5 Ways to Use Letter Bricks

It's no secret that LEGO and DUPLO are more popular with young children than ever. Little Man spends ages building towers with DUPLO and Miss M creates some amazing, creative constructions out of her LEGO. It's always a popular choice of activity in my classroom and is so open ended with infinite possibilities!

So naturally, if you can find a way to tap into this interest to incorporate some more Literacy and Numeracy with your own children or children in your care - why wouldn't you take that opportunity? Recently I connected with the small business Lime Tree Kids, and they were kind enough to send us some Coko lower case letter bricks to feature on the blog. Both of my kids loved playing with them and it didn't take me long to come up with a list of 5 different ways to play with them!

The great thing with these bricks is that they still connect to regular DUPLO bricks as well as the base, so you can easily add them to your existing collection.

So when I first presented these to Little Man - this is what he did...

...followed by his rendition of the alphabet song, pointing at any random letter he wanted to. But this is great! This is where it all starts people!!

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Learning the Alphabet before starting school

Children’s minds are like little sponges, soaking up anything and everything they are exposed to in the early years. There are so many ways to introduce them to the letters of the alphabet in their leading up to formal schooling. They will, of course do a lot of this in their first term of school, but being familiar with the alphabet will give them that little head start.

Now I’m not suggesting to bombard them with worksheets and make them write their letters ten times over – if you’ve been following me for a while you’ll know that I’m all about play based learning and I have done so many alphabet posts before (just search “alphabet”). I also want to advise you not to put pressure on your child or yourself that they “must know every letter before they start school”. Some children take longer than others, and some will be ready before others. These days there is also a huge age variation among Reception/Prep classes. Some children might be four and a half, some children might be approaching six years of age. Today’s post is more about proving a print rich environment using some of the fantastic products from Bright Star Kids.

This is a sponsored post as part of my Brand Ambassadorship with Bright Star Kids.

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Helping your child learn to read with Reading Eggs

Learning to read is one of the most important skills your child will learn. Naturally as a parent you want to know how you can help them learn to read at home. The first thing I always recommend is reading aloud to your children every night, but as they begin to show an interest in letters, words, and 'having a go' at reading themselves - I'd suggest you grab your device and give Reading Eggs a try (Right now, they are offering a limited time 4 week free trial when you sign up at www.readingeggs.com.au/teachertypes before 20 Feb!) 

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own :)

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A-Z Letter of the Day Craft

Today's activity has been weeks in the making and I'm so proud to share it today (I even created a little video of our finished product!). I've been posting our progress on Instagram and have gotten a great response from my community! I really wanted Miss M to have a good background knowledge of the alphabet before she starts school, but this doesn't just mean writing out the letters 10 times each. There are so many more hands on and engaging ways to learn letter formation, as well as the sounds and words which begin with each letter.

This is a sponsored post as part of my ongoing Brand Ambassadorship with Teach Starter.

So I found these awesome alphabet play dough mats on Teach Starter, and you could of course laminate them and use them to create each letter with play dough as a fun, sensory experience to learn letter formation. But I decided to find a craft material for each letter for Miss M to decorate each one.

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10 Ways to use Play Dough in the Classroom

Last weekend Miss M, her Auntie and I had a fabulous girly morning at the Finders Keepers markets. It was the first time they've come to Adelaide and I was in awe of the aisles upon aisles of all the pretty things. My main aim though was to catch up with Emma from Happy Hands Happy Heart to sample her beautiful, squishy, scented, natural play doughs (hand made with 100% love).

In all honesty, if it wasn't for Emma's play dough play area, Miss M would have been a bit bored with the whole outing, but we could not get her away from the play dough tables. Of course we had to go back for a second visit before we left.

Image credit Finders Keepers Instagram - used with permission.

10

Terrific Teaching Resources from Twinkl

I have two go to websites when I'm looking for new teaching resources, or something for a particular topic, lesson or activity.

Teachers Pay Teachers and Twinkl (actually three if you count Pinterest. Teachers - what did we DO before Pinterest?? LOL!).

At Twinkl you will find so many amazing resources (much more than just worksheets, but I'll elaborate on that in a minute). The website is easy to use and navigate with ages, learning areas and various headings. My favourite feature is the 'save' disc icon. At first glance you may think this means to save the resource to your computer, but it's like a 'like' button, where you can save something to your profile to download later allowing you to continue to browse.

During my browsing, I found play dough recipes with all sorts of creative combinations of colours, scents, flavours and textures like strawberry sparkle, coconut cloud and ocean marshmallow! Plus, great play dough activity mats to go with these recipes as well. Just print, laminate and play! We practised making letters and numbers on ours (obviously these come in colour - but we don't have a colour printer!!)

