I bought some of these agendas at the Crate & Barrel outlet over the weekend and gave one to Avery and one to Nate to use as sketchbooks. I like the modern aesthetic of them and thought that looking at all the numbers would help Avery as she is in the process of learning to identify and name them. As Avery was drawing in her new sketchbook one night this week, she turned it around and called it her "laptop" (upper right photo).
Alphabet blocks like Land of Nod's Nod blocks can help in teaching not only letter names, but phonemic awareness and letter-to-sound correspondence. Children need numerous exposures to print and letters in order to lay the foundation for reading. Alphabet blocks are one way to expose children to alphabetic concepts and phonemic awareness. Each block also helps to reinforce the concept that one letter represents one sound.
Here is a simple and quick activity you can do with your preschooler who is starting to learn the alphabet and letter sounds. Put some stuffed animals, animal figurines or pictures of animals in a bag and have the alphabet blocks ready and off to the side. Have your child pull out an animal from the bag and then place three letter blocks, one being the actual letter that the name of the animal starts with and two other random letters. For example, if your child pulls out a cat, you say, "What letter does 'cat' start with? C-c-cat. C, N or E?" Have your child choose the correct letter (with help if needed). Later, spell out the whole name of the animal and read it with your child so that s/he can get used to what that word looks like and also so that your child can start to learn that one letter stands for one sound. You can repeat these steps with the other animals. Later, you can use alphabet blocks to help teach blending and segmenting (pre-reading skills taught in kindergarten). There are so many good uses for alphabet blocks! They are an essential tool for play and learning in these early years.
Joint writing on a regular basis is also very important for early literacy development. You and your child can draw simple pictures of animals and write words below.
Two engaging and fun iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad apps for learning letters and phonemic awareness are Duck Duck Moose Reading and Endless Alphabet. Another good resource is KinderTown, which is an app that reviews and recommends educational apps in different areas. Their Power Packs are "mini" lesson plans that provide ideas for activities and games in various subjects, such as these: Getting Ready for Kindergarten and Letters and Sounds. Also, for a limited time, KinderTown is offering a 30-day free trial of their Power Parent membership, which gives you access to their Power Packs and other useful features of KinderTown. Lastly, some great phonological and phonemic awareness activities to help your child get ready for reading can be found on this website. Have fun with the process of learning to read!
Sometimes you just need a latte. This beautiful one is from Portola Coffee Lab.
Some of Avery's recent drawings from last month. This is what she said about the first one: "That's a dog. He has a nose. See, you just draw one right there."
Every child needs a block set or two. Blocks are one toy that my kids return to again and again. They are wonderful for constructing, but they are also good for creative play. There are many benefits to creative play. Creativity helps contribute to good problem-solving skills. Creativity is an outlet for energy. Creative opportunities allow children to test out their ideas by trial and error. They experiment and learn by doing.
Here are Land of Nod's Nod blocks being used as food, an example of symbolic play (one aspect of symbolic play is when a child uses an object to represent another object, e.g., pretending to use a banana as a phone).
A road of blocks.
Nod Blocks are great because on the face of each block is one of the following: an upper case letter, lower case letter, number and a word that begins with the letter showcased on the block and an illustration to go with each, e.g., whale, wrench and Walt. Blocks like these are a versatile toy that provide opportunities for play and learning! Thanks to Land of Nod for sending us Nod Blocks to try out.