Scrambled Sight Words

We're starting to focus more on sight words, so get ready for lots of fun sight word activities!

I'm calling this fun Easter inspired activity, Sight Word Scramble. I made an egg for each of the ten sight words that we are currently working on. I simply cut small pieces of paper and wrote one letter on each piece. Each egg contains the letters for a single word. I also made a coloring list of the words.

To play, select an egg from the basket and dump out it's letters. Then use the coloring page to figure out which word you're building. Next, put the letters in the proper order and read your word out loud. Lastly, color your word so that you know which words you've already done.

You can win a sight word game, Erudition, from Quirky Mama before Saturday :)

Egg Shakers (Auditory Discrimination)

Did you know that you can help your child fine-tune their senses? We work a lot with visual discrimination, and today we tried our first game teaching auditory discrimination.

I filled large plastic eggs with different items. I made 2 eggs of each kind: uncooked rice, uncooked lentils, rocks, beads, and jellybeans.

Ryan's job was to use sound to find the matching pairs. He did better with it than I expected! The rice and lentils were really hard for me to distinguish from one another, he had a much easier time with it. Will have to test Daddy when he comes home form work.

Ella loved the different noises, but was very tempted to open them. I'm thinking about gluing them shut so that we can keep them with our musical instruments.

Sink or Float Experiment

Ryan missed 'boat day' at preschool last week, when he stayed home with pink eye. I was planning to make up the sink or float experiment that he missed, and was so excited to get some inspiration from Allie at No Time For Flashcards. 

As you can see, we collected different items from around the house and yard to test their buoyancy. Before Ryan would place each item in the water he would make a prediction about whether he thought it would sink or float. I'm always surprised when we do experiments at how well he asks questions, makes predictions and assumptions and tests hypotheses.

For the first few items I was recording his predictions and outcomes. Then I realized that it was unnecessary since he wasn't getting anything out of the written chart. I quickly abandoned it to focus on the more important conversation we were having.

After we tested our items we used Allie's idea and tested each item again inside a plastic egg. We talked about how the eggs were like boats that helped our objects to float. When Ryan made the hypothesis that anything that fits in an egg would float I had him fill an egg with rocks. As the rock filled egg sank we talked about weight and density.

We are going to get this experiment out again soon to try an idea that his preschool teacher incorporated. She had the kids test a ball of play-dough, and then turn their ball into a boat and try it again.

A GREAT GIVEAWAY

Since Ella is absolutely obsessed with owls (thanks to owl week) she is having an owl themed birthday party! There aren't many owl decorations out there, so I decided to check out etsy for a cute owl outfit. I was so excited when I found GiGi Bee Designs!

Angela was so fast in getting this dress to me; I'm having a really hard time saving it for Ella's party! I was just as impressed with the quality of the dress as I was with the customer service!

GiGi Bee Designs has generously offered to do a giveaway for us. You can win the dress or baby blanket of your choice!

To enter, browse the GiGi Bee Designs store and leave a comment telling us which dress or baby blanket you would like to win. 

Additional Entries:
1. For one extra entry become a blog fan on Facebook. (Leave a comment saying you're a fan)
2. For one extra entry Follow with Google Friend Connect (in the right hand column) (Leave a comment saying you're a follower)
3. For an extra entry subscribe via email  (in the right hand column) (Leave a comment saying you subscribe)
4. For 3 extra entries blog about this giveaway (leave 3 comments with the link to the post)
5. For 3 extra entries purchase something from GiGi Bee Designs (leave 3 comments telling us what you bought!)

That's 10 chances to win! Each entry needs it's own comment, and be sure to include a way to contact you.
Entries are due by 8am PST on Monday 4/5. Our lucky winner will be selected by Random.org and announced on Monday!

Welcome to Spring Wildlife Watch

Last week was National Wildlife Week. Not only did we enjoy tons of amazing time outside, but I found a great website- The National Wildlife Federation.

They've just started the Spring Wildlife Watch. You can go to their website  and learn how to participate in a national nature watching program for people of all ages!

My kids loved checking out all of the cool pictures on the site, and materials in the kids section; and I love the idea of getting outside a lot in the couple of weeks to see what kind of wildlife we can find!

Be sure to check out the National Wildlife Federation site. Please comment on anything that we should check out, and participate by counting the wildlife in your area!

Counting Box

This simple counting box is a great way to reinforce counting skills and one-to-one correspondence. We made our counting box using a egg carton, foam stickers, and construction paper. Today we practiced counting with jelly beans, but you can also use cheerios, beads, pebbles, flowers, really anything that you can fit twelve of in a single spot! We mix it up each time to keep it interesting.

The counting box is a great independent activity for Ryan (while I shower, clean, work with Ella, etc) Ella is getting to the point where she likes to try and do it with Ryan and I!

Learning Body Parts with Pablo

Ryan loved having me trace his body to create our newest friend, Pablo. As you can see, we labeled body parts in English and Spanish. Ryan chose the name Pablo after learning about a Spanish character in preschool. Having Pablo hang on Ryan's bedroom wall is a great way to remember to practice our body parts!