How to Teach Series Part #1

 

I had this idea and figured it'd be a great resource for homeschoolers. And since I won't be on as much for the next 2 to 3 weeks as my mom is flying in to spend time with us. I figured I'd start this now and space some posts out for while I'm offline.

So the first part of my series is going to focus on the Alphabet. It will cover letter sounds, identifying letters, how to write letters, and fun techniques for teaching letters.

Identifying Letters

• Letter of the Week Activities - you can either buy the whole curriculum at once from COAH or under her Alphabet tab find each letter separately!
• Letter Coloring Sheets
• Letter Color by Numbers

 

Letter Sounds

• At out house we have a song for learning letter sounds. We kinda make up what word we use for each letter each time but it starts a-a-apple, b-b-ball, c-c-cat, d-d-dog, and so on just make up the word as you do it. Its fun for the kids and they don't even realize they are learning the sounds.

• We also just say the letter and sound with a word that begins when we have a letter of focus.

Writing Letters

• Letter Tracing worksheets
• Letter Writing Salt Box
• Letter Builders- uppercase- lowercase

Curriculum that focuses on Letters

• Raising Rock Stars Preschool
• Tot School Printables

Fun Letter Activities

• Alphabet Crafts
• Play-dough Letters
• Letter Collages
• Alphabet Do-A-Dot Pictures- Letters A-M, N-Z

Alphabet Movies

Several movies and show my boys love are what I am linking to.

I am sure there are plenty of great alphabet movies out there!

Leapfrog Letter Factory

Welcome to Word World (this is how Austin learned his letters)

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The rest of the series will cover numbers, unit studies, science, getting ready to read, math, life skills, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, circle time.

See ya in a few days with another part of this series!

Austins Pre-K 2010-2011 Goals

Goals For Austin 2010-2011

Phonics

• Recognize 100 Sight Words
• Work on Letter Sounds
• Work on Letter Blends
• Recognize Color Words ( Red, Blue, White, Black, Purple, Brown, Green, Yellow)
• Rhymes

Handwriting

• Trace Uppercase and Lowercase Letters
• Write his Full name

Spelling

• Work on some 3 Letter Spelling Words
• Spelling Puzzles

Reading

• Start working on sounding out words
• Read some Easy Readers
• Read 10 books a month

Math

• Number Recognition 1-20
• 1 to 1 Correspondence
• Recognize Number Words 1- 10
• Matching
• Patterns
• Drawing and Recognizing Shapes
• Value of Coins
• Calendar (Days, Months, Weeks, Year)
• Sequencing
• Opposites
• Directions
• Graphs
• Tells Time by the Hour
• Divide sets of objects into equaly groups
• Measuring with non standard measurment
• Uses the terms shorter, longer, taller, heavier, warmer, coolor, holds more
• Identifies Half vs. Whole

Social Studies

• Holidays
• States
• Community Helpers
• Home: Self/ Friends/ Family

Science

• Themes

1. Insects
2. Plants
3. Jungle Animals
4. Space
5. Human Body
6. Ocean Life
7. Season and Weather
8. Magnets
9. Float or Sink
10. Food and Nutrition
11. Farm Animals
12. Safety- body and fire
13. Senses

Art & Crafts

• Various crafts

Critical Thinking

• Logic Puzzles and Games

PE

• Review Basic Skills
• Introduce new skills and games

Bible

• Weekly Bible Verse
• Weekly Bible Song
• Bible Crafts

Music

• Singing Songs
• Rhythm

Life Skills

• Recite address from memory
• Recite Telephone number with area code
• Recite Birthday with year
• Recite Full name of Mommy and Daddy
• Recite his full name
• Follows 1 and 2 step Directions
• Dresses himself

Fine Motor Skills

• Holds pencil correctly
• Holds scissors correctly
• Cuts on lines
• Outlines and colors neatly

Gross Motor Skills

• Hops on both feet together
• Hops on one foot (left and right)
• Marches
• Gallops
• Skips

Social and Work Habits

• Puts effort in his work
• Takes card of school materials
• Uses Self Control
• Works Independently
• Completes work in reasonable time
• Listens attentively

School starts next week!

Now that we are getting settled in our new house. I have gotten most of our school stuff unpacked and we are getting ready to start school next week! I set up our school area today!! Here are a few pics...

