The Polar Express with a Toddler

The Polar Express is a favorite book of mine, yes book, it started as a book! It is such a special book that I wanted to start a tradition where we read this story every year. I knew that the story was not a 'toddler' story and that keeping Jacob's interest during the story could be tricky.

I picked up some bells from the Dollar Tree to help tell the story and keep his interest.

I started by showing Jake the book cover with a train on it. (Knew that would help hook him) I also pointed out the falling snow. It snowed here last weekend and he was able to enjoy the new weather condition. He is very excited by snow!

Jake stayed engaged for the first few pages. He enjoyed pointing out items that he recognized: snow, train, moon, lights. I did not show him the bells, I kept them behind me so that would be excited when I introduced them.

He did lose interest and run off to the Sensory Box. But I continued reading. It is important to allow them to come and go. A toddler can not sit still and listen to long stories and stay engaged. Allowing them to move around and multi-task helps them stay engaged.

Just because they get up and go does not mean they are not still listening.

But he came back and was very excited to see Santa! Using the bells helped! The amazing part was that while I shook the bell behind the book he never looked for it! (Ah the innocence of being a small child!) It was as if he could hear the bells in the story! How magical! When Santa handed over the bell, I gave Jacob a bell.

What an amazing first experience with The Polar Express!

After we finished the story together, Jacob went on to 'read' it on his own!

I hope you are enjoying Holiday books as well!

Comments

Play to Write- Week 3

We participating in a Wednesday Play Group called Play to Write over at Cherrios and Lattes . This is week 3- Write/Spell Your Name. We started this week's practice with some name tracing. Cherrios and Lattes provides the printable for some dotted letters. She suggested doing rainbow writing with this sheet. I showed Jacob but he was more interested in writing all the Jacobs. I started by modeling on the first name. Then I held his hand and we did it together. Finally I let him do the last three on his own with only my verbal prompts. He took this very seriously and was very proud of himself! I was surprised at how much he liked doing this activity. He has a long way to go but he did pretty well! One thing I had to repeat was not to go around the o and a more than once. He wanted to go around and around. This is an activity that I think he will want to do again! The next activity was Missing Letter Name Practice. We started by singing a little song I sing for Jak

Name Writing Practice

Jacob did a little name writing practice today. He was asked to trace the dotted lines to write letters for his name. This is good practice with spelling as well. I had him say each letter as he wrote the letter. As you can see he is very choppy and not exactly on the dotted lines. His motor skills are not quite sharp enough yet to be able to hold the crayon and he especially loses control as he works on towards the end. We also did a Missing Letter Name Practice. Both of these ideas came from Cherrios and Lattes ' Play to Write, Write to Read. These are good ways to practice names and writing. He gets very angry if he thinks he made a mistake. See the scribbling. I have to reinforce that it is ok to make a mistake and that everyone makes mistakes but we just keep trying. Practice is the only way to get better. When this happens I cannot help but think of my former students that did the very same thing and proceeded to throw fits and give up. I hope to help Jacob ge

Building Good Readers

"Your boys are such good readers! I wish mine loved to read like yours do! How did you do that?" Can parents build good readers? How do parents build good readers? This might seem like a daunting question, a task too difficult to tackle. But truly, it does not have to be. As our children grow and become readers on their own accord they often feel that they do not need or want parents to read to them. It is very common for this to happen, but as their parents, it is our job to push back. Readers are not born, they are made. We must find times to read to our children. That might mean reading aloud looks different as they get older. Maybe instead of before bed; you are reading at the dinner table, as they are playing, or during snack time. The point is to share books that will pique their interest and hold their attention. You might have to choose books you might not otherwise choose. The key to reading aloud is to m odel reading for them and to show them th

Structured Play

Search This Blog