A Week in Review

Disclaimer: Yes, I know we ended A week over a week ago, and I'm a little late in posting. We had company in town last week. We are starting B today, but we have more company coming in on Wednesday, so the B posts may be a little late too. Sorry--but not too much. There's nothing like fun visitors to enliven a boring January.

The Alphabet Project is off to a fabulous start. Emma and I had a lot of fun together doing the various activities and reading new books. And best of all, she has totally internalized the letter A and the sounds it makes. She frequently points out A on a magazine that's lying around, a sign we see as we're driving, a poster in the doctor's office--all without prompting, I might add. I call this a rousing success. The one thing that didn't go as well was the writing portion, because her little fingers just can't make very deliberate strokes with a crayon just yet. But we'll keep trying and keep the writing portion as part of the alphabet project.

Anyone out there reading this, or is this blog just for my own documentation? If anyone is out there, and joining us with your own alphabet project, I'd love to hear how it's going for you, successful (and not-so-successful) activities, and great books.

Aerobics

For our A activity, I racked my brain but all I could come up with was aerobics. But Emma takes gymnastics and loves to jump, so it was a hit! We did some basic moves--jumping jacks, step touch, sit up. I didn't get any pictures and we didn't do it very long, because hey, I'm starting my third trimester and I don't really care to do aerobics at all. But it was fun, and another way to remember the letter A!

Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins

Our last A book is our favorite. We were first introduced to this book at storytime last fall, but we soon purchased it for our home collection. Ten Red Apples is about a farmer who wants to taste his apple crop, but he is beaten to the punch by various farm animals. This book does triple duty: in addition to a focus on the letter A, it's a counting book and a book about farm animals and the noises they make. Emma loves this book and can read it to herself.

Apple Prints

For our "Make" activity for A, I decided to try making some apple prints using paint and apples as stamps. (For a full set of instructions, see here). I had never painted with Emma before, and she was a little freaked out by the idea and didn't want to do it herself. (Part of the reason may have been that I stripped her down to her diaper to paint. I wasn't particularly in the mood to test just how "washable" the Crayola paints really are). However, she loved picking out the colors and sat at the table like a little general, telling me which color to stamp next. I will have to do art projects with her more often so she can become more comfortable--maybe watercolor paints next time? :) But it was fun, and will probably go over better if you have an older child.
Here's a photo of our masterpiece, as well as Emma being silly, which she is inclined to do lately whenever she sees the camera:

Truman's Aunt Farm by Jama Kim Rattigan

This book was incredibly fun. It plays on the homophones "ant" and "aunt," making a good many jokes about a boy who expects an ant farm for his birthday, but instead ends up with a bunch of aunts. Of course Emma didn't get the joke, but the pictures are fun and lively, with a good many words that start with A. I highly recommend this one, especially if you have a preschooler who will understand the silliness.

Airplanes by Patricia Hubbell

Like the last book, Airplanes doesn't have too many words that start with the letter A--in fact, even the title airplanes are most often referred to as planes throughout the rest of the book. However, also like the last book, few words beginning with the letter A didn't seem to matter that much. We had fun reading about the planes and looking for little As. Emma is getting quite good at spotting little As within words, and she also points out other letters that she knows as well. I love that she is noticing letters in text--the next step will be putting the letters together into words. We are having fun reading together with a focus on letters, and the English teacher heart in me is singing. :)

Applesauce Muffins

Yesterday was my first attempt at cooking with Emma. I was a little wary of how it would go over; I had thought maybe she was too young to really be into it. I was totally wrong and we had a marvelous time! I would measure the dry ingredients out, hold them over the bowl, then hand them to her to dump in. Each time she would gleefully cry out, "We did it!" (She gets pronouns confused sometimes). She also was very proficient at putting the paper liners in the muffin tins. We only focused on the letter A when we added the applesauce, but the whole process of cooking provided opportunities for new vocabulary and a new kind of activity to do together.

This recipe comes from the Family Fun: Cooking with Kids cookbook.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking power
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups chunky applesauce
6 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:
1. Heat the oven to 375. Grease (or line with paper bake cups) a 12-cup muffin pan.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a large mixing bowl.
3. In another large bowl, beat together the eggs and brown sugar. Stir in the applesauce and melted butter until the mixture is smooth.
4. Pour the apple mixture over the flour mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon until combined (it's ready when you can't see any traces of flour).
5. Fill the backe cups about two-thirds full with batter (an ice-cream scoop works well for this task). Bake until light brown, about 20 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a knife in the middle of one muffin. If it comes out clean, the muffins are done. Makes 12.

Dumping the dry ingredients together. (Ingore the post-nap messy hair. It's more important that we were doing an activity together than that we had perfect hair, right? :)

Putting the paper liners in the muffin tins.

The finished product.

