Summer Enrichment 5: Birds!

Mourning Doves

This week you can help your child notice the birds around you. Encourage curiosity and exploration - what are the birds doing? How can you tell it's a bird? What else do you notice about it?
The connection videos will introduce some common backyard birds and some related activities

Monday - We'll introduce some common backyard birds, a poem about birds, and what you can do with an empty toilet paper roll!

Cardinals

Tuesday - the Little Bird poem. How many of these backyard birds can you name? What are the things that all birds have in common? 

Black-capped Chickadee

Wednesday - In this morning's connection video, we'll continue learning about birds. Get ready to hop like a bird to practice the names of a few more types of birds you might see out your window. I have some real bird nests to show you, and some pictures of some other incredible different kinds of nests birds make. We also take a picture walk to find the birds we know in today's suggested read-aloud - "Feathers for Lunch" by Lois Ehlert. How many of the birds in this book do you know?

Downy Woodpecker

We also suggest you try this fun & active video from Mystery Science about how quail, raccoons, and woodpeckers get their food

Thursday - Look what's growing in our garden! And a peek at what happens inside a bird's egg. 

Have you ever made "egg in a nest" for breakfast? Instructions on the blog: 

And today's read-aloud - An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Aston

Friday - To finish up our week's focus on birds, this morning's video is near an osprey nest on the 

Osprey

Delaware River. Let's see how much you remember about what makes an animal a bird, and how many of the backyard birds you can name (I'll give some hints!) Do you know how many circles you see when you look through the two tubes of binoculars? I'll show you how you can make your own practice binoculars with two empty toilet paper rolls. 

More Language & Science activities

Catbird

Names of birds 

Some common east coast birds (included in the connection videos) are: Goldfinch, House Finch, House Sparrow, Mourning Dove, cardinal, catbird, kildeer, downy woodpecker, grackle, Baltimore oriole, Black-capped chickadee, blue jay. You can loook them up and hear the sounds they make on allaboutbirds.org. They also have live bird cams!

House finches

Parts of a bird (what makes something a bird?)

Video: All about birds video for kids

Video: Common backyard birds (includes lots; your child will recognize some by the end of the week!)

House sparrow

Poem: Little bird

I saw a little bird come hop, hop, hop

So I said, "Little bird, will you stop, stop, stop?"

I was going to the window

To say "Hi, how are you?"

But she gave her wings a flap, 

And up, up, up she flew

Read-alouds - Bird theme!

Blue Jay

There is a bird on your head! (Mo Willems)

Egg (Kevin Henkes)

Feathers for Lunch (Ehlert) How many birds do you recognize in this book?

An egg is quiet (Dianna Aston) - Birds aren’t the only animals who lay eggs!

Are you my mother? (PD Eastman)

Art Ideas

You can draw birds! teaching video
I show two simple ways to draw birds with half circles, circles, and triangles - something even young children (preschool, kindergarten, elementary age) can practice and do! Also great for adults like me!
Thank you to the Usborne Step-by-Step Drawing Book for the inspiration

Make your own spy glass for birdwatching by coloring/decorating a toilet paper tube - what can you see through it? (Or join 2 tubes together to make binoculars)

Make a pinecone bird feeder (spread peanut butter on a pinecone, roll it in bird seed or crumbs; tie on a string and hang it nearby!)

Movement

Can you move like a bird? Flap your wings! Soar and glide like an eagle! Balance on one leg like a flamingo! What ideas do you have?

What is a bird? action song

Food prep: 

Cook “Egg in a nest” (photo recipe on blog) 

Summer Enrichment 4: Let's Visit South America!

What would it be like to visit South America? 

In our Monday video, we:
-  review our continent (North America) and the biome we live in (temperate forest) 
- sing the continents song and find South America on the globe
- discuss our options for getting there
- look at the biome map to find out what biomes we might see in South America
Language game: Rainforest rhyming & segmenting (5 min)

Video: a virtual tour of South America (5 min)

Read Aloud: Biblio Burro (read by Ms. Kristin!)

Tuesday: People and Cultures of South America

What clothing would you wear if you lived in the tropical rainforest? What if you lived high in the Andes Mountains? 

Along with many other languages, Spanish is spoken in many parts of South America. 

Want to learn some Spanish?

