Stations

The whole month of December was pretty laid back with holiday happenings and such. Isaac and Eli really started to play together more, so who was I to interrupt that? If they are playing really good together I feel that is more important than any other learning at this point. They need to learn to get along, play together, share, use their imaginations, make memories.

So with that in mind, I started stations. I pick out about 4 activities. I set them up around the dining room table, and I let the boys rotate through them. Sometimes we use a timer, sometimes it is not appropriate. The good thing is this way of learning keeps Eli preoccupied (for the most part) and learning too. I keep all my activities organized on notecards. I saw this notecard organization on www.whyamysmiles.wordpress.com. I've collected so many supplies, and I can just flip through the cards for ideas to keep track of what we've done and what I have!

The majority of these activities focus on motor skills. I've started introducing Isaac to writing simply because he is finally interested and wants to hold the pencil, crayon, whatever the right way! So we've been going over how to write each letter (very lax about this) and at the same time, trying to teach Eli his alphabet and sounds. He could really care less. It is so funny how different the boys are. Isaac knew his whole alphabet and sounds before Eli was even born. He knew them because he is good at memorizing and loved letters. Eli just wants to play and explore and watch OU football. :) So here are some of the activities. We might spend 45min to an hour total on 4 activities. To find many of these activities head to my fave websites: www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com, www.mama-jenn.blogspot.com, and prekinders.com

Matching letters, upper/lowercase, this was more for Eli, but Isaac enjoyed

getting the sticky tak and putting the apples on. Good for fine motor :)

Like I said, sometimes Eli loves it.

Sometimes he gets mad and goes to the corner.

Working letter puzzles together.

Prehandwriting with dry erase.

Cutting practice

Tongs and pom poms...practice motor skills,

counting, sorting, colors, etc

Balancing marbles on golf tees!

Playdoh and puzzles!

I have the number and letter playdoh stamps.

Do a dots!

 Ring Stands

 Melissa & Dougs Locks & Latches

 Handwriting without Tears Stamp & See

 Learning to writing the letter a with the magnetic pen

that comes with the Stamp & See

Ants in Your Pants! ---I came up with a physical activity for each letter in the alphabet.

They jump around holding their pants up with this one. They LOVE it.

A-ants in your pants, B- Bounce, C-Crawl, etc.

Sometimes I start the stations with a book.

Lacing letters

Dollar Tree money - recognizing coins, counting by 10s with dimes,

 adding simple dollar amounts by 1s, 10s, $5 +$1= ? stuff like that.

Drawing letters in sand with your fingers!

Outlining shapes with stickers and tracing shapes

 Rice box with letters...has to find the letters to spell his name.

Must find the right letters. Uppercase I...lowercase "aac."

 I stuck some lowercase i's in there to try to trick him.

I just asked Eli if he knew the letter he found.

Sticker dots instead of do-a-dots.

Hooked on Handwriting - this was given to me.

Practicing vertical lines. lol

pattern blocks

Tracing C---Oil pastel wax resist with water colors.

Caterpillar dice game with Leah (from Confessions)

The Very Hunger Caterpillar graphing chart. (from Confessions)