Beginning Reading: Language Objects and Activities
Saturday, June 3, 2017
Alpha Phonics Boxes: Letters ‘ramfbitg’
Monday, July 25, 2011
Hello there! I’d like to share the contents of my Alphabet Phonics Box. First set, the letters RAMFBITG... I organized it this way to match so as to match with my RED SERIES letter sound cards and writing learning set which I will later share as well.
For those who’s been aware of homeschooling blogs, this is NOT an original idea. This technique has been used by most homeschooling mothers for it’s effectiveness and at the same time, quite an enjoyable way of learning new things with their beginning sounds.
Unlike some Mommies who store these on a cabinet, mine I kept it on a microwavable containers. As you can see, most of the objects I have doesn’t fit in a small cabinet/storage. Besides, mine is a work in progress. Although the point here is to have objects in miniature sizes... mine still consist of large ones though I plan to replace them once a small size is available.
I use my Alpha Phonics Box(es) in three ways:
- To learn the beginning sounds, I would pick a letter for us to play and pick each object from the letter box and say the name of the object emphasizing the beginning letter sound. I would make my son repeat the words as I hand him the object for inspection (or he would place it on the mat).
- Sort objects according to beginning letter. I would combine objects from two letter boxes and my son and I would sort the objects according to their beginning letter sound. I presented my objects here the way I mix them during our homeschool.
- Telling a story. My son love this method very much. It’s either I tell a story from one letter object box or at times, on the combination of two letters.
We haven’t gotten through all the letters yet... so I am just focusing on the three methods that I use. So far, everything’s fine... he loves it and enjoys working with our boxes. I am open to some ideas or room for improvement in case my boy would get bored with the way I use our alpha phonic boxes.
Here are my ramfbitg alpha phonics objects:
R|r: red, rhino, rock, rope, rooster, rubberband, ram, rabbit
A|a: ambulance, airplane, apron, ant, arch of triumph, alligator, apple, aboriginal
M|m: macaw, musher, magnet, marble, moon, motorcycle, milk, moose, monkey
F|f: fence, fork, feather, fish, frog, fly, fox, firetruck, flamingo
B|b: barn, button, biscuit, banana, beads, bell, baboon, bike, bear, basket
I|i: igloo, iguana, ice cream, intestine, temple of inscriptions, insect
T|t: turtle, treasure chest, tiger, tree, turner, tray, tractor, tasmanian devil, taj mahal
G|g: giraffe, grapes, guitar, gem, goat, gum, gorilla, garter, grasshopper
It took me awhile to collect these objects. Most of them I got from Safari Toobs, erasers, others were from my son’s old toys, and anything that I can find around the house. I also plan to replace these objects after sometime... so as introduce new ones, which means new vocabularies for him as well. By the way, the letters are wooden magnetic letters of Melissa and Doug.
Next post would be objects from my CUSNPOLH phonic boxes.
FREE Life Cycle Matching Cards
Saturday, November 28, 2015
I have a bunch of life cycle figures which my Aunt brought from the US a few months ago. I did not really intend to introduce them yet to Vito as he is too young. But I observed that he’s into matching activities these days, so I managed to create matching cards for all of my life cycles. Wow, he definitely surprised me! He worked on all of these in one day and always picked these for his activity everyday!
Our Favourite Toys for 2 to 7 Years Old
Thursday, November 26, 2015
**Contains affiliate links**
“As parents and grandparents, we think that we are showing children we love them by giving them things. In fact such practice, in and out of itself, may send them the wrong message. Children may conclude that if people give you things, they love you. If receiving things tells you that you are loved, the next logical step is to measure self-worth by what you have, not by what you are. The reality is that very young children can only truly love one doll, one stuffed animal, and a few toys at a time. This experience provides a basis for adult life where one must learn to cherish one spouse, one family, one life, instead of fantasizing that it is possible to ‘have it all’.” - MONTESSORI FROM THE START
We don’t have a lot of toys at home. Mavi just like two kinds of toys: LEGO and dinosaur/animal figures, that’s just it. All through the years, I don’t splurge nor buy toys as we don’t have the budget for it. I consider them as luxury so I just gave toys to Mavi as presents on his birthday and Christmas. But because we “home” school, I purchase learning materials that my kids see as “toys” but in reality they are NOT really toys. And because I am frugal, I buy toys that they can grow with, MULTIPURPOSE and something that they can play together. So let me share with you the kids’ favourite things in the house. These are the toys that we have in the house, except for the ones in my “wishlist and basket”. These toys are being played day in and day out by the boys.
NOTE: ALWAYS SUPERVISE YOUNGER CHILDREN WHEN USING ANY OF THESE TOYS. Do not leave them unattended.
FAVOURITE TOYS
LEGO, DUPLO and PLAYMOBIL. Need I say more? These are the favourite in the house. We have plenty of LEGOs as this is Santa’s favourite present EVERY Christmas for 4 years! And Vito’s Duplo and Playmobil were brought from the local store when they were on 50% off. I would never get them for a whole price! Vito is now snapping bricks together and loves the Playmobil people. Both of my boys spend hours and hours playing with these toys. They never get tired of them. Perfect toy for creativity, concentration and developing fine motor skills!
For Playmobils, we have castles and pirates. They’re Mavi’s favourite toy and can play with them for hours!