Try learning some new words in Spanish with Spanish school bus

Read Aloud books: 

Maria had a little Llama (variation on Mary had a little lamb)

Pele, King of Soccer

Wednesday: The Amazon Rainforest 

Let's visit the Amazon rain forest! What does it look like in the rain forest? What are some of the unique and amazing animals that live there? 

If you want to take a quick video tour to see the rain forest and some of its animals, here are two videos to watch:

National Geographic Amazon video (4 min)
Virtual Field Trip - Amazon Rainforest (9 min)

Read Aloud Book - The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry

Art activity -  Make a paper chain snake! 

Thursday: The Andes Mountains

This video focuses on the Andes mountains of South America. (and revisits the song "los pollitos" / all the little chicks. 

Video tour of the Andes Mountains

Read aloud book: Up and down the Andes 

Skill challenge: Mountain climbers (Pretend you’re climbing the Andes mountains!)

Friday: Singing in Spanish

We finish up our week on South America learning one more song in Spanish - La aran~a pequinita (The Itsy Bitsy Spider), and introduce the "What's missing" game to try at home

Summer Enrichment 2: Let's Explore Outdoors!

The Outdoors have limitless opportunities for learning and exploring!

Morning Connection Videos:

Monday - This week we're introducing learning activities to take outdoors - sorting & classifying skills, sink or float experiment, a twist on an active vocab game, and a poem - A house is a house for me

Tuesday - For the months of the year song, ignore my motions and raise your arms for this month! A house is a house for me poem, A beginning sounds game (can also be done with rhyming words, ending, or middle vowel sounds), and making patterns.

Wednesday - Today we introduce "3 words" rhyming game, review finger spelling, and sing the number writing song. Remember that these kinds of language games are one of the best ways you can prepare your child succeed with writing and reading skills.

Thursday - Today we'll sing the seasons song (make sure your child knows it's summer now!!), compare two flowers - dandelion and daffodil, and introduce some sequencing activities. 

What flowers can you find outside now that it is summertime?

Friday - Happy Friday! Today we're singing "Days of the Week" in English and Spanish, and a tossing game with socks that also practices position words ("inside" and "outside") and partitioning 5.

A few outdoor activity ideas:

Sweeping a porch, patio, or sidewalk is fun and great exercise

Sink or Float - Find 6-10 objects outside, make a hypothesis on if they will sink or float, use a bowl of water to find out!

Fun with rocks - collect a few rocks outside, scrub them clean. Draw or paint on one! How many can you stack?

Flowers - How many different kinds of flowers do you see outside? Learn the names of 3. How do they smell?

Paint with Water - Have an old paintbrush? Dip it in a container of water and "paint" outdoors!

Patterns with Nature - collect objects outside (rocks, leaves, sticks, petals, etc) and use them to practice making patterns (how-to video), or try making more elaborate designs (examples)

Outdoor writing - Write with a stick in the dirt, or use sidewalk chalk (or a brick or rock!)

Other math and language resources and ideas on our Montessori at Home page

Teaching Letter Sounds

Once a child has basic phonemic awareness skills (hearing rhymes and beginning sounds), they are ready to start learning the letters that represent each sound. We teach letter SOUNDS, not letter names first - the sounds are what they need to know to begin writing and reading!
What are the sounds? Try this wonderful website - click on a letter to hear its phonetic sounds

Here are videos and tips for teaching letter sounds at home:
Parent guide 1 - games to teach letter sounds
Parent guide 2 - letters & beginning sounds

1) Introduce 2-3 new letter sounds at a time

- only introduce new letters after they have mastered the letters they were practicing!

- Always start with review! (prevents forgetting and give them confidence to move on to something new and challenging.

- Letter sounds can be taught in any order. We have letters grouped in the following sets, but will often teach them in a different order based on the child's individual interests

Intro videos for

Set 1 (a, m, s, t),

Set 2 (c, i, p, r),

Set 3 (b, f, g, o),

Set 4 (h, j, l, u),

Set 5 (d, e, n, w)

2) Play games to practice (see demo in Parent guide 1):

-- point to ‘mmm’; point to ‘rrr’, ...
-- ‘hide’ a letter- child closes eyes while you mix them; “can you find ‘sss’?” Repeat!
-- trace in cornmeal tray (or on paper; you can “write” it on their back at the same time)
--  beginning sounds game
-- “Who let the letters out” song Set 1, 2,  3
-- “Knock knock” game with letters

Vocab Games

Learning new words 

"Bring me" game with kitchen tools

Introduce your child to the names of a few new kitchen tools (ladle, whisk, can opener, cutting board, strainer/colander, etc.).

