Little Letter Learning - S
I tried to start teaching my sweet Baby Bean her letters this fall. She was between two and a half and three at the time and just catching on. She could not tell the difference between A B and C. I was frustrated. One day she cried and said she did not want to do school, so I stopped! I was so sure she was ready, apparently I was wrong and I certainly was not going to ruin her love for learning at age two and a half because of my own pride. So we stopped, took a little break and enjoyed being two.
This winter we tried again after she turned three. I did almost the same thing, but this time I got to look back on the coloring pages we did and was a little more picky. I usually do two coloring pages a day, we have a set of flashcards I picked up at Target one day so we look at those to review every day, do our coloring pages and we are usually done within 15 minutes. We are also doing numbers the same way, only one coloring page of those though. I love the website twistynoodle for our coloring pages. I also found a mom on Pinterest who made a list of the books she used for each letter and I decided to make my own. We are doing the letters in a different order, not the normal alphabet, which I know is a common practice and I can see why because it has been awesome. Much better for Bean Girl who is very skilled in memorization and will simply remember the pattern to know the correct answers.
The purpose of writing this post (I am assuming no one else will read it, but figured I would explain it just in case) is so I have access to my thoughts (kind of a school diary, if you will) and how everything went, what we tried, so on and so forth, and if someone does get ahold of it, hey, I hope it helps. Bonus is - it's all free. Use the local library, print off some pages (okay, cost of ink and paper), grab the crayons (another expense, but since you probably already have them it does not count) and you are ready to go.
We have been enjoying learning! Bean loves books and learning this way in general, so it is a great fit for her and I am learning as I go. For instance - we started doing this in January. It is the end of March and I just got the idea to hang one of her colored pictures on the wall for each letter...so now we are re-coloring the letters we already know to get them on the wall! Doing this makes it easier for review because then Daddy knows what we have been working on and can review them with her as well.
We started with S, 6 total coloring pages done over 3 days. I tried doing some actions starting with S, it didn't seem to match her learning style, so we have not been doing them, but it might be something I need to do more with Boogs, so I am still keeping track of them.
Actions: stomp, stand, sit, stand, sing
Since she loves coloring, I am also enjoying doing some shapes with her as well. It is definitely not something we focus on, but it helps her to be exposed to them. Also, when you are coloring pages it gives Mama something to color as well! We keep reviewing the colors as we go too, all good things. Another thing I do is write out names she can connect with the different letters. So for S I would use "Sis-sis" (her nickname with brother), "Samantha" (my cousin), "Sara" (her aunt), help her connect the sound of the letter to the letter she is drawing and every time I write and say the words and names I have her recognize the letter again. It covers a lot of bases and encourages her.
Shapes: square, star, semi-circle
Books we use for the letter S:
- The Big Slide - Daniel Kirk
- Super cute book about a little puppy being afraid of the slide at the playground, ultimately he ends up working his way up to being brave for the sake of his friend at the end and has a great time! We actually got this one from the Imagination Library and it is perfect for this letter...and possibly B as well!
- The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and The Big Hungry Bear - Don Wood
- An absolute classic, adorable pictures, super sweet little story.
- Scaredy Squirrel - Melanie Watt
- This is another one about bravery...may want to focus on that this week too, now I am seeing the correlation! Scaredy Squirrel has a daily routine and doesn't like any change, there could be danger if he makes any changes. One day something unexpected happens, he learns more about himself and decides to change his daily routine and introduce something new! It's pretty cute.
- Katy and the Big Snow - Virginia Lee Burton
- Virginia Lee Burton does a great job, classic author, fantastic story about a super tough bulldozer or snowplow who saves the day when a big snow comes in. You for sure want to read this one, or own it, whichever.
- Stone Soup - Marcia Brown
- This is a classic, sweet story. I forgot about the whole story but when I started reading it I remembered it. It's an old book, which is probably what makes it even better. A boy is traveling, picks up a stone and goes into a town where the people are all hungry, he brings them together, they all make stew with what they have left and everyone eats and is satisfied. Good story about community and the benefits of coming together.
- How to Catch a Star - Oliver Jeffers
- Oh how I love the creativity and imagination in this one! So adorable. A little boy searches for a star and finds one multiple times, unfortunately, they are quite elusive, but in the end, he does end up finding one somewhere special, certainly now what I expected, but absolutely adorable.
- This Is The Sunflower - Lola M Shaefer
- Why not introduce some super age appropriate science in there too? It's a super simple story with rhymes and the story of how sunflowers are planted and spread around. It's a super fun one that we found at a library book sale (I adore sunflowers) and it ended up being super educational and enjoyable in general.
- Sea, Sand, Me - Patricia Hubbell
- Another book sale find about how fun it is to go to the beach and the activities you can do there with friends. A little girl and her mom go to the beach, she makes a friend and they play all day. She's sad when the day is over, but she knows they can always come back another day!
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