FREEBIE: Alphabet Pocket Chart Pieces

Recently, we started listening to the "Phonics Song" by the Hoopla Kidz (you can download the song on YouTube). We both enjoy the song and it has a nice beat to it.

So, I prepared our alphabet pocket chart to familiarize Z with the letters. I have not begun teaching her the phonics or the letters of the alphabet. We are just listening to the songs and familiarizing ourselves with the sounds.

Here it is, my first freebie for you mommies...the alphabet pocket chart pieces that I made.

Pictures were downloaded using Google Image Search...the size of the pieces are based on the pocket chart that I bought at Teacher's Pet shop behind Philippine Normal University.

If you don't own a pocket chart, you can use the pieces as flashcards. Make sure to print them and laminate to make it durable. You know how our kiddos are when playing with paper so make sure you print them on board paper or something better than paper if you do not plan to laminate the pieces.

Alphabet Pocket Chart Pieces
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4AlFN8-n9QwaTdHWEk0V1o0bTg/edit?usp=sharing

Sense of Sight

Here is an overdue post...it was supposed to be the first one before sense of hearing...but it is better late than never... :)

To introduce the Five Senses, we started with the song from the Australian group “Hi-5” and played the five senses song from their “All About Me” episode. She liked the song so much that she danced to it as well.

For this lesson, I prepared activities that would let her use her eyes.  The following are the activities that I was able to prepare with the help of online research.

1. Treasure Hunt

2. Eyesight Hunt Checklist

3. Exploring with her Binoculars and with her colored-telescope

4. Exploring with a magnifying glass

TREASURE HUNT: I took pictures of things I wanted her to look for around the house. I also included items that she is not familiar with so she would know what they are called. Here, I included a plate number from our family’s motorcycle. I printed out the pictures on board paper and attached it to a ring. She looked for the items around the house using her homemade binoculars.

EYESIGHT HUNT CHECKLIST: I prepared different eyes showing various emotions. This was another “hunting” mission. She likes to have mission activities. Here, she looked for the eyes hidden around our “study time” area. When she found the eyes, she attached it to the checklist and checked it.

EXPLORING WITH THE BINOCULARS:  We went outside for this activity and looked around the place. This is best if you live in a community where there are parks and areas for nature walks. You can go around and explore the area and use the binoculars to spot birds or even insects. You can do the same using magnifying glass. Here, we had daddy Gil tag along with us. She loves to do things with her dad and whenever he is around, I make sure to include him in the activities.  

SNACK TIME: We prepared yummy crackers with cream cheese and raisins. We made creamy eyes for snack time since our lesson was about the sense of sight! :) 

We did not do these activities in a day…you can do activities for an hour and a half to two hours but if your children are still energetic and want more, then you can add a couple of more activities then let them take a nap! Hahaha!

Quality time should not be expensive and stressful. You can use what you have around the house to teach and have fun with your kids.

If your children attend a preschool already, you can extend their activities or add activities from the lesson they are learning using everyday items at home.

  

*I will copy the links next time and share it with you too mommies so you would know where to look for other activities. 

Sense of Hearing

Z likes exploring different kinds of sounds. So, she had fun doing the activities in this lesson.

I prepared activities such as:

- Guessing the sound in the mystery bag

- Matching sounds using plastic eggs

- Reading “Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you Hear?” by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle

We also did some fine motor activities. Z still needs to improve on the use of her small muscles – muscles in her fingers and that is why I try to incorporate some activities to strengthen those muscles.

I had her peel off some tape from her table. I drew some shapes using different colored markers on the tapes. She was able to complete the activity. The thing here though is I should have made a few...it is kind of a low-energy activity so Z got easily bored. So, limit the activity. You can also use stickers if you have them, especially those with the smiley faces, colorful ones or any low-cost stickers.

Aside from lessons on the sense of hearing, we also took the time to practice literacy. I prepared a felt board and its pieces for her. She enjoys telling stories with it. I have felt board pieces on “The Three Little Pigs”, “Little Red Riding Hood”, and “Humpty Dumpty”.