6

Our 10 Favourite Alphabet Books

The Alphabet is such a huge part of a child's first year of school - and often those years leading up to it! I'm of the opinion that it's never too early to expose young children to the letters of the alphabet and quite often this is done through simple books.

If you've been a long time follower (THANK YOU!!!) and you'd probably remember some of these previous 'alphabet' themed posts...

• Twenty Six Letters - 26 hands on ways to learn the 26 letters
• Alphabet Collages - A great arty/crafty way to learn letter formation and words beginning with each letter.
• Alphabet Sorting Box - Once letters are known, this is a fantastic activity idea!
• Alphabet Pebbles - Simply fun to play with, or begin forming simple words using these alphabet pebbles.

There are sooooo many alphabet picture books out there, and some are more educationally beneficial than others. So, in order of age appropriateness, here's my top 10 Alphabet Picture books.

Play School - Alphabet

The simplest Alphabet books for very young children are those with just one word for each letter, and board books with thick and sturdy pages are definitely best. Miss M loves these Play School books because she knows the show and toys so well, she even likes to look through the books while we watch the show!

AlphaBlock Book

This one is a new addition to our library {gifted} - but it's absolutely brilliant. Little readers peek through the cut out capital letters to reveal the picture behind. It's fantastic for them to guess what they think what will start with that letter. My newest favourite blogger Say Hello Jo featured this book as part of her FMS Photo a Day Challenge - so check her out if you'd like to see the inside of this beauty for yourself.

Available from Finlee and Me - click here to shop {brand rep}

There's also a matching Countablock Number Book available here: it's on my shopping list!

Hairy Maclary's a b c

Ah Hairy Maclary, a classic favourite! I love how the classics are brining out alphabet, number, colour and opposites books - they make such a great set and compliment the original so well as well known characters reappear. Again this is another simple one for toddlers and preschoolers because it's just one word per page. AND what's even better is each page shows the capital and lower case letter. Read my Lynley Dodd Author Study here. 

Eric Carle's A B C

Eric Carle is my all time favourite children's author (read my Author Study here), so this one had to be in my top 10. Every letter is presented with an animals, and it's also a lift the flap book making it more interactive and fun! As always Eric Carle's illustrations are beautiful - you'll want to read it over and over.

Alphaprints A B C

This one is great for all ages - and here's why! Yes each letter has just one animal, and the illustrations are cleverly created with textural fingerprints and everyday objects - so inviting to touch, making reading this book a sensory experience. But to take it further, there's extra text on each page which rhymes as it goes along

A is for Ant, munching lunch as it goes. B is for Bear, with a sweet round nose.

Eating the Alphabet

Apples to Zucchini, come take a look. Start eating your way through this alphabet book.

This is a popular one and may already be part of your home (and probably school/local) library. What a fantastic way to encourage healthy eating and learning at the same time. There's a glossary at the end of this book to explain each of the foods, and the watercolour images are gorgeous.

Dr. Suess's A B C

Another classic that had to be in my collection. Have a giggle with Dr Seuss and his crazy characters up to mischief as you read your way through the alphabet. Predictable repetition and a little bit silly, appropriate for all ages, but more so preschool-school age children.

A B C Animal Jamboree

I'm a huge fan of Giles Andreae's books and her ABC Animal Jamboree is a great addition to the collection. We're now moving to more school age appropriate books with several lines of text per letter, so 2-3 year olds may not have the attention span for this one. The pictures are bright and vibrant, some of which young readers may recognise from Giles Andreae's other books.

Elemenopee

I remember buying this pop up book back in my University days (more than 10 years ago now!) because it was so fun and clever. It's not your average one letter per page alphabet book, but the story of how the letters L M N O and P are fed up being strung all together into one word when children sing the alphabet song (hence the title). So they pack up and leave the alphabet frieze in the classroom...but reading and writing is quite difficult without them! This book was so well loved in my year one classroom back when I began teaching, that sadly I don't have it any more :(

Anamalia

Another fantastic one for 5 year olds and above is Anamalia. Graeme Base takes his readers on an adventure through the alphabet with the most intricate and detailed pictures. There is so much to find on just one page! Read my recent Graeme Base Author Study here at Childhood 101.

Make Your Own!

