Teaching Two » activities http://www.teachingtwo.com Thoughts of a mommy & teacher. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:44:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 Word Families http://www.teachingtwo.com/2010/04/11/word-families/ http://www.teachingtwo.com/2010/04/11/word-families/#comments Sun, 11 Apr 2010 17:17:46 +0000 Anne families word words worked sort reading room time http://www.teachingtwo.com/2010/04/11/word-families/ The other day for room time, I had Emily sort some words into different word families.  We worked on ig, at, an, and it words.  She sorted them all and then got her pointer out and practiced reading them all.  It was so cute! Learning word families are so important for beginning readers.

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]]> http://www.teachingtwo.com/2010/04/11/word-families/feed/ 1 Bananagrams http://www.teachingtwo.com/2010/03/03/bananagrams/ http://www.teachingtwo.com/2010/03/03/bananagrams/#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:03:29 +0000 Anne intended elephant raffle played christmas party white game http://www.teachingtwo.com/2010/03/03/bananagrams/ I actually won this game at a white elephant/raffle Christmas party but have never actually played it.  At least not the way they probably intended it to be played.  I have been using it for so many other fun activities with my girls.

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With Ashlyn, who is 6, I have been giving her spelling tests and letting her make the words instead of write them.  We work on this each week and I wanted to switch things up a bit from the old school pencil and paper.   She liked it!  I also do making words activities with her.  I used to do this daily with my 1st graders when I taught in the public schools.

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Yesterday we were talking about the rule about dropping the e and adding ing to a word.  I had her use the letter tiles and make the word take.  Then I asked her to turn it into taking.  She of course kept the e so I taught her the little rhyme.  Making words activities teaches tons of great phonics skills.  It gives kids the chance to manipulate the letters to see how letter sounds and rhyming go together to make words.  After doing ing words I asked her to make the word night.  Then I had her change it to light, sight, fight, flight, and then sigh. It really helps her recognize the patterns that many words have.

With Emil, who is 3, I have her spell out her sight words by copying them from a list that I make her.  Then I have her find those words in a book that I have just read to her.  Many kids know sight words in isolation but have a harder time reading them in a sentence.  This activity helps with that.

]]> http://www.teachingtwo.com/2010/03/03/bananagrams/feed/ 2 Emily’s Reading! http://www.teachingtwo.com/2010/03/02/emilys-reading/ http://www.teachingtwo.com/2010/03/02/emilys-reading/#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:46:16 +0000 Anne desire stopped books weekly reading library young months http://www.teachingtwo.com/2010/03/02/emilys-reading/ Both my girls have always loved books.  Since they were about 2 months old we have gone to the library weekly and read at least 4 books a day.  Ashlyn started reading pretty young and hasn’t stopped.  I wasn’t sure Emily was going to have the same desire to read but about a month ago she started picking out words from the books we were reading.  I started doing sight words with her (the post it ones from Target) and now she is unstoppable.  I’m so proud of her.

The other day while I was giving Ashlyn a spelling test, I gave Emily a sight word activity as well.  I wrote out 7 of her words and then gave her some letter stickers I found in the Target dollar section.  The only problem is they are all up case but it made for a good teachable moment.  She had to find the letters to make her words.  She loved it!

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So proud of herself!

]]> http://www.teachingtwo.com/2010/03/02/emilys-reading/feed/ 0 Camping Day http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/06/04/camping-day/ http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/06/04/camping-day/#comments Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:08:54 +0000 Anne camping binoculars picnic rocks planned activities friday friendly http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/06/04/camping-day/ We are going camping for the first time with the girls (and as a couple) in a week and the kids are so excited.  I thought I would have a camping day indoors first .  So today while they were resting I planned a whole day of fun activities for Friday.  I took these pictures the night before because I knew I wouldn’ t have time to blog about it tomorrow.  Below is a picture of everything I will need.  Here is what I have planned for them:

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  • After breakfast they will decorate two toilet paper rolls using bug stickers, markers, stamps, etc. to make binoculars.
  • rock painting- I found 4 awesome rocks that I “borrowed” from a distant neighbor. :)
  • creating sculptures using toothpicks and mini marshmallows
  • making numbers using playdoh (not really a camping activity but I found a sheet that had snakes on it)
  • bug hunting in the backyard using their binoculars and bug jars they made at Emily’s b-day party. 
  • making their own “trail mix”- popcorn, peanuts, m&m’s, Cheerios
  • reading in their tent and sleeping bags
  • having an indoor picnic using our picnic basket
  • counting activities with fireflies that I found here. 

I will let you know how it goes and try to take pictures but I can’t promise anything.  I plan on tackling Emily’s dresser in between activities.

Check out more Friday Showcase crafts here and Kid Friendly Friday ideas here.

]]> http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/06/04/camping-day/feed/ 12 Jelly Fish http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/06/03/jelly-fish/ http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/06/03/jelly-fish/#comments Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:19:19 +0000 Anne ocean jellyfish watercolored beach folded live plate florida http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/06/03/jelly-fish/ We live in Florida and go to the beach all the time.  It is one of our favorite weekend activities.  My girls love anything that has to do with the ocean or the beach so we like to make a lot of ocean animals.  We made jellyfish the other day.