• Hint: Only use 3 new words at a time, but mix in additional familiar items for the game

1) Name the object ("this is a whisk!"), have the child repeat it - ("Can you say whisk?), and briefly say what it does ("we use a whisk to mix up liquids like eggs and pancake batter!")

• Hint: Repetition is key - the more the child hears and says the new word, the faster they can get it in their long-term memory 

2) "Show me" - After you have introduced 2-3 new words, say "show me the _____." After they pick it up or point to it, ask "what is it?" so they have practice repeating the word. This step makes sure the child is connecting the new words with the correct tools.
3) "Bring me" - Go to another part of the house and tell the child, "bring me the _____. What are you going to bring?" (checking to make sure they heard the word correctly)

• Hint: Distance in this game has several benefits - the child has to keep the word in their mind for longer, which strengthens their memory. Incorporating movement increases learning, and it also gets them a little exercise. One more benefit - this activity gives adults a chance to multi-task, helping another child or doing their own tasks in another part of the house!

Variations: play this game with office supplies, first aid items, household lines, tools, etc.

Vocab movement game

After introducing the new vocabulary, give the child instructions on where to take each item (Put the watering can beside the tree!" "Put the leaf on the steps!") Once the items have been placed in different locations, ask, "do you remember where the watering can is?" (give a clue if they have forgotten). Notice that in addition to practicing vocabulary, they are also getting movement and working with position words (on, beside, under, etc.)

Categories 

Suggest a category and see how many things you and your child can think of for that category (examples: fruits, clothing, colors, animals, etc.) Ready for more challenge? The leader names a category out loud and thinks of one thing in that category. The others take turns guessing things from that category until someone guesses what the leader was thinking of, then they become the leader.

Other categories to try: How many things can you think of that are:
- bigger than a bus? smaller than an orange?
- toppings you can put on pizza? on an icecream sundae?
- sparkly?
- have wheels?

Opposites 

Play a game where you name a word and your child says the opposite. Examples: up/down, wet/dry, cold/hot, short/tall, in/out, over/under, happy/sad, clean/dirty Another way to play is to ask a question that confuses a pair and let your child correct you. (“Is fire cold?” “Is water dry?”) Your child may want a turn saying the first word, and you come up with the opposite. (Don’t worry, if you’re stumped, you can always ask your child for help!)

Prepositions 

Prepositions are the words that tell us where something is – on, under, beside, in front of, behind, in, etc. This is a game to help them practice using these words. Pick any two objects in your house (pillow & a toy; spoon and napkin, small object and a cup – anything!) Position the two objects and tell your child, “Look, the bear is in front of the pillow!” then move the object and ask your child, “Now where is the bear?” (If they aren’t sure, try giving them two options – ex: “Is the bear on the pillow or beside the pillow?”) Keep it fun & playful!

Language Games - Phonemic Awareness Skills

What is Phonemic Awareness?

To become effective readers and writers, children need a strong awareness of the sounds that make up words. These skills of hearing, identifying, and working with the sounds in words are called phonemic awareness. 
We do lots of games and activities in the classroom to build phonemic awareness, and these games are perfect to practice at home - or anywhere! - because they don't require any materials. They are totally spoken, so you could even play them in the dark. 
We start with the simplest skills with our 3-year-olds, and keep increasing the challenge as their skills advance. At each level, we provide as much support as they need to feel successful - the key is that they stay engaged and motivated so that they can get the amount of repetition and practice they need to strengthen each skill.  

Introductory Games

Rhyming

Rhyming is an important pre-reading skill that young children can learn & strengthen with practice.

#1 - "I'm thinking of" 

Pick a category (fruits, forms of transporation, colors, etc.) and tell your child - "I'm going to think of different fruits and see if you can guess which one I'm thinking of."

Say a word (real or nonsense) that rhymes with the fruit - "I'm thinking of a fruit that rhymes with "nare" - what is it? .... 'pear!" (then repeat the rhyming pair together a few times. - "Nare, pear! Near, pear! they rhyme!)

