20 Best Tips

Tot School Planning Form

May202009
May 20, 2009 by 6 Comments

I mentioned a few weeks back in one of my Tot School posts that I had pulled together a form to help me plan out my ‘school time’ with Kaleb. My theory being if I actually have an ‘official form’ staring me in the face I would be more consistent and have some better activities for Kaleb to do each day.

My goal is to plan at least 3 intentional activities to do with Kaleb each day. I also made room for additional ideas{songs/fingerplays, gross and fine motor, or lapbooks}. The form can be printed off front and back and I’ve been tacking it up on our fridge so that I can see the week at a glance too ~ and it is helping me out! In case you are interested in using it too, you can click on the thumbnail image below and print off your own copy.

If you’d like more information on Tot School, visit Carisa at 1+1+1=1 and join in the fun!

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Preschool Alphabet Worksheets

May122009
May 12, 2009 by 2 Comments

Each week along with our letter-of-the-week learning I’ve been posting the cut and paste worksheets that we do for each letter of the alphabet.

To make it easier, I’ve put the whole lot of them into one big ol’ PDF file so it’s handy in one place.

‘Cause I’m nice like that.

Here’s the entire document and you’ll also find it linked in the left sidebar under “Preschool Printables”. Just click on the thumbnail graphic to print it off!


Feel free to print them off, and if you’d like to link back to this page, that’s fine too.

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Filed Under: Early Learning Printables, Notebook and Worksheets, Preschool Corner, Preschool Printables 2 Comments

Tot School ::23::

May102009
May 10, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Tot School

~ Kaleb is 29 months ~

Trying to get back into a groove can be frustrating. Especially when a certain toddler isn’t quite in the mood to cooperate with a Mommy and follow THE PLAN.

At the beginning of the week I put together my list of things to do each day and although we didn’t do them all the way I had planned, we still had fun, tried a few new things, and figured out that little boy Kaleb is still absorbing information left and right.

Shocking, I know.

We tried making a Tot Book {Nemo} this week since preschool time with Zachary is focused on underwater. Kaleb loves Nemo. And although he’s not quite understanding the concept, it’s great that we can keep the book on hand to use in the future too.

The goal was to put stickers on the paper. Two stickers ended up where they were supposed to while the rest ended up on arms, noses, the table, and I’m sure I’ll find more later somewhere else.

I found some great magnetic ‘fishing’ puzzles at a yard sale for 50 cents {gotta love the spring bargains!!}. Getting the magnets to slow down and connect can be a little tricky, but Kaleb loved the bugs!

Laurianna made Kaleb his own little game when she was creating at the children’s museum {and Kaleb loved it}. She drew a shape on a little envelope and then cut/colored out the same shape for him to stick in each pocket {too sweet ~ and she was so proud of herself!}.

We pulled out a pocket chart that props on the table {found it at Walmart a little while back} and had fun playing with the numbers 1 through 3 {interpreted as Mommy counted over and over again while Kaleb had fun shoving the numbers and pictures all over the place}.

We put together the Nemo Tot Book. Ummm…Mommy, put the lapbook together while Kaleb helped by coloring after he was handed the right colors to use on the color cards. Zachary {the big brother} was learning about the ocean too this week, so Nemo tied right in and we read lots of ocean/underwater books together.
We read the book Over in the Ocean {such a cool book} and sang it to the tune of “Over in the Meadow”. Every.Single.Day.


Kaleb sorted pictures by color using some color matching cards that I made {we used pink, yellow and brown}.

I put together a little Tot Tool for Kaleb using paper clips and foam strips {click here to see how I did it ~ under 5 minutes if you don’t have a child interrupt you}. Once he figured it out, he had a blast matching the colors and getting the paper clips to stay on the foam.{There is a similar Tot Tool on the Totally Tots blog }.

