Extending Vocabulary

One piece of advice we received during our visit to Chapel Hill on Monday was to work on extending Brooke's vocabulary. For example she know the word "same" but doesn't understand the word "alike". She uses "big" and "small" really well but needs to add some more synonyms for those words. So we have been trying a few new things around here that incorporate into our daily life. With a little focus by me, we are extending her vocabulary.
1. Use active listening to show your child you are listening; create opportunities for your child to comment and add to your thoughts. Create pockets of time in which you really talk with your child. When Brooke brings up and idea or topic, I try to keep the conversation going for a few minutes and include her brother and sister. She loves to talk about things so she really enjoys these conversations.
2. Restate what your child says, using slightly more advanced, new vocabulary. For example, if she says, "Did you see that house by the water? It was big!" respond by saying, "I did- the cabin next to the creek was gigantic!"
3. As your child talks, ask "how" and "why" questions to help her extend and analyze her thoughts. Wonder out loud, for example, how the cabin was build or why the family chose to build it on the creek. Doing so allows your child to use new vocabulary to talk about abstract thoughts, rather than simply talking about the concrete objects that are right in front of her.

The more Brooke is able to hear and understand, the more likely she will begin to use the new words in her vocabulary.

Listening to sounds

objective: 1. recognize and describe sounds 2. use the computer mouse to click on yellow dots Points to remember: 1. your child may not know the name of the object but use descriptions of the sounds 2. make sure to use lots of conversation Lesson: 1. Go to http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/SoundStimuli.html 2. Allow your child to click on one yellow dot at a time 3. Each dot is a different sound 4. Some are real sounds and others are funny sound effects. So me start of quietly and gradually get louder, some are long and some are short so there's lots to talk about. For example there are bells, helicopters, chimes, tiger growls, and more. Modifications: 1. Fisher Price has a game called "Who's at the Door?" which is similar.

Going to the Park

I found this great listening game at The Listening Room. They post a new listening activity each week for preschool and school age children. This one is called Listening at the Park.

objective: a. to listen to clues about objects on the game board b. to give auditory clues about objects on the game board by describing gender, colors, actions, etc.

Points to Remember 1. you will need a die and 2 game pieces

Lesson: 1. Player 1 begins by placing a token on the start space at the top of the gameboard and rolling the die. Player 2 then chooses a card from the face down pile. Without showing it to Player 1, Player 2 describes the item on the gameboard.

2. Player 1 must then LISTEN and find the matching item on the gameboard. When the item is found Player 1 can move his token the indicated number of spaces.

3. Play then passes to Player 2

Modifications:

1. Grandpa and Brooke played this game, you can have more members of the family join in the fun. 2. Create your own game board of an I spy page or a busy scene from a magazine.

Go Togethers

objective:
a. To develop thinking and reasoning skills
b. to increase vocabulary
c. to become aware of relationships between objects
d. to answer questions about objects and reasons

Point to remember:
1. Answering questions is difficult for Brooke. We often have her sister or brother model the answer to the question.
2. Get your cards sorted and paired before you begin the activity with your child.

Lesson:
1. There are 40 cards (20 pairs) in this game. Pick out 10 cards or 5 pairs to use.
2. Set one photo on the table. Ask, "What is this?" and "What do you do with this"
3. Then set out 3 cards, one of which is the match to the first photo and ask, "Which one goes with it?"
For example,
Set out the card with the paintbrushes

and ask, "What are these?" "What do you do with these?" "Do you have these?" "Where do we keep our paint brushes?" and any other appropriate questions to get your child talking
Then, set out 3 cards and ask, "Which one goes with the paintbrushes?"

Once your child points to the picture, ask her to say the name of the object as well as point.
4. Ask your child, "Why do they go together?" Brooke has a difficult time answering why questions so this is really important to us

Modifications:
1. Use real objects or get picture cards from a memory game to create the pairs.
2. Try playing a game of Go Fish or Memory with the cards but instead of getting matching pairs, you'll collect pairs that go together.