Ok so I'm admitting here that for about a year I've been meaning to make Miss M her own alphabet book just like this one, but it's been one of those projects I haven't gotten around to. The idea is that you take photos of everyday things familiar to your child - one for each letter of the Alphabet. Ok I'm going to set myself a goal to have this completed before baby number 2 arrives! (So that gives me about 8 weeks)... I love Artisan State for creating my own sturdy photo board books. They're quite affordable too - Miss M has a family one already :)

Any alphabet books you think I've missed from this list? Any favourites in your house hold?

Lauren

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Alphabet Collages

I absolutely love sharing alphabet ideas that I've used in my classroom, and this is one of my favourites. We did this activity right at the start of the year as we worked our way through our Jolly Phonics sounds, and I only just recently took the display down giving me a chance to photograph these brilliant alphabet collages. If you look closely, you'll notice that each letter is filled with something beginning with that letter.

Here's what we used...

a - apples

b - blue buttons

c - colourful crayons

d - dots

e - eggs

f - feathers

g - gold glitter

h - hearts

i - insect stickers

j - jelly beans

k - kites

l - leaves

m - magazine m's

n - numbers

o - orange ovals

p - pink & purple pom poms

q - question marks

r - ribbon

s - smiley stickers

t - triangles

u - umbrellas

v - vegetables

w - washers

x - (we just coloured it in - x is always a tricky one for these kinds of things)

z - zebra stripes

These fantastic templates came from The Measured Mom. Click here to find the lower case letters like I used, and here to find the upper case letters along with a comprehensive list of ideas to fill each letter. 

School's here in Australia are half way through their year, and have most likely mastered the alphabet by now (so please pin this post for next year fellow Aussie early years teachers!!). But on the other side of the world - school is just going back, and I'm sure there would be some eager 5 year olds who would love this activity.

Here are some of my other alphabet posts that you may find useful

• Alphabet Sorting Box - great when children have learnt all of the letters
• Phonics Treasure Baskets - perfect as children begin identifying what letter simple words/objects start with
• Alphabet Pebbles - great for introducing the alphabet, or making simple words
• Twenty Six Letters - 26 hands on ways to learn the letters of the alphabet. Perfect for children just beginning to learn their letters.

Lauren x

5

Wonderful Word Building {Childhood 101 Guest Post}

I have another post to share today which is featured over at Childhood 101. Have you ever wondered what happens between a child learning the alphabet and actually reading and writing? Word building is a crucial step in this process, and here's my collection of hands on ways to do so!

Click here to read the full post.

Lauren x

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Play Space Inspo + Sarah Tamblyn Designs Giveaway

Woo hoo! Another giveaway on Teacher Types! My recent Ecoviva Bumpa Mat giveaway was such a success, I'm teaming up with my lovely friend Sarah of Sarah Tamblyn Designs and she is generously giving away one of her prints - either Numbers or Alphabet (winner's choice!).

Here's a little bit about Sarah's business and how her prints are made.

My passion for creating pieces of artwork was re-ignited when my 3 year old began to bring home paintings from playgroup. After the pile grew and grew, I didn’t have the heart to throw them out however had no room to display them properly. I decided to turn them into a more sentimental piece of artwork by cutting them up and using the colours in the paintings to create 2 farm pictures to go in his bedroom. I received so many comments on these designs from friends and family that my idea was born. I decided to create my own messy paintings to then cut up and create fun, inspiring and colourful designs to brighten up children’s spaces. All of my designs are unique and created by hand (no stencils, templates etc). You will notice no shape is perfect and no two pictures are alike. This is intentional as I wanted to bring the innocence of child-like art and a sense of fun to all my pieces.
My original pieces of artwork are professionally photographed and printed by local Adelaide businesses onto high quality satin paper. All print sizes are IKEA frame (and many other stores) compatible. There is nothing worse (particularly on your hip pocket!) than buying an awesome piece of artwork and then having to spend a fortune on having a frame custom made. Unframed prints will be rolled in plastic and posted in a mailing tube.

Sarah has a huge range of prints to choose from for a wide range of ages, boys and girls. We have this Pink Bird Print is Miss M's bedroom. It's also available in different colour combinations.

Here's another few of my favourites - You Are My Sunshine and Pineapple Print.

Custom designs are also available if you have something particular in mind (or a birth announcement print for example - pictured below). 

So now we've got your walls covered - what about some more play space inspo?

Another of Ecoviva's products we love is their pom pom rug! (Shop here). 

I cannot go passed IKEA Expedit shelves (although now they're called Kallax). On the right is the white 4x4 unit with white Skubb boxes, and to the left is the 2x4 unit with Ikea cube baskets, and green plastic tubs from Howards Storage World.

