Fruits

Preschool A had a fun morning learning all about fruit.  We sorted fruit by color, picked our favorites and added them to our journals.  We practiced our letter V and the funny lip vibration sound it makes.  We had fruit for snack time and many kids tried kiwi fruit for the first time.  Yum!

 We had a great time learning the numeral 4 and practicing counting the TouchPoints on the TouchMath app.  It's an easy way to visually and physically count representations to remember the numeral.  We also spent the last 15 minutes playing outside in the lovely weather, I love this time of year!

 This afternoon we started outside but it got too chilly and we came in to continue our work in comfort.  We read some of "Pippi Longstocking" and had fun conversations about all the silly things she does.  We drew and wrote about our favorite parts of the story in our journals.

 We also continued our work on our Constructing Numbers game.  It went home as homework - PLEASE play it at home AND RETURN it on WEDNESDAY (mud and worms Monday, so keep it a couple extra days to practice).  We'll add numbers 51-99 for kids who are ready for it on Wednesday.  We also worked on our guided reading groups and Ready2Read lessons.

Plants for Preschoolers

What a delightful day of learning!  We learned all about plants, plant parts and how they grow.  We spent lots of time reading books and labeling different parts of plants.  We're continuing to work on our pre-reading books and the kids are really getting the hang of the repetitive text, a great first step to reading!  Find a bit more information about pre-reading texts here. 

We also enjoyed learning about numeral 6 with our TouchMath TouchNumerals and the iPad counting app from TouchMath.  We had a great day of learning!

Trees Are Plants - A Preschool Lesson

We love spring time and are starting our study of trees and plants.  Today we talked all about trees.  We read books about how trees help clean the air and how they are homes for many different animals.  We also learned that trees are used to make paper and we should be careful with the amount of paper we use because we don't want all the trees to be gone.  We talked about letter X today and the kids got a kick out of the ASL x looking just like Captain Hook's Hook.  It also works out that we can use that same sign to take our X-Ray pictures.  Sweet!

 We learned about the numeral 5 today and once again enjoyed jumping from numeral to numeral on our TouchMath Step Numerals. We had a great day practicing our reading and learning about the trees around us.

TouchMath Pre-K - Learning Our Numerals

We've finally reached the point in our school year where we start talking about numerals.  I believe it is important that other skills such as number sense, sorting, classifying, graphing and patterning are developed before we talk about the written symbol of numbers.  I'm so glad that the TouchMath  Pre-K curriculum follows this same development of skills. 

Our preschoolers are LOVING learning about the numerals.  The TouchMath Pre-K curriculum covers them very well and it adds so much fun when we utilize a few extra tools as well.  One of these extra sets we utilize are called Numeral Texture Cards.  They are so awesome!  They have a large printed numeral with different textures on the touch points (the circles that help us count).  The opposite side is a printed black numeral with the standard touch point(s).  My preschoolers (and toddlers) have loved sorting through these cards, feeling the different textures, tracing the shape of the numeral with their fingers, counting the touch points, and saying the numeral.

Another set we use is called TouchNumerals with Base 10.  These are great 6 inch foam numerals with foam TouchPoints to put on the numerals.  We count, place TouchPoints, mix them up and do it again.  I don't let my toddlers play with this set as they could easily be ruined by biting, but it's such a versatile set that I use it with my Kindergartner doing addition and subtraction and will easily use it up through multiplication and division.

We also utilize the TouchMath Adventures Touching/Counting app for the iPad.  It is a very simple app designed to teach a very basic (but sometimes not so simple) concept.  It simply teaches each numeral name and how to count the TouchPoints on each numeral.  We spend one day focused on each numeral 0-9 and this app is fantastic reinforcement of what we're learning.  It's not rocket science, but it is perfect for preschoolers learning the numerals.

We have been having so much fun learning this year and look forward to finishing out the year strong with a sense of representing quantities and numbers with the written form: Numerals.

*Please note, I was not paid for this review and I have purchased all of these products myself.  They are simply items I love!

Touch Math - PreK Program {Review}

My background is in education.  I hold a current teaching license.  I've spent 4 years teaching 1st and 2nd graders. I remember how my math class from college opened my eyes to how numbers work together (a groundbreaking idea to me at the time).  So, with all of this background why was it so hard to teach math to preschoolers?

2 years ago I started Little Adventures Preschool with a handful of children coming to my home twice a week.  Our math time was anything but consistent.  I bought a zillion books on math activities and things to work on, but each day was its own isolated math activity that didn't build on any previous knowledge or lead in to any big understandings.

