Six Little Pigs

 

Six Little Pigs by Harvey Peake.

SIX little Piggies, very much alive,
Oldest one was musical, that left only five.

Five little Piggies, eating more and more,

One of them became a hog, that left only four.

 

Four little Piggies, round as they could be,

One rolled off the picture, that left only three.

 

Three little Piggies, hunting something new,

One found it in a bee hive, that left only two.

 

Two little Piggies tried to race to run,

One Piggie beat the other, leaving only one.

 

One little Piggie, very much bereft,

Grieved so much he pined away, not a one was left.

Apple Math Game for Bulletin Boards

This Apple Math Pattern Illustration is in Creative Commons.

        The Game Rules: Above is a illustration of how teachers might assemble an apple tree on a bulletin board in their classrooms for students to participate in math exercises. One the left is a simple apple shape for cutting from red, green or yellow construction paper. Teachers may post either the answers or problems in advance to the board on her own set of apples. Then students may write out the answers to the apple math game on their own apples and post these on top of the teachers sample problems. For those who get the answers or questions wrong...their apples will fall beneath the tree when the teacher checks their answers.

Printable Clock Face with Hands

        The printable clock can be arranged to keep the scores of school games and contests. Individual teachers will undoubtedly have many other ideas for adapting this template to their classroom work. When each student has his own clock with which to work, he or she can be taught the way the hands move, how the big hand goes fast while the little one moves more slowly, and how the clock shows but half a day's time, etc...

• "L is for lost time" alphabet coloring page
• Color-by-number: Time for bed
• Funny furniture friends to color
• "W is for wake up!" alphabet coloring sheet
  

A traditional clock face with minute and hour hands.

Block Play into Learning

       I'm an architect's daughter, and one of the very first toys we had lying around our house were blocks. Different brands and types littered our home's floors through the years--from Lincoln Logs to Lego's to cardboard boxes. Even now I still firmly believe that giving children blocks to play and create and manipulate serves as one of the best toys. 

       The benefits of block play have been researched in depth on the great many skills they build in children. Here are five of those skills that as an educator I greatly appreciate:

1. Development of  visual discrimination, the recognition of detail in visuals--particularly with descriptive and comparative language, as a pre-reading skill
2. Development of small and gross motor skills, along with hand-eye cordination development
3. Basic mapping skills are often learned through blocks
4. Offers introductory math and science concepts to children such as problem solving via trial and error, pattern creating, categorizing and classifying, and identifying sets, size, shapes, and weight
5. Ability to visualize spatially--to mentally manipulate 2D, 3D, and 4D objects--often a skill that is stronger in boys than in girls simply due to their time spent with constructive based toys (blocks)

       Even more, I've always loved how blocks are one of the most open-ended toys. Regardless of the age and interest of the child, they can utilize blocks in countless ways. While I was planning curriculum with first graders in mind this past school year I wanted to find ways to incorporate blocks into some of our various learning activities. My favorite was when the student had to build a zoo using blocks and small plastic animals, followed by drawing their creation as a map, which you can check out here. What ways have you integrated blocks into your students and children's learning?

What are you able to build with your blocks? 

Castles and palaces, temples and docks. 

Rain may keep raining, and others go roam, 

But I can be happy and building at home.

~Block City, Robert Louis Stevenson~ 

*To learn more on the importance and history of block play check out The Yale-New Haven Teacher Institute

The Means And Ways of Occupation In The Kindergarten

Portrait of Friedrich Froebel.

       Before entering into a description of the various means of occupation in the Kindergarten, it will be proper to state that Friedrich Froebel, the inventor of this system of education, calls all occupations in the Kindergarten "plays" and the materials for occupation "gifts." In these systematically-arranged plays, Froebel starts from the fundamental idea that all education should begin with a development of the desire for activity in mite in the child: and he has been, and is universally acknowledged, eminently successful in this part of his important work. Each step in the course of training is a logical sequence of the preceding one; and the various means of occupation are developed, one from another, in a perfectly natural order, beginning with the simplest and concluding with the most difficult features in all the varieties of occupation. Together they satisfy all the demands of the child's nature in respect both to mental and physical culture, and lay the surest foundation for all subsequent education in school and in life.

