The letter of the week is "f"

Hello everybody!

I hope everything is going well. Today I will show you some sources and activities that could be useful by the time you are teaching the letter "f".

Well as I tell before I love videos, games and crafting to introduce new topics as well as written exercises or activities to close the topic. Clarifying this , let's begin.

• First of all I choose some videos as these...

      

My students usually have a lot of fun watching these videos in class, that's why I let those at the weekends as homeworks on a website called edu 2.0 .

• Secondly, we make a contest where students have to look for the letter of the week. I called this game Finding (the letter of the week). By this case it is, "finding "f"

For this activity we need:

* 4 packages or boxes of Alphabet pasta.

 

*  4 bowls. 

* 2 spoons

Activity development:

1. Organize your students in a circle sitting on the floor. Divide the group into two teams.
2. Locate the 4 bowls on the floor and fill up two with the 4 packages of pasta two per bowl.
3. Meanwhile, ask to your students to name their groups and write those names on the board.
4. Give your students the instruction:

"one contestant of each group will pass to the center and take a spoon, then when the teacher give the signal, each contestant will look for all the letters "f" they can in one minute" 

    5. When time is up, the teacher will count and give the score. Then returns all the           pasta into the bowl and two new contestants play. 

    6.  At the end the group who obtains more "f"wins the game.

My students really love this game...

• Thirdly, crafting... "I love crafting, that is why I brought you some examples", there are not specifically with the letter "f" but if is with words that begin with it.

DIY paper plate fish

Handprint fish craft

Ocean bottles

Fish Paper Craft

Paper Heart Fox

Celery Stamping Rainbow Fish Craft

fox craft

Fox in Socks

Paper Bag Frog Puppet.

• Finally, here there are some examples of written exercises with the letter "f"

Handwriting

Itsy Bitsy Book

Beginning Consonants

Well, that's all dears. I hope you like it. Have a nice week.

As always leave any comment.

Monkey Trouble with the letter "m"

Hi dears!

Today, I am going to show you some samples of activities that we can apply before, during and after with the Monkey and the letter M.

Before....

1. Play the game guess what is it, talking about animals and ending with Monkeys.

2. Let's sing "five little monkeys jumping on the bed" while children jump over a big letter M that it's been drawn or traced (marker or tape) on the floor. Play as many times as you want. End singing the song just with the "mmm....mmm" sound.
There are many songs on You Tube but I love this version...

  

During....

3. Intrigue your kids or students telling them, it is an amazing and funny movie. Encourage them to pay attention making questions while the movie is running. Split the movie session in two different days, because children often get tired or get bored when video resources take more than 30 minutes.

Click here to watch the movie

4. From here we can go for to different branches: crafting and worksheet (choose one according to your preferences) 

•  Crafting: Here there are some  examples.

Handprint Monkey

Brown Bag Monkey

Monkey Banana Treats

Printable Monkey Mask

• Worksheets: here there are some coloring pages

Five Little Monkeys

Five Little Monkeys

Spot the Difference

Cartoon Monkey Coloring Page

After...

5. Finally, develop with your students a written exercise. You can download it (there are many online) or create it using power point or microsoft word. If you need one with certain specifications, please just tell me.

Here there is one by my own.

Download

I hope you really like it.  As always any doubt or suggestion please leave me a comment. :)

Have a nice day.

My Top Ten "Movies to teach M"

Hi everyone!

I want to share you in this post more examples of resources that you can use in order to teach the letter of the week that is "m"

Well, here there is the top ten of my favourite movies to teach letter "m".  ;)

10. Monkey Trouble: A young girl's life turns hairy when her new pet monkey turns out to be a trained pickpocket on the run from a scheming gypsy.

Monkey  Trouble 

PUTLOCKER       /       PRIMEWIRE

Click on any of these links

9. Magic in the Water: Radio psychologist Jack Black takes his children Joshua and Ashley on a 'vacation' to a lake in British Columbia. While he grinds away at work the children discover that the famous local lake monster "Orky" may not be just a gimmick to attract tourists after all. In fact, Orky may enable them to get closer to their workaholic dad, and help stop local polluters who are dumping toxic waste into Orky's home. 