It's always nice to try and keep a place space relatively uncluttered so that children can see all of the items and make their own choices about what they want to play with. Toy rotation is also worth considering, it always makes the play space seem fresh and new. This article from Playful Learning explains how to do it! Round baskets also make a nice little addition. 

Play kitchens are such fun in a play space and encourage dramatic and imaginative play. Miss M is kept busy for ages having tea parties and 'cooking' all sorts of meals. A little table and chairs are a must have - and they have multiple uses. 

I love, love, love bunting - it's such a gorgeous decoration for kiddy play spaces. Check out this one I found on Etsy (click image to shop). 

Finally - here at Childhood 101 is a list of 60+ inspiring play spaces. 

So, how to enter this awesome giveaway?

• Like both Teacher Types and Sarah Tamblyn Designs on Facebook. 
• Leave us a comment (either here in this post, or on the FB post) and tell us whether you'd like to win the Alphabet or Numbers print.

The comp kicks off TODAY and ends Sunday the 31st of May, 8:00 pm (Adelaide time). The winner will selected at random, announced on the FB page and will have one week to contact Sarah with their choice and mailing address.

Thanks again Sarah for teaming up with me!

Lauren x

6

Alphabet Sorting Box

Two posts in one day! That's not like me at all! But I have been so looking forward to posting this post... I hinted that I had something special in the works at the end of my Alphabet Treasure Baskets posts the other week - so here it is!

I call it the 'Alphabet Sorting Box', and it's designed to be used with children who have learnt most letters of the alphabet and can start to identify the starting letter of various objects. I'm planning to try it with my class towards the end of their first term or school, or start of their second term. It would make a fantastic partner or early finisher activity once introduced to the whole class.

Now I purchased this box from Neds - as I really hadn't seen them anywhere else (so please leave a comment if you've seen anything like this in any other shops). The only issue with it is that it only has 24 boxes and obviously there are 26 letters of the alphabet. So you'll notice I had to double up on w/x and y/z.

It's important that you find little objects that are small enough to fit in the boxes. Here's a summary of what I included;

a - apple
b - block
c - car
d - duck
e - elephant
f - fish
g - grapes
h - horse
i - insect
j - jug
k - keys
l - lemon
m - mouse
n - number nine
o - octopus
p - Peppa Pig
q - queen
r - rock
s - smile
t - tree
u - umbrella
v - van
w - watch
x - (cheated - magnet letter x)
y - yo yo
z - zebra

I really like how this activity is self correcting - meaning for example, if the child mistakes the queen for a 'doll' - and then go to place the duck in the 'd' box, they'll have to stop and think and consider where else the 'queen' might go.

Another idea could be to turn this into a 'match the capital letter to the lower case letter' activity.

Can't wait to try this one out at school with my class! Will leave a comment when I do and let you all know how it goes.

Lauren :)

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Phonics Treasure Baskets | Another Alphabet Post

Hi there!
If you're a regular reader you'll know that I LOVE alphabet activities! I have posted so many of them on the blog...

• A - Z of a Successful Classroom
• Twenty Six Letters - 26 Ways to learn the alphabet in a hands on way
• A - Z in the life of my toddler
• Alphabet Pebbles - Wonderful Word Building

...just to name a few.

I love teaching the alphabet to my students during their first term of school. We adopt the Jolly Phonics approach, which focuses on the sounds of the letters (lower case) rather than their names (upper case) eg - a b c rather than A B C. Another important feature of the Jolly Phonics Program is that you do not teach the letters in alphabetical order, rather a carefully constructed program of letters to allow opportunities for word building as quickly as possible. Read more about Jolly Phonics here!

When learning to read and write, it's important that children not only recognise the letter, but write it and identify some words that start with that letter. This is where my 'treasure basket' idea has been so successful in my classroom. Each day when we learn a new sound, we look at the treasure basket which is filled with items that begin with that letter.

Here's an example of the 'c' basket.

'c' treasure basket - cat, cow, crab, cup, carrots, cupcake, car and clip

Now 'c' is a tricky one because 'k' also makes the same sound (in Jolly Phonics we teach them together - and later on the children learn that 'ck' is another way to make the same sound). So to extend this activity, you could put items that begin with both kinds of 'c/k' and sort them out.

Once the children have learnt most (if not all) of their letters, you can fill the basket with a variety of objects for them to sort out into the correct baskets. I would probably start with 3-5 baskets/letters at the one time.

Alphabet Sorting Baskets

Alphabet Sorting Baskets | a - apple | b - blue bowl, ball, bunny | c - carrots, car, cupcake

I'm always looking around home (and the classroom) to find interesting objects for the treasure basket, I sometimes try to have a few days worth ready to go. Some letters obviously are easier than others! I thought it would be helpful to compile a bit of a list to keep these ideas in mind!

