Structured Play

Today we sampled a little candy corn for the first time then made a big piece of candy corn! I cut out the shape of a candy corn on a black piece of construction paper. Next we ripped construction paper in white, orange and yellow. Jake loved ripping up the paper. He thought it was fun after I initially showed him how. I then drew lines on the black paper to separate the sections and covered one section with glue. Jake knew what to do and got busy filling it up. I made sure to tell him to fill the space completely so that there was no black showing through. I showed him the candy again and asked if he saw any black. This helped him understand what completely covered looked like. He did one section at a time and filled the section pretty well. We had motivation with a view pieces of candy corn! This is a cute little project and by ripping the paper it makes it a little different and really fun!

To do a little name practice this month I decided to put the letters of his name on little pumpkins. I had the pumpkins sitting out on the floor and just asked him to use the letters to spell his name. He just stared at me and told me he didn't know how to spell his name. I reminded him that he could in fact spell his name. We sang his name song to remind him: There was a boy that mama loved and Jacob was his name o', J.A.C.O.B. J.A.C.O.B. J.A.C.O.B. And Jacob was his name o'! He then chose to participate and pick the letters in order to spell his name. For some reason he always forgets the A when spelling his name. I give a gentle reminder and he squeezes it in. After he put is name together, I left the pumpkins out. Occasionally I would walk by and switch them up not saying anything. When he noticed the first time he said, "That is not my name." And proceeded to correct it. From then on I would walk by and rearrange two pumpkins to try to catch h...

I found this fun Pumpkin Roll activity at Young & Lively Kindergarten . I printed it off and grabbed one of our large die. I had Jake roll  throw the die and count the dots. He then had to color the corresponding digit on the pumpkins. He really enjoyed completing this activity. His coloring is not a scribble mess but rather his coloring. I was kind of frustrated with his coloring until I recently saw a little 3 year old girl coloring the exact same way. I am sure there are 3 year olds that have better motor skill control and better coloring but this is Jake filling in the entire pumpkin, to the best of his ability and attempting to stay in the lines. He really tries to take his time and stay in the lines but this is what happens. It is just what he is capable of at his ability.  As far as the number recognition goes, he totally surprised me! He new all digits, 1-6, without any assistance  We have worked on letters but I was not sure of his maste...

Today we used Pretzel M&Ms to do a little math today. I started by having him sort the M&Ms by color. We then counted the number of M&Ms in each circle. Next we counted the M&Ms all together.  Lastly, we ate the M&Ms! I had him count them as we subtracted the M&Ms by eating them. He cannot count backwards yet but he did not mind recounting each time he ate one of the candies!

As a fun and different way to practice the alphabet I had Jake paint the letters. He really just traced the letters with paint and a q-tip. I wrote all the letters and then had him trace over them. He is not ready to write  all the letters on his own so this is a good way to practice. He gets frustrated with his lack of motor skills when writing so I thought it would make a little practice exciting. Paint makes it much easier to trace and helps build confidence. He really enjoyed this and did not get frustrated at all. He tends to scribble over the letters when using a crayon to trace letters. This did not happen for most of the letters. He did great!

Book making is great for emergent readers. It really helps them understand the elements of books and helps them to practice "reading." They memorize the book and can retell it over and over. Today we make a book from First Grade a le Carte . I cut out the pieces and construction paper ahead of time. I then laid everything out in front of us. We read the cards and created the book pages as we went. I let him glue the cards on the pages and color them with the corresponding color.  He did great and enjoyed himself gluing and coloring. But he liked reading to his brother the best. 

I downloaded and printed these Life Cycle of at Pumpkin cards at Montessori for Everyone . I cut and laminated the cards. After reading Pumpkin by Ron Fridell I laid out the cards and had Jacob put them into order. To keep Jake's interest I told him we were going to play farmers. I told him that the cards were our "plans" and we had to put them in order so we know what to do next. That worked, he was excited to start his farm work so he put the cards in order quickly.  I feel it is important for him to know where his food comes from and to know the process that farmers go through growing crops. These cards are a great visual for learning the phases. 

This month I threw in some beans as a base, little pumpkins, puff balls, cups, unifix cubes, flowers and some leaves. For the first time in 2 years, Jake showed  no interest in the Sensory Box. He didn't want to play in there even when I sat and explored. I think he has out grown the box or at the very least needs a break from it. But the good news is Joey has stepped right in! He really enjoyed the box for the first time. He has just turned 1 year old so he is just the age when I started Structured Play for Jake. Jake and Joey are completely different kids and it is fun to see! Jake never made a total mess out of the box but let me tell you Joey had a great time throwing those beans as far as he could. Ugh, it was a total mess. BUT, it is part of the learning process. I cannot take away the box and say, "nope you aren't ready!" Instead I need to teach him how to use the box. He did take some time to explore in a more delicate way. He picked up some items and...