"Egg-cellent" learning games with plastic eggs!

    The Easter holiday is just around the corner and I am seeing plastic eggs all over the place! From simple colorful ones, to ones with fun designs and characters, to ones in very cute shapes. I LOVE the cute carrot & bunny eggs I found at the Dollar Tree. I bought some last year and went back for more this year!
    All the cutesy eggs that are out there aren't just cute and great for Easter egg hunts and filling baskets...the little munchkin and I are discovering all sorts of fun games to play and different ways to use these little plastic eggs.
   Earlier this week, after I raided the Dollar Tree for their cute eggs, I set out baskets and activity trays of learning games for the little munchkin to do, if it sparked her interest. And I say "if" because since I have been using Montessori-inspired activity trays, I change the trays maybe every 1-1.5 weeks, depending on how fast she completes the activities and how interested (or uninterested) she is with the activity trays.

 (Read more here about how I started with my Montessori-Inspired Activity Trays in her playroom)   

   And all week long, she has been excited about the new activities and has been doing one or two activities a day.

   Here is one activity that I borrowed from Nicole over at Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten:

    I filled each carrot egg with letter tiles (or you can use magnetic letters).

    She had to choose an egg, dump out the letters and try to put the letters in order to make a sight word. 

(To make it a little easier, I only used the 8 sight words that she has been learning)

    Once she figured out the correct spelling of the sight word, she wrote it on the carrot. 

    This recording sheet is part of an Easter FREEBIE, so head over to Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten to grab your own copy and make any kind of game you wish! (It could be a spelling word game for older kids or a letter/ number recognition game for preschool kids) 

The ideas are endless!

    For some upper and lowercase letter identification practice, I also made a game where each carrot egg had two letters that did not match. She had to dump the eggs and match the upper and lower case letters.

There's more!! She grabbed another tray and basket with yet another egg game.

    This time she had to open each egg and sort letters from numbers. I also had her name each letter and number as she sorted it into the correct group.

And then I thought of a way to make the classic game of Memory  Match even more fun:

I bought 2 sets of these little erasers at Walmart. I filled small eggs with the erasers and we took turns opening the eggs to try and find a match.

    So, what are you waiting for? 

    Get over to the Dollar Tree and raid their Easter section! There are TONS of fun things to do with these eggs. And the best thing about all this learning fun-- very cost effective!

   And with Spring break next week, you can be sure that the little munchkin and I will be exploring a zillion more ways to have fun with plastic eggs!

 So, stay tuned!

Halloween Activities are a Sweet Treat!!

   Hi!! 

   Ok, so Halloween is right around the corner and I know I said I was back and would be blogging regularly, but too many little things keep getting in the way!

   Anyhow, the learning fun is continuing at home, as I have been creating fun activities for my little one to do at home independently. I took note that she does a lot of art work in school and so if I engage her in art activities, she loses interest after a short time. And I also took note that her interest in letters/sounds and writing are advancing. So the activities that I put out on her Montessori inspired trays are more focused on literacy and math.

    Here is a Halloween Beginning Sound activity that is included in my "Spook-tacular Halloween Literacy Activities" pack:

                 

          

    Here are some additional activities that are included in this fun filled pack!

    Here is a Ghost Addition activity from my "Spook-tacular Halloween Math Activities" pack:

    First we used the picture cards and then I found some ghost erasers in my Halloween stash and we used the Addition mats again!

          

          

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    Here are some additional activities that are included in this math pack:

     I also came across this freebie from Kindergarten Smiles, that I could not resist!

                

                

    We are so excited about Halloween this year and are hoping for decent Trick or Treating weather!!
    Here is a hint of what my little munchkin is dressing up as this Halloween:

    And YES--- my hubby and I are dressing up as well to complete the whole theme! My teen son decided not to participate in all of this.... he would rather be a Spartan or Knight... or something like that!

Celebrating Fall with Fun Math & Literacy!

   Alright, fall is definitely in the air!
   It didn't exactly feel that way today with the humidity... but still....

   The little munchkin and I are very excited that fall is here! We spent some time outdoors today and collected pinecones and leaves for some future art projects. We can't wait until there are enough leaves in our backyard so we can rake them up and go crazy!

    And since I am know that in one day, there can be a swift change in temperature, I have been working on some Fall Math & Literacy units for those days it may be too rainy and cold to be outside. Nothing big... each unit has only three printable activities. 

Take a look and click on the pic to get your own copy at my TPT store:

I am sure your kiddos will enjoy them! 

\My little munchkin is enjoying the activity trays... even after a long school day!

         

            

       

                     

A Garden of Flowers & Letters... and it's FREEBIE Friday!

    And… we have flowers! Teeny, tiny flowers…but FLOWERS! 

The munchkin was SO excited!!

   For our Gardening Theme, the little munchkin created this cute picture by searching for all the right letters to make a Garden of Letters!

   The munchkin also practiced some writing with her Letter Rr and Ss writing mini-books, similar to the ones she did for Letters Gg and Ff. 

Click on each Picture to pick up your own FREE copies of these 

mini writing books, which are also being featured at Teaching Blog Addict's Freebie Friday!!

   I also came across a post by This Reading Mama and decided to try something like it with my little one. It is called Reading The Alphabet. Our activity focused on Tracking Print, Letter Identification and Letter/Sound Connection.

This Garden theme sure was fun! 

Now to move on to some SWEET stuff… 

Stay tuned!

On the Road to Literacy!

   So I know the last time I posted anything about my classroom, I mentioned that things were under construction. Well, things are still under some construction as I continue to find ways to meet the needs of my munchkins, who have been a challenge for me thus far in the school year.

   The past few weeks have been both stressful and hectic, yet somewhat inspiring at the same time; as I have been able to reflect on my teaching practices and express some of my concerns and challenges with my director who has given me some direction and further insight on how to manage my classroom of boys! 

    I think I now have a clearer sense of where I need to focus my attention & energy and where to start. It is basically back to the drawing board!! 

    I know, it is already November, but I have to start somewhere right?

    In our preschool curriculum, we have just begun our Letter of the Week series.!  Although I have been implementing literacy activities since Day 1, it is now time to focus on one letter and sound at a time.

   Learning the alphabet alone provides SEVERAL different fun and engaging learning activities for my kiddos. And thank goodness for Pinterest and  my wonderful collection of The Mailbox Magazines (which have always been a valuable resource for me) which highlight many different hands-on letter activities that I plan to use in my classroom this year!

    So, we are on the Road to Literacy! J

    Here are a few things we have been doing to get ready to learn letters:

    The most appropriate way we began our study of letters has been through name recognition activities.

    The munchkins have done name puzzles and have matched  and counted the letters in their name.

    I created a dry erase card for every child to use, by gluing a sentence strip onto white construction paper and then laminated it. I made sure the writing section contained no lines at all, giving them the confidence to write their letters as big and round as they need to!

Some kiddos are working on writing their full name, while others are practicing their first name.

    I pulled out a set of alphabet flashcards and have provided several opportunities throughout the past 2 weeks for the children to explore them and practice writing letters on blank dry erase cards.

    And we are still getting some good use out of our old Apple Pie PlayDoh by using letter cutters to spell names!!  (This is definitely the last week of it and then  it is getting tossed in the trash!)

    And… our sand table has become an Alphabet Digging Ground.

    There are so many fun and engaging ways to introduce and learn the Alphabet, my mind is in over drive! 

     What are some of YOUR favorite Alphabet activities???  

     Please share.! I would love to hear comments and/ or suggestions! =)