Go Fish

objective:
a. to ask the question, "Do you have a _______?" correctly
b. to recall the vocabulary for common words

Points to remember:
1. You can make your own cards like we did or use store-bought cards
2. The words can all be a certain sound you are focusing on or a certain theme

Lesson:
1. Look through the cards and help your child recall the names of the objects
2. Give her 3 cards, give yourself 3 cards and put the remaining cards face down in the middle
3. Have your child ask you for a card. Make her correctly say, "Mommy, do you have a dog?"
4. Give her a dog if you have it or say, "Go Fish"
5. Continue to take turns requiring your child to say, "Mommy, do you have a ____?" and "Go Fish" at the appropriate times.



Modifications:
1. We had many tears over winning the game....for our family, it is best for me to play with just Brooke so I can teach her game etiquette too.
2. These cards can be used for a game of Memory as well.

Polite Presents

It is amazing that we often expect our children to be polite but never teach them how to be polite. This is especially important for Brooke since her ability to overhear conversation is minimal; I need to teach her polite conversation skills.

One thing that really gets under-my-skin is receiving presents. My children are sometimes rude when I bring them home a present. I hear things like, "I don't want that!" or "Why did you get me that kind, I wanted the other one." Even worse, if they receive a present from someone else and respond with a "I already have that" or "I don't like it".

Recognizing that my anger is a sign that I need to teach my children a real-life skill, I took action.

I gathered 3 gift bags and put a present, something from around the house, that I knew they wouldn't like. I made them funny with the hopes that the skill will stick in there heads. I put some pink panties in Jake's bag, a toy spider in Kate's bag and Brooke had a dirty towel.

Our lesson:

1. When you are handed a present, before you open it say thank you to the person who gave it.

2. Once you open the present say thank you again

3. Say one nice thing about the present (this was the hardest part so I gave lots of examples about liking the color, what you can do with it, or where you will put it.

4. Say thanks you again.

It looked like this:

I hand Brooke a present and she says, "Thank you Mommy."

Open the present and say, "Thank you. I can use this towel to help you clean. Thank you."

Now this doesn't always happen as planned, but at least we are learning to be polite!

Repetition is essential for young children to learn social graces. You should give your child as many opportunities to practice as possible before your child is actually given a present. Be creative.
1. You could have a gift box with a lid that can be used over and over. You could put different toys, clothes, or books your child already owns in the gift box and role play giving the gift to your child. The object will be a surprise, and your child will have to think of something nice to say about it.
2. You could have gifts of small presents for your child to practice saying thank you throughout the holiday season. Some parents have small daily gifts throughout December, especially to focus on teaching their child to say thank you.
3. If you have more than one child, they could take turns giving and receiving real or pretend presents.

Be Specific in Your Praise when Your Child Remembers the Proper Etiquette Technique

1. “I was so happy to see the way you smiled at Grandma, hugged her, and told her, ‘Thank you.’”
2. “I appreciate that you remembered to say what you liked about Grandma’s gift.”

3. “You cleaned up every scrap of wrapping paper!”

Don’t Criticize or Embarrass Your Child in Public if He or She Forgets the Etiquette Technique
Remember that young children need lots of practice.

Repeat the lesson again later.

Give more opportunities for practice.

Which one is different?

Objective:

a) learn and use concepts of same and different

b) answer why? questions

Points to Remember:

1. Use the vocabulary of same and different as many times as you possible can?

2. Give your child enough time to think about and answer after you ask a question. This is harder than it seems. I often count silently to 10 while I wait for Brooke to give me an answer.

3. Download the sheets from http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/

Lesson

1. Go to the Free Download section and then to Language Materials or click here

2. Print the activity sheet labeled What Doesn't Belong?

3. Cut out each group of 4 pictures.

4. Show your child the first group of pictures. Ask, "Which one is different?" and then wait. If your child doesn't understand, try to use other words such as "Which one does not belong? " or "Which one is not the same?"

5. Then talk about the pictures. "These 3 are all same because they are all animals. All these animals live on a farm. Do sneakers live on a farm? No, what are sneakers? What do we do with sneakers? That's right, we wear sneakers? " and keep on talking about the pictures as long as your child is interested.

6. Ask your child, "Why is this picture different?" Since you have already talked about these pictures, your child should be able to answer this why? questions.

7. Move on to the next set until you have completed and talked about all 4 sets of pictures.

Modifications:

1. Look around the Free Download section to find more great activities.

2. Use the red X's that came with the download as markers so you can re-use this activity again. 3. Make an effort to use the concepts of same and different in your everyday conversations.

