Education resources for parents and teachers
Letter N Crafts for Preschoolers I have three big kids (ages 3, 5, and 6), two of whom are learning preschool at home. So I can usually find someone interested in doing some arts and crafts with me! N is for Nest This is obviously not process art, but my Three really enjoyed it. I cut out the pieces for him, and he glued everything down. I found this Letter N craft idea at Rockabye Butterfly. Get the pattern for ... Read More
How do you teach preschoolers to write the alphabet? Read on to learn what's working at our house. Read on to find creative ways for making the letter N! First they put nuts on the letter N (with the promise to have five when they were done!). My Three was proud of the work he did with his number stickers. My Five used spaghetti noodles. Excitement was high when I let him use Daddy's nails to make ... Read More
I've been busy creating more word family activities -- today I'm sharing 7 free mats for short e! Just print the mats and cards, laminate, and attach velcro dots. You'll have a durable and lasting learning center to use in the classroom or at the kitchen table. Have fun! (This post contains affiliate links.) I've already shared three sets of Read 'n Stick mats - but if this is your first set, you'll want to ... Read More
(This post contains affiliate links.) Time for more short vowel word family houses! So far I've shared short a, short i, and short o. We're on the home stretch! Today you'll find downloads for seven free word family houses for short e. We love finding fun ways to practice word families. Here are some of the things we've done: We've spelled with milk cap letters. We played Word Family Uno. We used ... Read More
I love making these simple dot sticker pages to use with my Three. They reinforce the letter's name, sound, and shape - and give opportunity for fine motor letter formation at the same time. (This post contains affiliate links.) Free dot sticker page for letter N: Fine motor letter formation! Don't you just love that bird? She looks like she's been sitting on her nest a little too long. (I'm seven months ... Read More
We're working our way through the alphabet, and my kids love to add some sensory play to their learning. This time I waited until my Six was home from first grade, because I knew she'd want to join her little brothers in this activity: N is for Noodles! Have you seen all the hundreds of ideas for messy play floating around Pinterest? If you're like me, you may have thought, "Those moms are crazy. Don't they have ... Read More
Have you seen my Read 'n Stick mats yet? They've been a great tool for helping my older preschooler learn to sound out words in word families. His younger brother wants very much to do those himself. In fact he'll take the cards off the mat and ask me to help him put them in the right places- even though he doesn't sound out words yet or understand much of the vocabulary. My Three isn't ready to learn to sound ... Read More
Have you seen my growing collection of hands-on printables to help your beginning reader master the short vowel word families? Today I'm sharing my next set of Read 'n Stick mats -- 6 free short o activities. (This post contains affiliate links.) I've created these learning mats to help my preschooler learn to sound out simple words. He loves our collection and is always ready to read a few! How to assemble ... Read More
Even though my major in college was elementary education, my concentrate was social studies. Despite one history symposium during which aged historians read their looong papers for hours on end -- and the only entertainment was a mouse running across our feet in the auditorium - I loved it. But I haven't always felt that way. Social studies was a giant puzzle to me until eighth grade, when I finally figured ... Read More
My original plan had been to complete each set of free word family printables before moving on to the next vowel. But many of you have been asking for more word family houses -- and I know that beginning readers can't wait! I'm also pleased that blending sounds has become more automatic for my Five - and he's ready to add more short vowels as well. So to go with my short a and short i word family houses -- I bring ... Read More
