Comments on: TFM Activities

By: Kahle

Kahle — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 05:09:03 +0000

In the last week as Christmas gifts we made cinnamon rolls as Christmas gifts for family member so I had my 3 year old help with the measuring of the ingrediants and then she also helped with rolling out the dough which was great for fine motor skills. She throughly enjoyed this activity and was able to learn measurements and what a cup and 1/2 cup meant.

By: Kahle

Kahle — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 05:06:27 +0000

One of the pre-math activities I did recently with my 3 year old is bought some cheap flashcards at walmart or make your own and took cereal pieces and placed the number of cereal piece on the flashcard according to the number. Very quick activity and helps with number recognition.

By: mary

mary — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 23:41:56 +0000

What great experience working with fractions as you are cooking together. Whether you are making something to eat, or just providing measuring cups in the sink full of water; either way the experience can be enjoyed. Fractions are a difficult concept for young children once they make it to grade school. Many have not had any experience seeing the different sizes up close. Sure they will not remember that 1/4th is smaller than 3/4ths… but they do see that “fractions” come in different sizes. As a result, when they get to grade school and have a math worksheet that shows a picture (abstract concept) of measuring cup, their mind can remember back to the fun experience they had (concrete experience) as a younger child. You are helping them to learn that Math can be fun… way to go mom!!

By: hjvincent

hjvincent — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:59:00 +0000

One of our favorite things during the holidays- and well anytime actually- is baking! I’m not fantastic at it, but I do enjoy it and my daughters are learning to as well. They both put on their little aprons and then help me stir, measure and pour things into the bowl. Though I’m sure more of it gets ate by my helpers then ever makes it into the pan, it’s a joy to see their love of cooking and to be learning school things too. The pre math part is a joy to teach Zoe when cooking. She has to pour things into the measuring cup- weather it’s all the way to the 1 cup or just to the 3 over 4 of a cup she’s learning and I’m learning to be patient!

By: hjvincent

hjvincent — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:41:08 +0000

So, this month we’ve been super busy already with the holidays and sometimes I find myself feeling rushed and feeling like I don’t have enough time to spend with my kids one on one but the teachings in this class help with that so here is one of the activites that we’ve done recently. Plus the flip books that I love and seem to be my go to place for when I’m drawing a blank on what to do. So, I flipped open the book for Zoe and I did the first one I flipped to and it was such an easy one and so fun. I took out a cookie sheet and found 6 different items around the house and then put them on the cookie sheet and talked to her about each one and then had her close her eyes and then I took one away. I then asked her which one was missing. She did really well, though she did get a little frustrated when she couldn’t remember which one was gone, but we talked about the others and it just triggered something so she could remember what she was missing. Then I let her collect things and I picked what was missing. It was really fun and took hardly no time at all but was so fun for both of us!

By: mary

mary — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:23:52 +0000

Hi hjvincent, You are doing a wonderful job of exposing Zoe to books. When a child is asking to have the same book read over and over again, it is meeting a need they have in their life in some way. Then when she memorizes the book and has the opportunity to “read” (from memory) to a younger sibbling that is great practice for her and builds confidence (and a thrill for the younger child). Simple books with simple plots and a few words are great to memorize. This is all part of the Pre-Reading stages. Great job Mom, for the love of reading is “caught” before it is taught. You are making reading a great “catch” for both of your girls.

By: hjvincent

hjvincent — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:30:14 +0000

So, with Pre- reading this week we’ve been reading “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” with Zoe and we’ve read it so much that she’s got it memorized. We’ve been reading a couple other books too that she can “read” to Lexi too. It’s been a relief to have Zoe help out with Lexi by reading to her sometimes. I was thinking that it’d be a great gift idea to have Zoe “read” a few books and we’d video her and then make DVD’s for some of our younger family members. We’ll see if that happens this year. It’d be great to just put it in next year when Zoe will be at school and Lexi is missing her! Both the girls love books though and we all cherish our family time together reading books or playing games at bedtime with the girls! I love that just doing something as simple as that is really building a foundation that she’ll build on for years to come!

By: mary

mary — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:29:26 +0000

Hi Jarahoney, Thanks for sharing what you are trying with your son. He is at a great age to begin working on finger plays and nursery rhymes. Pat-a-cake is a great one to start with. Have you tried the “Insy, Weensy spider yet?” You could take a look at the web site for public domain Nursery rhyme lyrics to refresh your memory on the words. Also the local library has books on Nursery Rhymes if you want pictures to go along with what you are teaching. Good luck–Mary

By: jarahoney

jarahoney — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:14:40 +0000

Benny loves to have books read to him, and sits still for much longer than I would usually expect him to. We also like to play Pat-a-cake for pre-reading. I used to just clap his hands together for all of the song except for patting and rolling, but I started helping him actually do the motions, and he thinks it’s hilarious. Maybe we will be able to do it with each other before too long.

By: jarahoney

jarahoney — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:42:50 +0000

I’ve struggled finding pre-writing activities for my 10 month old, but we were outside on the porch one day, sitting on the railing. I have a wind chime hanging above the railing that Benny started hitting at, figuring out that he was making noise. He would just watch it until it stopped, then hit it again. Then he started trying to grab the chimes, so I lifted him up to reach them, and realized that he was mostly interested in trying to put them in his mouth. (Eww.) As I was watching him, I realized that what he was doing was pre-writing movements all on his own. It’s not always that hard after all!