#2 - "Let's think of words that rhyme with _____" 

Say, “Let’s think of words that rhyme with____” (“bat”, for example). You may be the only one thinking of words at first – and that’s okay. Your child can repeat the rhymes you say, and soon they’ll be making their own. Variation: your child names something they see (bread, plate, car, tree, etc) and you rhyme with their words.

#3 - Two words

Say two words. Have your child say them back to you and tell you if they rhyme or not (“blue, shoe. Do they rhyme? (Yes!) “one, sun” “rug, cat” etc.) Try to do a random mix of rhyming and non-rhyming, but not alternating – kids are smart and will figure out the pattern instead of listening for the rhyme!
Variation: instead of saying 'yes' or 'no', your child can give a thumbs up or thumbs down to say whether or not the words rhyme.

Beginning Sounds

Two words

"I'm going to say two words, and you say them back to me.  If they have the SAME beginning sound, give me a thumbs up. If they are NOT the same, give me a thumbs down."  

Example "rrrrun, rrrabbit"... (child repeats, gives thumbs up ).. "run and rabbit both start with the sound 'rrr'

Tips:

• Always start a few pairs that have the same beginning sound to prep the child's ears
• Don't alternate match / non-match - your child will catch onto the pattern and 
• Exaggerate the beginning sounds ("mmmmouse, mmmmat"... "ssssink, aaaaapple") until your child is confident and consistent, then make it more challenging

"I Spy" Sound Game  – Beginning sounds

Level 1: You say the beginning sound of an object and the child identifies the object. Start simple! (“I spy something you’re holding that starts with ‘fff’” when a fork is the only thing in their hand) and gradually make it more challenging (”I spy something on your face that starts with ‘nnn’” 
Watch this short video on how to play "I spy" game
For more details about how to play (including video clips) and the next levels of challenge (ending sounds, middle sounds, and segmenting all the sounds), I recommend this post by Maitri Learning

Segmenting

Compound Words

Separating the syllables of compound words (2 words stuck together to make a new word) is the first step in segmenting skills. Video example

Advanced Phonemic Awareness Games

“Slow-motion” word game

To become effective readers and writers, children need a strong awareness of the sounds that make up words. Here is a pre-reading skill to practice at home: Say a word in “slow-motion” (“ssssiiiiittt”)
and ask your child if they can tell what your word is. If this seems easy for your child, increase the challenge by adding a pause between the sounds in the word – this requires them to work harder to blend the sounds (mmmm-ou-ssss (mouse)). Remember to keep it fun and give as much support as your child needs to feel successful.
Example: Video of Blending game

Sound segmenting word game

Here is another phonemic awareness skill (awareness of sounds in words) to practice at home that helps prepare your child to become an effective reader and writer: Say a word and then sound it out verbally with your child, segmenting the different sounds that make up a word (c-a-t; sh-ee-p, etc.) To help children keep track of the sounds, we use “finger spelling” – make a fist and starting with the thumb, put up a finger for each sound you say. This is a challenging skill – it’s okay if you model segmenting a word, then have the child repeat it with you. 
Watch a short video showing how to teach sound segmenting
Song to practice sound segmenting - "In the Woods there was a Tree"
Video with rainforest themed rhyming and segmenting activities

Movable alphabet - Home learning instructions

You can cut apart the laminated letters, and find 2 empty egg cartons to store them in (requires doubling up 2 pairs of letters to get 26 letters in 24 compartments; I suggest w/x and y/z)

Introduction to Movable Alphabet at home (video for caregivers)

Activity 1 with the movable alphabet (video for caregivers)

Montessori Language curriculum

I love the depth and breadth of the Montessori language curriculum!

  

 

Here's a quick overview of how our children learn & grow through the 4 layers of language learning:
spoken language --> phonemic awareness --> writing --> reading

1. Spoken language

The daily classroom learning environment is steeped with opportunities to enrich spoken language, including:

-  frequent informal conversations with teachers and classmates, 
-  poems, songs, tongue twisters, stories
- read-aloud books
- many different spoken word games
- classroom materials that teach vocabulary

2. Phonemic Awareness 

Phonemic awareness is the ability to isolate and identify the different sounds (phonemes) that make up words. Examples: c-a-t and sh-ee-p - both those words are made up of 3 phonemes. 
We begin with sound games to practice identifying the beginning sounds of words (e.g. "mommy" starts with 'mmmm'). 