One little note, try to ensure the beginning sound is clear and simple for the children - I wouldn't put 'chalk' for example in the 'c' basket because it begins with the 'ch' sound. 

I quite often add some flash cards into the basket as well, some with pictures, some just the letter. Magnet letters are a great addition or any other alphabet letters you may have. 

• a - apple, ant, arrow, aeroplane, anchor, angel, astronaut, avocado
• b - bowl, ball, bunny, banana, balloon, bottle, bat, bed, bee, bell, bird, blocks, boat, book, butterfly
• c - carrot, car, cup cake, cup, cat, caterpillar, clock, cotton, comb, crayon, crown
• d - dice, dinosaur, dog, doll, dolphin, domino, drum, duck
• e - egg, elephant, envelope, elf, eraser, echidna, 
• f - fairy, feather, fire engine, fish, five, flower, frog, football, funnel, four, flag
• g - goat, green, glitter, grasshopper, glue, grapes, guitar, 
• h - hat, headband, horse, holly, hippopotamus, heart, helicopter, 
• i - ice cube tray, ice cream, igloo, iguana, insect, instrument
• j - jack-in-a-box, jar of jam, jelly/jelly beans, jelly fish, jug, jigsaw, jeans
• k - keys, kangaroo, kite, koala, kettle, keyboard, kitten, king, kiwifruit, 
• l - ladybug, leaf, lemon, lettuce, lion, lizard, lock, lollipop
• m - magnet, magnifying glass, map, marble, mask, mirror, monkey, moon, mouse
• n - necklace, net, nest, newspaper, number nine, nuts
• o - octopus, orange, oval, owl, 
• p - pink/purple pencil/paper, pig, panda, peacock, pineapple,, pom poms, plate, puppet, plant
• q - quilt, queen, question mark, quarter (the fraction)
• r - rabbit, rainbow, red rectangle, ribbon, rock, ring, rocket, ruler, rose, rope, robot, rice
• s - snake, stop sign, sand, scissors, six/seven, soap, sock, spider, sponge, spoon, square, star, sun, stamp
• t - texta, tambourine, teddy, teapot, toothbrush, turtle, two, tree, tiger, triangle, tractor, tomatoes
• u - umbrella, unicorn, uniform, underwear
• v - van, vase, vegetables, violet, vest, velvet, violin
• w - watermelon, water, walrus, watch, web, whale, wheel, whistle, white, worm, window, wizard
• x - tricky one! You could just do the usual xylophone and x-ray. 
• Or you could choose items which have the letter x in them such as box, fox, taxi, mix, exit.
• y - yellow, yoghurt, yoyo, yacht
• z - zipper, zebra, zero, zucchini, zig zag

I have another very cool alphabet post coming soon! So please stay tuned and keep following along.

Hope you found this post useful. Do you have anything to add to my lists?

Lauren :)

250

Lauren from A-Z | My Alphabet Project Part 4

On our recent road trip, I got a rare opportunity to relax and read a magazine, which is where the idea of this post came from. I've done a few other alphabet inspired posts (here, here and here), but I thought one 'about me' would be nice. So often when I read 'blogging how to' or 'blogging tips' posts, something that always stands out is that readers want to get to know the blogger (hence the importance of a great 'about me' page). Have you seen mine? If this is your first visit to teacher types, please have a look :)

So here I am, the teacher who types... A-Z

At my 30th birthday, 2013

A - Archer. Our chocolate Labrador named after the pub in North Adelaide where hubby and I met :)

B - Blog. My new hobby in 2014. Love it!

C - Coffee. Cannot start my day without one (usually followed by a second later on in the morning).

D - Dance. I've always loved dancing, trained for many years and teach dance via various avenues at school. Am enjoying the Les Mills 'Body Jam' and 'Body Balance' classes at the gym I've recently joined.

E - Early nights. Since you can't sleep in when you have a toddler, this is the only way to catch up on some z z z

F - Friends and Family. Love you all! Xx

G - Greys Anatomy. All time favourite TV show and has been for many years.

H - Happy Home. I feel so at peace and happy when I'm home. We have created a beautiful family space that we love to be in and always look forward to being home.

I - "Innocence Personified" - was hubby's earliest nick name for me :)

J - Joy. One of my favourite words.  Pure, happy = Joy!

K - Kids! I spend so many hours with kids! School, home, play dates. I think that's the thing when you are a teacher AND a mum, you are only away from them when they sleep.

