Letter Oo Books

Here are the books we read for our two Letter Oo weeks:

Our main theme for the Letter Oo was Oo is for Octopus.

The only cute book on octopus that I could find was An Octopus Followed Me Home by Dan Yaccarino. It was such an adorable book though. The little girl takes home an octopus and asks her daddy if she can keep it. Her Daddy points out all of the crazy animals she has already brought home. She takes the octopus back to the ocean and comes home with a dinosaur. This was my daughter's favorite story for the letter O.

Our other theme was Oo is for opposites.




God Must Really Love Opposites by Rondi DeBoer was a really cute story. It talks about how God created opposites in our world like the bunny who runs fast and the turtle who is slow. The pictures were really nice too.

Black? White? Day? Night! A Book of Opposites by Laura Vaccaro Seeger.  This book is a little flip up book. You lift the flap to find the opposite. My shortcake loved picking up the flaps to find the opposite!



We read two books by Jane Katirgis: Over and Under; Front and Back
These books were a little too young for my 4 year old. They repeat the same opposite in almost the same way. I was kind of disappointed.





We read a cute book about a polar bear named Alex and a penguin named Zina. It was called Polar Opposites by Erik Brooks. The whole book focuses on the opposites found in both of them until they end up on vacation at the equator together!


 

Lastly, we read What's Up, Duck? A Book of Opposites by Tad Hills. This is a board book but it was a great book for my 4 year old. She was able to complete the opposites. The pictures are darling too! My 18 month old had fun "reading" it too!

Letter Ll Activities

Here are some of the activities we planned for our two Ll weeks:

ASL (American Sign Language)
We love ASL in our home. We use it all the time. Here are some of the signs we used for the Letter Ll.
-Letter L
-love
-Lord
-leaf
-light

You can find signs here on my Pinterest board: My 2nd Language

We also used the signs for "same" and "different" in our Phonics lesson. I gave her word pairs that were the same or different.

"same"

"different"

Snacks
-ladybug strawberries
-lemonade
-cherry limeade
 
Bible Connections
Our Bible verse for this week was "Love the Lord your God with all your heart." Deuteronomy 6:5a. (This is included in my Stored In Your Heart Bible Verse Set.) My shortcake loved doing some ASL with this verse we did "love" "Lord" "God" "all" "heart" "6" "5". You can find some signs on my Pinterest Board.

Every week we also pick a prayer person to pray for. It just so happened that my daughter has a friend named LeAnna and another friend named Luke. We made them some cards and sent it to them. We cut out a coloring page for a ladybug and a lion and attached it to a construction paper. 

Ladybug Activities
-Ladybug counting rocks
-HUGE collection of Ladybug activities here!
-Egg carton ladybugs
-Ladybug nails

Leaf Activities
-Leaf Fall Garland craft
-1+1+1=1 Tot School Letter Ll
-Sun catcher Tissue Paper Leaves craft


Here are all of my plans for the Letter Ll. You can download them for free!

These are the books we read.
This is the music we listened to.

Letter Ll Books

Here are the books we read for both Ll weeks:

We started the first week focusing on ladybugs. We read Ten Little Ladybugs by Melanie Gerth. This is a cute story that gives a great practice with counting 1-10. My daughter has been counting to ten for a long time, but this was perfect for practicing one-to-one correspondence. (This means that she practiced pointing to each ladybug while she counted.) The other great thing is my little shortcake loved reading it to her little brother! This also went well with several ladybug activities.




We read a fun poem called Ladybug, Ladybug from Ladybug, Ladybug and Other Favorite Poems from Cricket Books that I found at our local library. I love incorporating poems when I can.





We read Mary Had A Little Lamb nursery rhyme. I used this print off to read it! I had planned a little lamb craft too!




During week 2 we switched our focus from ladybugs to leaves. We read Zero Is The Leaves On The Tree by Betsy Franco. This was a cute story that talked about many things during the Fall that show us the number zero, including leaves that are no longer on the tree.








As we continued to focus on leaves, we read Leaves, Leaves, Leaves by Nancy E. Wallace. It was a cute story about a little cub who goes on a leaf walk with his Mom during all of the seasons. This was a great introduction to fall time. It was a longer book for a preschooler so it could be split into several different reading times. My shortcake didn't seem to mind sitting still for this one.







Another great leaf book is Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert. The pictures are really nice in this book. We had read this last year and we ran out of time, so we skipped this book.













We finished out the two weeks of the Letter Ll by reading Is Your Mama a Llama by Deborah Guarino. This story is about a little baby who is looking to find her mama.