       The time of occupation in the Kindergarten is three or four hours on each week day, usually from 1) to 12 or 1 o'clock; and the time allotted to each separate occupation, including the changes from one to another, is from twenty to thirty minutes. Movement plays, so called, in which the children imitate the flying of birds, swimming of fish, the motions of sowing, mowing, threshing, etc., in connection with light gymnastics and vocal exercises, alternate with the plays performed in a sitting posture. All occupations that can be engaged in out of doors, are carried on in the garden whenever the season and weather permit.

       For the reason that the various occupations, as previously stated, are so intimately connected, glowing, as it were, out of each other, they are introduced very gradually, so as to afford each child ample time to become sufficiently prepared for the next step, without interfering, however, with the rapid progress of such as are of a more advanced age, or endowed with stronger or better developed faculties.

       The following is a list of the gifts or material and means of occupation in the Kindergarten, each of which will be specified and described separately hereafter.

       There are altogether twenty gifts, according to Froebel's general definition of the term, although the first six only are usually designated by this name. We choose to follow the classification and nomenclature of the great inventor of the system.

LIST OF FROEBEL'S 20 GIFTS:

1. Six rubber balls, covered with a net work of twine or worsted of various colors.
2. Sphere, cube and cylinder, made of wood.
3. Large cube, consisting of eight small cubes.
4. Large cube, consisting of eight oblong parts.
5. Large cube, consisting of whole, half, and quarter cubes.
6. Large cube consisting of doubly divided oblongs.
7. Square and triangular tablets for laying of figures.
8. Sticks for laying of figures.
9. Whole and half rings for laying of figures.
10. Material for drawing.
11. Material for perforating.
12. Material for embroidering.
13. Material for cutting of paper and combining pieces.
14. Material for braiding.
15. Slats for interlacing.
16. The slat with many links.
17. Material for intertwining.
18. Material for paper folding.
19. Material for peas-work.
20. Material for modeling.

Make geometric, puzzle shapes using pattern blocks...

       This game is a little bit more difficult than the last. Have an adult read the directions aloud or if you can read, read them to yourself and follow the instructions. 

       Then, select tiles that are the same as those shown in each photograph and by manipulating their color, number and placement you can make more difficult shapes. 

       To concentrate on only one photograph at a time, simple click directly on each image to see that selection with a black background.

Puzzle One.

Using six trapezoids and one hexagon, shape a much larger hexagon.

Puzzle Two.

Form a large blue star shape using six smaller rhombuses/diamond tiles.

Puzzle Three.

Assemble three trapezoids, five triangles and
one rhombus to make a larger triangle.

Puzzle Four.

Make a large green triangle from nine smaller green triangles.

 

Puzzle Five.

Make a large triangle using three small triangles
 and six, blue rhombuses.

Puzzle Six.

Assemble a twelve pointed star using
twelve white rhombuses.

 Puzzle Seven.

Use one yellow hexagon, one red trapezoid, three green triangles,
and two blue rhombuses to make one large triangle.

 

Puzzle Eight.

Assemble a large hexagon using six small triangles.

 Puzzle Nine.

Use three red trapezoids, three green triangles and
two blue rhombuses to make a large triangle.

Puzzle Ten.

Shape the center of a larger hexagon using three blue rhombuses
and the outer sides of this hexagon with red trapezoids.

Puzzle Eleven.

Use a rhombus, a triangle and a trapezoid to make the center
of a flower including six, yellow hexagon petals.

Puzzle Twelve.

Use the shapes above: two trapezoids, two triangles and
two rhombuses to make one large trapezoid.

Counting Monsters for Fun!

       Moms and Dads, teachers and tutors, babysitters and grandparents can make all kinds of fun flash cards using free fonts and bright, imaginative cut-outs from their local teacher's store. 

       I picked up these funny monster die cuts to enhance the set of number flash cards you see below. This set was on a discount table and they only cost me fifty cents. 

       Then I visited a free font website and downloaded a little monster font to print number flash cards. I embellished the cards with green construction paper and the monster die cuts before laminating the finished flash cards. 

       My young students enjoyed counting the critters! They were able to check themselves for the correct miniature monster count by turning over the card to read the numerical symbols.

Left, I made counting cards using a free monster font. Then I dressed these
up with monster die cuts. Right, the correct number of tiny monsters found
on each card was then labeled on the back of each card.

