Alphabet Art Book {Free Printables}

A few months ago, I came across the idea of an Alphabet Art Book on KidsCount1234. I thought this idea would be perfect for my preschooler (and pre-preschooler) this year.

The idea behind this Alphabet Art Book is to practice the alphabet in a fun and creative way. I decided that making a collection of letter inspired art projects would be a great addition to our relaxed preschool approach.

Since, we've just officially started school today (first day pictures coming soon), our Alphabet Art Books are still blank, but I thought it would be best to share them now since most people have already started school.

We have all the individual files ready as free downloads through Google Docs. Just click on the letter you want to print at the end of this post. Be sure to download the activity description page here.

We also have the full set available for purchase through Teachers Pay Teachers for only $1.25. This one file download also comes with all 26 letter pages, the activity descriptions page, and as a bonus, a full supply list for all 26 Alphabet Art Book pages.

Several of the activities have various ways they can be competed, some being messier (aka glitter and paint) than others.

Jonathan and Eliya will be making apple prints this week.

Next week, I'll be breaking into my stash of Band-aids for letter B (they'll LOVE that one).

Download the files by clicking on the letters below. Don't forget to to download the activity description page. Or purchase and download all of the files in one handy bundle for $1.25.

A Apple prints	B Band-Aids	C Car Tracks
D Dots	E Elbow Painting	F Fingerprint Flowers
G Glitter	H Handprints	I Ink Stamping
J Jellyfish	K Key Rubbings	L Leaves
M Marble Painting	N Newspaper Numbers	O O Prints
P Purple Potato Prints	Q Q-tip Painting	R Red
S Stickers	T Toothpick Triangles	U Up Arrows
V Vegetables	W Waves	X X Marks the Spot
Y Yellow Yarn	Z Zigzags

We're sharing at these parties & at this Freebie Linky Party.

Today's Question: Do your children like to make crafts? What are their favorite mediums? (Our kids love paint!)

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Our (Practically Free) Kindergarten & Preschool Learning Plans 2012-2013

This year, we're not planning on purchasing any official curriculum. Below is our pieced together, mostly from materials we already have on hand, curriculum. In a small way I feel like this helps to balance the fact that we're still paying off my Elementary Ed degree :)

Bible
Our children will be learning about God, his love for them, and what they can do to love him back. For our "official" Bible studies we'll be continuing with breakfast readings from 365 Read-Aloud Bedtime Bible Stories. We'll also be walking through the Bible with the What's in the Bible? DVDs and the My Bible Coloring Book.

We'll also be reading from The Jesus Storybook Bible as well as other Bible storybooks.

We'll continue to focus on prayer with our Prayer Pail and we'll keep memorizing scripture with this simple Scripture Memory Box system (which, by the way, we love). For more ideas check out our Raising Children for God Pinterest board.

Language Arts
Our family will be focusing on reading lots of great books together. We'll also be listening to some wonderful audio books (partly so I can get some work done and partly because we all enjoy them so much).

All of the kids will continue to utilize our growing collection of Alphabet books and Alphabet activity books. We will also interact through many Alphabet activities and games and continue to talk about letters, letter sounds and words in real life situations.

We will also be learning and reviewing with several Alphabet videos including Letter Factory, WordWorld (Rocket to the Moon, Lucky Duck, Flying Ant), and free online videos as well. We'll also be attending story time at our local library once a week.

Jonathan and Eliya will also be doing a very simply Letter of the Week focus with a two or three activities each week on a specific letter.

Emahry will continue with simple phonics work and will continue to learn sight words from the Dolch sight word list to help make reading easier. She'll keep reading with Set 1 of Bob Books, which my mom gave us, and will complete many of the activities we've pinned in our Teach Me to Read board. Emahry will also continue to write in real world situations, making to-do lists, writing letters to family and friends and writing labels and descriptions of drawings. She'll also work on writing her full name, address and phone number. We like this website for making handwriting printables.

History
For a general overview we'll be reading through the History for Little Pilgrims that I picked up at Goodwill for less than a dollar. This book has 15 short chapters, each with a simply activity and a handful of questions. We'll go through one chapter each week.

After that we plan on starting a history overview using children's books. We have not decided yet if we'll begin in the beginning with books on the Ancient World or if we'll start closer to present day with an overview of American History. Here's a list of children's books about the Ancient World divided by time period and civilization. My friend, Kristin, has a great list of American History books organized into time periods as well.

Math
We'll be spending the first 11 weeks teaching and reviewing numbers 0-10 with a number of the week for our three oldest children. We'll also be using numbers in real world counting and completing lots of the counting activities found here. We may also go back to the Funnix Beginning Math Program once Emahry becomes more consistent with recognizing written numbers.

Emahry will also be keeping a math journal for recording facts about numbers (or like this), counting, graphing, and pattern work. We'll also add some number activities like this to her journal. We have this Primary Journal with space for drawing at the top and lines for writing on the bottom half.

