Literacy Development & Little Free Library

One of our favorite activities is a trip to the library.  I know I've blogged about this before but the changes I've been seeing in my 26 month old son recently is crazy!  And I give much credit to the amount of books read daily.

Some of the changes I've seen are that:

• He is making real life connections to the stories he reads.
• He recalls the stories as the real life connections are happening.  (See previous post for one example of a specific topic!)
• He memorizes the book so quickly.  I didn't even know he had done this, but after reading a specific book literally 3 times in a row, I decided to turn it around on him and started pausing at certain words...low and behold he filled in the blank!!  That is called Shared Reading!
• He is recognizing over half of the alphabet (capital letters) by a word associated with the letter or their sound.

The baskets around our home that used to be filled with burp clothes, next diapers and wipes are now filled with books.  Book baskets in every bathroom, both bedrooms, living room, game room, kitchen...and usually a few tossed about in the car.  So a library visit helps to freshen up those baskets!

I recently have been working with a Calgary non-profit called Calgary Reads.  It's a fabulous organization which helps promote literacy in several ways, like providing almost 600 tutors to struggling readers, educating parents and educators on literacy development and a massive community book sale.  I'm going to be working on a new project!!  Eeek...but it's a secret for now.  I'll let you know when it launches!!

Through Calgary Reads, I then learned of another organization Little Free Library.  And this has to be one of the coolest ideas I've heard of in a long time!

These little libraries are either ordered through Little Free Library or you can DIY!  

The idea is you take a book, leave a book and leave a note.  As a community you share your books.  After all, books are like diamonds, they never get old!  And also like diamonds, they are a bit expensive.  So why not share?  (Books, that is, not your diamonds!)

I really want to start something like this for my street.  We have so many kiddos on the block.  

Maybe even a monthly book swap?

What do you think?

Does your neighborhood have a Little Free Library?  Or any type of collaborative (simple) book swap?

I'm just getting fired up but would love your suggestions or input with with experience!

P.S. I'm a nerd.  I know it.

Playroom Decor: Alphabet Charts

I have one very large bare wall in my playroom that just taunts me daily. Its like begging for art. Or something.

I have all these ideas for it:

• I want to find large old wooden frames from garage sales and paint them and hang them on the wall. Then tack my kids artwork in them. Cute right? But that would involve having the time to go to thrift stores, and goodwill. (I am determined to still do this one day!)



Image from here

• Sometimes the nerdy teacher in me wants to go into the attic and dig out my old blue pocket charts and staple them up to the wall. I have visions of using sentence strips and putting little black dots under each syllable of every song I hang up. Then I daydream about getting out all my pointers for them to use. And then... I get a block thrown at my head and I realize we aren't there yet.

• However, today, Kimberly, from Custom Nursery Art posted a link to a free alphabet printable. FREE. CUTE. ALPHABET. I have picture hanging wire I could string across the wall, and tons of wooden cloths pins. I love it. I really do.

The Handmade Home

But there is one, little, minor, problem. I am neurotic about alphabet charts and ABC books. It is pretty much my only pet peeve with teacher stuff. The rest I let slide. These things are created by people who have never taught little children to read.

For example: The letter Ee will have a picture of an elephant. Great right? Elephant starts with the letter Ee. What is the problem you ask? It isn't the right sound. In Elephant the e makes the /l/ sound. There needs to be a picture of an egg. Get it. E /e/ egg

Or my other favorite:

Ii, and they show a picture of Ice. Then you have to teach the kids about 'magic e' and how the e at the end of the word makes the vowel before it say it's name and not the letter sound. So I would rather see a picture of an igloo... at least there you get the correct sound.

Which brings me to my post.... I decided to get an alphabet chart to hang up there! I will make it a teachable wall rather than just a cutesy wall.

Here is my favorite alphabet chart of ALL time. This company was founded by a teacher. She has done workshops for my old school. Her stuff is awesome.

Steps to Literacy

However, the free one is precious and cute and FREE. So if you aren't the crazy alphabet police, then I doubt you will find issues with it!!

DIY: Matching and Tactile Letter Cards

I've been MIA.
Sorry.
SO.... You get TWO ideas for the price of one!
But, this is what our yard looks like:

So needless to say, my free time has been spent outside, cleaning up dirt, giving baths, and doing laundry.

But, they LOVE the dirt so much, that I decided to bring a little inside!

I decided to make my own tactile letter cards using the dirt in the back yard!

I picked the letters in their name, but you can just pick a couple. (Try not to put them in alphabetical order, sometimes I think the kids just memorize the song.) Use school liquid glue, glitter glue, or tacky glue... and then sprinkle your letters with (dirt in my case) glitter, jello powder, sand, colored sand, tiny pebbles (like fish gravel). Let dry. And touch away! (Hold their hand and show them how to touch and say each letter. Do it over and over.)

Teacher Tips:

If you child is left handed, put the letters on the left side of the page, so he can hold it with his right hand and touch with his left. (Look at Luke's card for example.)

DIY: Matching Animal Cards:

Seems so easy, but is a great skill to work on! AND the boys have no idea they are learning, they just think we are playing! I LOVE this age! Everything is so new and fun!

Print the animal cards from here: Counting Coconuts

Why re-invent the wheel?? Tons of awesome stuff is out there, just use it and make it your own!

So here is what I did:

I printed two sets, just on regular paper. Nothing fancy here, my kids will destroy it anyway.

First, I wanted to see if they could just match cow to cow, and etc. Start with just 3-4 pictures on one side and then slowly add more or take some away.

Store them in a plastic baggies and tack the baggies to the playroom wall... wait, what?? Sorry, my organizational skills went out the window when the twins came.

THEN (another day when you want to feel good about yourself)... see if they can match the baby animals to the right mommy!!!! (But start with a small stack first!)

If this is a bust, try it again in a few weeks. I promise it is the BEST feeling when they can do it!

Remember, I am not super mom. My house is a mess, I have laundry to fold, and this activity only took 30 seconds to print and cut. (Stack them all together and cut once!!)

And we played for 3-5 minutes. But, I feel better about my day knowing we did something fun together!

Also shared at We Play and ABC123.