More Homemade Flash Cards to Craft:

• Preparing for kindergarten: homemade flashcards and other tips from teachers
• Homemade Number Puzzles  - from flash cards
• Alphabet Flash Cards by Charles Buckles Falls

How to arrange objects according to size?

Animal stacking blocks for
 developing seriation skills.

       Arranging objects or pictures according to size is important for cognitive development. This process is referred to as seriation skill in the early learning classroom environment. There are a number of advantages for learners who excel at this skill:

• Students are better prepared for learning mathematics such as: the order of numbers, fractions, addition and subtraction.
• Processes in logical thinking become developed, such as: predicting outcomes, understanding relationships between objects, and making assumptions that can be analyzed.

       Toy companies have been making products for babies for years that encourage even infants to practice seriation skill sets. I've included photos here of an animal box set that I keep among the toys in my home.

• Basic Math Skills in Child Care: Creating Patterns and Arranging Objects in Order
• Making the Most of Math in Early Childhood by the University of Nevada (PDF)
• Teaching Preschool Math - Learn All About It!

My alphabet, animal stacking blocks are stacked according to size.

These elephants with big tusks and long trunks were fun for little ones to arrange from large, to larger, to largest etc...

         Above and below are black and white prints of elephants and rhinos of varying size that I printed, cut and laminated for my classroom several years of ago and these are still in great condition. The laminated surfaces allowed me to wipe them off with a cleanser of some sort before using them over again during many different class periods. Pre-k teachers can make multiple sets of images such as these for youngsters to line up in order of size with only a bit of pocket change.

Students practiced arranging rhinos according to size in my classroom several years ago.

       Below are wild animal clip art samples that visitors may use to make their own personal sets like the projects shown above. Pull the clip art into a Word Document and shrink or enlarge the beasts in order to have prints like the ones you see in my examples. I managed to print six different sizes using standard 8 1/2 x 11 inch typing paper. Start with the largest size and then scale the images down by dragging the corners of each image down to a slightly smaller version of the same image.

A tufted ape clip art image.

A giant sea turtle clip art image.

A striped zebra clip art image.

       "A preschool student stacks cups to organize them by size. View more at earlymath.erikson.edu
       Focus on the Child videos are taken from one-on-one interviews with individual children. The interviews are designed to elicit evidence of children's mathematical thinking. They are not teaching episodes or formal assessments."

Play-Doh Mats for Early Learners

 I selected the free teddy bear coloring page from this website for my project.

        I made these Play-Doh mats by first printing a child's coloring page onto different shades of brown construction papers. Then I cut out each teddy bear and pasted bright green bow ties under their chins and bright colored numbers cut from construction paper onto their bellies. After this, I used a laminator to cover each Play-Doh mat with a protective layer of plastic. Now my young students can use these teaching aids over and over again. 

Three year old students shape Play-Doh to form numbers 0 - 9 on top of these adorable teddy bear number mats.

Original canister of Playdough

      Play-Doh is a modeling compound used by young children for art and craft projects at home and in school. Composed of flour, water, salt, boric acid, and mineral oil, the product was first manufactured in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S., as a wallpaper cleaner in the 1930s. When a classroom of children began using the wallpaper cleaner as a modeling compound, the product was reworked and marketed to Cincinnati schools in the mid-1950s. Play-Doh was demonstrated at an educational convention in 1956 and prominent department stores opened retail accounts. Advertisements promoting Play-Doh on influential children's television shows in 1957 furthered the product's sales. Since its launch on the toy market in the mid-1950s, Play-Doh has generated a considerable amount of ancillary merchandise such as The Fun Factory. In 2003, the Toy Industry Association named Play-Doh in its "Century of Toys List".

      The non-toxic, non-staining, reusable modeling compound that came to be known as "Play-Doh" was originally a pliable, putty-like substance concocted by Noah McVicker of Cincinnati-based soap manufacturer Kutol Products; it was devised at the request of Krogers Grocery, which wanted a product that could clean coal residue from wallpaper. Following World War II, with the transition from coal-based home heating to natural gas and the resulting decrease in internal soot, and the introduction of washable vinyl-based wallpaper, the market for wallpaper cleaning putty decreased substantially. McVicker's nephew, Joe McVicker, joined Kutol with the remit to save the company from bankruptcy; he subsequently discovered that the wallpaper cleaner was being used by nursery school children to make Christmas ornaments. Read more...

