Structured Play

C is for Cookie I am what my husband might call Anti-Technology when it comes to my toddler! But he continues to stress the importance of technology and education so every once in a while I include some technology. Today I pulled out the laptop for a little Sesame Street. We watched C is for Cookie with Cookie Monster. Come on, who doesn't love a little Cookie Monster? Next, Jake practiced writing the letter C. We used Dry Erase Crayons (which I love!!). I use the thick letters so Jake has the room to trace without feeling that he is not doing a good job by not staying in the lines. At this age I do not expect him to be able to write the letter but this is more of a letter recognition activity and a pre-writing activity.  Finally, we read the C is for Cookie poem and circled the letter Cs throughout the poem. I had Jake do this for letter recognition, to see that letters make up words and that words make a poem.  Look at that focus and conc...

C is for Cat We started today by reading Cat in the Bag. Every time I read the word "Cat" I had Jacob find the word by looking for the C on the page. He would point to the word and say, "cat!" Next, he fed a cat cat food by stamping the letter C. This is just a simple activity to practice letter recognition.    Then Jacob practiced making straight lines by tracing the dotted line taking the cat to the kittens on the other side.  For printables click here.

C is for Crane Today we started Letter C. You can find Plans here . We traced letter C and looked at some flashcards with C pictures. We also sang the ABCs while pointing to alphabet cards on the wall. Then I read the "C" Book. Jake did the Gel tracing and put together the C puzzle with foam letters. (Simple one this week) Next, we worked on the Alphabet Book page. Each week we are creating a page for our Alphabet Book. Jacob loves cars, trucks and construction equipment so the Alphabet Book is going to be an all transportation  book! Hence this week's Crane Page.  

Oops! Sorry for not posting this earlier! I went out of town for my sister's wedding and I thought I posted this, but going out of town consumed my thoughts and it slipped my mind! We started by singing the ABCs and reading How to Get a Gorilla Out of Your Bathtub. This is a fun book that made Jacob laugh. We really enjoyed it! Next we made a bathtub of our own. Then put in bubbles (with paint) and a bear (drawing).  Next, we got out our B Box. These are the items I placed inside of a shoe box. Some are B words and others are not. I had Jake look through the box and pick out items that start with the letter B.   Bulldozer Bird He did great and picked all the B items. I will use the picture to create a I Spy Book of our Letter Boxes. 

We spent some time playing postman! Jake got out his mailbag and mailbox to practice delivering Valentines! (He had to wear his hardhat as well! Of course any time you work you need a hardhat, right?) We used the Valentines we made as well as some felt mail I made and had on hand. He really loves being the 'worker.' He tends to boss me around telling me what to do next, his brother is going to be in trouble when he is old enough to play! We enjoyed ourselves!  We took a break for a little while and colored some hearts. This is another printable from  Home School Creations . We colored the hearts the correct colors matching the crayons to the color words.  Jacob then 'delivered' the hearts to the items on the color posters. "One for Apple, one for Froggy." I guess he thought they were Valentines because we have been talking about Valentines and because they were hearts. So he taped them up on the color posters.  Happy Valentine's Day! ...

Today I set out a ton of supplies and had Jacob make some Valentine Cards for his teachers and family members.  I gave him full control and just sat back and watched him work. It was quite cute to see what he wanted to do and add to the heart cards. He was super creative and even thought it would be a good idea to put his hand print on a couple. He had a fun time deciding who each card would be for and decorating it for that person specifically. Once he decided he was finished, I asked if he forgot anyone in the family. He couldn't think o f anyone, so I offered, "How about your Mama?" No such luck! I guess Mama doesn't get a Valentine! :(

B is for Bee We started with this 'loud' book, The Baby BeeBee Bird. We had a lot of fun reading this and being really, really loud! I had Jake practice drawing lines. He had to connect the bees to the flowers. He is really getting good at drawing straight lines. He did this practice three or four times using the dry erase crayons. Next, Jake practiced tracing the upper and lowercase Bs. He enjoys tracing the letters but does not let me tell him where to start or how to trace the letter. Instead of fighting with him about it, I have decided to let him explore the letters and trace them on his own. As I have stated before, we are not working on handwriting but rather letter recognition. I feel, by exploring the letters he is still building skills. You can find the printables here.

