teaching Archives – The Pinterested Parent

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teaching

Fri
03 ^rd

Puzzle Pieces For Teaching Sight Words

Posted by Pinparent — 4 Comments

One of our favorite learning tools in our home has always been puzzles. Picture puzzles of course are fabulous for teaching them problem solving & matching up their shapes & colors, but many puzzles have an extra layer of learning to them. Puzzles have taught our daughter her US. States, a good portion of her countries & all of her planets.

We have puzzles everywhere, board puzzles, jig saw puzzles & large floor puzzles that clutter up our whole house.

The benefits have outweighed the mess.

We have been working on sight words & writing lately. Mai recognizes & can write & spell her name now. We have been trying to work on the other basics as well.

We used a blank puzzle that we have had lying around for a long time. You can purchase a blank puzzle for about a dollar at a craft store or you can just flip over your old puzzle & work on the back or paint over the front & let dry before adding in your sight words. As with most families of a small child, I am sure that you have several puzzles that are missing pieces.

Puzzle Piece Sight Words

Write out your sight word using magic markers or paint. Make a design across the pieces that you will be using to have a color & shape reference to join them back together. Make a small picture scribble of your sight word on the connecting pieces to help them understand what the word is. Mai knew right away that this was supposed to be her mama.

“Who is that Mai?”

“It’s Mama.”

“How do you spell mom?”

“M. O. M.”

We made an assortment of different words. We put each together & spelled them together. We also found another fun craft project with our extra puzzle pieces in the process. Stay tuned for our cute puzzle piece craft.

Thank you as always for stopping by. Please follow us on Facebook as well.

http://dabblingmomma.blogspot.com/2015/02/dr-seuss-cvc-words.html

http://tinytotsadventure.com/2015/03/20-name-activities-and-crafts-for-toddlers-and-preschoolers/

Wed
11 ^th

Teaching Patterns

Posted by Pinparent — 2 Comments

I hate going to work during the week & leaving our daughter. It breaks my heart not to be with her all day. Twice a week Mai goes to daycare. Daddy is home with her at least one day during the week because of his rotating schedule & on all other days my mother-in-law watches my favorite girl. It is wonderful that she is able to be in the hands of such capable and attentive people while I am at work. She learns a little from each of them. At times, she will come out with things that surprise me & I wonder “Where did she learn that?” Then I remember that she is surrounded by such wonderful teachers & influencers.

The other day I had on a pair of colorful striped socks. My daughter came over to me & pointed out all of the colors & told me that my socks had a pattern. I was so surprised & excited by her observation. Someone has been teaching her well. Wanting to see how well her understanding of patterns was, we did a couple of activities.

I printed out an assortment of different shapes & clip art from the computer. I cut them out into squares & laid them out on the floor in different patterns. I placed more cut outs in a pile, being sure that there was a shape that would be next in each sequence thrown into the pile.

I handed my daughter the pile & reviewed each line of patterns with her. I asked her to place the next square in each sequence. She did not let me down as she went down the line & successfully placed the next shape on each.

She made a few rows of patterns that she made on her own & then flipped them all over & said “Now let’s play the match game.” That is the thing about toddlers. Their attention spans are short. On to the next lesson…

There are many other things that you can use to teach patterns to your children.

1. Practice using verbal patterns. “owl, horse, dog, owl, horse dog… What’s next?”

2. You can use assorted shapes & textures in your craft bins such as pom poms, beads & craft sticks.

3. Use magnets & alphabet blocks to show number or letter patterns.

4. Use paints, crayons or markers to show color patterns.

5. Legos or building blocks are a fun way to build 3 dimensional patterns.

6. Show them patterns on clothing or quilts.

7. Make snack time a great opportunity to teach patterns with fruit snacks, cereal or different shaped crackers.

She is learning so much & is becoming quite the little smarty. I know that we cannot take the credit for all of this. Mai is very lucky to be surrounded by so many people willing to feed her growing and curious mind.

Thank you as always for stopping by. Please follow us on Facebook as well.

Thu
18 ^th

A Mother’s Resume

Posted by Pinparent — 37 Comments

Yesterday I did a post about the irrational fears of mothers. A reader commented that these irrational thoughts are part of our job description. This made me chuckle. My response was that our job description is far too long, that sometimes I forget what is on it. It got me thinking. Being a parent is a difficult job. It is demanding, keeps long hours & you never get a day off. Our list of responsibilities is a lengthy one.