Magic in the Water

                                                            

        VIOOZ  /  PUTLOCKER   / PRIMEWIRE 

Click on any of these links

8. Matilda: Story of a wonderful little girl, who happens to be a genius, and her wonderful teacher vs. the worst parents ever and the worst school principal imaginable.

Matilda

PUTLOCKER /   PRIMEWIRE /  MEGASHARE

                                           Click on any of these links

7. The Muppets: There are many different movies of these famous Muppets including Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, The Great Gonzo, Rowlf the Dog, Scooter, Rizzo the Rat, Pepé the King Prawn, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker, Johnny Fiama & Sal Minella, Clifford, Bobo the Bear, Statler and Waldorf, the Swedish Chef, Sam Eagle, Sweetums, Thog, Robin the Frog, Walter, Annie Sue, Pops, Lew Zealand, Beauregard, the Whatnots, and the band Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem featuring Dr. Teeth on keyboard, Animal on the drums, Sgt. Floyd Pepper on bass, and Janice on lead guitar, Zoot on saxophone, and Lips on trumpet. Other well-known Muppets include Sesame Street characters such as Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Bert and Ernie, Grover, Elmo, Cookie Monster, and the main characters of Fraggle Rock. 

The Muppets

VIOOZ/  PUTLOCKER / PRIMEWIRE / MEGASHARE 

                                    Click on any of these links 

6. Mulan:  Mulan has two movies  on the first  she saves her father from death in the army, that's why she secretly goes in his place and becomes one of China's greatest heroes in the process. On the second one  she and her fionce (Shang) are suddenly sent off on a secret mission.  Mushu starts to meddle and a surprise attack by Mongolians doesn't help either. On the links there are both versions.

Mulan

VIOOZ / PUTLOCKER / PRIMEWIRE / MEGASHARE 

                                Click on any of these links 

5. Madagascar: There are a lot of Madagascar movies, so here there are the links where you can find and choose your favourite one.

Madagascar

  

VIOOZ / PUTLOCKER / PRIMEWIRE / MEGASHARE 

                                   Click on any of these links 

4. Minions: Minions Stuart, Kevin and Bob are recruited by Scarlet Overkill, a super-villain who, alongside her inventor husband Herb, hatches a plot to take over the world.   

Minions

                      VIOOZ / PRIMEWIRE     

         

                        Click on any of these links 

3. Maleficent: A vindictive fairy is driven to curse an infant princess only to realize the child may be the only one who can restore peace. 

PUTLOCKER / PRIMEWIRE / MEGASHARE / VIOOZ 

                                      Click on any of these links  

2. Megamind: After super-villain Megamind (Ferrell) kills his good-guy nemesis, Metro Man (Pitt), he becomes bored since there is no one left to fight. He creates a new foe, Titan (Hill), who, instead of using his powers for good, sets out to destroy the world, positioning Megamind to save the day for the first time in his life.  ( I love it) 

PUTLOCKER / PRIMEWIRE / MEGASHARE / VIOOZ 

                                         Click on any of these links  

And Finally my number one is.....

1. Monsters, Inc.: Monsters generate their city's power by scaring children, but they are terribly afraid themselves of being contaminated by children, so when one enters Monstropolis, top scarer Sulley find his world disrupted. 

 

PUTLOCKER / PRIMEWARE

                                                        Click on any of these links

Those were my top ten favourite movies to teach letter "m", I hope you like it. Do not forget to comment and please tell me which of those is your favourite one. 

Next time,  I will give more ideas to use those movies. If you are interested on Monsters Inc, click on this link PHONICSKINDERTOOLS. 

See you next time. ;)

The letter of the week is "M"

There is not any rule that demands you,  which consonant will be the first by the time  children begin to read ; however , I believe that words with "m , f, s , b, g and d " could be the first,  due to they are related with their family members .
Therefore, these tag is going to be related with the consonant "m".  Here you will find videos , games and activities that maybe you could use at home or in the classroom . 

