Vito and I has started our letter sound of the week activities. I guess most of you are already familiar with it. It’s basically a curriculum wherein you introduce and focus on one letter sound a week. It’s a famous curriculum used for ages 2 – 4 years old (or below). I used this with Mavi and was totally effective, so I decided to do it as well with Vito.
I’ve gathered fun letter activities from our previous linkup and you can try any of these to your kids. They are fun, engaging and easy to prepare! You will find the links after the image.
Featured Posts for Spring Flowers this Week:
B is for Boat from Every Star is Different
T is for Transportation Unit from Study at Home Mama
U is for Underground, Montessori Inspired Homeschool for Toddlers Star Themed, Dog Themed Unit from Golden Reflections Blog
F is for Fire: Teaching Phonic Sounds from Study at Home Mama
For this week on The Pinay Homeschooler, I am featuring Vito’s Letter ‘a’ Sound Activities.
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I asked Mavi for his top 5 favourite books for this month (he keeps on brining these books in school for show and tell) and tell me why.
"Winter's story begins with a peg-leg sailor who aids slaves on their escape on the Underground Railroad. While working for plantation owners, Peg Leg Joe teaches the slaves a song about the drinking gourd (the Big Dipper). A couple, their son, and two others make their escape by following the song's directions. Rich paintings interpret the strong story in a clean, primitive style enhanced by bold colours. The rhythmic compositions have an energetic presence that's compelling. A fine rendering of history in picture book format."--(starred) Booklist.
"I like it because Peg Leg Joe became a hero by saving the slaves and bringing them to Canada for freedom". - Mavi
Lyrical, breathtaking, splendid—words used to describe Allen Say’s Grandfather’s Journey when it was first published. At once deeply personal yet expressing universally held emotions, this tale of one man’s love for two countries and his constant desire to be in both places captured readers’ attention and hearts. Winner of the 1994 Caldecott Medal, it remains as historically relevant and emotionally engaging as ever. - Goodreads
"I love it because the he and his grandfather loves to travel, just like me." - Mavi
A true classic with a timeless message, The Story of Ferdinand has enchanted readers since it was first published in 1936. All the other bulls would run and jump and butt their heads together. But Ferdinand would rather sit and smell the flowers. And he does just that, until the day a bumblebee and some men from the Madrid bullfights give gentle Ferdinand a chance to be the most ferocious star of the corrida—and the most unexpected comic hero. This cherished hardcover is perfect for those who love Ferdinand, and those who have yet to meet him. - Goodreads
"The part where he sat on a bee makes me laugh, and because everyone thinks he's super strong but actually not. All he ever do is smell the flower and he's really funny." - Mavi
Life stories of Spiderman, Thor and Ironman.
"Spiderman is in it and he is my favourite superhero." - Mavi
"This book...recounts the persistence of a Frenchman, Louis Bleriot, to build a flying machine to cross the English Channel.... The text is succinct, caption-like in its directness and brevity....The paintings...add the necessary testure and tone to this marriage. This is vintage Provensen" – School Library Journal
"Because it is the story of the first airplane to fly in France and England. The pictures are so funny too" - Mavi
You can also get these books from Book Depository. They ship anywhere for free!
This letter of the week curriculum is basically not new. There are a lot of variations out there on teaching one letter a week. However, I have come up with my own activities and method of implementing it. I have used this curriculum with Mavi and it has worked for us so I am using it again with Vito. The order of the letter sound that I am going to introduce to Vito by default is from a to z (with emphasis on the small letter) but of course it may change as we progress depending on his needs, interest and availability of materials.
For those who are new to this, the basic idea is to focus on only one letter sound at a time (a week or more). Instead of having a specific theme that corresponds to a letter sound, we will try to use all the objects in our Letter Sound Basket in our activities to add variety. I also added tray works that introduce basic concepts like colours, shapes and numbers.
Okay some of you might ask me how we do this? Well on a daily basis here’s our schedule we work most of these in the morning, after reading books. One to two activities a day for about 15 minutes in the morning and if he’s into it in the afternoon, then we do another one. Afternoon activities are sometimes skipped, as he prefers playing with big brother. What is mostly achieved in the afternoon is reading books as we do it all together, while cuddling in bed.
*** I added links to all the materials we are using here so you will have an idea where to get it. They are affiliate links, no extra cost on you if you decide to purchase them. ***
Letter ‘a’ sound basket. Contains the objects we used and the letters. In here you see an ambulance, alligator, apples, big letter A from Munchkins, magnetic letter A/a from Melissa & Doug (this was Mavi’s and an all time favourite!) and my homemade sandpaper letter.
Letter ‘a’ craft. I made a small letter a on a piece of cardstock and have Vito stamp it with Do-a-Dot markers. Once dry, I cut it out and form it into an apple. I pinned this in our learning wall. By the way, these markers are really really good! We’ve used them in so many ways and they were still Mavi’s! Can you believe that?? It lasted for so many years without drying!
Note: Vito enjoyed this activity so much. He can stamp more letter a’s than I could have imagine LOL
Note: This is one activity that stayed in the shelf for two weeks. Vito loves putting the apples into the moulder and putting them back again in the container. Sometimes he would spill them and put them back again. We do this activity almost every day to introduce counting.
Alligator peg board. Because alligator have sharp teeth, we use this FantaColor peg board to practice fine motor skills and hand/eye coordination. Can Vito really insert the pegs in the hole? Well it is a hit or miss! And that’s what’s good about it, he keeps on trying :D Our version is the portable one that comes with a bag and with different peg sizes. I chose this so both Vito and Mavi can use it. The alligator is from Schleich (oh he loves this!).
Note: As mentioned, this activity is a hit or miss. There were times he loves doing this because he can easily pin the pegs… but he gets impatient and lose interest when he can’t pin them in the hole.
Circle shape sorter. The shape for this week is circle, since it is the closest shape to an apple. We used our Playskool Shape Sorter (this was Mavi’s) and we only use the circle shape. As I mentioned previously, one at a time. So here, just the circle shape so he can easily identify which hole and will not be overwhelmed.
Note: This technique has worked with Mavi and it worked with Vito as well.
Note: While doing this activity, I would say “this is a circle”, “let’s stick the red circles in the big circle”. Mention the key words like “circle”, “red”, “stick” or “glue”. As mentioned, Vito doesn’t like the feel of blue or something sticky. But that’s okay, Mavi was like that too. It’s part of learning right?
Eating apples. Of course, snacks include apples!
Note: What could say? He loves eating!
Note: Again, hit or miss here. There were times he’s doing it right, and sometimes he randomly puts them anywhere. He loves our green and red apples the best though :D
Ambulance prints. Vito loves paints and we do painting as much as possible. We are using Giotto Bebe fingerpaints, which I totally love because it doesn’t have a smell! And I love how creamy the paints are.
Note: Another favourite in the house! He can do this for around 30 minutes uninterrupted. But be sure to keep an eye on the kids. Even if the paints used is non-toxic and washable, these still are not edible!
Recommended books that will go along with it:
Now, see them all in action!
Don’t forget to pin this for later!