The potty chair was returned to us this week and is now sitting in our bathroom. Kaleb likes to think that he knows how to use it. I found him one night before bedtime, with the bathroom door closed, just like this:

When I asked him what he was doing, he said “I poopin’!” And for the record, he did, but unfortunately it was while he was still fully clothed. *grins* Just a little more work in this area.

Don’t forget to visit Carissa at 1+1+1=1 for some more Tot School posts.

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The Preschool Corner: Letter U

May82009
May 8, 2009 by Leave a Comment

This week I used lesson plans from Itty-Bitty Bookworm‘s Bo Curriculum {Year 1 month of June} for the letter U. The majority of ‘U’ ideas that I was coming up with all revolved around the word ‘under’ or ‘umbrella’ so I went with ‘underwater/under the sea’ and focused on an ocean theme, using several different WONDERFUL books {because I was thinking a week of umbrellas might just throw me over the deep end}.

We borrowed the book Over in the Ocean and also Underwater Counting from the library and had a lot of fun doing the activities that Itty Bitty Bookworm lays out in the plans ~ let me tell you, it’s all there for you! We still continued with our alphabet book and letter sheet activity on our own, but otherwise pulled our activities from the lesson plans. The plans provided so much more to do, but these are the things that we chose to do together this week {especially as the last part of the week one of the other kids was sick and at the doctor}.

ABC Book: Umbrella

Umbrellas were very appropriate this week since all it has done is RAIN.

Activities: In the Ocean Booklet

Itty-Bitty’s plans provide a booklet for children to work on over the course of a few days. It includes sea animal words for children to trace along with pictures on each page for them to color.

Fun Activities: Underwater Watercolor

While the girls were creating their watercolor masterpieces, Zachary wanted to participate too, so he painted his own picture. Can you figure out what it is?


It’s a pregnant scuba diver. The grey is her air tank and the bumps on the front are her baby belly. The dots are the air bubbles {apparently he’s an abstract artist}.

Language: Oral Word Play, Word Sorting, & Sentence Starters

Oral Word Play

We used some underwater words to help with phoneme awareness: goldfish, seahorse, dolphin, clownfish, shark, and whale. For the first few words we used this pattern:

Say goldfish. “Goldfish.” Say it again, but don’t say fish. GOLD
Say goldfish. “Goldfish.” Say it again, but don’t say gold. FISH

We did some different sounds with some of the other words too, but Zachary had a fun time figuring out the different words and how to separate them.

Word Sorting

Zachary used some animal word cards and sorted them by which group they belonged in: zoo, farm, and ocean animals. He looked at the animal on the cards and then wrote their names in the correct column.

Sentence Starters

I asked Zachary to help fill in the blanks of this sentence: If I could be a sea creature I would be a ____________ because ________________________.

His answer? I would be an octopus because they squirt black stuff.

Yes. He is a boy all around.

Math: Counting by 2’s and Graphing Goldfish

Underwater Counting by

Movement: Underneath Things & Fish, Fish, Shark


Zachary took some time to go around the house and see what he might be able to fit underneath. We counted how many things there were upstairs and downstairs and then added them together.

Upstairs: Girl’s bunkbeds, kitchen table, barstools, his bunkbed, Mommy & Daddy’s bed = 5

Downstairs: Futon, Mommy’s worktable, Daddy’s workbench, the spare bed, the desk, the coffee table, the shelves in the closet, 2 chairs = 9

Fish, Fish, Shark ~ This is a game that is just like Duck, Duck, Goose. Just use the words Fish, Fish, Shark instead! Much fun {especially when the shark chomps you}.

Letter Sheet/Collage

Click thumbnail to download printable

Stories and Books

Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef by Marianne Berkes. The artwork alone in this book will amaze you. The book can either be read or sung to the tune of ‘Over in the Meadow’. We had the board book version of this book, but it also gives ideas for hand motions to go along with the rhyme. Kids count their way through the ocean with sea creatures and a sweet rhyme. LOVED it!