• Hasbro: About Play-Doh
• Play-Doh began as wall cleaner | Our History
• Playmakers Part II: Play-Doh

Download and Print Your Own Playdough Mats for Free:

1. People Play Dough Mats by picklebums
2. Play Dough Learning Mats for Literacy and Numeracy Development by the imagination tree
3. Farm Yard Play Dough Counting Mats by PreKinders  and also a Cherry Pie Play Dough Mat and Math Mats,
4. Wishy Washy Play Dough Mats by MakingLearningFun.com
5. Number Playdough Mats from Homeschool Creations
6. Free Playdough Mats by busylittlebugs
7. Alphabet Playdough Mats by This Reading Mama are marvelous plus even more here: Christmas and Winter, Spring Themes, Summer Mats
8. ABC Play Doug Mats by 1plus1plus1equals1.net
9. Busy Bag Swap: Playdough Mat Book by Planet of the Apels
10. Free Shape Playdough Mats from 3 Dinosaurs
11. Playdough Mats: Alphabet Letters from A to Z by 123homeschool4me.com
12. Cookie Mat Play Dough Mat Busy Bag by coffecupsandcrayons.com
13. Playdough Numbers Game Cards
14. Playdough Activity Mats by sparklebox.co.uk
15. Printable Playdough Mats by learncreatelove.com
16. Free Easter Mat Printables for Playdough from Modern Parents Messy Kids
17. Apple Tree Play Dough Maths by Learning4Kids
18. Gingerbread Man Playdough Mat by busylittlebugs.com.au
19. Transportation Playdough Mats from Teach Love Grow
20. Dinosaur Play Dough Mats by craftulate.com
21. Fall Playdough Mats by momshavequestionstoo.com
22. Free Flower Playdough Mat by learnwithplayathome.com
23. Printable Playdough Mats from Sing A Story
24. 10 Free Playdough Mats by Tutus&teaparties
25. American Flag Playdough Mat from totschooling.net
26. Playdough Mats by kidsparkz.com

Ed Emberley's Children's Books

This is a wonderful book for developing
geometric art projects for very young
students.

      Edward Randolph Emberley (born October 19, 1931) is an American artist and illustrator, best known for children's picture books. He studied art at the Massachusetts School of Art in Boston (now Massachusetts College of Art and Design), from which he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting and illustration. He also studied at the Rhode Island School of Design.

      Emberley is best known for his children's book work - particularly instructional drawing books. His drawing books for children feature clear step-by-step instructions employing numbers, letters, and shapes graded to the early elementary school level. For example, the book Ed Emberley's A.B.C. uses this style of instruction, presenting a single letter-based drawing for each letter of the alphabet. He has also illustrated or contributed to over 50 books, many of which were first published between the 1960s and 1980s. Renewed interest in Emberley's work has come from adults who first encountered his books as children and now are purchasing them for their own children. His most recent book,The Red Hen, was released on October 26, 2010; like his preceding work, Chicken Little (2009) it is a collaboration with Rebecca Emberley.

      Emberley's first book, The Wing on a Flea (1961), was an ALA Notable Book and made the New York Times list of best-illustrated books for that year. He was sole runner-up for the 1967 Caldecott Medal, as illustrator of One Wide River to Cross, written by his wife Barbara Emberley. Next year he won the Medal for another collaboration with Barbara, Drummer Hoff. The award by children's librarians annually recognizes "the most distinguished American picture book or children". Drummer Hoff was also named to the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award list.

• Welcome to edemberley.com
• A Current Listing of Mr. Emberley's Books In Print
• An Extensive Listing of Ed Emberley's Books
• Ed Emberley, Children's Book Illustrator Video

"Product reviewed: Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Animals My goal is not to promote or hinder the sale of any product, but to help other parents make informed decisions. My reviews might also give a few ideas for birthday gifts to those who aren't sure what to buy for young children."

