Letter identification charts

When I taught kindergarten, I used these cute little letter identification charts with my students.  I would point to a letter and if they could correctly identify it, they would get a stamp, if not, it was left blank.  They took them home so their parents knew which letters to be working on.

Since my daughter has started identifying letters recently, I wanted to print a chart out for my own records.  I don't use them in the same way.  I don't point to letters and see if she knows them.  I just make a mental note whenever I hear her say a new letter when she sees one (in a book, on a sign) and then use a bingo marker to mark the ones she knows.  I'm so impressed with the ones she already knows!

I printed the charts at Making Learning Fun.  I have one uppercase sheet and one lowercase sheet.  I wrote the months I would be using them in the upper corner.  I plan to print out different ones with the seasons and just tuck them away in a folder until she has a set of filled up ABC's!

Sundae Scoop

I'm joining Sundae Scoop this week at I heart naptime.  You should stop by and check it out!

 

I made these cuties for A for Christmas.  I would have liked to sew a little house/purse to put them in, but just didn't have the time.  Maybe a cute little house is in their future?  Anyway, you can get the full tutorial here.  Read carefully because it does not tell you exactly when to paint the face on the doll.  Do it BEFORE the varnish.  :)  I'd love to see any dolls that others have made!  You can use the "email me" button on the top left to share.  :)

"Monti-jar"

I love this can.  It's a baby oatmeal container that I wrapped scrapbooking paper around.  But it's not the outside that makes it wonderful, it's what is on the inside.

I really admire the Montessori method and how children are treated with respect and taught how to do things at a very young age.  I came across this blog recently and I love her idea of the "monti-jar."  (You MUST go visit for yourself!)

Inside are slips of paper...activities to do whenever you have a few extra minutes in the day and need something to do.  You just pull out an activity and do it!  

Some examples:

-handling a book

-puzzles

-using a zipper

-cleaning up spills with a sponge

-putting materials away neatly

I'm excited to start using this with A.  I think it will be a great way to teach her skills in a fun way.

Cloth doll and dress

 For A's first birthday, I made her a cloth doll and matching dress.  I made the doll pattern based off of the black apple doll   pattern, and her dress pattern is the "sweet little dress pattern" from the etsy store, Leila and Ben.

Her doll seems to be a hit with other little girls who come over to play.  One of them lovingly called it her "girl" rather than her "baby."  I think because it looks a little grown up.  :)

Out of reach box

There are some activities we do frequently, but they need to be supervised.  For such things, I made an "out of reach" box.  Right now, the contents of the box are:

-pop-up book
-seasonal non-board books
-additional letters for A's  Fridge Phonics
- Monti-jar (LOVE this...more to come!)
-Christmas Tree golf tee game
-letter identification chart (from Making Learning Fun)
-bingo dotters for the letter id. charts
-bubbles
-folder with songs

I'll probably add a puzzle in here and will switch the contents every now and then.  It's a great way to have things at an adult's fingertips, but out of reach of tiny hands.  That way, there aren't any missing or broken pieces and we are able to enjoy them over and over again!

Farm Animal Pancakes

I got these Farm Animal Pancake Molds and Pancake Pen from Williams-Sonoma for Christmas.  They are too fun!

 

You just pour any old pancake batter into the pen, squeeze the batter into the (greased) mold...

remove mold...flip pancake...done!  Now, I realize the final pancake is a cow...I forgot to grease the first one...oops!  They were so cute and yummy!

I really like the pen by itself too.  A wouldn't eat the animal pancakes (future vegetarian?) but I was able to make tiny circle ones that she would eat!

Fridge Phonics

While we were visiting family, A spotted two magnetic letters on the floor.  She immediately said, "o" and then "i".  I couldn't believe my ears.  We asked her over and over and she continued to get them correct.  We showed A her older cousin's magnetic word builder and she continued getting letters correct!  She said about six.

We decided to get her the  Fridge Phonics to practice with at home.  I put five letters in a bin (so as not to overwhelm), along with the little dog house.  I made sure that she knew three of them to keep interest.  I'll switch letters out here and there as long as she stays interested.  I like it in the bin because at least for now, when things like this are on the fridge, they just end up on the floor, not played with.