MYSTERY BAG: I let her guess some sounds that were coming from our mystery bag. We call the bag “Mr. Bag”. So, there were different sound makers inside like a baby rattle, small trumpet, a clapper (which we bought from a candy store), a tambourine, and her toy camera that makes different sounds whenever you click it. These materials were just around the house so be creative and look for toys and other stuff that would make sounds.

MATCHING SOUNDS: We explored sounds coming from plastic eggs. The eggs contained buttons, rice, and 10-cent coins.  We did not have a lot of materials available so I only made 2 pairs for each. She had fun finding the pairs…but she had way too much fun and decided to crack the eggs! I was not able to attach tape because I thought I can handle it and not let her crack the eggs. I did not know what I was thinking! And after a few minutes, the eggs exploded and rice was everywhere! I did not use a lot of uncooked rice because I don’t want to indirectly teach Z to waste food. I had to end the activity as calmly as possible!

There are a lot of things to explore and it can be overwhelming which to do first. Find out what your child is interested about and you can start from there. If your child is interested about cars, do activities that involves learning about different kinds of transportation.

For me, since Z is not enrolled in a preschool program, I had to start from the obvious lesson..."about myself"...I call this unit "Marvelous Me". More activities to come!

Sense of Hearing Day 2 (March 12)

Playing with wind chimes

For the past couple of months, I've started teaching Z the Five Senses. We started with the sense of sight but since I don't have my files for the sense of sight I'm going to share the sense of hearing first. I had to search for appropriate activities to do with Z. The following activities can be done using everyday items at home. I had to look for other materials online that I used for this lesson like a copy of "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?" by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle and sound effects on YouTube.

If you want some copy of the files for the sense of hearing activities, let me know. My files are just simple, I still have limited resources and experience in making my materials look cool, hahaha! Still, if you want them feel free to send me a message. I will be posting a PDF copy of the sound safari checklist pretty soon and will be including a zip file of the sound effects, though you can search for the sounds online.

Listening to the sound effects of a yelping peacock.

For the sense of hearing, we started reading "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?" by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle. Here, Z was able to listen to animal sounds that were found in the book. She wanted to retell the story to me and my husband. Z also requested to have the sound effects while she tells the story.


We also had a "sound mission" activity wherein she would listen to different sound effects and go through her checklist to see which object/thing made that particular sound. There were coins dropping, ball bouncing, baby crying, horse galloping and the thunder sound which she pronounces as "funder". hahaha!

She took interest in cooking too, I believe it is because of Disney's "Ratatouille". She's been watching it many times now. So, I started to include cooking as a special activity in our study time. For day-2, we made egg salad sandwich. We have done this before when we were still in Cavite and she had a classmate back then. We just did it again since we have to work with ingredients that we already have at home. 

Spending time with your child should not be expensive. I hope that the things I share here would also inspire mommies, child carers, cool aunts and daddies out there to spend some quality and educational time with their children.

About TPM

I have never thought of being a teacher to young children, let alone being a mom to one. I have always thought that I will be one of those women in an office working her butt off preparing marketing plans and attending events for the company. It never happened…well just a 10-month stint as a marketing officer for a roofing company and after that, I never thought of going back to that field again.  

Teaching was never in my mind. As far as I can remember, I swore that I would never become a teacher. I made this statement after seeing how crazy my classmates were in high school! (Hahaha!) But a very good friend (same friend who encouraged me to blog!) introduced me to teaching English to Koreans and after my first day of training, I fell in love with ESL (English as a Second Language). And five years later, I find myself sitting in a classroom learning how to teach young children.  

I had not planned to spend my life teaching young children but a former employer introduced me to it by taking a master’s degree in the university where she teaches. Although I have not formally taught in a classroom yet…I am currently dedicating my time, energy, resources and knowledge in teaching my own preschooler and that is how The Preschool Mommy was born.

Through this blog, I hope to inspire and encourage mommies and future mommies to spend some time teaching their own children as well as cool aunts to spend some quality and fun time with their nephews and nieces! 

Welcome to the Preschool Mommy!

A site to help and guide mommies, mommies-to-be, cool aunts and even dads out there in spending quality, educational time with their children.

Making every day a teachable moment!