100 Creative Ways to Teach Numbers And Math Skills

Math And Art Integrated Studies:

1. Mythical Creatures: Integrating Art and Math
   
2. Number Portrait  
3. Delauney Marker Drawing 
4. Connect the Dot Geometry Designs
5. How to Make Your Own Paper Polyhedra
6. Bridging the Gap Between Math and Art (Slide Show)
7. free mandala designs to print
8. Paper-Plate Polyhedron (basic step-by-step tutorial)
9. Parabolic Line Drawing Exercise
10. Drawing Buildings from Deep Space Sparkle
11. Perfect Percent Patchworks
12. Fish Tessellation
13. 6th Grade: Frank Stella Protractor Series
14. An Exercise in Symmetry
15. Painted Paper Geometry Designs (idea)
16. Paper Towel Quilts - Teach Math!
17. Op Art Like Vaserely
18. Imbalance Contest Winners Announced!
19. Notan Expanding the Square
20. Paintings - Math Source
21. Abstract Numbers
22. 4th Grade: Circle Patterns (Rotational Symmetry)
23. Area Exercise from mathactivities.net
24. Prisms and Pyramids from mathactivities.net
25. Circle Activity from mathactivities.net
26. Reflections, Translations, and Rotations concept is a very ancient exercise in math used by art instructors for centuries: Art Exercises: , , , , , , ,

Math and Numbers For Early Learners Through Third Grade:

1. Trace the numbers with your own matchbox cars here and here
2. Clothespin Number Match Games: squares,
3. Muffin Cup Counting Games: buttons,
4. Teaching Addition With Popsicle Sticks
5. Little Pumpkin and Jack-O-Lantern Number Books
6. Using measuring cups to teach fractions
7. Learning ordinal numbers
8. Recognizing both written number words and number type: Egg carton game
9. Division Mosaics by Math Fact Fun
10. Number Hole Punch Games: no theme,
11. Beach Ball Toss: Addition Game
12. Craft Your Own Abacus
13. Creative Counting With Pom Poms
14. Number Matching Game
15. Montessori-Inspired Greater Than Less Than Alligator Math
16. Number Rings: A Cool Math Game
17. Golf tees & Playdough math
18. A car parking lot matching numbers game
19. Water Balloon Number Target Practice
20. Learning Coin Values with Games
21. Both Addition Number Family Eggs and Build a Number
22. Adding, number recognition and counting with fish themes
23. Free Happy Frog Math
24. Lego Addition and Subtraction Fun
25. Number boards for counting rocks
26. Montessori Ocean Math Activities at PreK + K Sharing
27. Bowling Math Games: Quaker Oats cans,
28. Telling Time With Sidewalk Chalk
29. Stamp-n-Design time telling game
30. Money Card Game
31. Place Value Beads
32. Dot Dabber Dice Game
33. Fair not Fair Money Game!
34. Place Value and Telling Time by Two Can Do It
35. Planting a Numbers Garden
36. Skip Counting: Counting by Fives with Turkey Hand Prints, Odds vs. Evens with cupcakes,
37. How much does it weigh? and Measuring with Legos and What kids learn when baking
38. Math Comparison Activities
39. Fraction strips paper and wooden versions of the same game
40. Teaching kids about money: educational money games for kids
41. How to teach kids about money - by annuity.org
42. Place Value and a Freebie
43. Teaching Place Value With Marshmallows and Cereal

Early Learning Calendar Activities:

• Make Paper Birthday Cupcakes
• Pre-K Calendar Journals
• Calender and Morning Board Routine

Logic Puzzles:

• logic puzzles from The Puzzle Baron
• All Logic Problems
• Enchanted Learning Logic Puzzles

Excellent Math Education Web Pages: Elementary Grades

• SIAM: Math Matters, Apply It!
• Everyday Mathematics
• Kitchen Math workbook series
• Home Math workbook series
• Money Math workbook series
• GeoMath 

Art and Math Video:

1. "The Art of Math" Project Entry Document
2. The Beauty Mathematics: Math & Art
3. String Art is Calculus
4. DIY 3D Geometric Paper Sculpture
5. Studio 360: Mathematical Art
6. Mathematics & art
7. Math in Art: Unique artistic renderings by mathematicians.
8. Reclaiming DaVinci: Art, Visualization, Mathematics
9. Drawing and visualizing math equations
10. Harmonograph in action
11. Sand Pendulum
12. Headspace Spatial Robot Kinetic Sculpture
13. Linkogram drawing machine
14. Paul the robot drawing Patrick
15. How to Make an Escher-esque Tessellation
16. 3D Origami Rainbow Vase

The Classic Art Meets Math Art Project
"Here's a quick tutorial on making a funky tessellation art project with just a pencil, protractor, and a sheet of construction paper. This particular way of doing it utilizes an equilateral triangle so that your finished shape will tessellate on a rotation." by Honeypaw

How to Draw: A Cow

Step-by-Step way to both fold paper to draw a cow's head and also how to draw
details of the cow's features.