They watercolored the back of a paper plate and then I folded it in half.  I cut strips of wax paper and had them decorate them with sequins.  I stapled the wax paper on the inside of the plate and then the girls added googly eyes. 

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 Check out more Friday Showcase ideas here.

]]> http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/06/03/jelly-fish/feed/ 3 Money Cards http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/05/31/money-cards/ http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/05/31/money-cards/#comments Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:45:20 +0000 Anne money cards choo themed printables guys packed happened http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/05/31/money-cards/ If you guys don’t know about this website it is amazing.  It’s packed with so many great ideas and printables.  I am working on money with Ashlyn and happened to find these awesome money cards in their activity section.  They have different themed cards so I chose the candy ones because she LOVES candy.  It shows a picture of candy and tells how much it is.  Then at the bottom it has circles the same size as the actual coins.  I printed them out and laminated them (yes, I have my own laminator, thanks Brittani).  She loves pretending to buy the different kinds of candy and putting the money on the circles. 

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]]> http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/05/31/money-cards/feed/ 2 Pom Pom Patterning http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/04/08/pom-pom-patterning/ http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/04/08/pom-pom-patterning/#comments Thu, 09 Apr 2009 02:32:05 +0000 Anne running http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/04/08/pom-pom-patterning/ I was running low on some of my crafts so I decided to hit up Michael’s the other day.  I bought this huge bag of pom poms because there are so many things you can do with them. 

For my 5 year olds room time activity this morning I decided to have her do some patterning with the pom poms.  I created a sheet of small & large sized circles on Microsoft Word. 

I had her create patterns with the pom poms by placing different colored ones in the circles.  Then, she had to color the circles the same color of the pom pom’s she had there.

When she came out of room time, I had her show me her sheet so I could see the patterns she’d come up with.

Bonus:  My 2-year old saw the paper Ashlyn had created and asked about it.  I decided it would be the perfect activity for her to find the pom poms that matched the colors in the circles and put the pom poms on top of them.

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 Get the already made copy at my Math page.

]]> http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/04/08/pom-pom-patterning/feed/ 1 Kid Friendly Friday- Easter Egg Rhyming http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/03/20/kid-friendly-friday-easter-egg-rhyming/ http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/03/20/kid-friendly-friday-easter-egg-rhyming/#comments Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:46:59 +0000 Anne rhyming eggs easter basket words word write upside http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/03/20/kid-friendly-friday-easter-egg-rhyming/ Rhyming is such an important part in teaching your child to read.  It helps them see spelling patterns within the words and allows them to sound words out.  Here is a fun activity just in time for Easter.  I did this with Ashlyn last year.

Easter Eggs

Use plastic Easter eggs and write one rhyming word on the outside of the egg.  Write rhyming words on slips of paper and put them in a small basket.  Repeat this with as many eggs as you want to use.  I started with three and then continued to add more.  I cut the bottom off of an old egg carton and turned it upside down.  Then I placed the eggs on top. Have your child pick one word at a time from the basket and put them in the correct egg.  I made four rhyming words per egg.  

Check out more Kid Friendly Friday ideas here.

]]> http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/03/20/kid-friendly-friday-easter-egg-rhyming/feed/ 9 Kid Friendly Friday http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/02/26/my-kind-of-art/ http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/02/26/my-kind-of-art/#comments Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:51:26 +0000 Anne ball golf marble shoe paint dabbed some closed headed http://www.teachingtwo.com/2008/05/30/my-kind-of-art/ This morning before we headed out to eat lunch with Chris, my girls were looking for something to do.  I remembered I saw this painting idea on a website (don’t remember which one) where you paint using a golf ball and a shoe box.  They had so much fun doing this and it was so easy and clean.

They each got to pick a color to use and I put a piece of paper at the bottom of a shoe box.  Then I gave them each a golf ball and dabbed some paint on the paper.  Then I had them paint the golf ball with a little paint.  We closed the box and they took turns shaking it.  That’s it!  They loved how their pictures turned out.   You can also do this with marbles but I couldn’t find any around my house.   

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Head on over to I Blame My Mother to see more Kid Friendly Friday posts.

]]> http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/02/26/my-kind-of-art/feed/ 2 Showcase Saturday http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/02/07/showcase-saturday/ http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/02/07/showcase-saturday/#comments Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:38:04 +0000 Anne showcase saturday post daughter idea made year love http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/02/07/showcase-saturday/ This is my first Showcase Saturday post and I love the idea.  This is something that my daughter made for me for Mother’s Day last year and then I did it for the grandmas.  I know it’s not really a craft but I thought it was a great present just in time for Valentine’s Day.

I used pink paper and white paint for her hand prints.  Then I typed up four sentences and had my daughter fill in the blanks.  Here are some that I used.

  1. My Nana is prettiest when ______________________.
  2. I love when my Nana  _________________________ .
  3. My Nana always says _________________________.
  4. I love my Nana because ________________________.
  5. My Nana loves to ____________________________.

craft

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