Happy Birthday, America by Mary Pope Osborne

This was another book chosen in haste at the library. When we first started to read it last night, I was worried because it didn't seem to have too many words that started with A. However, my fears quickly abated and we enjoyed the book. For one thing, the subject matter and pictures are fun--all things you would do on the Fourth of July. Parades, picnics, fireworks, dogs, balloons--all very appealing to toddlers. And the fact that there weren't many words that started with A was okay, because it helped us to focus on looking for "little As," as I'm calling the lowercase version. I'd definitely recommend this one.

Noah's Ark by Jane Ray

A note on choosing books: I am using books that we have as home as much as possible, and supplementing with books from the library. My rationale for using books that we own is that Emma can go to them again and again and remember the letters that she learns (plus, as a bonus, we can return to them when she starts reading).

I wasn't very prepared when going to the library, plus I had a squirmy two-year-old in tow. Next time I will search for books online ahead of time to get a good mix. I tried to look some up on the library's computer, but because Emma was being uncooperative that day, I ended up grabbing the first books that I saw on the shelves. So I'm not sure if they're the most effective books, especially this first one.

Emma has another book on Noah called "Noah Builds A Boat," that she loves, but I chose this one because it seemed to use "ark" (and the letter A!) more often. The pictures are fun, but the text comes entirely from the book of Genesis. Which is fine, I believe in the Bible and will someday read the Bible with Emma, but it was a litte heavy for her at two. So we quickly dispensed with the text as written and concentrated on talking about what we saw in the pictures and looking for words with the letter A. Though I am teaching her both the uppercase and the lowercase letters, she seemed to have an easier time looking for words that started with an uppercase A. This probably would not be a problem for older toddlers or preschoolers.

LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Alphabet Set

Usually, I hate electronic toys. What infant or toddler needs something that beeps, sings, and requires 8 batteries? But. I make a huge exception for the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Alphabet Set.

I got this for Emma for Christmas, thinking it would be nice and educational, since I knew we were going to be starting the Alphabet Project in the new year. What I didn't know was exactly how educational it would be. I was a little lazy and didn't get it opened and on the fridge until last week. It has been up for exactly 4 days now, and Emma has already learned at least 10 letters and can sing the alphabet song--at least, she knows the melody and skips over some of the letters in the middle. I am feeling a bit deflated that perhaps she doesn't need me to teach her after all??

The downside, of course, is that I've heard the alphabet song probably 30 times a day, and every now and then the refrain "every letter makes a sound" pops into my head. But I think it's a small price to pay for what she is learning (when she thinks she is playing and singing!) While an electronic toy is definitely NOT a substitute for real, live teaching, I think it's an excellent supplement to the Alphabet Project.

PS. I linked to Amazon, but don't buy it there. I think I found it for half the price at Toys R Us.

Methodology

Each week* we will focus on one letter. I've divided the Alphabet Project into daily and weekly activities. Daily activities will be shorter, while the weekly activities will be more involved.

Daily:
1. SEE the letter.
2. SAY the letter's sound.
3. READ a book based on the letter. (For example, for the letter A, we'll read a book about apples.)
4. WRITE the letter.

Weekly:
1. COOK something that begins with the letter.
2. MAKE something that begins with the letter. (Yes, "make" could be the same as cook, but for "make" I'm envisioning an art project or something.)
3. DO an activity that begins with the letter.

*I am expecting baby #2 at the end of April, so I'll probably take a month-long break in May.

Why the Alphabet Project?

The Alphabet Project is my attempt to teach my two-year-old the alphabet. I got the idea for this almost two months ago. My daughter and I were outside of Kohl's, when she points up to the sign and says, "H!" I was a bit dumbfounded--I had no idea she knew the letter H, and I certainly didn't teach it to her. (I'm guessing it came from an episode of Sesame Street). Since she already knows her shapes, colors, and numbers 1-10, I figured it was time for the alphabet.

Let me point out that I am not one of those education-crazed parents. Yes, I want her to be brilliant, but I am not obsessed with her becoming brilliant as a toddler. She has a late birthday and will be almost 6 before she goes to kindergarten, so she has plenty of time to learn the basics. However, she also seems to be blessed with her father's brain, and can remember things after hearing them only one or two times. She enjoys learning and being able to point out colors, numbers, and pictures in books. For me, this is more about keeping her occupied, happy, and stimulating her curious brain, than it is about academics. (Though it is a beginning step to becoming a reader...). While I am certified to teach English for students in grades 7-12, I have virtually no qualifications for teaching young children other than my own experience (and experiments!) with my own child.

So we're going to try. Emma just barely turned 2 in November, so we'll see how we do. I'm confident that she will be able to memorize the letters and sounds. I'm less confident that she has the motor skills to write the letters. Feel free to join us and share your own experiences with the Alphabet Project!