Half way into the school year (in December) I decided to spring for a math curriculum so that I could feel confident that the preschoolers I was working with would be developing the math understanding they needed. I started asking all my teacher friends their thoughts on different programs.  Most of the programs started with a Kindergarten "level" and I didn't think twice about starting there until I looked through the TouchMath PreK Program.  Start with kindergarten?  What was I thinking?  There is SO much more to learn about math in the preschool years than I even realized!

Let's start with counting and number sense.  Not just rote counting, but being able to count objects with one-to-one correspondence (not counting to 10 while pointing to five objects).  Number sense is the idea that each number represents a quantity or a set of items.  It is logical that children need to understand the vocabulary of the numerals and that they represent a quantity before they memorize the written number.  Though logical, it was an idea I hadn't put into practice yet.  I love starting with the TouchMath PreK Module #1 because it sets the foundation for math understanding and we are able to continue working on it all year long.  It's easy to differentiate for young learners to match their current understanding.  Children who are working on recognizing sets up to 3 work on sets up to 3.  Children working on sets up to 20 can work on sets up to 20.

Reading "The Napping House" to introduce a quantity of 1.

Making Equal Sets

Identifying Ordinal Numbers (an introductory topic not meant for mastery)

Module #2: Comparing and Classifying is one of my favorite modules to teach. It always reminds me of the clip on Sesame Street where they sing "One of these things is not like the others". We compare items by size, length and color.  I love using attribute blocks for the module!  We increase our vocabulary by talking about locations of objects like "above the table" and "below the table".  We also have oodles of fun dumping out my silverware drawer and talking about which object doesn't belong (classifying according to type of utensil).

Running "Near" and "Far"

Which item doesn't belong?

I love how the TouchMath PreK program builds upon itself.  I no longer feel like kids are learning ideas in isolation.  Rather, they are building skills and will have built a successful foundation for future math skills.  We take the knowledge we've already learned in the first two modules and applying it to the next one: Module 3: Sorting, Classifying, Graphing and Patterning.  These very basic introductions start conversations and interactions with kids that get them thinking about the world around them.

2D shapes, 3D Shapes and Coins are all introduced in the TouchMath PreK program.  One of the aspects of utilizing the printed curriculum is that it came with Touch Shapes.  These are fantastic little shapes of varying colors and sizes that are sized perfectly to work with the TouchMath workmats.  Workmats are interactive printable pages designed to supplement lessons (150 workmats in total with the PreK program).  Along with the workmats comes a Module Guide.  I love the module guides (6 total in the PreK program).  They are clearly organized with pictures and complete instructions.  Even if you didn't know anything about teaching math to preschoolers you'd be able to pick up this program and do a fairly good job.   Workmats are divided into sections throughout each module.  Each section has it's own set of introductory activity ideas, sample dialogue and instructions on how to utilize the workmats with the kids.  There are also differentiated instruction ideas, real world connections, book lists, parent letters, and assessments with tracking forms. It truly is a comprehensive program that won't leave you with any holes to plug but gives you the freedom to tailor and create wonderful real life lessons.

Toward the end of the school year, in Module 6, we begin representing quantities with numerals.  I love utilizing the TouchMath Texture Cards in this module.  The 45 cards (each with its own texture and theme) display the numerals 1-9 with textured touch points.  They're so engaging!  We also love our Touch Numerals which are large foam numbers with base 10 dots.

I have loved teaching math with the TouchMath PreK Program.  I feel confident that it covers all the building blocks of math and sets kids up for success in future math programs.  I'd highly recommend looking into the TouchMath Programs and materials.  They've fairly recently come out with Homeschool specific versions of their programs that are downloadable files for single household use.  These programs are significantly cheaper than the classroom alternative.  They've really got their bases covered with a PreK program and homeschooling specific options.  Way to go TouchMath!

*I have been given the TouchMath Kindergarten Homeschool program in exchange for a review of the PreK program (which I purchased) and a review of the Kindergarten program in a year after using it with CJ.  All opinions are my own.  I truly believe that this curriculum is phenomenal and I look forward to utilizing the PreK program for a few more years in our preschool class and the Kindergarten program with CJ as we begin Kindergarten in our homeschool.

Monday Preschool - Zoo Animals

We had such a fun day in preschool learning all about zoo animals, the letter Z and the numeral 9.

 We happen to have a lot of zoo animal themed toys around our house and we put them to great use today.  We were playing with finger puppets, puzzles and face masks all day!

Here we are working on a shared reading of "Curious George Goes to the Zoo".  Shared reading is when everyone has a copy of the text and follows along, reading together.  It's fantastic for developing the skills needed to turn the book pages correctly and follow along.

