Monday, October 3, 2011
Repurposing puzzle pieces
Take a look at some of your outgrown toys/materials...how can you repurpose them into something your children can use again? It's fun!
Posted by DL at 2:44 PM 0 comments
Fairy Tales
We really love Paul Galdone's work (with the exception of Jack and the Beanstalk which is a little too difficult for Q to understand the way he wrote it). Here are three of our favorites:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQaUpPoJ3bxrWaReSMqe4iPhpARf-RnPa_y7iDTmAhuXrCmGFaK1jXpnm273pwuOE_Cs-zrj5NejcdNBzzapCm5tjIBUmanraXrE7OQ1_2x_lUwqBRthjnbxnmBnIM-4l0OwQgf72k9-_d/s320/gal.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvn8YlxPp1KZPA42fzWtljuCAL5kkmLH3v7V6Gk-0AplX7o65qhxepuSiC0lmM4j7A_O4Wsc16c45FSLLgJ9aT55ekLw4wX9vanwtObeYFCuvU8Qpsbync1x473MZqyoO8FWucS_DDA0QG/s320/gal3.jpg)
We have also been listening to fairy tales on CD in the truck (we like Elves and the Shoemaker, Tom Thumb, and Little Red Riding Hood--off cd's we got at the library.)
Q also loves this youtube channel--she is fascinated with listening to the lady tell the stories. They seem a little annoying to me, but she eats them up! Most of them involve the lady telling the story while she uses flannelboard characters....
I have my reserve list running strong at the library for the next stories I'll be introducing to Quinn in the fairy tale genre!
I love the vocabulary she's introduced to, the strong plot elements (each story has character development, problem/solution, and setting) as well as the great illustrations many fairy tale books provide!
Posted by DL at 2:34 PM 0 comments
Labels: books, development, literacy activities, vocabulary
Chalk as an art medium
Here is an example--we used chalk on black paper. We explored the way it writes and how you can rub it to get it to smear. After we worked with the materials I put them out in her art area for further exploration.
She was not real engaged in this artwork, so we'll try it again another day!
Stay tuned for more posts on our adventures into ART!
Posted by DL at 2:07 PM 0 comments
Babies with library books
7 week-old Little Man got his first library book--a board book with high-contrast black and white pictures. We read it to him every day and he stares and stares at the pictures. On days he's not really into looking at it, I just take it away from his face and softly finish reading the words...as I know his little brain is still absorbing the rhythm and sound of language and the flow of words in sentences in stories.
Posted by DL at 2:05 PM 0 comments
On Vocabulary development
My mother-in-law is the preK director for her district. At an inservice a couple weeks ago with a social studies expert, the presenter discussed the importance of fostering vocabulary development through conversation. She encouraged using "harder" words when we talk to our kids--her point was that if they are learning what the word means anyhow, we can teach them more complicated words and it really won't be harder for them to understand. Her example was using the word "adjacent" when referring to something that is next to something else. I have really been trying to stay mindful of that in my conversations with Quinn.
Often I will do this by using the word she may already be familiar with, and then rephrasing using the new word. For example:
"Your shoes are next to your backpack--adjacent to your backpack. This helps her use context clues to determine what the new word means.
Vocabulary development is such an important part of developing strong readers--if children don't know what words mean, their comprehension is very low. Introducing new words naturally through conversation is a great way to stretch your child's words a little bit!
I've been working hard not to sell my daughter short in our conversations and just limit her to words she already knows. Her daddy is amazing at this, naturally. I am constantly marveling at the words he uses with her in conversations without me ever talking to him about the concept of vocabulary development. Go Daddy!!
Posted by DL at 1:57 PM 0 comments
Labels: literacy activities, oral language, vocabulary