Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Alphabet Soup

Alphabet: What Do I Start with? and A is for Ape

Martha and I are throwing a little sale on our TeachersPayTeachers store on a few of our alphabet products. I just posted a little activity called, Alphabet: What Do I Start With? It is a 33 page document including title page, alphabet letters, alphabet objects, directions, and template pages. The activity includes all of the alphabet letters (plus digraphs "sh" "ch" and "th"). Each letter has three objects that start with that letter. For instance the objects for "A" are apple, acorn, and ambulance.

I designed this alphabet activity to target phonological skills and literacy skills. It can be used in multiple ways.You can present the target objects (alphabet objects) auditoryily and have your child match them to the corresponding letter. You can also work on categorizing objects by their correct sound.

Suggested Directions:
 1) Print activity on card stock ad laminate for durability
2) Cut out alphabet cards (i.e. A, B, C...) and put sticky back Velcro on the back.
3) Cut out the alphabet objects (i.e.. acorn, boot, cake...) and place sticky back Velcro on the back.
4) Place sticky back Velcro in the template boxes (i.e. empty box forms) and place the alphaet letters and alphabet objects in the templates.
5) This activity has been arranged to allow for easy use and storage. If you decide to use the templates, you can cut along the dotted lines and attach the pages using a hole punch and metal fastener ring.

Grab this activity at my TPT store 

Here are some examples of the activity:

 Alphabet Cards:




k Alphabet Object Cards: 
These are some of the template pages. I cut out the alphabet objects and use sticky back Velcro to attach them to this template. I cut along the dotted line (you would have two half sheets of paper) for easier storage. 
I use these other templates during the activity. On way you can use this activity, is by plaing the alphabet card in the large box, and matching the corresponding alphabet objects in the smaller boxes underneath. You can remove or add letters to the activity depending on your kiddo's skill level. Again, I cut along the dotted line and attach all the pages using a hole punch and metal fastener ring. This allows me to keep all the cards and objects organized....and I can easily flip to what I need.




 A is for Ape

This next activity was developed by my co-worker, Martha. Since it wasn't my idea, I feel that I can take some time to really brag about it.

Martha introduced me to "A is for Ape" a few months ago, and I have used it with several of my kiddos. It has been amazing! It is a great product for children with phonological awareness impairments. I also use it for my children who have a difficult time grasping the traditional approach of identifying their alphabet letters. This product is slightly different from other products because the picture supports/words correspond with the actual letter sound. For instance 
A: "AY" is for Ape "AYpe".
B: "BEE" is for Baby "baBEE"
C: "SEE" is for "SEEdee"

 The materials include:
1. directions and expansion activities
2. ABC song
3. large letter cards
4. small letter cards (to send home)
5. alphabet signs

I usually break out my beautiful singing voice at the beginning of my therapy sessions. I don't believe there is an official song associated with the activity, so feel free to get silly and creative with your tunes.

Several of my parents have been so impressed with their child's success, that they introduced the activity to their preschool teachers and IEP teams. If the typical ABC activities just aren't cutting it, this is a great alternative to work on phonological skills and letter identification.


Here are some examples of the product:




Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Activities: What Do I Need?

A fellow Children's employee gave me some great ideas to expand upon my "Occupations: Who am I?" activity. With some of her wonderful suggestions I created "Activities: What Do I Need?" Although it's not my most creative title (the juices just aren't flowing at the moment), it is pretty self explanatory.

This mini-lesson is asking children to organize and categorize various objects with their matching activity. The activities were carefully selected to correspond with common every-day events. This activity is 13 pages including title page, directions, and sentence forms.

Targeted Activities:
-making cookies
-making  sandwich
-cleaning your teeth
-taking a bath
-having a birthday party
-making an ice cream sundae
-planting a garden
-painting a picture

I developed the product to target categorization and "what" questions. However, I'm sure there are some other creative uses.

-Suggested Construction-

1) Print activity on card stock and laminate for durability

2) Cut out the various activity cards (i.e.  Making cookies, taking a bath, making a sandwich etc…) and put sticky back Velcro on the back.

3) Cut out the different activity objects (i.e. rolling pin, soap, toothbrush etc…) and place sticky back Velcro on the back.

4) Place sticky back Velcro in the sentence form boxes so the activity cards and activity objects will stick.

5) This activity has been arranged to allow for easy use and storage. Cut the template pages (pages that contain blank boxes) along the dotted lines, hole punch, and attach using a metal ring. 
6) Use sentence forms 1, 2, or 3 to work on asking and answering “what” questions and categorizing.
 Activity Cards:
 Related Object Cards:
 The following templates were created for easy organization and storage. I currently use these same templates for my "Occupations: Who am I?" activity and it makes everything much easier. I am able to keep all the pieces together and I can easily find the objects I want. Just place the big activity card in the large box and the smaller related objects in the colored boxes.
 I also included three different sentence templates to target "wh" questions, complete sentences and correct grammar/syntax.