Emahry will also work on counting to 100 and will begin to work with money, skip counting, and simple addition and subtraction using a variety of books, workbooks and activities. She'll be using some of these free 20 question math practices at least once a week as well.

Science
This fall, we'll be focusing on a nature study of trees. We'll be reading lots of books about trees, starting with this list, and enjoying the autumn weather observing local trees and collecting lots of leaves. We'll also be completing some tree and leaf projects we've pinned here. In the spring we'll pick back up with our study of plants and gardening.

We'll also be studying the seasons through books and activities.

Art
We'll be starting the year with a simple study of shapes and how to draw them. We'll then begin combining different shapes to make pictures. We'll be following many of the How to Draw... activities pinned to our Art Activities board. We'll also have some fun making fingerprint art like this.

Music
We'll be using Songs for Sapling Questions with Answers CDs as part of our Music time this year. We will listen to these 4 CDs throughout the day. I'm sure the ABCs and 123s CDs will sneak into our rotation as well. We'll also focus on learning two different hymns, This is My Father's World and Take My Life, and Let it Be.

Physical Education
Our kids are all very active. We will continue to play at home and at local parks & playgrounds. We will also go on regular nature walks. During warmer weather, our children will regularly swim in their grandparent's pool.

We're counting finally nailing down this plan as our finished project for the week. Would you like to share what you've accomplished? Link up to our Finished Friday blog party.

We're sharing this post at Pin the Tail on the Bloggy Pinterest Party @ Fox Hollow Cottage.

Today's Question: We'd love to hear about your homeschool plans for this year. Feel free to leave a link if you've blogged about your plans.

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Teaching Kids to Read {TIPsters}

Make sure you visit Kristin & Christy for their thoughts on today’s topic. 

Okay, right off the bat, let me tell you that none of my children are full fledged readers. So today I'm simply going to share some ideas, tools, and posts that have been helpful for me as I help my children on their journey to reading.

In a nutshell, the journey to reading starts with learning to identify the letters of the alphabet and the sounds that they make. Be sure to check out all of our Alphabet Ideas. If you're looking for an easy way to help kids learn letters and sounds, you may also want to check out the Letter Factory DVD, all of our kids love it! Also follow our Alphabet Activities board to keep up with all the great ideas we come across on the web.

Once children know the letters and the sounds they make, they begin to work on combining letters to make different sounds and words. This is where our oldest, Emahry, is right now. She loves sounding out words and has started reading though Set 1 of the Bob Books.

We've also been working on the Pre-Primer and Primer sets of Dolch sight words to help her develop into a fluent reader. I've been making some fun printable pages for sight words that I hope to share soon.


Here are some other activities that we've tried and enjoyed:

:: Sight Word Cube and Magna Doodle from Life With My Giggly Girls

:: Phonics Flip Book from Kids Activities Blog

:: The You Can Read Program from 1+1+1=1


And here are a handful of posts that give lots of great ideas for teaching kids to read:

:: What to do After Kids Learn their ABC’s: Next Steps to Reading from Teach Mama

:: Teach Your Child to Read from A-Z from Playdough to Plato


:: 10 Ways to Learn Sight Words through Play from Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas

:: 10 Steps to Teaching Your Child to Read from I Can Teach My Child



Also, be sure to follow our Teach Me To Read board for a lot more activities and inspiration.

Check out the blog parties we like to join

This Post is Sponsored by:

Learn Your Letters, Learn To Serve Complete Curriculum Kit

This 240+ page downloadable or hard copy kit includes thorough lesson plans, games, crafts, recipes, memory verses, Bible story suggestions, vocabulary stimulation and discussion, play, books to read and so much more…all while encouraging service to God!

Please visit my fellow TIPsters:

Kristin @ Bits & Pieces from my Life and 

Christy @ A Living Homeschool

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New Free Printable: Entire Set of Lowercase Alphabet Color by Number Pages

I recently finished a set of Lowercase Alphabet Color by Number Printables. We'll be using these as part of our letter focus workboxes in the fall.

To download these color by number pages, simply visit our Free Printables Page and click on Lowercase Alphabet Color by Number. Then follow the directions to download the entire file or individual letters. 

If you'd like to use these coloring pages over and over without reprinting, simply slide them into page protectors and have your child(ren) use dry-erase crayons to color. You'll need both the standard color and the bright color Crayola Dry-Erase Crayons.

Please, let us know if you use these coloring pages. Also if you use them and blog about your experience, let us know and we'll add your link to the download page.

       

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Lowercase Color By Number Alphabet

I recently started creating a set of lowercase color by number sheets to use with Emahry.

I uploaded what I've completed so far to Scribd so that others can use them as well. I have the letters a through j uploaded already and will be uploading the rest as I complete them.