Underwater Counting: Even Numbers by Jerry Palotta. The pictures in this book are also wonderful. After the number one, the book begins counting fish and underwater animals by 2’s all the way up to the number 50. When we had finished reading the book, the kids figured out that the number being talked about was also hidden somewhere in the picture ~ too fun!! They’ve been looking at this book all week.

Things We Used

About the Preschool Corner:

The Preschool Corner is a place for us to share the ideas we are using during our “preschool time” with our kids. You can join in the fun and record what you are doing in your house. Please link your exact blog post to the Mr. Linky below (if you have questions feel free to ask). Be sure to link back to this blog post so that your readers can find some other great ideas too!

The guidelines can be found here if you need them.

Share what you’ve been doing in your house this week! Please leave a comment if you link {since Mr. Linky doesn’t let me know when you join up!}.

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Be sure to check out Itty-Bitty Bookworm for
great resources and wonderful curriculum!
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Filed Under: Alphabet Time, Itty Bitty Bookworm, Letter Uu, Preschool Corner Leave a Comment

Paper Clip Color Matching Game

May72009
May 7, 2009 by Leave a Comment

I promise you that you can put this together in under 5 minutes.

You can probably make it in less time than it took me to write the directions for this post.

I found a pack of 5″ x 8″ foam sheets and colored paper clips at the Dollar Tree ~ so under $2 for the little color matching tool and you will have sheets of foam left over as well as a plethora of paper clips.

1. Cut a 1″ x 5″ strip from each foam sheet that you want to use {I picked red, orange, yellow, green and blue}

2. Stack the foam strips on each other and pierce through the stack on one end with a brad.

3. Match 3 to 4 paper clips with each strip.

4. Play.

See? It really is that easy! Be sure to check out Carissa’s Tools for Tots page for some more great homemade ideas as well as the Totally Tots Simply Made posts.

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Preschool Corner: Favorite Preschool Resources

May42009
May 4, 2009 by 1 Comment

I’ve been completing standardized testing with the girls this week, so we’ve haven’t done much ‘school’ this week at all.

Unless you count two trips to the children’s museum as school. {grins}

Otherwise, we’ve just curled up on the couch and Zachary has been working on his reading and is doing wonderful!! He is so proud of himself and his pace is really picking up too.

In the meantime I wanted to share some of my favorite resources that I’ve used with Zachary this year. This is by no means my exhaustive list {because trust me, there are things hidden in so many different corners of my house it’s ridiculous}. I suppose you could call these my “go-to’s”.

Websites

Books/Curriculum

  • Before Five in a Row ~ this is one that I’ve used occasionally this year to do a few lapbooks with Zachary. You can read a review I wrote on it here and also see a one of the lapbooks we did
  • IttyBitty Bookworm ~ I plan on using this a more with Kaleb next year, but have used it with Zachary this year too. If you aren’t sure where to start, the plans are really affordable ($20 to download a month’s worth of curriculum). You can see some things we did for the Letter S if you’d like.
  • My ABC Bible Verses – Great book for preschoolers/kindergarten that has a short verse for each letter of the alphabet along with a short devotion to do during the week.
  • Kumon Workbooks – They have a huge variety of booklets to choose from: cutting, shapes, folding, sticking/pasting, tracing, mazes and more. Amazon frequently offers 4 for the price of 3 and then free shipping to boot.
  • Rime to Read – Zachary has really enjoyed these books for beginning reading and I enjoy that they are stored on my computer for later use too! You can read more about it here.

About the Preschool Corner:

The Preschool Corner is a place for us to share the ideas we are using during our “preschool time” with our kids. You can join in the fun and record what you are doing in your house. Please link your exact blog post to the Mr. Linky below (if you have questions feel free to ask). Be sure to link back to this blog post so that your readers can find some other great ideas too!

The guidelines can be found here if you need them.

Share what you’ve been doing in your house this week!


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Filed Under: Preschool Corner 1 Comment