I decided to do a little practice with numbers and number recognition with Jacob. He doesn't love numbers and I think it is because he knows it is "work." I thought I would use this large die to distract the fact we were practicing a skill. I found the die at the Dollar Tree in a package of two for a buck! I had number cards that I drew dots on each number. This process is called Touch Math. Touch Math is a multi-sensory approach to learning number sense. While teaching I found real success using this approach with kids that were having trouble with number sense. I decided this would be a good way to start numbers with Jake. Each digit has dots representing the number value. Great way to develop number sense but also a great strategy to use with addition and subtraction. I had him roll the die, count the dots, then find the number card that matches. With the die, I let him throw it around the room to really help keep him engaged. He loved it and it was great pra...

B is for Balls Today we read Blueberries for Sal, a classic. I pointed out the B in blueberries then pointed to the words as I read. When Jake saw the word blueberries he would say, "B for Blueberries!" I was overly enthusiastic and praised him for 'reading!' Next, I had Jacob practice making circles. I asked him to trace around the various balls on the page. He can make circles (more like ovals) but this practice will help him with fine motor skills. We used the dry erase crayons and he made the circles, erased and made them again.  Lastly, I had Jake dot paint the letters. This is just another strategy to work on letter identification, letter formation and motor skills. For Letter of the Week printables click here.

Today we started by reading, We're going on a Bear Hunt. This is such s fun book. I do not typically recommend particular books because I feel there are so many great books within every topic that one particular book is not necessary. This book on the other hand, is one of a kind! It is fun, silly and provides a plethera of activities. We went on a Bear Hunt after reading the book (a couple times). I hid a stuffed bear and we "hunted" for it using the same language from the story. We had so much fun, playing for about 40 minutes! I know that we will be going on many more bear hunts in the future!  (sorry no pictures too busy playing!) Next, we stamped the letter B. Jake fed the bear B blueberries Last, we read a Bear Poem and circled the B letters throughout the poem.  For printables click here.  

B is for Bus We started week 2 of Letter of the Week . I am just going to go in alphabetical order for now. Unless I really start to lose him I will continue in alphabetical order.  I started by showing Jacob the homemade flashcard with felt. We traced the capital and lowercase letters with our fingers. I then read, My "b" Book. I purchased a set of these ABC books at a consignment sale! The entire set (new) for $10! I thought it was a great deal and purchased them over a year ago. I have kept them in anticipation for Letter of the Week. While I read I had Jake trace the Bs in the gel bag. Next, I had Jake put together the letter B Puzzle. I just cut the shapes out of foam. He was able to do this pretty simply! I feel this activity will help him recognize the letters in a more conceptional way. And he likes doing puzzles!!  Finally, we did the ABC book page. My plan is to do a book page for each letter of the alphabet and put them together...

Today I pulled out the Fire Hydrant Color pages from Home School Creations . I just pulled four colors. I then put the corresponding crayons on the table with the pages. We read the words and then I had Jacob choose the correct color crayon. Colors are not his strength so I chose to control the activity to keep it manageable for him and to prevent frustration. Next I had him take the Hydrant page over to the color wall and tape it to the corresponding color. He loves this part of our color practice. I think it is the movement that he enjoys. For some of the colors I have to remind him to "match" the color on the paper to the color on the wall. By just choosing a few colors at a time he can stay engaged and enjoy what the task at hand is without getting overly frustrated. 

A is for Ants Today we started by listening to Black and Red Ants on the computer. This is a story by Sam Thorn. I sometimes pretend that technology is not relevant to a two year old but who am I fooling? Jacob loves computers, I-pads, I-phones or whatever he can get his hands on. I decided I really wanted to make sure that he stays engaged in our Letter of the Week activities since it will be daily for 26 weeks! Jacob loved seeing a book on the computer! The story was found on Reading is Fundamental website but more great books can be found on We Give Books . We listened to the book numerous times and after a few times we started pointing out the As in the text, as the text was on the screen during the reading. Next, we made a red and black ant using an egg carton. Jake chose to paint his black, his favorite color! I made the red. We painted the egg carton and then added googly eyes and feelers.  After making and playing with the ants we moved on to the in...