Directions for Drawing A Cow: Fold a square sheet of paper from corner to corner in every direction before drafting the proportions of this cow's head. This simple exercise teaches young students to use basic geometry to draw a cow.

The Cow

by Robert Louis Stevenson

The friendly cow, all red and white,

I love with all my heart;

She gives me cream with all her might,

To eat with apple tart.

She wanders lowing here and there,

And yet she cannot stray,

All in the pleasant open air,

The pleasant light of day.

And blown by all the winds that pass

And wet with all the showers,

She walks among the meadow grass

And eats the meadow flowers.

How to Draw: The Head of A Horse

Many young students love to practice drawing animals even though it is near to impossible to give them opportunities to do so from real life in a classroom environment. Above is a simple step-by-step, how to exercise in drawing a horse up close that educators may either print out or project on to a white board. This exercise uses triangle shapes to determine proportions of the horses head.

Pumpkin and Jack-O-Lantern Number Books

Crafting and gifting little number books for Fall related themes is not all that uncommon in day care programs or
early learning centers. So, I have decided to submit here a few simple ideas of my own. You can use the
same patterns for either version of this craft. One version is a spooky Jack-O-Lantern and the other is a decorative
 pumpkin. Both crafts include pumpkin seeds as the elements that young students are to count on each
 individual page.

As you can see, students may count the seeds and also associate the written number with the quantity of those
seeds on every page. Don't forget to include zero at the very beginning. Each of my number books
includes 11 pages. Above, you can see the decorative pumpkin cover using painted papers.

Here is my Jack-O-Lantern version of the same project. I have also included a little "illuminated candle on
every page as well!

Above is my page of patterns for both versions of this little Fall number book.
Below is an additional page of burning candles that I have drawn for those of
you who would prefer to turn your fall number book into a Jack-O-Lantern.

Craft a Paper Scarecrow Jumping-Jack

      For this little craft, you will need Autumn colored papers in a check, a plaid and four solid colored papers. You will also need 12 brass brads, one set of googly eyes, two buttons, a paint stick, scissors, white glue and one black felt tip marker. 

      Download and print the stencil pattern that I have drawn for the scarecrow Jumping-Jack. Trace and cut the pattern pieces, use a hole punch to clip through the papers at the x markings. Assemble the scarecrow according to the sample shown above. Mount him onto a paint stick or a wooden dowel. I did not string this particular Jumping Jack but you can string him.

•  Here is a web page that describes to visitors how to string Jumping Jacks.

A free Jumping Jack pattern by Kathy Grimm.

More Paper Jumping-Jack Crafts:

• DIY Hilarious Jumping Jack Bugs
• Halloween Jumping Jacks
• Craft a Pirate Jumping Jack
• Antique, French Jumping-Jacks 

Trace, Cut and Paste Developmental Learning Activities

A sampling of trace, cut and paste developmental learning activities coming soon to this blog.

       Trace, cut and paste, developmental learning activities are very popular lessons taught inside preschools, kindergartens and early learning centers. In the early learning center where I teach, students complete at least two of these kinds of exercises per week. The reason for this is obvious to those people who have ever observed the fundamental learning that takes place during any primary school’s curriculum. All young students experience some difficulty in developing the levels of obedience, observation and productivity that are required of them in order to be successful in academic environments. These qualities can be developed over a few short years by a loving, patient, and creative team of teachers (or parents) in order for children to be properly prepared for school.

      I have listed below, the preliminary objectives that educators assign to this type of activity. Very young students take at least an entire year or longer to accomplish these agenda. Ordinarily, art teachers would be expected by the State to qualify activities such as these by presuming that goals/objectives would be attainable within one lesson. This expectation is highly unrealistic for three, four and even five year old students. Most young students will not be able to fulfill all of the objectives concurrently until they have practiced them over and over for many months. The ultimate goal of the exercise is: to teach students to perform perfectly together all of the objectives within the context of the assignment, by the end of their kindergarten year, not by the end of the exercise.  

