brown
This is a book but it is also online with an oral reading! Another great way to help your child develop an understanding of the meaning of "President".
http://classroommagic.blogspot.com/2012/02/just-in-time-for-monday.html

Concept Discussion/Vocabulary Builder:
I have the following cards prepared...

Discuss with your child who leaders in her world are. This can just be a discussion for you to expose your child to the concept of leaders/president. For older kids you can do a concept sort that compares leaders/followers, levels of leaders with the goverment, or types of leaders. For the Pea, I prepared the cards above and wanted to tie in things she would understand. I plan to use the verbiage "Who's in charge of..." And I will include ideas that incorporate the leaders of home, Gymboree, Playgroup, TV shows or movies ie: Who's in charge of the ocean in The Little Mermaid. Who's in charge of the trains on Thomas the Train?
Yes, that is a picture of President Obama. And that is a clip art of George Washington. What kind of Mommy would I be if I didn't mention the name of the current president? Or the first president? I'm sure she'll just look at me like I am a psycho. Next on the agenda: Have the Pea memorize all 44 presidents in order. Just kidding.
P.S. Ignore the pizza stone in the picture.
P.S.S. (Or P.P.S.??) Since I use my iPhone and not a fancy smancy camera, the glare on the cards is bad. They just have pictures and words to tell Home, Gymboree, etc. The cards are mostly blank since we will them in together during our discussion. I will keep them in the container labeled "Leaders" for her to look at when she feels like it. Or for her to destroy. Since that's the more probable scenario.

Art: Do-a-Dot Flag
Prepare this template and have your child repeat the dots to make a flag. This is great for fine motor skills and following directions. You can tie in counting, patterns, and/or colors if you'd like.

"Field Trip":
Delaware Children's Museum is having a special exhibit for President's Day, called "Polling with the Presidents". We may just have to check it out!

Writing Activity: "If I were president..."

I got this from http://classroommagic.blogspot.com/2012/02/presidents-day.html
We all know that I think my little 2 1/2 year old is a genius but no, she cannot write yet. The plan here is for the Pea to dictate to me what she would do if SHE were the president. She talks, I write. I am not sure how well this activity will work since it may be a little advanced for her. But since I do not believe in underestimating her ability, we will give it a whirl!

Letter Writing on the iPad

It's no secret that the iPad is amazing. What is even more amazing is how easily the Pea is able to use it. She taps around on the "pPad", as she likes to call it, as quickly as I can. She especially likes to look at our family photos on it and to play her games. We've bought a few for her, including Dora's Skywriting. This game focuses on letter formation. It's great because it makes you start in the correct places, and requires her to drag her finger to form the letter. She zips right through the uppercase letters. Letter-sound relationships are a secondary focus by having a picture of something that begins with the letter. For example, an apple comes after A. Dora comes after D. My only complaint about this game is that in order to reveal the picture, she has to tilt the iPad many times to get acorns to fall into certain places. It is difficult for her and she often asks for help. But, that really is not a big deal. Overall, this game is giving the Pea experience with proper letter formation in a way that she enjoys and gives her a sense of independence. Montessori teachers, and others for that matter, often use a sensory approach to letter formation. One example would be having children write letters in sand with their fingers before actually doing so with a pencil and paper. Using the iPad for letter formation is the same idea. Perfect for my indpendent toddler who wants to do everything on her own!

"Invitation" by Shel Silverstein

If you are a dreamer, come in,
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer...
If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!

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My favorite teacher had this poem hanging in her classroom. It always spoke to me because it so perfectly describes reading.

Pretend Reading

A few months ago I listened as The Pea pretended to read a book in her bed during nap. She said, "Once there was a princess. Then a dragon came and Rhhhhaaaaaa! Then he flew around the world really really fast. Then, Ronald, you are mess! The end." It was so cute! And I was super excited that she was pretending to read because it is so much more than another cute thing that my daughter did. Pretend reading is actually a very vital part of the process of learning to read. It is the first stage of Literacy Development. The Pea was showing that she has been paying attention during these last 2 1/2 years of storytime. By using the story language "Once upon a time", "The End", "Then..." we can see that she acknowledges that stories have special words in them, that are different than the way we speak. When pretending to read, The Pea often changes her voice to show dialogue. It's usually this funny, throaty kind of voice that sounds like a cross between a monster and an old man. Regardless, this change of voice shows that she understands that we use expression in our voice when reading dialogue. Children usually use the pictures to help them know what's going on in the story, as the Pea did when pretending to read The Paper Bag Princess. This skill is important for comprehension as children develop their reading abilities. You may notice your child replicating the sing-song type voice like you use when pretending to read stories such as "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?" by Bill Martin Jr & Eric Carle. This shows they understand that this book has a rhythm to it that not all books have.

You can encourage your child to pretend read by asking them to read to you, a stuffed animal, a sibling, or even a pet. You can read to your child a wide variety of books that include storybook langauge, dialogue, and rhyme. You can draw your child's attention to the illustrations by talking about the pictures. You can read wordless books to your child that require the use of picture cues to determine what the story is about. Good Night Gorilla is a great wordless book.

So, next time you hear your child pretending to read, celebrate silently as you are witnessing early literacy taking place! It is so much more than just cute!

Keep reading!
-Kate