A Mother’s Resume

12/18/2014
The Pinterested Parent
https://www.facebook.com/thepinterestedparent
Thepinterestedparent.com

——————————————————————————————————————

OBJECTIVE:

To successfully raise our child to be a sweet, smart, well-mannered young lady with family values, respect for others and a strong sense of self, without screwing it all up.

EXPERIENCE:

Mother to Mai (January 2012-present)

Child Care Manager

Nursing with no regard to sore breasts, bleeding nipples or mastitis
Changed thousands of soiled diapers & cleaned poop out of clothing, hair and sheets on several occasions.
Endured sleepless nights comforting a crying baby, a cranky toddler, a sick kid & a scared child
Over-protector and dirty look wielder to playground bullies
Kissed and bandaged many boo boos & ouchies
Wiper of runny noses, poopy bottoms, dirty hands & tears
Personal chef to the most finicky of eaters
Washed, bathed, shampooed & brushed the teeth of a squirming child daily
Hairdresser & stylist specializing in pig tales & Elsa braids
Responsible for transport by either horsey ride, piggy back, carrying, stroller or car
Diffusing tantrums & meltdowns

Education Director

Teacher of colors, objects, animals, math, reading, sign language, problem solving and geography
Acting as a role model trying to accomplish all of the things in the above objective without passing on all of my own bad habits and short comings
Professor of arts & crafts with a deep focus on paper plate art, painting, Play-Doh sculptures & macaroni art
Assists in the progression of crawling, walking, talking, potty training & riding a bike
Responsible for discussions on God, love, sex, death and other various subjects pertaining to life

Purveyor of memories

Amateur photojournalist chronicling the life of my little girl from birth to present day
Collector of art projects & drawings
Archiver of cute, funny & beautiful moments that I will hold securely in my heart & head

Head of Entertainment

Skilled at Peekaboo, I got your nose & shadow puppets
Builder of sheet forts & puzzles
Lead singer of popular children’s songs & silly made up ones
Tea party guest and Play-Doh cake taste tester
Master story teller and book reader
Knock Knock joke aficionado

Housekeeper

Washer of dirty laundry (no sir, that is actually daddy)
Dishwasher
Sweeps up dried up Play-Doh, glitter, crumbs, chunks of crayon, etc…
Wipes up juice spills and potty training accidents
Picks up toys, and then picks them up again and then again and again
Instructs our little housekeeper in training how to be responsible for all of the above chores

SPECIAL SKILLS

Carrying a diaper bag, pocket book, juice boxes and stuffed animal while balancing a child on the hip
Giver & receiver of unconditional love
Demonstrating patience when my patience wears thin
Expert at hugs, kisses & cuddles
Mind reader during incomprehensible crying fits

References are available in crayon upon request.

Fri
21 ^st

Learning To Write The Alphabet With Tracing

Posted by Pinparent — 7 Comments

We have had a rough couple of nights at the old homestead. My daughter had been sick with a bad cold, fever & vomiting. Yesterday my husband & I stayed home from work with her. She was in good spirits and seemed to be on the mend. She was very excited to have us both home.

*This post contains affiliate links*

We did a lot of snuggling and drew some pictures & colored. The other day Mai wrote the letter “T”. It was her first written letter. She was so proud & so were we. She held up her piece of paper & showed my husband & me. She beamed. Today in the midst of some of her drawings she made some more Ts. She has mastered the letter T now, but what about her other letters. T doesn’t want to stand alone. He wants his friends.

Lately she has been talking a lot about school. She throws on her backpack & tells me she is going to school on the school bus. She will kiss me goodbye & drive away on her little pink buggy. It is adorable.

Today, we took her role play a little further & had a mock classroom. She took the bus into school, walked into class & removed her backpack just in time for roll call. Today’s lesson…learning to trace our letters.

Laminated Tracing Cards

These were quick & easy to make. You can print out ABCs from your computer or write them out yourself. I did 3 letters per row. I added dash marks to the inside of the letters to give her a guide to trace.

