H is for hearts

Cutting out paper heart chains is right up Cameron's alley. Pink, pink, pink! And it's gotten her thinking grand thoughts for Valentine's Day. This activity is to introduce her to her new sound in reading, h. She is making great strides, having been introduced to long vowels last week and now reading words with the silent e. We love the book 100 Easy Lessons. It makes learning to read easy! Pretty soon I will be adding flashcards with phonetic rules into her school day.

I is for ice!

Here is a fun activity Cameron did today. When she learns a new letter, she does an activity for the sound. We don't cover the alphabet in order, we learn sounds as they are introduced in the 100 Easy Lessons book I use to teach her to read. Ice doesn't technically fit because it was the short i sound. I meant to have her make an igloo after she used them, but they were too melted. She filled the mini muffin tin with water and added a few drops of food coloring and a toothpick. After it froze, she got to paint with them. The ice was bright and colorful!

Kindergarten

Books and Websites I use:
Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons
When I use this book to teach my children to read, I don't do a lot of alphabet work beforehand. I guess I just was never that organized in preschool. I tried with my oldest, Raeley, and she got mouth ulcers because she found it so difficult to remember her letters (and probably because I was so distraught that she wasn't remembering her letters).
The first letters introduced are m, s, and a. Before I sit down with her to do a lesson, we do a worksheet on the letters, including writing them and saying the sound each time she writes a letter. There are only two or three lessons where more than one letter is introduced.
BOB Books after 100 Easy Lessons

Here are some of the websites that I use to find letter pages:
http://theteacherscafe.com/Teacher-Directory/Preschool_Games.php
Links to other sites
http://www.tlsbooks.com/kindergartenworksheets.htm
letter activity pages
http://www.underfives.co.uk/wshtalph.html#alphabet%20worksheets
alphabet sheets for handwriting

Here is anothere site that has "vintage" records your child can listen to while doing a craft. They are great stories on records from the 40's and 50's.
http://www.kiddierecords.com/bonus/index.htm

Math:
Essential Math by Singapore Math

Art:
Usborne's I Can Draw books and I Can Cut and Stick
Abeka Art K
Mona Brooks Drawing with Children (very teacher involved, but does not require artistic ability to teach, just patience and humility)

For Art Activities:
Encouraging the Artist in Your Child by Sally Warner
Art Adventures At Home by Pattye Carlson and M. Jean Soyke

I also use the book The Instant Curriculum by Pam Schiller and Joan Rossano. I used this for Pre-K, but it is so much fun, and jam packed with activities, that we will use it during K also.

History and Science are done by hanging out with the big kids. I also go to the library and use the referrence books on children's books that catagorize picture books by topic (the thick book with A to Z in the title is my favorite). I look up picture books about science and history to read with her.