Snow Day fun

Today is our 3rd snow day of the 2010-2011 school year.

The first 2 snow days looked like this:

Today's snow day looks like this:

I am expecting another 1 or 2 snow days this weeks. Here are some snow day science experiments to keep everyone entertained and learning!
Science Experiments:
1. Do an experiment on how to make snow melt. Have your children predict if snow would melt faster in their bare hands, or with a mitten on. Then, we test the prediction. You can do this outside or bring some snow inside to experiment with.

2. I like to bring the snow indoors for snow painting. I like to use a large, clear storage box...then you can really see the colors! Use food coloring or water color paint to paint my snow. The water colors make vibrant colors. Use eye droppers, spray bottles, scoops, measuring spoons, and drip bottles. Talk about all the beautiful colors, then go back after rest time to see what happened to the colors when the snow melted.

3. Bring in some snowballs from outside. Ask children to predict which snowball will melt the fastest, considering where it is placed. Snowballs can be placed in sunny windows, a dark closet, out side of a window, near a heater etc. Permit youngsters to offer their suggestions. Make a list or chart of the predictions then test your theories. Encourage children to express opinions about why a particular snowball melted the fastest and why another melted the slowest.

4. Make a snowflake:

You will need Borax (in the laundry detergent section of the grocery store), boiling water, wide mouth jar, pipe cleaners, and string. Using pipe cleaners, have your child create a snowflake design. Pour 2 cups of boiling water into the jar and stir in 6 tablespoons of Borax. Once dissolved, try a string around your pipe cleaner snowflake and hang it in the solution. It took a couple hours before our snowflake crystals began to form.

more apples

Objectives:

a) taste and explore three types of apples;

b) introduce basic bar graphs;

c) practice one-to-one correspondence;

d) develop fine motor skills using tweezers

Points to Remember:

1. Use a dice for the apple game that has "dots" on it. Have the child count the dots and then count the apples....twice the practice.

2. If you do not have child-size tweezers, use salad tongs.

3. Cover your table with scrap paper----the apple stamping gets messy.

Lesson:

1.Begin with your three apples: red delicious, yellow delicious, and granny smith. Let your child help to cut the apple in half as you help and supervise. Use half the apples for tasting and save the other half for painting. Talk about the different colors and then, after tasting them, talk about the tastes: sour, sweet, crunchy, good, favorite, and best are some good vocabulary to use.

2. Use a basic bar graph to record your favorites. Have the whole family involved.

3. Using red, yellow, and green paints, allow your child to stamp with the apple.

Brooke's stamping turned into more smearing but that is okay!

4. Apple counting. Using a paper with an apple tree printed on it and red, yellow, and green pom poms, play the apple counting game. Roll the dice, count the dots, and the put the corresponding number of pom-pom apples on the tree.

5. Use tongs or tweezers to pick up the pom-pom apples for some fine motor practice.

Modifications:

1. If you cut the apple core horizontally you should get a star shape to use for the apple stamping. I forgot about that until after we finished.

2. Instead of pom poms use apple erasers, balls of colored tissue paper, or painted cotton balls.

3. The Apple Counting game was difficult for Brooke and we only did it two times. I can easily do the same game again using pumpkins at Halloween, trees at Christmas, etc. to get more practice.

Apples

Objectives:
a) using apple-scented playdough, develop fine motor skills by forming balls (apples)
b) listen and follow directions in a song
c) counting 1-5 and basic subtraction by taking one away
d) learn more about apples

Points to Remember:
1. Make your playdough a few hours before you begin the lesson so it has time to cool
2. You do not have to make your own playdough, use store-bought playdough and add some spices if you'd like
3. Songs may be hard for a hearing impaired child, sing slowly!

Lesson:
1. Read a book about apples. We have a scholastic book called, Apples. It has very simple sentences that discuss how apples grow and the different ways we can enjoy apples.

2. Make apples from apple-scented playdough. I purchased some silk leaves to stick into the tops of the apples.

3. Sing an apple song such as:

"Five little apples lying on the floor, Brooke takes one and that leaves 4

Four little apples hanging on the tree, Brooke takes one and that leaves 3

Three little apples, I know what to do! Brooke puts on in her pocket and that leaves 2

Two little apples sitting in the sun, Brooke picks one and that leaves 1

One little apple waiting all alone, Brooke will pick it up and take it home."