Cut out a rectangle around each row of letters to form a card. Place each card into a laminating pouch or sheet & trim if needed. The laminating pouches come in different sizes. We used 3 1/2 X 5 1/2. We used a laminating machine, but you can find self-adhering laminating sheets or pouches at an office supply store.

This will create 9 cards total.

Class is now in session. I quickly showed Mai how to trace inside of the letters.

She jumped right into to each card and showed me what she could do. “Look Mama teacher. I traced it.”

She very carefully traced within each letter.

She was upset when she had realized that she used the brown marker instead of the pink. I showed her that she could just wipe the card clean with a tissue. She was happy to clean off the card & mark it again in the pink.

We had a great lesson today. She even taught her baby how to trace her letters.

I made a great discovery tonight as well. I found out that when I am mama teacher, she listens and follows directions much better. Our next lesson was cleaning up the classroom. All of her Legos & Play-doh cookie cutters were put back in their boxes without debate this evening. It was fabulous. Mama teacher will have to work on a potty training lesson next.

Thu
28 ^th

Lessons From The Kitchen

Posted by Pinparent — 18 Comments

I always found it humorous that children love doing the things that we as adults hate to do & vice versa. They fight naps & taking a baths while these are things that I dream about. Doing dishes & sweeping the floor are not my favorite activities in the world, but yet my daughter can’t wait to get her hands wet & pick up a broom. Children like to emulate what they see their parents doing. My daughter like many little girls has a play kitchen. She spends many hours a week cooking up delicious meals for mommy & daddy.

I used to find it difficult to prepare meals & clean up the kitchen with Mai running around. I realized the easiest way to get things done was just to involve my daughter. Cooking with my daughter is not only a fun bonding activity that we can share, but it also has a lot of learning opportunities as well.

1. Measurements – From as young as I can remember one of our daughter’s favorite toys has been our measuring cups & spoons. Now that she is older, she has learned that they are also used for other things. Show your child the different size cups & spoons & explain to them what each one is. Let them scoop and measure. Assist them for accurate measurements. Let them pour the measured substance into the mixing bowl or dish.

2. Following Directions – Toddlers are not always the best at listening or following directions. Our daughter is no different, but when we are engaged in an activity such as cooking or baking, she is surprisingly attentive. Explain what needs to be done in each step & let them help with anything that she can do safely. Offer them encouraging pointers along the way.

3. Hand eye coordination – All of that pouring & measuring requires a little bit of dexterity. It may take some time, but with practice you will see their abilities grow. Our daughter has become great at pouring.

4. Counting – This is an especially fun side activity while you cook. If you are working with items such as chick peas, lentils, pasta or chocolate chips ask them to count out a small number of them for you. My daughter loves counting and separating.

6. Teamwork – A lot of toddlers wrestle with asserting their independence. This is a wonderful thing, but it also important for them not to lose sight of being able to work together as a team. Cooking and baking is also a great bonding moment for you & your child or your whole family.

7. Reading labels – Reading does not always have to be in just your children’s bedtime stories. Take every opportunity that you can to read to your toddler and point out new words. If you are following a recipe, read it aloud and point out the words and pictures.

8. Home Economics – Let’s not forget the main task at hand which is to cook or bake something fabulous. At an early age your child is learning basic principles in cooking. Hopefully this will encourage a love for cooking and maybe someday they will be fixing you gourmet dinners & desserts.

9. Responsibility – Making a mess in the kitchen is the fun part, the clean up after leaves something to be desired. Throwing away trash, wiping down the counters and doing the dishes are chores that I could do without, but like I said before our children seem to love this part. That sets a good foundation for chores in the future.

Wed
30 ^th

What Puzzles Have Taught My Toddler & Me

Posted by Pinparent — 6 Comments

I think most mothers can agree that they feel a sense of pride when someone compliments them on their child, whether it is how cute they are, or well behaved, sweet or intelligent. It is nice to hear. I have been told for a long time how smart our daughter is. I have even had a few friends of ours with children ask for our secrets. I would like to take all the credit for it, but I do think much of it she was just born with. Of course we want to help our little one’s mind along & we do so by reading to her often, answering her never ending list of questions and by doing puzzles.

Kids learn to love puzzles from an early age. What’s not to love? They are bright & colorful with lots of pieces to play with and fun pictures. Puzzles aid in developing their fine motor skills, hand eye coordination and cognitive thinking. One thing that they taught me was I should not underestimate my child’s ability to learn based on her age.