L - Lifelong Learning. Part of what this blog is about and what we encourage our students to be.

M - Miss Mellor (my first teacher name before I became Mrs Hunt). 

N - Neat (not always possible, but it's the goal!)

O - Optimist. I always try and see the positives and keep my hopes up.

P - Photos. Photography is just so special. LOVE!

Q - Quotes. Just look at my side bar for the quote of the month.

R - Rainbows. Here's a link to one of my old posts to explain the significance.

S - Snow Patrol, all time favourite band.

T - Teacher. My career, passion and livelihood. 

U - Uplifting. I try to lift others up when they're down.

V - Visual. I love making my blog beautiful to look at.

W - Wife and Mother. My two greatest roles in life.

X - eXcitable. I'm told is one of my characteristics. Although I've probably toned it down a notch in recent years.

Y - Yes. I say yes to everything. Must learn to prioritise more in the new year and say no when I need to. 

Z - Zest. At a professional development course earlier this year, we each did a personal character strength survey, and my number 1 was 'Zest'.

Did you like this idea? (I can't claim it to be original of course, but apart from the magazine article I hadn't seen it on any blogs before - correct me if I'm wrong though). If you're a blogger give it ago on one of those days or weeks when you have not much else to write about (a bit like 'taking stock'), or keep it in your drafts folder and go back to it every now and again when you feel like writing.

Take care, thanks for reading a bit about me xox

Lauren

17

A-Z in the life of a Toddler | My Alphabet Project Part 3

It's all about the ALPHABET here at teacher types at the moment. We've had The A-Z of a Successful Classroom, Twenty Six Letters and Alphabet Pebbles so far in this series.

Today's post has been sitting in my drafts folder for ages. As I reflect on my toddler's daily activities and routines, little things are BIG things to her at the moment. This is the list I came up with. I call it A-Z in the Life of a Toddler.

See below for image credit

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Here's an explanation...

A is for Art (drawing with pencils and crayons on blank paper or colouring books happens just about every day!)
B is for Books (daily reading should be a part of daily life)
C is for Colours (little miss is learning a few of her colours at the moment)
D is for Dough (sensory play has many wonderful benefits)
E is for Eating (breakfast, snack, lunch, bottle, snack, dinner, bottle...repeat!)
F is for Family (at the core of a toddler's existence)
G is for Gross Motor (if you are unfamiliar with this term, it refers to a child's physical development of skills such as crawling, walking, running, jumping, climbing etc)
H is for Hugs (little miss can actually wrap her arms around us now and we love having hugs!)
I is for Independence (these stacking toys were one of the first that kept her attention to play independently)
J is for Jump (little miss thinks she can jump, but her feet don't leave the ground yet)
K is for Kind (a key skill for littlies to begin developing)
L is for Learning (so much learning happens every day, toddlers minds are like little sponges)
M is for Music (musical instrument play is lots of fun for this age)
N is for Nature (little people are able to find beauty in the simple things found from nature)
O is for Outside (how much of your day is spent outdoors?)
P is for Puzzles (at around 18 months, a toddler may start to develop this skill)
Q is for Quiet (a tricky one for little people, but try to have quiet time in your day whether it be a nap, reading books or watching a small amount of TV)
R is for Rainbow (another example of sensory play)
S is for Sharing (as with 'Kind' another key skill for toddlers to learn to happily co-exist with each other)
T is for Talking (what an exciting milestone for this age. Adding new words to their vocabulary every day)
U is for UP (this would have to be the one word I hear the most every day!)
V is for Vegetables (whether they love them or hate them - we all try to get them into those little bellies)
W is for Walking (another significant milestone, when babes become toddlers, but all children master this skills at different times)
X is for eXplore (so many things are new to toddlers, so much to explore)
Y is for Yes (once toddler's can say this to you whether it be nodding, speaking or signing - it opens up a whole world of communication opportunities)
Z is for Zoo (what a wonderful age to visit the zoo and see all the animals)

Has anyone else been participating in the Alphabet Project? Comment below with a link and I'll check it out!

Lauren

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Images designed and created using Canva

Photo Collage created using Pic Monkey.

A B C D E G I N P R - Photography by me - teacher types

F H J Q S - Free Clip Art

K O T U W X Y Z - Created using Canva images (some paid, some free) :)

L - image credit M - image credit V - image credit

10

Alphabet Pebbles | Wonderful Word Building

Following on from my Alphabet Project post, I created these little alphabet pebbles in lower case letters a-z. They will be great to use in the classroom for the kiddies to create simple three and four letter words. There is a significant step from when children have learnt the letters of the alphabet - to actually writing simple words. It's called word building. When using materials such as these pebbles, children do not need to remember how to write the letters, it's more about recognising the letters and putting them together to create words (mum, dad, cat, dog are great words to start with).