Below is a video of the first time Brooke heard the song. I wanted to see if she could follow the directions in a song. She did great.

4. Spend the week, singing the apple song. Soon your child will be singing with you! You do not need to use the playdough each time you sing; try using real apples, plastic apples, or just your 5 fingers.

Modifications:

1. Try other apple songs. Do an internet search and you are sure to find some.

2. We used our foam apples to do some counting. Label 6 cups with the numbers 1-6. Show your child how to put one apple in the cup with the #1 on it; put 2 apples in the #2 cup, put 3 apples in the #3 cup, etc. This helps with one-to-one number correspondence.

3. Use this song with acorns, pinecones or other Fall-realted items.

Objectives
a) to correctly produce the /f/ sound 90% of the time
b) to have repeated exposure to the /f/ sound
c) to build memory skills

Points to Remember
1. Make sure to talk about each item you are using....a great opportunity to get vocabulary and language into your child.
2. Use miniature objects that your child is familiar with and knows the vocabulary

Lesson
1. Choose a beginning sound or category of objects to target. Brooke will use her letter F sounds.

2. Choose 6 miniature toys that target the vocabulary you want to teach. Lay them out on the table and talk about each one. You should name the item and describe it (color, shape, parts, function, etc....)
3. Cover each item with a paper pyramid. Tell your child to try to remember where each object is located.

4. Start by having your child drop the die into the question mark pyramid. Look inside and see what shape is on the die.

5. Your child should then try to remember what object is hidden under the pyramid that matches the shape.
6. If your child can not remember, the parent can look into the top of the pyramid and give the child one clue about the object.
7. If your child still can not remember, look under the pyramid to remind him/her but keep the object there.
8. If your child guesses correctly, she gets to keep the object

9. Remove the pyramid from play and continue rolling the die.
10. Review the items your child found.

Modifications

1. Use more than 6 items. Once your child guesses an object correctly and keeps it, use the pyramid to cover another objects. You can use up to 13 objects for this game.
2. This activity can be adapted to many listening goals. Use objects that begin with a different letter or objects of a certain color, or a category such as fruits.
3. You can create a game by having two players and compete for gathering the most objects. Brooke gets very upset when she does not win a game, so we just played for fun.
4. You can use white foam cups with shapes drawn on them or download the pyramids here:
Pyramid Memory Game Ctivity

Buttons

Objective

a) to encourage speaking in 5-6 word sentences
b) to practice taking turns in a conversation
c) to reinforce the letter B sound


Points to Remember:

1. Don't correct your child's language in this activity. Instead, reply to their sentence correctly by adding a few more words. Such as, your child says, "It's purple" You can reply, "Oh, yeah, I see the little, purple button that you found."
2. Let the conversation happen naturally.


Lesson:

1. We were working on the letter B this week. I look a piece of construction paper and drew a large block-letter capital B.
2. I put out our box of various buttons. I think these buttons were from Grandma....thanks Grandma!





3. Take or sing about the sound the letter B makes. We sing the Leapfrog song,
The B says /b/,
the B says /b/,
every letter makes a sound,
the B says /b/

I continue to sing this throughout the lesson at various points

4. Allow the child to cover the letter B with glue.
5. Have the child look through the buttons and choose the ones he/she wants to put on her letter B.



6. Talk, talk, talk! Here is a little bit of the conversation Brooke and Kate had while decorating their letter B. These are sentences that Brooke said to Kate during the conversation:

"I found a purple one."
"A big one and a little one."
"There are lots of black ones"
"Wow, this one is special."
"Hey, I have the same one."
'This looks like a fairy ring."
"They are all circles."
"I found a little, tiny, baby button"
"You have the same one, the bottom and the top"
"There are two baby buttons."
"That is Mickey Mouse ears."
'This one is brown. I like brown."
"Look Kate, top, bottom, top, bottom, it's the same."

I just sat in amazement at the length of the sentences, the correct use of plurals, the adjectives, the shape identification, the connections to other things like fairy's and Mickey Mouse, and the sweet way the girls talked to each other while looking through the buttons.