At only two years of age my daughter knows all of her U.S states. She knows them by shape, location & name. She learned all of this from doing a puzzle. When we received the foam puzzle as a gift, I never imagined that she would actually be able to do it, but I would take it apart and rebuild it with her daily, pointing out and naming the states as I went. So sufficed to say we were shocked the day that she corrected her uncle as he was trying to place Idaho in the wrong spot. “No Uncle Pete, Idaho goes next to Washington.” From that day on she did her puzzle on her own without mommy’s help.

Don’t mind the fact that Massachusetts is missing.

From there we continued with the geography lessons. We introduced a new puzzle with all of the countries. The countries were all represented by animals indigenous to their region. “Look mama, the Panda bear lives in China.” Yes it does, baby. Yes it does. We now try to teach her everything regardless of how advanced it might seem. I will never underestimate my child again.

Fri
25 ^th

Choosing A Daycare

Posted by Pinparent — 6 Comments

I was extremely fortunate that after the birth of our daughter I was able to take a year off from work & stay home with her during such a crucial period in her life. It offered me the opportunity to be there for all of those beautiful milestones that I might have otherwise missed out on. It gave me the ability to nurse her for a full year, to take daily naps with her, to grow our bond & to just soak up every second of her short infanthood even with all of its difficulties. What was even luckier than that was when I was ready to re-enter the workforce I had a mother-in-law that was willing to take on our child care responsibilities.

Under her Nanna’s care, Mai flourished. Together they would read books, go the park & library, do puzzles and built forts. Our daughter is bright, imaginative, caring and so happy & I know that it is largely in part of her time with her Nanna. There was only one thing missing during these past 2 1/2 years, social interaction. Sure we would play with her friends on occasion, but being an only child I found that Mai lacked a certain understanding in regard to waiting her turn, not always being the center of attention and sharing.

When we made the decision to put her in daycare a couple of days a week, I am not going to lie it freaked me out. It still is and she hasn’t even started yet. Being the helicopter mom that I am, I am extremely paranoid about entrusting my heart to a stranger. Choosing a daycare has been very stressful. I found that many were full or that they didn’t have the days available that I needed or the hours did not work with our schedule. Then I also found that I myself had reasons that I did not like the facilities. When you are picking a place that it going to be caring for your most precious of packages, you better be sure. It turns out I found one that I liked. I interview with them next week.

Here is my checklist in finding a daycare…

1. Figure out what is most important when choosing a facility. Is it distance, cost, curriculum, # of children? For me I wanted her to be in a smaller more intimate daycare where there was more attention to each child & the same educational values as we have with her at home.

2. Make sure that they are licensed & accredited. You can find this info online by state. Believe me that I stalked each daycare to make sure they were legit.

3. What hours do they operate? Is there a fee if you run behind? I discovered that many of the daycares hours were outside of our needs. With my husband and I’s schedules we would have to juggle a few things to make it work. What I did not realize is that some places will charge you an additional fee for picking up your child even a few minutes late.

4. Do they have a set nap schedule? This is something you should find out ahead of time. Mai is on a nap as she gets tired schedule. Many daycares have a set nap schedule. If you are thinking of putting your munchkin in daycare you might want to start them on a mid-day nap schedule right away to make the adjustment.

5. How many children do they have & how many workers? I opted for a smaller home based daycare. The one I am interviewing with next week only has 4 children at a time.

6. What kind of activities do they do? I was pretty certain that I found a winner when I saw all of the things that this child care professional did with the children. She puts a lot of focus on nature activities, does nature walks, lots of crafts and alphabet & number lessons. When I saw the photos on her site, it looked like things that I would do with Mai.

7. Meet the caretaker in person & check out the facility. This I will do next week. We have spoken several times on the phone.

8. What is the daily menu for meals and snacks? If it is Pop Tarts and Spaghetti Os 5 days a week than it is not for me.

9. Do they have a policy on toilet training. We are still in the process of potty training. We have taken a more natural approach and have been doing it slowly. Some daycares will not accept a child that is still in diapers. Be sure to find this out up front.

10. Don’t be afraid to ask a million questions. If they don’t want to answer then you probably do not want them there anyways.