The Amazing Action Alphabet has a wonderful activity book with printables for each letter.  Today we worked on Z the Zebra and zipping him in his sleeping bag.

 This math activity turned out really well.  I think we'll be doing it again on Wednesday.  We worked as a whole group first and then individually.  We took a number bean bag and then matched the same number of zoo animals as the numeral on the bean bag told us.  We worked on counting, one-to-one correspondence and numeral recognition.  This is a great extension activity from the TouchMath PreK program.

 Afternoon preschool was awesome.  We had fantastic math and reading lessons and then lots of good old fashioned fun.  They voted to start with math, so we pulled out the base ten blocks.  I have noticed that occasionally they can match the correct blocks, but they can't tell you the name of the number.  Be sure that when you're playing at home you're asking them what the numeral is called.

 We moved up to bigger numbers today (all the way to 99!).

 Reading was great because we've talked about /ou/ and /ow/ before with sight words and other times it has popped up, but today we got to focus on it.  We played games making up silly words (and occasionally a real word would pop in).

 There are two games that they brought home in their reading bags (please return them each day because we'll be adding cards to the games over the next 2 weeks).  One game is an onset and rime game, the other is the dice skating game.  We played both games extensively, but if your child can't remember and you want to play at home please just shoot me a message. All games right now are coming from ReadingA-Z.com

 Our student reading book is harder today simply because it is so much longer than books we're used to reading independently.  Most words are still easily decodable, but there will be a few words your child may stumble on.  Just tell them the word and move on.

 We also played with the animal masks at the end of the day.  It was fun pretending to be all the different animals and playing "chase" or "tag" or "bark at each other really loud".

Fruit - Preschool Wednesday

Today we got to talk about Fruit.  And, what better way than to start with fruity smelling play-dough?

 Counting the "snakes" he made.

 Here we were practicing the /v/ sound while pretending to push vacuums :)

 Our shared reading on the SMARTBoard today, and now that I think of it, I forgot to send home the V book.  Oops.  This beginning reader is one from the set of Amazing Action Alphabet books.  I love how the books build upon each other and don't introduce any advanced phonics or sight words like so many of the other beginning reader books.

 We sorted the fruit and vegetable cards today according to fruits and vegetables.

 Then everyone had to pick the picture of their favorite fruit and tell us what it is called.

 For snack time we enjoyed a variety of different fruits.

 Here is art before it was handed out.  A few different essential oils, water with food coloring to match and some eye droppers with coffee filters.

 They really enjoyed making their fruity smelling art, and it is great fine motor development.

 Today's number is 4!  Remember to keep working on your number homework books at home each day.  We enjoyed playing with the TouchMath Textured Numerals today.

 We've also started learning our songs for the preschool program at the end of May.  They did great and it was only the first time I'd introduced the songs to them today.

 In afternoon preschool we've taken on a large challenge, representing numbers using manipulatives.  It sounds all vague and relatively easy, but any number more than 9 enters new territory for these preschoolers: place value. We started the day doing some free explore of quantity blocks.

 Then we pulled out all the rods and cubes.  We needed to find out how many cubes equaled one rod.  (The answer was 10).

 We talked about if we wanted to represent large numbers we'd have a mess of cubes and counting the rods as 10 would help us.  Then we needed to represent a number that wasn't a multiple of 10. Counting the rod as 10 and then adding on, "11, 12, 13" is a HUGE leap.  Up till now we've counted by 10's (10, 20, 30, etc.) and now I'm asking them to count by 10's and then count by 1's to add all the cubes.

 I failed to rotate this picture and blogger won't let me, but the next step in representing numbers with manipulatives is being able to identify what the numeral represents.  The number 13 has a 1 to represent 1 rod of 10 and a 3 to represent 3 cubes.  We made great learning strides today, but this concept is still very murky in these young minds.  We'll keep working on it though.

 Next, they were each given a set of cards.  Each set contained the numerals 1-20 and picture images of base 10 blocks for each number.  They were instructed to match the numeral with its correct picture and then put the numbers in order.  It was interesting how all 3 of them went about this project in completely different ways.
There was putting the numerals in order to start with...

 Spreading all the cards on the floor and picking them at random to set on the table in pairs...

 And there was the strategy of hold them all in a pile and look through them until matches were found.
 In the end they were all successful with plenty of help along the way.  What I learned today is that even though they can count well and identify numbers well it is challenging for each of them to identify numbers out of order and they don't have a frame of reference for what the numbers represent in quantity. So, that's what we'll be working on.

 We continued our R-Controlled vowels with the book "Surfer Girl" at the end of the day. Keep up all the hard work at home, we're learning lots here at school and your reinforcement at home helps us learn even more!