Don't forget to check out activities that went along with these stories and the music we listened to. Thanks for stopping by!

Letter Ll: Music

We study each letter for two weeks.

Here is the music we had for the
Letter Ll

The first song we did was a favorite classic of mine. I LOVE it because it teaches how to spell the word LOVE while introducing my kiddos to Jazz & Blues :) Of course I'm talking about Nat King Cole's L-O-V-E song!!

My Little Shortcake LOVED dancing to Nat King Cole!!





Part of our Bible time is also music time. I just love Steve Green's music! It is such a great way to have little one's learn bible verses!

This week we are learning Deuteronomy 6:5a NIV. "Love the LORD your God with all your heart." Steve Green's song "You Shall Love the Lord" is set to Matthew 22:37 but it was still a perfect match!!


During our first L week, we learned that Ll is for ladybug. I found this really cute video/song from Little Fingers that Play: Little Ladybug. This ladybug loses her spots and collects them counting from 1-10. This went perfect with learning ten this week! If I had ambition, I could totally see this with a felt ladybug with black felt spots to do as we sang this song!




During our second L week, we focused on Ll is for leaf. I found this song from Great Worship Songs for Kids 4 called "Autumn's A Song".

It talks about the seasons and how God has blessed us with Harvest time. The Autumn colors remind us that God is the giver of beautiful things. "Autumn's a song creation sings".







Since we are talking about Ll is a ladybug and the colors of fall, we are talking about the color red for these 2 weeks.

When I taught First Grade, I loved using Frog Street's Colors books and songs! We sang "I Can Spell Red". It talks about how firetrucks and stop signs are red!



I Can Spell Red
(tune of Are You Sleeping)

R-E-D red, R-E-D red,
I can spell red.
I can spell red.
Firetrucks are red.
Stop signs are red too.
R-E-D, R-E-D


(I wish they had this in MP3 format though so I could have them right on my MP3 player!)

Hope you find this to be helpful while teaching your little ones! Feel free to leave a link or comment if you have other suggestions for other readers.

Now I Know My ABC's

Getting started with letters is a little more tricky. There is no time like "potty time" to get started. When you are making those billion 5-10 minute trips to the potty, it's a perfect time to have some learning time.

As soon as my daughter was introduced to the potty I put an ABC strip up on the wall. Any time we sat down I would quiz her. We started with the letters in her name. We also pointed to the letters while we sang the ABC songs.

There are several alphabet songs you can choose from. We kept it interesting and used all of them.
     Alphabet song---traditional
     Super Why's ABC song
     Jesus ABCs
     Christian ABCs
     Elmo's ABCs
     Elmo's ABC rap

As soon as she learned the 5 letters of her name, we started adding more letters until she knew all 26. About every 1-3 days we added a new letter.

Driving is a perfect time to get your little one practicing their letters. The McDonald's arches, letters on highway signs, and of course you can't miss the car brand letters: H for Honda, F for Ford and V for Volkswagen!


Searching cereal boxes and magazines are great ways to practice letters. We love the Zoobies and Zootles magazines from Zoobooks. We learn about animals and have fun with letters too!

We love our alphabet cookie cutters too. We use them with cookies and play dough. I believe I found my set at Goodwill for $1.

My daughter also loves Starfall. It's a website full of ABC learning. Not only is she getting experience with letters and beginning sounds, but she is also getting computer learning in too!



One of my other favorites are the LeapFrog Alphabet movies. They are cute, fun and educational!!! I LOVE the farm one!!

 


Some great toys from LeapFrog that encourage independent practice:


 You can find other ideas on my Pinterest board: Now I know my ABCs.

     

Starting with Phonics

My daughter is 4 now so we are starting to home school a little more intentionally. The nice thing is that she knows all of her alphabet and sounds, so there is less pressure for us to move through a curriculum...which is really nice since I am nearly 7 mos. pregnant with number 3.

Here is where we were last year:
Our Starting Point

When I taught Kindergarten and First Grade, our school used a curriculum called Saxon Phonics. Many of you may have heard of Saxon Math curriculum which is known for its repetition. I had experience with the First Grade Saxon Math and I was not a real fan. It seemed that many of the kids did not think critically going through the curriculum which is so important for Mathematics. However, I LOVE the Saxon Phonics program.