My son loves the LEGO CLASSIC Bricks. He doesn’t really like those with premade designs as he always wanted to design his own thing. So I highly recommend that you buy the basic LEGO BRICKS especially if you are getting your first Lego. Having a plate is also good.
miniLUK and BambiniLUK. Mavi and I looooves this! We can’t get enough of answering all the booklets, especially those tricky ones! I bought the Starter Pack and bought the advanced booklets separately. There’s a version for younger kids, the BambiniLUK and some friend in Instagram said that they like it. Mavi is like “Mom, its making my brain tired LOL”
Montessori Botany and Zoology/Insect Puzzles, Montessori Puzzle Maps. I invested on these this year and it was worth it! I have puzzle loving kids, and Vito is currently addicted to them. Aside from educational, these puzzles are also perfect for pincer grasp practice. Mavi on the other hand is obsessed with my Asia and Europe puzzles. He loves geography, loves to learn about countries and their locations. Tower High Learning is my favourite Montessori shop as of the moment and this is where I purchase my materials.
Schliech Animal Figures and Safari Toobs are also an all time favourite in the house. The uses of these figures include imaginative play, learning about animals, habitat play, exploring landmarks and just about anything! You see these mostly in my post! When Vito was younger, I made him use Schleich animal figures because they are bigger but now that he has overcome his mouthing, he uses both Schleich and Safari Toob. Mavi is obsessed with dinosaurs, and he uses them now as characters for his homemade videos LOL. Now he uses both types for play and learning.
Hape Uppercase, Lowercase and Number Puzzles. With Mavi, I used the Melissa and Doug Magnetic letters (I still have them) and they were really really loved. Now the problem is Vito mouths things and I made Vito use it, the sticker of the letters were removed. So I looked for an alternative alphabet toys for us to use and I discovered these amazing puzzles from Hape. They are WORTH-IT! We love using them in anything, from learning letters, puzzles to stacking! Yes, Vito loves to stack these together! We also use it to sort out colors! Multi-purpose indeed! But if you have older kids, Melissa and Doug Magnetic Letters are as good as well.
Because I love to cook (Asian and Italian), the boys also love to pretend cooking with me using these Melissa and Doug cooking toys. They can play for hours with these!
M-cro Maxi Scooter. And I just have to include this!! Because they play with this scooter in and out of the house! Mavi uses this to school and Vito uses this indoor for scooting practice. I love that it is sturdy and kids can easily balance!
And of course, nothing beats classic toys like balls, cars and PlayDoh! My boys wouldn’t complain if they receive any of these this Christmas.
WISHLIST
Magnatiles. Rave reviews everywhere but I just couldn’t bring myself to purchase these tiles or can’t even justify it Maybe when they’re 50% off I would probably get one for the boys!
Unit Block. I know that the boys will love this as well. They can build and create so many things with this but the price is just too much for me. I still have to think about this a million times.
Beleduc Puzzles. My puzzle loving kids will love these puzzle series, especially the Your Body Layer puzzles!
Pre-reading Using Montessori Language Objects
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Without much further ado, here’s my collection of objects which I started collecting 5 years ago.
Animal Exploration: A Study Guide
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
One of my objective this year is for Mavi to have a bigger understanding of the animal kingdom. During his preschool and totschool days, I introduced animals via themed activities which he truly enjoyed. But there was a point that he would asks more complicated questions and I just knew that I have to put “depth” into our lessons.
So let me share with you our outline of study which I considered as a guideline whenever we have a study about animals. Now, this outline is for elementary level and I would not recommend this to preschoolers. Familiarization is the first key for preschoolers to understand about the animals and the themed activities are best for this.
ANIMAL KINGDOM (Blog Post, Animal Kingdom Chart and Cards)
- VERTEBRATE SORTING (Blog Post, Vertebrate Sorting Cards)
- Study of Fish
- Study of Reptiles
- Study of Amphibians/Frogs
- Study of Mammals
- Animal Lifecycles (Blog Post, FREE Animal Lifecycle Cards )
- ARTHROPODS (FREE Arthropod Chart)
- ARTHROPODS: The Study of Crustaceans
- Crab Nomenclature Cards and Definition Booklet
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- ARTHROPODS: The Study of Arachnids
- Spider Nomenclature Cards and Definition Booklet
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- ARTHROPODS: The Study of Chilopods
- Centipede Nomenclature Cards and Definition Booklet
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We also looked into the habitats of these animals:
ANIMALS AND THEIR HABITATS (Part One, Part Two, Animal Habitat Learning Materials )
For animals in freshwater and marine animals:
ANIMALS IN MARINE ECOSYSTEM (Blog Post, FREE Animals in Marine Ecosystem Cards )
ANIMALS IN FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEM (Materials Used, Blog Post)
There are fields that we haven’t touched yet, and I am hoping that we could explore them before the year ends.
Hope that you find this post helpful.
Linking to:
Montessori Monday
TGIF Linky Party
Teach Beside Me
Preschool Corner
Teaching Mama
I Can Teach My Child
Home + School = Afterschool!
FREE Leaf Silhouettes Learning Materials
Monday, September 14, 2020
I love seeing our printables getting used and being shared on Instagram! For the past years, our Free Insect Silhouettes have been really really popular and getting used by tons of teachers and homeschoolers. Because it became so popular and a favorite, I decided to publish our Leaf Silhouettes as freebies to all my subscribers.