      Below are the objectives for trace, cut and paste assignments that eventually must be performed concurrently:

• Students will learn to listen and follow directions in the order in which they are given.
• Students will learn to recognize shapes and use their correct names.
• Students will learn to recognize colors and to use their correct names.
• Students will learn about spatial relationships and differences between basic shapes.
• Students will learn how to paste elements in an organized fashion in order to create an image.
• Students will learn how to cut simple geometric shapes accurately with scissors.
• Students will learn how to trace around a simple geometric shape while maintaining that shape’s original proportions.
• Students will learn to recognize and act out basic instructional vocabulary.

More Related Content:

• Ages & Stages: Learning to Follow Directions
• Why Colors and Shapes Matter
• Color and Your Daycare Center
• Preschool Key Developmental Indicators (KDIs)
• Shape and Space in Geometry
• The Geometric World of Young Children
• Creating Better Writers with Preschool Tracing Activities
• Effective Vocabulary Instruction by Joan Sedita (PDF)
  

Paint Fall Foliage With Hugs and Kisses

This picture of Fall foliage was created
entirely with dots.

      This picture was painted with Dot paint markers. Dot paints are frequently purchased for early learning center art activities. These paint bottles have foam tips and are just the right size for little hands to squeeze and paint with. The round shapes of my tree's foliage are actually painted coffee filters that are pasted onto a large piece of blue construction paper after drying. I cut a simple tree trunk from brown construction paper to paste on top of the blue background as well. The blank circular shape is for each child to "carve" their names inside after they have completed the assignment. 

      Because dot painting is so easy to do, it is important for teachers to give young students enough of a challenge when filling in space with their paints. A picture like this will take a preschool student at least forty minutes or more to finish. Teachers may have students complete the foliage on one day and then assemble the picture with additions to the trunk, sky and ground on a second day. In any case, one large dot picture should take a week for three to five year old children to complete nicely.

      Encourage students to fill in all of the spaces. Then give them markers of similar color and demonstrate how to add Capital Xs to every circular shape. This may appear on the surface to be busy work but it serves the purpose of training small motor skills in very young students by virtue of a pleasant activity. Here are a few goals associated with the activity that teachers may wish to include within a weekly lesson plan:

• Color matching
• Writing the Capital letter "X"
• Learning about color families or cool vs. warm colors
• Defining space
• Defining boundaries in space
• Manipulating objects by squeezing and placement
• Recognizing and reproducing geometric shapes
• Teaching science concepts to children: this one would be photosynthesis.
• Learning about additional symbolism given to letters, i.e. hugs and kisses are x's and o's

"A" was once a counting apple pie too!

      Suse Macdonald illustrates this beloved poem, "A was once an apple pie" for children in her colorful, popular book. The poem, is an absurdly endearing classic by Edward Lear.

      I cut and pasted an apple pie pocket just for teaching simple math to the young students in our classroom. Teachers should probably laminate the pie and apples so that the game will endure for a couple of years at least. 

      I used tin foil for the pie's plate and painted, cut, and pasted construction paper for the pie top and the apples. These elements looked much like those illustrated inside Suse Macdonald's book. 

      Many people believe that it is a marketing device to produce multiple subjects using similar themes and illustrations. However, expert educators have proven that illustrating multiple academic subjects with similar visual cues helps to stimulate a student's memory, particularly if it is done within the context of a limited span of time. This is why preschool teachers consistently use the thematic presentation of multiple subjects. 

      Of course, it is much more entertaining for young students to count apples instead of dots on a page. Teachers try to make learning fun so that immature students will happily comply without too many complaints.

      For this apple game, students may be asked to add or subtract apples from the pie. The answer to their math problem is then what remains inside the pie pocket! All they need to do is empty and count the remaining apples to give the correct answer to the games question. This playful use of adding and subtracting pleasant visual aids greatly improves young appetites for math exercises. It also may ensure that little tummies will begin to grumble while playing it. 

      Why no serve up a healthy snack of chopped apples for an afternoon snack after reading the poem and playing the game?

• Apple themed poem page and links
• Bb is for bushel of apples coloring page
• Color picking apples in the orchard
• How to decorate a flat wooden apple ornament...
• Fruits of the season die cut printable

An Alphabet' by Edward Lear read by Murray Lachlan Young