When I was growing up I learned to read with the whole word method, so phonics was never a part of my "tool box". Luckily I was good at memorizing, but I hated to read and I always struggled with new words. I had no idea how to sound them out. When I started teaching this curriculum I really learned a lot.  I like how simple this curriculum is for the teacher too :)

Here is the Saxon Phonics & Spelling classroom package

I LOVE their readers, decoding, and progression through material. My kindergartners would start reading by week 3 of the curriculum!!!! All of my students were so successful with this curriculum. The only down side for me are their worksheets. I'm not a big worksheet fan anyways, especially since we can just do some board work while homeschooling. I will be using a pre-cursive handwriting system with her and adding some creative writing as we get further along.

I purchased the Homeschooling version K-2 off of eBay as I found deals and I have to say I wasn't as impressed. It needs a little updating. I think my versions might just be older. So...I've searched Amazon and eBay for their classroom readers and some of their flash cards to use with my homeschooling curriculum.

Decodable reader

This is a first grade decodable reader from  the teacher/school version of Saxon. These are available for each grade. They are great because the go along with what you are learning each week including any sight words and letter/ digraph/ dipthong/combination. I also love that it includes all the things they have learned up until that point too. It really gives kids confidence when they know they can pick up the book and tackle it. These black and white copies are great for allowing them to highlight sight words or find letters in the story too! LOVE LOVE LOVE THESE!


Here is another homeschooling Mom's review of Saxon.

This is the homeschooling version of Saxon Phonics K.

We just moved into our new house, so I am hoping to have our homeschooling area set up by this weekend, but I may be pushing it :)

We will be starting with the letter Ll (when we are settled) and focusing on each letter for 2 weeks. You may be wondering why we are starting with the letter Ll. I know many may think, wouldn't you just start with A and work through Z? Saxon Phonics starts with Ll, Oo and Gg. Ll and Oo are a great place to start because they make up the basic parts of all the letters with the straight line and the circle. Also, it is great because the first word you read is "log". Then, when you add Hh, you have "log" and "hog".

We are spending 2 weeks on each letter because I want to have time to be able to plan and have lots of fun with letter activities. As I find letter activities, I will be updating my Pinterest board "Now I Know My ABC's" so feel free to look around. I will also post some of my favorites for each letter!!

So...here's to getting started with a true homeschooling year!

"Count" Me In

Maybe you are starting this journey of teaching your little ones and you have so many questions! If so, this is a simple post to give you some direction.

Where do I start?
What should my expectations be?
What if my child isn't interested in learning?

Teaching is a part of every day life. While planned teaching is very needed, the early years are really about teaching your child about all the things that are a part of their world. As soon as your child enters this world you begin pushing that first word, don't you? I take advantage of those baby cuddle moments and repeat "Ma-ma" or tell them about how much Jesus loves them.

My little guy is about turn a year old and the next phase for us has started. Once you have moved passed teaching them about the binky, the bottle and crawling, the next phase is right around the corner.

When you start introducing those finger foods and those little hands start learning how to get that little Cheerio to their mouth, it's a perfect time to get started with counting. Count out the finger food pieces in front of them. Don't count all the way to like 20 or anything. Stay around 5 and then just start over again. As your little one gets bigger, continue counting higher as they memorize the numbers.


Besides starting in the high chair keeps them in one place so they can actually focus on learning.

Using a "manipulative" (things that they can touch and feel like the Cheerio) will help them to develop the understanding that they aren't just saying these random words out loud. They will soon discover that "one" corresponds to the item you are counting.

Expectations are hard at this age. All babies, toddlers and preschoolers develop at different ages. Don't be afraid or hesitate to teach them something that "is not at their age level". Let your child discover things and if they don't "get it", don't worry about it. They will. Just keep exposing them to things that they are interested in and the things come up in "their world".

Betty may be a little ballerina. Teach her to count out dance steps. Expose her to all kinds of music. Start with colors on her tu-tu. Talk about the triangle on her ballerina pillowcase.

Junior might be into cars. Teach him to count his cars as he puts them into lines. Start with the letters C, A, and R. Show him the circles on the wheels. Start with the color of his favorite car.

Maybe you are going to the 4-H fair in July. Learn the animals and their sounds before you go. In our family this would include ASL signs that we can sign as we walk around the animal pens.

"monkey" in ASL

Betty may surprise you and just keep counting all the way to 15 by age 2. Junior may be lucky to count to 5. That's ok. Just go with where they are at and keep working. Most likely, Junior is progressing in another area and counting is just something he is not interested in.

The key is exposure, exposure, exposure. Expose them to all kinds of things in their world and watch them grow!!

my little ones dance and music time