Sight Word Fun & Learning to Read Week #4 (Bug Theme)

Sight Words: big, come, go, here, in

Word Family: _ug (this went well with our bug/insect theme) & the short /u/ sound

Books: This week we used books from Bob Books, Set 1: Beginning Readers (the Lil Divas read these nightly), Sight Word Readers Parent Pack: Learning the First 50 Sight Words Is a Snap! and Starfall Learn to Read Phonics Books.

Sight Word Fun:

Shaving Cream Writing: This week the Lil Divas wrote their sight words in shaving cream! What messy learning fun! They enjoyed it so much we went through and practiced spelling/writing all the sight words we have learned so far! It was a great way to make reviewing fun and exciting.

Sight Words Song - Each week we sing a simple sight word song for each word to help the lil Divas with the spelling/recognition of each word. The Oldest Diva really likes this & sings the song with different sight words on her own!  :)

The Sight Word Song (sung to to the tune of B-I-N-G-O)

There was a sight word I wanted to spell and BIG was my sight word.
B-I-G (clap with each letter) spells big,
B-I-G (clap with each letter) spells big,
B-I-G (clap with each letter) spells big
& big was my sight word!

We follow the above tune/format for each of our sight words!

We continued to use the Sight Word Printables from MissChapple.com. They include writing the word, recognizing and finidng the words in a chart/table as well as within sentences. The girls have really gotten the hang of these - even the Littlest Diva.

Sight Words Color by Number  (from 1+1+1=1)- this week I had the Lil Divas work on coloring their sight words by number. The Oldest Diva enjoyed it but the Littlest Diva had no interest in doing it. She did one word and even that was with lots and lots of prompting from me. I will try just letting her color and/or decorate her sight words next time. I think the color by numbers was too rigid for her - just not her thing right now.

The Oldest Diva however did seem to enjoy it and it was a good way to review color words with her too.

Word Family Fun:

This week we used our _ug word slides (from ABC Teach) to practice forming and reading _ug words such as bug, dug, hug, jug, mug, rug and tug.

Then the Lil Divas had to turn over their _ug words (printed on mini flascards), read them and match them to the correct picture in the pocket chart. (taken in part from a printable on ABC Teach)



We also used an _ug mini-book from 25 Read & Write Mini-Books That Teach Word Families 

A few pics of what it contains -



This was a fun and easy activity for my 5 year old to do independently. She really enjoyed it. I know they have these kinds of mini-books online for free as well. I actually had this book in my boxes from my 1st grade teaching days & just recently remembered having it so I pulled it out to use at home with the Lil Divas.

We also used a few activities from The Moffat Girls Ready2Read Unit 4:

I used the _ug family pictures with our Melissa & Doug Deluxe Alphabet Stamp Set:



I had the oldest Diva work on the Read it, Trace it, Paste it sight word/word family sentence - Look for my bug. She enjoyed this and was able to complete it independently. Just look at that level of concentration! :)

What reading activities have you been working on lately?

Bern

L is for Ladybug: Fun Hands-on Learning Activities

We really had a wonderful time exploring and learning with Ladybugs!

We have shared some of our favorite  ladybug themed crafts with you (if you missed any just click the link for all the fun ideas) so today I wanted to share some of the fun, hands-on learning activities we worked on the last two weeks as well.

Ladybug Math

The Littlest Diva worked on number recognition and writing of #'s 1-10. I used the printable from Early Learning Activities but we used magnets for the spots instead of their dot cards - the Lil Divas LOVED using the magnets!

The Oldest Diva worked on some basic addition. I used the ladybug printable from Mathwire and we incorporated some small dry erase boards and dry erase markers into our math fun to write our simple addition problems. The Lil Diva got her math problem by turning over two number cards (we used #'s 1-10) and placing the corresponding number of magnets on each side of the ladybug and then adding them (counting) together to find her answer. She LOVED this.

Letter Recognition & Writing

For our ABC craft we made Thumbprint Ladybug Ll's

 What You Need:
1. Washable Stamp Pad -
we have the Melissa & Doug Washable Rainbow Stamp Pad - it comes off fingers and surfaces easily



2. Markers in choice colors (for drawing spots, legs & antenna)
3. White Paper

What To Do:

1. Have child use thumbprints to make the letters L and l - be sure to leave some space in between thumbprints so there is room to add legs and antenna.

2. Using markers add spots, legs and antenna to turn thumbprints into ladyubugs

Then, behold your cute Ladybug Ll's

They also practiced writing the letter L using handwriting sheets from First-School and Confessions of a Homeschooler who also has lots of other great L is for Ladybug printables you can check out.


We also worked on the Letter Ll Hunt from Beginning Reading - the Lil Divas used our Do-A-Dot Rainbow Markers to stamp the letter L and l on the sheet after they found them.

Phonemic Awareness - Words Beginning with /l/ Sound

We used these phonics sheets from Super Teacher Worksheets and Worksheet Place but we did not color the pictures - I had the Lil Divas put colored Bingo chips on any picture/word that started with the /l/ sound.

Then on a different day I used the same pictures but I had colored, laminated and cut them out and had the Lil Divas put them into 2 categories using our pocket chart. Word beginning with /l/ and words beginning with other sounds.

Science: We observed ladybug larvae turn into pink ladybugs (see full post here) using Insect Lore's Ladybug Land

Just for Fun: Ladybug Races (wind-up toys from $1 Spot at Target)

Up next, look for our Learning to Read Week #4 post and some great Eric Carle inspired art and activities this week.

Bern

Learning to Tell Time with The Very Grouchy Ladybug

You can't do a ladybug unit without reading Eric Carle's The Grouchy Ladybug and you can't read the book without talking about telling time. So, I decided to help the girls make our very own ladybug clocks and teach them a bit about telling time.

Book: The Grouchy Ladybug

Craft: Paper Plate Ladybug Clocks

What You Need:
2 paper plates
white construction paper
paint - in choice colors
paint brushes
crayons/markers
glue
2 brass fasteners
hole Puncher

What To Do:

1. Paint paper plates - 1 front and 1 back side in choice color for ladybug

2. On white construction paper draw circle for clock which measures inner circle of paper plate and add head on top. Cut out entire piece, let child color head in desired color using crayons or markers. Write numbers for clock and glue onto center of plate.

3. Cut out 2 arrows - 1 small and 1 large for clock hands - and attach to middle of clock on paper plate with brass fastener.

4. Take plate with painted outside and fold in half and cut. Punch hole near top - make sure plates are slightly on top of each other. This will form wings and will open and close to reveal clock in inner plate.
Attach to head of ladybug so that clock is clearly and easily seen when wings are opened.

5. Add dots to top of plate as desired.

Your finished clocks should look like this:

Read the Grouchy Ladybug and follow along with the times stated in the book on your ladybug clock!

Time is not an easy concept to teach to young children. Young children will not master this right away but this is a fun and easy way to introduce them to the idea of telling time. Both my Lil Divas were able to grasp the concept of the hour/o'clock. The Oldest Diva is learning time to the half-hour and knows that the other numbers go in 5 min. increments.  Even though she can't tell you what time it is for those times - she has a vague idea of what it should be which is an awesome start.

Have you introduced the concept of time to your kids/students? Any fun ideas or tricks you care to share - I'd love to hear about them, just comment below!

Check out our other Eric Carle Book Activities

Bern

Linking to STart, Sharing Time,  Get Crafty,  Read, Explore, Learn , For the Kids Friday,  Preschool Corner, Feed Me Books Friday  , Fun for Kids Friday , It's Playtime , Made by Little Hands Monday,  Creative Juice Thursday and Monday Playdate.