As I've mentioned a few times before, my school applies the Jolly Phonics approach to teaching Literacy. At the core of Jolly Phonics is the notion that there are 42 sounds in the English language, many more than just the 26 letters of the alphabet. So as I got thinking about this project a little more, I then bought some extra pebbles in a different colour to include the additional two letter blends (eg sh, ch and th - see below). This opened up the possibilities for children to create many more words, and provided opportunities for extension. After trialling them in my classroom, we realised that words such as; will, duck, egg etc could be more effectively created with a third colour pebble for tricky and irregular sounds and blends. Then I got a bit excited and thought, why not make pebbles with numbers 1-20 on them as well? What a simple classroom resource! (By the way I bought them from Bunnings).

L-R & T-B | Jolly Phonics Blends | Examples of Word Builging | Numbers 1-20 | Tricky & Irregular Sounds

So what to do with them? Here's some ideas

• Make your child's name, and other family members or pet's names
• Put the letters in alphabetical order
• Put the numbers in order
• With numbers in order, ask your child to close their eyes, take away a number and they have to guess which is missing
• Ask you child to "Get me a 2" or "Get me the letter m"
• If your child is school age and has sight words or spelling words, make them with the pebbles
• Choose one letter and find things around the home that begin with that letter to make a treasure basket
• Match letters with objects from around the home or classroom (e.g. a - apple, b - ball)
• You could make another set in a different colour again for the capital letters. With this additional set you can match the lower case to the capital letter, and when making names, you can use the correct capital letter (what a neat way to teach proper nouns!)

Sometimes by trying something new, using different 'hands-on' materials and changing it up a bit, you can motivate and encourage your child or students and inject something special into their day.

Lauren

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Twenty Six Letters | My Alphabet Project Part 2

So, quite a while ago I was full of enthusiasm and posted my Alphabet Project Part 1 (A-Z of a Successful Classroom). I was feeling inspired this week and have come up with a little collection of my own photography showcasing 25 different ways to help your toddler, pre-schooler or class of children to start learning the alphabet. The more hands on - the better I say!

It has really amazed me that my 18-month-old is actually recognising some letters. She seems to find letters in the most random places, and knows M for her name, A for our dog Archer and C for car, and a few more. Young children often learn letters incidentally in their environments, so why not run with it? We have been trying to introduce a few other letters around the home, such as magnetic letters on the fridge, her name hanging in her bedroom and alphabet sticky letters in the bath.

My advice is to start with the letter of your child's name, followed by M for Mum and D for Dad... and enjoy the alphabet journey! There is some debate amongst educators as to whether to teach lower case or upper case letter first. I would suggest start with lower case as when children begin reading it makes sounding out words happen naturally, however capital letters are everywhere and children should learn those also (as you can see from my photos I have a bit of a mixture).

All photographs taken by teacher types - collage created and edited using Pic Monkey

Here's a run down of what you see in the photo collage above.

A - Sand
B - Play dough
C - Sticky foam bath letters
D - Pipe cleaners
E - Pop sticks
F - Blocks
G - Typing on the computer
H - Gem stones (only suitable for over 3's)
I - Pebbles (capitals painted on one side and lower case on the other)
J - Drawing and Writing (use a variety of interesting and different writing materials)
K - Worksheets (for school aged children)
L - Stickers
M - Train Carriages
N - Twigs/Sticks
O - Alphabet Books
P - Flash cards (these beauties are by Eric Carle)
Q - Shaving cream (what a sensory joy!)
R - Treasure basket (filled with objects starting with R)
S - Magazine cut out letters
T - Bottle top lids
U - Sandpaper texture letters
V - Glue and salt
W - Alphabet Puzzles
X - Food cut into letter shapes. YUM!
Y & Z - Magnet Letters

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While you're thinking and feeling all alphabety-inspired like me, here are some of my other favourite links and ideas...

• The measured mom has a fantastic resource of printable block letters with several suggestions of what to fill them with (eg buttons for the letter b). I love this idea!

• Blog author of Tot Schooling wrote a guest post for teach mama and shared her awesome alphabet project. Take a photo of your little one holding, wearing or showing various items that start with each letter of the alphabet. I don't want to pinch her collage of images - so please click the link and have a look!