I hope you like it . :)

Well, if you are interested in videos here they are:

• I love storybots, because its songs are funny and appealing for kids.

• ABC mouse also has nice videos. 

It is one of my favourites 

There are some more on you tube. :)

I ussually implement games to reinforce concepts, so here there are some Games that you can use:

• Letter M 
• Mickey Mouse Games 
• Letter M 
• Theos Puzzles

After children have watched and played with the phoneme, we can continue with other activities in the classroom or at home. For example: modeling clay, pounching,ripping and pasting paper on the letter and some other.

I always prefer those activities that involve crafting... 

for example:

It is beautiful, isn't it?

You just need some foamy, cotton, pipe cleaners and a pair of wiggle eyes.  First, you help your children cutting the letter and some whiskers and then, they take mouse's parts and organize the body. Finally, they will paste all the parts on the "m" and that's all. 

What about monsters.....

You all together can watch " Monsters Inc." and after all elaborate a monster using different kind of material. Let me show you some....

crazy eyed hand and foot print monsters

Easy and Cheap DIY Halloween Decorations

50 Monster Crafts for Kids for Any Time of Year!

MONSTER MOBILE FROM TOILET ROLLS

   

Paper Plate Monster Craft

Añadir leyenda

Halloween Treats–Monster Munchies

Try

If you are interested on the Mosnters Inc. movie online here is the link: Monsters, Inc. ( 2001 ).

Just in case you are interested on worksheets. here there are some samples that you can see to get inspired. 

(Any suggestion or doubt, let me know leaving a comment.)


Have a nice day.

THE ABC

At the time of learning children need more than just worksheets. They really enjoy videos, stories and games. So , here there are some interesting tools that anyone can use. 

Learning the Alphabet using ....

• Videos.

 

• Online games

Starfall

Pbs Kids

Nick jr

Sheppard Software

Learning Games for Kids

• Programs to design material

Goconqr

Blitz Flashcards

Kokolikoko

Mixbook

Classtools 

I hope you enjoy these ones, if you find them interesting please leave a comment. Besides, if you are interesting on a special subject please let me know. Have  a nice day.   :)

Ten tips to encourage reading in kids

1. Choose a quiet time.

Set aside a quiet time with no distractions. Ten to fifteen minutes is usually long enough. 

2. Make reading enjoyable

Make reading an enjoyable experience. Sit with your child. Try not to pressurise if he or she is reluctant. If your child loses interest then do something else. 

3. Maintain the flow

If your child mispronounces a word do not interrupt immediately. Instead allow opportunity for self-correction. If your child does try to 'sound out' words, encourage the use of letter sounds rather than 'alphabet names'. 


4. Be positive 


If your child says something nearly right to start with that is fine. Don't say 'No. That's wrong,' but 'Let's read it together' and point to the words as you say them. Boost your child's confidence with constant praise for even the smallest achievement. 



5. Success is the key

Parents anxious for a child to progress can mistakenly give a child a book that is too difficult. This can have the opposite effect to the one they are wanting. Remember 'Nothing succeeds like success'. Until your child has built up his or her confidence, it is better to keep to easier books. 





6. Visit the Library

Encourage your child to use the public library regularly. 

7. Regular practice 

Try to read with your child on most school days. 'Little and often' is best. Teachers have limited time to help your child with reading. 

8. Communication 

Your child will most likely have a reading diary from school. Try to communicate regularly with positive comments and any concerns. Your child will then know that you are interested in their progress and that you value reading.

 9. Talk about books 

There is more to being a good reader than just being able to read the words accurately. Just as important is being able to understand what has been read. Always talk to your child about the book; about the pictures, the characters, how they think the story will end, their favourite part. You will then be able to see how well they have understood and you will help them to develop good comprehension skills. 

10. Variety is important 

Remember children need to experience a variety of reading materials eg. picture books, hard backs, comics, magazines, poems, and information books.