Thu
27 ^th

Phonics Muffins – Phonics Lessons With Muffin Tins & ABC Magnets

Posted by Pinparent — 20 Comments

Toddlers are incredible. The amount of information that they take in, learn and retain on a daily basis is astounding. I am fascinated by my daughter & also often surprised by her as well. From the time she was an infant, we surrounded her with the alphabet. I sang the Abc’s to her when she would cry, which was all the time. We also had a few visual aids…

Mai’s Nanna made this beautiful ABC quilt for her. It hangs on the fence in her playroom.

With all of the alphabet jammed down her throat, it was no wonder that she learned her Abcs early. She has been sounding out her letters for some time now. She will play with her refrigerator magnets often while I am cooking. “B! Bbb bbb boy” You are right baby, B is for boy. She is growing up so fast that I can hardly believe it. With Mai sounding out her letters so much, I came up with a game that could hopefully challenge her phonics learning and entertain her.

This was a cheap and easy to make activity for my toddler. Just line muffin tins with pictures of different animals & objects and let her match up the alphabet magnet to the coordinating word. For example, matching the A to apple or B to banana.

What you will need:

2 muffins tins

Printouts of clip art objects to cover every letter of the alphabet (There are only 24 spots in the tins but you can switch out the other 2)

Alphabet magnets

Using the muffin tin as a stencil, outline the clipart & cut to fit inside of the tin.

Gather your magnets.

Watch your little one with pride as they pick up the letters and place them on the correct pictures. “M! Mmmm mm m monkey.”

I was overcome with pride watching my daughter do this activity. I have to admit that my eyes watered a little as she completed the tins. I could tell she was proud too. Next step…reading.

Be Careful What You Say. My Daughter Is A Parrot.

Posted by Pinparent — 10 Comments

There is a new phenomenon brewing in our home lately. A constant echo can be heard behind our four walls. This echo has the sweet voice of a lovely little girl whose vocabulary is growing daily.

Since she was born, I have tried to curb the foul language. In general, I try not to curse but every once in a while, it just slips out. This can be dangerous when you have a parrot that lives in your midst.

The first time I realized how dangerous this could be was during a diaper change. Mai kept grabbing at my breast. I told her to stop. “Mai Mai, please stop grabbing mommy’s boob.”. “BOOB!”, she replied! Uh oh! For the next few days, she would point at my chest & yell “Boob, boob, boob.”

It was bad enough that some of her regular words already sound like cursing. One day while shopping at Target, Mai kept pointing & screaming the “F’ word. “F@*k!! F@*k!!” Oh my goodness! I was mortified. I then had to respond to her in an equally loud voice so others could hear. “Yes Mai, it is a frog.” As you have probably guessed her pronunciation of the word frog sounds striking similar to the worst offending of the swear words.

My husband and I try to be so careful about what we say in front of our little girl. We really do try but then one of us stubs a toe & …. Mommy: “Oh crap!” Mai: “Ahahahaha, Crap, crap, crap, crap , crap”. Mommy: “No Mai, mommy said crab. CRAB.” Mai: “CRAP!” Crap is right. Shame on you, mommy.

We have tried to get creative when using bad language. My husband in a moment of frustration the other day, spelled out a naughty word to try to drive the point home about how aggravated he was. You can’t outsmart our little parrot. “S. H. I…”,she repeated. “No baby girl, A.B.C.” At least she is learning to spell.

How do I keep my little angel from getting a potty mouth?

Over the course of their childhood, chances are your child will be subjected to swearing. Here are some things that you can do to try to keep your toddler from cursing.

1. Monkey see, monkey do. Set a good example. Don’t use foul language in front of your toddler & ask your friends and family to follow suit when in their presence. Start a swear jar & add money to it when ever you curse. This will help teach mommy & daddy to clean up their language, as well.

2. If they do swear, don’t let it get a reaction out of you. Do not laugh or engage your child’s naughty language. This will only encourage them to say it again.

3. Divert them with another word to use instead of the offensive word.

4. Be mindful of what you watch & listen too. Movies & songs often contain offensive language.

5. Depending on the child’s age & understanding, simply explain to them calmly that what they are saying is inappropriate.

Up next: Learning to Count is Easy as 123