Simply download each letter and print them for your child(ren) to color.

You could also print them on cardstock, laminatethem and have your children use dry erase markersor dry erase crayonsso each page could be reused.

Please, let me know if you have any questions or problems downloading the pages.

Also, I'd love to hear from you if you download these and use them with your child(ren). Thanks!

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Guest Post: Hands On Letter of the Week Activities

Guest post by Erica from Confessions of a Homeschooler

I’m was so excited to be asked to participate in Alphabet Craze! I hope you will find my alphabet learning activities, fun and hands on. I’m sharing a few of my Letter A Activities with you today, and you can click here to see my entire Letter of the Week A-Z Curriculum!

Letter A Memory Verse:

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7

For our verses and accompanying games/stories we use the following books:
ABC Memory Verses & My ABC Bible Verses

Apple Large Floor Numbers: I made these large floor numbers so that we can play a hopscotch type game. I call out a number and she jumps to it! You could also have them put the cards in numerical order. The number cards go from 1-10.

Capital A/Lowercase a matching game: This is a great way to match up lowercase and uppercase letters. Simply cut the apples from pg2 and place them on top of the same or opposite letter case on the tree.

Apple Counting: This comes with a number sheet to go with it. I put velcro on the blank squares next to the apples and on the backs of the number cards. Then have your child match the number card to the apples based on how many seeds are on each apple. If you want you can cut each card out and make it into a booklet like the butterfly sample below:

Apple Color Puzzles: Cut out each apple then cut it in half in various ways to create color matching puzzles. Name each color as you put them together.

Apple Letter Matching: This is a fun letter matching activity, that practices both upper and lowercase letters recognition! If you're looking for more challenge, use the uppercase card with the lowercase letter disks or visa versa! (The download includes upper and lowercase letter disks and activity cards) Click here to see how to make the letter disks.

Letter A Do-A-Dot Page: We use Do-a-Dot Art Markers with this!

I hope you like my alphabet activities, click here to see the full set of Letter A Activities. I also make K4 Level activities for kids who are a little beyond preschool, but not quite ready for Kindergarten!

Click here to see my K4 Curriculum Activities!

Click on the images below to see more activities!

Erica is a daughter of Jesus, a wife, a mom, and a homeschooler. She likes to digiscrap and dabbles in graphic design in her *free* time. She authors Confessions of a Homeschooler and would love you to drop by for a visit anytime!

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Guest Post: Alphabet Box 101

Guest post by Julie from The Adventures of Bear

Alphabet boxes are a fun way to teach your child letter sounds.  To make our alphabet boxes I used a fishing tackle style box that I already had in the house.   I printed out the lower case alphabet, cut it apart and let my daughter help me tape the letters to the drawers.  You could print out both upper and lower case, but I only wanted the lower case to keep the front looking tidier.  We put her Melissa and Doug upper and lower case alphabet magnets into the drawers and sorted out picture cards from a game her aunt had given her.

Then we took the parts of this great game her aunt gave her and I took out all the ones that started with /b/, /c/, and /d/. We named them and Bear sorted them in the three drawers that I had pulled out. We sorted out all the picture cards into all the 26 drawers and eliminated cards that didn’t fit short vowel sounds or started with phonograms (like shell).

However, this game is hard to find.  The same thing can be accomplished with alphabet printables like this terrific alphabet cut and paste at Homeschool Creations.  Or you could use miniatures.  I do have a set of alphabet miniatures to put in the drawers now, but at the time I made Bear’s alphabet box, I didn’t.  I also liked the idea of reusing something and the fact that the thick card game pieces were baby and toddler friendly. We have also used our miniatures to learn phonograms like “oo” and “sh”.

Miniatures are easy to find in dollhouse sections of Hobby Lobby and Michaels, but are just as easily found in your own toy box at home. I scoured our Playmobil collection for a lot of our miniatures.  Also, little erasers and decorative buttons can be used.

How to use the alphabet box: 

First:  Teach the letter sounds by isolating one drawer and showing all the pictures or items in the one drawer. I feature one drawer on my 19 month old's shelf with a sound book and picture book featuring something that starts with that letter (for example a picture book of a duck to go with the "d" drawer.)  

Second:  Use two or three drawers and do sound sorts in which the items are mixed up and the child must sort them into the correct drawers again. 

Third:  Play games by laying out on a tray a few objects starting with various sounds (like a cow, a duck, a train, and an apple).  Then say, "I spy something that starts with /t/," and have your child find the object.  

Fourth:  Use them in conjunction with a moveable alphabet and sound out the name of the object to work on spelling and reading.

The alphabet box is such a great tool in teaching the letter sounds.  I highly recommend it.


Julie is mom to 2 children, aged 19 months and 3.5 years.  A former elementary school teacher, she now focuses on Montessori based education in her home.  She blogs these learning activities at The Adventures of Bear.

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