Modifications:

1. Find other objects to talk about such as a bag of colored feathers, a box of various animal toys, or sea shells.
2. Do this for other letters. Make a capital F and glue on feathers, make a M and use colored marshmallows, etc.
3. Find something that interests your child and just let the conversation flow naturally.

Cats

Objectives: To teach your child to:
a) listen and understand sentences of at least 5-6 words
b) understand and use early connecting words such as ‘and’ and ‘then’
c) speak in 5-6 word sentences

Points to Remember:
1. Always begin by using longer sentences that combine known vocabulary.
2. Make sure you include conversational sentences to encourage the child to respond to someone’s comments.
3. Use a variety of sentences that contain descriptions, actions, lists of items, tell a story etc.
4. Remember to model the sentences and engage the child in conversation. Avoid asking questions to ‘test’ the child’s understanding.

Lesson:
This is a structured activity to help your child listen and understand longer and more complex sentences. Choose pictures, stickers, photographs of your child. I choose some miniature cats that we have collected over the last few months. Brooke loves "little things" and cats so I know this will be interesting and engaging for her. Then, follow the instructions given below:

1. Think about the sentences you will use and pay attention to the length and variety of the sentences. You should be using at least 5-6 words in your sentences, and at least two or three different types of sentences (descriptions, lists, questions etc). The most common mistake is using shorter sentences. It is okay if your sentences are longer, but they should not be shorter.
"Look at all these cats. There are many different kinds of cats on the table."
"There is a black cat holding a teddy bear in its mouth. Can you touch it?"
"The brown cat is might be taking a nap."
"I like the cute, white cat that is looking in the mirror."
"Which one is these little cats in your favorite?"
"Two cats are laying down: The gray cat and the brown cat."
"Do you see any cats that are the same?"
"The white cats on the red pillows are the same."

2. Go through your items and talk about them. I encouraged Brooke to talk about the cats and then expanded on her sentences.

Brooke said" This cat is bringing the bear to the baby cat." and "The orange cat plays with the frog (then something I didn't understand as she pointed to the bubble in the frogs throat)....so we talked about that. "The orange cat is playing with the frog that has a big bubble of air in his throat."
3. Continue until you have gone through at least 5 objects .

4. Then tell a story using the objects.
Using Brooke's idea of the brown cat taking the teddy bear to the baby, I told a short story using a few of the cats. I plan to retell her the same story later this afternoon and then she is she can re-tell me the story using the props.
Modifications:
1. Throughout your day, in addition to doing structured activities like this one, use longer and more complex sentences that combine descriptions, actions, and familiar vocabulary Your child will begin to understand these sentences over time, and will soon be trying to use longer sentences to communicate.
2. When completing this as a structured activity, you can choose pictures, stickers, photographs of your child or a family vacation, or a story to talk about. Whatever you choose it should be interesting and engaging for your child and you should be able to do something with the pictures after you’ve talked about them e.g. tell a story, make a photo album. You can also choose an experience activity such as baking cookies, a craft activity, etc. (remember to take some pictures so you can talk about it again later)
3. In earlier experience activities, you probably used phrases with about 3-4 words such as -- "the dishes are dirty!", "wash the dishes", etc. Now, for the same activities, make sure you expand your use of sentences. Instead, use sentences like “ Help me wash all the dirty dishes in the sink. We need to clean up and put them away!"
4. Carefully go through your day and what your child does. Change the way you are speaking to your child in each of these situations. For example, when its time for breakfast, instead of saying "It's time to eat!" or "It's time for breakfast!", use a sentence such as “I’m so hungry! Let’s have some cereal and a bagel for breakfast”.

Little Cloud by Eric Carle

This tale introduces a little cloud that changes itself into a handful of shapes. Calling upon memories of objects it has seen, Little Cloud becomes a plane, a shark, trees, a rabbit and a clown before rejoining the other clouds. At this point they do what clouds are apt to do when they get together: "Then all the clouds changed into one big cloud and rained!" The text is very predictable and gives Brooke an opportunity to listen and answer questions. This is how we read the book:

Mommy reads while not allowing Brooke to see the picture: " Little Cloud changed into a sheep. Sheep and clouds sometimes look alike."

Looking at Brooke I ask, "What shape did the little cloud turn into?"

Brooke replies, "a sheep" and I show her the picture.