• Modern Parents Messy Kids created this AH-mazing ABC photo book... I was so inspired I have one of these in the works too. I love LOVE LOVE it! PS Remember ages ago when I posted about home made books? I have since then created our own family photo board book using a website called Artisan State and I absolutely could not recommend them highly enough. The sturdy pages would be perfect to create one of these alphabet books. 

• I haven't featured my dear friend Sarah Tamblyn Designs for a while - but her Alphabet Print is perfect to finish off today's epic post. What a beautiful addition to a nursery, bedroom or play space. Shop here

Finally here are some great alphabet videos on You Tube (click the image to view).

Sparkabilities - ABC Song

Jolly Phonics A-Z

Sesame Street Alphabet

Peppa Pig's Alphabet

Be sure to immerse your little people/person in a print rich environment, whether it be at school or home. And most importantly - make learning the ABCs fun, inviting and exciting based on play and sensory experiences.

L A U R E N :)

PS I am sooooo glad I got this post finished by the end of the month :)

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The A-Z of a Successful Classroom | My Alphabet Project Part 1

In the first year of school (we call it Reception in SA but you may know it as Kindergarten, Preschool, Prep, etc) we spend a lot of time teaching the alphabet. This can be done with a variety of literacy approaches and I'm always looking for fun ways to link it in across the curriculum.

Through a couple of blogs I follow I stumbled upon the Alphabet Project. The basic idea is that bloggers will post something to the theme of each letter of the alphabet on a weekly basis. This lovely blog is doing a character series targeted at parents of young children. I loved the idea, but am about three months too late to keep up with the rest of the blogging world. So I'm doing mine all in one go! I have two projects going - one for school age children and one for toddlers. I planned to include both finish products in the one post but I couldn't wait and wanted to publish my first one.

So I call it "The A-Z of a Successful Classroom". Please 'pin it' if you like it and help me get it circulating around the Pinterest world!

made by me using canva

I tried to think of key words that would inspire students to DO their best and BE their best. Many key words are from particular programmes that our school adopts such as Program Achieve, Habits of Mind and Play is the Way. Also, I should note that I teach at an Christian School so you'll notice that I included "J is for Jesus and Joy" so as to cater for all. You could introduce one a day with your class or one a week if you start early enough. The children could also come up with their own class alphabet project! Here's my list again in plain text (with elaborations).

My A-Z Alphabet Project for School Aged Children

A is for Accuracy (Check and edit your work.)
B is for Brave (Stand up for what's right and take responsible risks.)
C is for Confident (To speak or perform in front of others.)
D is for Discussion (With peers, teachers, parents.)
E is for Empathy (Understand how others are feeling.)
F is for Friendly (You don't have to be best friends with everyone in your class - but you do need to be friendLY.)
G is for Grateful (Take a moment to be thankful for all that you have.)
H is for Humble (Be proud, yet modest in your achievements.)
I is for Imagination (Be creative, think outside the square.)
J is for Jesus and Joy ("Nothing Without Joy" - Reggio Emilia.)
K is for Kindness (A kind classroom is a happy classroom.)
L is for Listening (What does a good listener look like?)
M is for Motivation (Children who are motivated to learn will be more likely to succeed.)
N is for Neatness (Apply your best effort to your work.)
O is for Organised (Daily routines and manage your time.)
P is for Persistence (Try and try, don't give up.)
Q is for Questioning (Think before you ask. Is it a relevant and thoughtful question?)
R is for Resilient (Is it really a big deal? "Oh well, doesn't matter")
S is for Senses (How can you use all of your senses to learn something new?)
T is for Thinking (Be a critical and creative thinker.)
U is for Understanding (How can you show me your understanding?)
V is for Values (What's important to our school community?)
W is for Wonderment (Take a moment to appreciate the amazing things in our world!)
X is for eXcited (Be excited about learning!)
Y is for YOU (You are the most important person who can influence your learning.)
Z is for Zest (Be enthusiastic about what you do.)

I once again owe the ability to create such an awesome graphic to canva (which is the site I used for my blog header and profile pic). I created each image individually, exported the whole lot and created the collage using Pic Monkey. (Pic Monkey is the best collage website I've seen that lets you put a large number of images in the one collage. Fotor, my usual program only lets you have 9. Ribbet is another good site but is more limiting than Pic Monkey). I love to give out little tips every now and again and I must say that I am really loving learning new things on this blogging journey. I really feel like a life long learner. And isn't that what we teachers are encouraging our students to be?

Now that I've written this post, I think it was a good idea to do them in two parts! Stay tuned for the next stage in my Alphabet Project - the A-Z in the life of a Toddler.

Lauren

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