Happy Mother's Day!

Alphabet Sound Cards and Tracing Cards

I am often asked I did I teach my son to read.  As some of you who might follow my blog religiously, I mentioned that at 3.5 yrs, he started reading books on his own. 

Well, there's no shortcut really.  It was a long process and I will give details on it if I have the time.  But I also advice my friends to read books to their kids and by the time they'll learn about the alphabet, expose them to gazillions of phonic activities.

My son's favorite was sorting objects/sound cards according to their beginning sounds.  Well we sorted with printable cards at first. I came across printables that were free but they were all in cartoonish form which I didn't think was appropriate because some of the images were difficult to identify.   I really prefer "real" images.  So what I did was make my own.

(Please click the image for the link)

The file includes:

• 8 pictures per vowel (only 4 pictures for letter u)
• 8 pictures per consonant (only 4 pictures for letters q,x,y,z)
• 26 upper letter cards
• 26 lower letter cards
• 26 tracing cards for upper letters
• 26 tracing cards for lower letters
• FREE ALPHABET PICTURE BINGO CARDS

Here's how it looks like in action.  I still have them and my son still loves using them!

(Laminated sorting cards)

And because tracing cards are so pricey, I also created my own version.  Here I printed them on an ordinary paper, put them on a cardboard and covered it with a contact paper.  Then I purchase a bunch of dry erase marker to use with my homemade cards. (Please click either of the images for the link)

                 

This is how I made him practice writing aside from using the sandpaper letters.  Hmmm which reminds me to share how we do about our language and writing lessons when he was just about 2 yrs old!  Will definitely do that one of these days.

Continent Study: Europe Part II (FREE Picture Cards)

Map and Flag Study

Our continent study usually starts with maps.  This is my poor man's version of Wooden Puzzle Map (Montessori).  My son loves working with puzzles so I painstakingly made this one for him.

Then we work with flags.  Since I can't seem to find a cork-board so we can pin our Europe Pin Flags, we used plasticine to let our flags stand on the map :) 

                

Here's a closer look of his work.
 

We also worked with the European Flag Nomenclature Cards.  He liked identifying the flags of the countries where we have lived and visited.

I asked him to pick three flags he like the best so we can paint them.  He chose the flag of Ireland, France and Serbia. 

                

I love how he is serious when he is working.

                

Now for the freebies, you can avail this flags of Europe file for coloring purposes.   Click the picture to download the file.

 

Culture/Lifestyle

These books are amazing! We totally love reading it as my son and I learn about families living in certain countries of Europe, learning about their countries and their lifestyle.

And with that, I also wanted to share photos I collected from the web, showing some of things you need to learn about Europe.  Just click the picture for the link.

Landmarks

Here, I used my Landmarks of Europe materials.  My son loves listening to my stories of how we travel on the mainland and the places we have been to as seen on the photos and on our learning materials.   The rest of my Europe Continent Study materials can be found here.

After showing him the Eiffel Tower, I challenged him if he could create the tower using his Lego. And..... tada! He definitely surprised me!

PS.  First part of our Europe Continent can be found here.


Linking to:        

Montessori Monday
TGIF Linky Party
Teach Beside Me
Preschool Corner
History and Geography

Lego Eiffel Tower!

We're looking at the some of the famous landmarks in Europe and he chose to build the Eiffel Tower using his Legos :)

        

Here he tops the tower using France pin map flag.

 

Look who's proud of his masterpiece!  And he keeps on saying "Mom can we go there again?" 

Ahhh... Legos are simply the best isn't it? We haven't tried Playmobil yet, but he's been eyeing them too.

Happy Friday everyone! And have a nice weekend as well :)

Linking to:

Montessori Monday
TGIF Linky Party
Teach Beside Me
Preschool Corner

Artist Study (FREE Picture Cards)

EDIT:  There was a typo-error in the Leonardo da Vinci file, I already fixed it :)  Thanks!

In line with our Europe study, we’re also going to look into some famous European people… and I’ll focus on the famous painters from this continent.  We’ll revisit Degas, Michelangelo, Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci. 

I'm sharing the picture cards we used in the studies, kindly click the artist's link below for the download.

Works of Edgar Degas
Works of Michelangelo
Works of Leonardo da Vinci

Artist Study: Leonardo da Vinci

Artist Study: Edgar Degas

Artist Study: Pablo Picasso

We’ll be doing some Monet or Van Gogh next week. 

Linking to:

Montessori Monday
TGIF Linky Party
Teach Beside Me
Preschool Corner