Then we turn to the next page without letting Brooke see the picture and I read, " Little Cloud changed into an airplane. Little cloud often saw airplanes flying through the clouds."

Looking at Brooke I ask, "What did Little Cloud change into?"

Brooke replies, "a airplane" and I show her the picture.

Using the predicable structure of the book, she is able to answer correctly. She knows she is listening for what Little Cloud changes into and is able to answer correctly most of the time. Listening for one part of the story is much easier for her. If I start to ask different questions such as "What sometimes looks alike?" or "Where were the airplanes Little Cloud saw before?" Brooke would struggle and since she didn't know the answer would try to repeat the entire page instead of answering just the question. So to make reading fun and enjoyable, I try to find repetitive books to practice this Learning to Listen skill.

Now for the fun:
We made some Little Clouds to eat! The clouds are meringue and so, so, so yummy

You'll need:

• 2 egg whites
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• dash of salt
• 1/2 cup sugar

To make:

1. Separate egg whites and let stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes
2. Add egg whites, pinch of salt, and cream of tartar to a bowl. Beat at medium speed until soft peaks begin to form
3. Slowly add 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. Beat on high speed until soft peaks begin to form
4. Drop onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper to form "clouds"
5. Bake at 225 degrees for an hour and 15 minutes. Remove from rack and let cool.
   

While our yummy cloud were baking, we did some art in the style of Eric Carle. Using blue construction paper, white paint and cotton balls, we paints clouds.
Brooke's Little Cloud was a boat.

We then read the book again! Now we'll head outside and look at the clouds seeing if we can find Little Cloud up in the sky.

Bubble Day

Today was Bubble Day - all things bubbles. We spent a great day talking and talking and talking about bubbles. We did a variety of activities that allowed Brooke to hear lots of conversations, directions, and songs all about bubbles.

BUBBLE WORKSHEETS

I printed off some bubble activities from Kid Sparkz. We had a bubble puzzle, a bubble lotto game, bubble bookmarks and bubble tracing sheets. The bubble lotto game was a fun way to work on listening skills. I would describe the picture and Brooke would listen (not able to see my picture) and then place her Bingo chip on the correct picture. She did fantastic with this activity.

BUBBLE GUM

We colored a Bubble Gum sheet while chewing Bubble Gum and then had a BUBBLE GUM CHEWING COMPETITION. We sat on the floor to chew, blow, and pop. It was not so much fun for Brooke and Kate who can not blow bubbles yet but it was fun popping Mommy's bubbles and provided good conversations. We had some Bubble Yum for this game.

SOAPY WATER PLAY

We went outside for some soapy water play. We filled some buckets with water and added a bar of good smelling Dove soap. The kids squeezed and squished and whipped and stirred until everything was bubbly. Using the hand held eggbeater was supper fun since they could use it by themselves without Mommy repeating "don't splash it, don't splash it" hundreds of times.

We put a little turtle in the Soapy Water buckets and sang about him:

I had a little turtle, his name was Tiny Tim.

I put him in the bathtub to see if he could swim.

He drank up all the water; he ate up all the soap.

And now he's sick in bed with a bubble in his throat!

Bubble, bubble, bubble,

Bubble, bubble, bubble,

Bubble, bubble, bubble,

Bubble, bubble, POP!

And then used the soapy water to wash our bikes.

FRESH FRUIT AND WHIPPED CREAM: The kids chopped up some fruit for a fruit salad. We took turns using the hand held eggbeater to whip up some heavy whipping cream while Mommy said, "Don't splash it, Don't splash it!" This is where the bubbles came in. As it thickened we added some sugar and vanilla. Fruit Salad Yummy, Yummy!

BUBBLE ART

We mixed 2 tbs of powdered tempera paint, 1 tbs Joy soap, 1 cup cold water and shake. We then poured it into a pie plate and using a straw, gently blew into the mixture. The bubble slowly rose over the edges of the plate. We then lightly presses white copy paper into the bubble mass. A very messy activity and very fun.

PLAIN OLD BUBBLE BLOWING We dug out our bubbles and had fun blowing plain old bubbles. I had purchased a big container of bubble wands from Kmart clearance for lots of bubble fun. We talked about the highest, biggest, blueist, longest flying time, smallest, and most bubbles - lots of vocabulary practice