Fine Motor Skills

We've started some Fine Motor Stations in the morning, when kids first arrive at school.  These are activities designed to build muscle strength in our little hands and fingers, which in turn helps us in our ability to write.

I really LOVE Play-Doh and clay!  I will be sharing homemade Play-Doh recipes in an upcoming post.  

Pinching with tongs is a great way to build strength in our hands!  I put some squishy plastic balls in our bean table and gave the kids the challenge to remove them all with different types of tongs.  Challenge accepted!!

Legos are one of my favorite toys for building muscles in our fingers.  In addition, Legos are just awesome for developing creativity.

Once kids have the proper pencil grips, I encourage them to do some tracing and use our stencils.

This is one of my favorite stations.  We have a sand tray, rocks, and shells that kids use to create art pieces.  I take pictures of their pieces of work to display in the classroom.  Any activity that invites the kids to pinch like you see in the picture below, is awesome for developing muscles.  

We are writers in kindergarten and every fine motor activity we try will help us build the muscles and stamina we need for writing. 

You may have noticed your child coming home and showing you a bit of sign language.  We are on a mission to learn the signs for 26 letters in the first 20 days of school and we've almost reached our goal!  Not only does sign language help us connect our actions to letters and sounds, but we are also (secretly) sneaking in a bit of fine motor work!

I would encourage you to think about adding some fine motor activities into your daily routines.  Counting Cheerios, by moving them one by one, watering plants with a spray bottle, painting with small brushes, drawing with markers, and even cutting coupons from the Sunday paper are all great ways to build muscles in our hands!

Have fun!

Spring Break Stories

This is the kind of post I LOVE to write!  One of our classmates spent his Spring Break at his grandma's house in Spokane.  He took Pete the Cat and wrote a story about their adventures.  He brought his book in to share with the class today.  He was SO proud and the kids were very impressed with his story.

I love his descriptive sentences, colorful pictures, and use of speech bubbles!  He did a fantastic job!

His mom laminated the pages and tied it up.  The kids were SUPER impressed and, of course, they all want to make books just like this.  I told the kids that if they wanted to write books about their Spring Breaks, family vacations, or another fun activity, that I would be happy to laminate their pages and put them into books.  I just wanted to give you a heads up, because I'm sure all of our little authors will be looking for paper and markers tonight!  Please encourage quality work and remind kids to take their time!

Happy writing!

My Very Favorite Movie Ever - The Letter Factory by LeapFrog

It's confession time.  

I have to tell you a story about my inability to teach my son when he was in kindergarten.  It pains me to tell this story, but there is a happy ending.  

My son attended 2 years of Preschool and I worked part time as a second grade teacher at the time.  On my days off, we would play games, go to the library, read books, write and draw, and even practice things like letters and sounds.  I did all of the things I was "supposed" to do with my son.  He went off to Kindergarten knowing a lot of letters and sounds, but not all of them.  The teacher did a few assessments, and I think due to nerves, he demonstrated that he knew even fewer letters and sounds than he did at home.  I continued to work with him at home and the work in the classroom continued as well, but his progress was VERY slow.  By the time Christmas Break rolled around his teacher informed me that he would be pulled for remedial work when we returned from break. 

Oh, my goodness... I can't even begin to tell you how my heart sank!!

I am a teacher!  I have a Masters Degree in Reading and Literacy, for goodness sake, and I can't get my child to learn letters and sounds!?!  I kept doing all of those games and activities that I knew were great for kids, but nothing seemed to click with him. 

Shortly after the conversation with my son's teacher, I was at Target and spotted a movie on the shelf. It was called The Letter Factory by LeapFrog.  I knew a little about LeapFrog and knew they were an educational toy company, so I figured it may be a little reinforcement for his learning. 

          

The old movie cover looks like the video on the left and the updated, 2014, version is on the right.

Over the break, we watched the movie together a few times and I'm telling you, Friends, it was like MAGIC!  All of sudden, my son was not only remembering his letters and sounds but he was singing them in the car and at the dinner table!  I went back to Target over the break and bought every game I could find to go along with the Letter Factory movie.  I really couldn't believe that a movie could do for my son what I couldn't do with all of my games, tricks, and practicing, but by that point I was just thrilled that he knew his letters and sounds.

As the years went on, I suggested this movie to every parent who would listen.  I think it's brilliant and the kids LOVE it!  The movie is available at stores everywhere, Amazon, and (last time I checked) it was available for streaming on Netflix.  I highly suggest tracking this down.  For a while, I was able to get it through the local library too.  Our goal in the classroom is to have kids knowing their letters and sounds by the Christmas Break.  I know that seems like a big push, but that will get us on our way to reading and writing!  We practice these letters and sounds every single day, in class, but I will also be sending home practice for kids at home.  This movie (and the games that go along with it) could be a fun way to practice!

(Full disclosure for my Confession Post: I mentioned that I really love this movie and it really fueled my passion for the tools and resources that are available for kids.  I found this movie almost a decade ago, and since then, I've actually starting working for LeapFrog as a writer and photographer.  More on that later, but I wanted you to know that my love for this movie and the games has nothing to do with the fact that I work part time for LeapFrog.  I think it's the best educational movie ever made and that was my opinion even before being employed by the company.  I don't get any kick-backs for encouraging families to track this down.  I just really think it's brilliant and well done.)

Happy letter learning!