A has a new Workbox setup since I was able to get some ink finally! He helped decorate it!


D's tot school toys and my schedule and planning stuff. You can see A's workbox stuff as well.


Our Calendar and Work area!
Don't mind the towels on the chairs the boys are eating there till we get the dining room set up.


Im so excited to have a space for school stuff! Now to just get started. We are starting with Letter A next week and A will be starting the learning to read process as well as some other new things for him for Pre-K.

Planning for the School Year 2010 - 2011

We will continue to homeschool even though A will be in Pre-K. Pre-K in our town is only 2 and a half hours a day and more then likely he will be placed on a waiting list. So im planning on the things we will cover and also starting to buy our curriculum (which i might add is quite fun). Im also quite excited because at our new house we will have a dedicated school room! So it makes planning more fun!

We will still focus on the following subjects:

• Letter of the Week
• Math
• Sight Words
• Handwriting
• Reading ( on tape or I read to him)
• Science
• Hands On Activity
• Art
• Cutting Practice
• Learning Game
• Social Studies
• Numbers and Counting

We will be also adding

• Reading Readiness Activities
• Phonics
• Daily Journal
• Blend Ladders

For D we will focus still on Tot School with Tot Trays though so it will be more organized for him.

Here are a few of the workbooks I've picked up for A for next year:

images are linked


I will also be looking into some of the Abeka curriculum for 4 yr olds as well.

The following websites will be where I get some of our Letter of the Week and other activities from:

1+1+1=1 Website
1+1+1=1 Blog
Confessions of a Homeschooler
Home Grown Hearts

Homeschool Resources

Ive been asked several times where I get my resources for teaching and so i figured instead of writing everyone Id just make a post here on my blog for you all to refer to as you want. I will post more as I find more resources but for now here is a pretty long list!


My first go to site and blog that I ready daily are 1+1+1=1 Here is her blog: http://1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com/ and her website with lots of printables and lapbooks: http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/index.html I like Lapbooks cause A and D get to help put them together as well as use the hands on approach of it all.


This blog is Awesome!! She puts up a letter a week and posts plenty of activities to incorporate in your week. She also posts seperate activites throughout the week! Her blog is filled with tons of GREAT info!
http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com

This is where I get my weekly Letter craft that we do. I also use it as our theme for the week. I take the boys to the library to get the book for that week that they have posted at the bottom of the page
http://totallytots.homestead.com/NowIKnowMyABCs.html

I got our Shape Viewers from this site. The boys love to use them during our Circle Time.
http://lovemylifex4.blogspot.com/2010/01/shape-viewers.html

This site is filled with lots of great activities as well
http://lovemylifex4.blogspot.com

Each week I print our Letter of the week Search from here:
http://www.beginningreading.com/Alphabet%20Set%202.htm

I search here also for ideas to go along with our Theme of the week:
http://www.first-school.ws/themes.html

Great Cutting Practice Worksheets:
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/cutting_skills_printables.htm


Great file Folder games:
http://filefolderfun.com/index.html


I absolutely LOVE this sites worksheets. A enjoys them as well.
http://www.education.com/activity/preschool/

Homeschool Creations has a great area of Printables as well:
http://homeschoolcreations.com/preschoolprintables.html

The sight words list we are using. I am doing 1 list at a time and once he knows them we will move on to the next list. They are in order of frequency of usage in books.
http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/pdf%20documents/dolch.pdf


If you are having a hard time finding Worksheets for Letter practice or anything to help writing this site will allow you to make your own handwriting worksheets: http://www.writingwizard.longcountdown.com/handwriting_practice_worksheet_maker.html

We will be starting Writing Notebooks in the next few weeks, They will be more of the Drawing type but I will help put words on them for them. I got the idea from here:
http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/writing_notebooks.html

A great craft finding site:
http://www.kaboose.com/

Another great Blog that I read is The Activity Mom, I love how she uses everyday household items into her teaching:
http://activitymom.blogspot.com/

For D I use alot of ideas from Tot School so most of his schooling is hands on play:
Once we move he will start actually using Tot Trays more.
http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/ForTots.html

If I make a worksheet for anything I will be posting it on here so you will want to check back often for those.

I will be back in a few days with a post about how our day spans out. I will also have some lesson plan sheets then as well!!

Have a great day!