Playing the "I Spy" sound game with objects (Teacher says, "I spy something that starts with d-d-d" ... and the child identifies the dog) 

Matching pictures with the same beginning sound

Older students working together to decide if the two pictures on each card have the same or different middle vowel sounds - very challenging!

Once a child can identify most of the sounds in the alphabet, they are ready to start connecting those sounds to the letter symbol, which we introduce with sandpaper letters

We begin with teaching the letter sound rather than the letter name, because the sound is what they need to know to write and read

We provide a variety of activities for practicing and reinforcing the letter sounds. In presenting new letter sounds, we often create experiential connections that help the children remember (here feeling the hhhhot air of the 'hhh' sound)

We also introduce some of the key phonograms (double letters that make one sound)

3. Writing

There are two aspects to writing - 
1) the cognitive task of identifying the sounds in a word and knowing the letter symbols to represent each sound
2) the mechanical/physical task of using a writing utensil to form the letters and words

In keeping with the Montessori principle of "isolation of difficulty," we work on each of these aspects separately, bringing them together when the child has mastered both components.

Cognitive Writing
Many children have a grasp of letter sounds before they have the strength and coordination to write well with a pencil. The movable alphabet lets children practice the mental task of sounding out words.

Once a child knows some of the phonograms, we incorporate a phonogram movable alphabet. In this photo, the children are seeing how many words they can think of that have the 'ar' sound in them

Mechanical Writing
We simultaneously prepare children for the physical task of writing both indirectly (through materials that build the strength and coordination needed to write), and directly through a variety of handwriting practice materials

Indirect preparation - Cylinder blocks (picking up each knobbed cylinder uses the same fingers needed for writing) 

Indirect preparation - metal insets

Indirect preparation - perforation work

Direct preparation - handwriting extensions

4. Reading 

Phonetic Reading

We begin with phonetic reading - words that can be sounded out. First simple 3 letter words, then longer words that include blends (two consonants together - st, bl-, pl-, -nd) and phonograms (sh, ee, oy. ...)

 A child's first introduction to reading with the phonetic object box. A teacher writes familiar letter sounds on a slip of paper, and the child discovers they can fuse the sounds together and know just which object the teacher is thinking of. They often enjoy making their own written labels for the objects too.

 Phonetic 3-part reading cards

 We have many sets of 3-part cards in the classroom to practice reading, as well as introduce new vocabulary and concepts (to pre-readers too). These are animals that live in the arctic, one of our winter themes.

 Illustrated booklets to practice phonetic reading

 Reading application - labeling components of the Backyard Biome mat

 More advanced reading work includes a systematic approach to introducing the multiple ways of spelling key phonograms (example: the 'long a" / "ai" sound can also be spelled a_e, ay, eigh, ey -- such as in rain, made, day, weigh, they. English is tricky!)

Function of Words (Grammar!)

The Montessori language curriculum includes an innovative set of grammar activities - designed to give early readers more practice through fun, engaging materials that introduce the function of different types of words (article, adjective, noun, conjunction, prepositions, verbs, adverbs)

Introducing definite and indefinite articles

After an interactive introduction to adjectives with a teacher, children are ready for the Logical Adjective game - finding adjective-noun pairs that make sense

After the Logical adjective game, a variation is the Adjective Chain game - how many of the adjectives can be used to describe one of the nouns? (We also introduce symbols to represent each part of speech)

Another activity with adjectives

The Detective Adjective Game - adjectives for color, size, angle, and sides let the child use their sleuthing skills to gradually narrow down the 63 possible triangles to one perfect match for the description

Verbs! So much fun to act out with a friend!

Sight Words
Once a child has a strong foundation in phonetic reading, we start to introduce all the crazy words in English that don't follow the rules! "Sight words" (or "puzzle words") are frequently used words that must be memorized (learned by sight), because they usually don't follow the phonetic rules of our language.

If you want more details about the Montessori approach to Language development, I recommend Julia Volkman's thorough description of the Montessori Language Program on the Maitri Learning website.