Letter Tracer Pages

DLTK-teach.com is a great resource for learning activities. I recently ran across their tracer pages and had a great idea. I have been printing them off and laminating them. I print them double sided--so A and B are on the same paper, C and D, and so forth. Then I laminate. Then my girls can use either a dry erase or a wet erase marker and practice letters. You can also use a permanent marker and erase with finger nail polish remover, but I am not the type to hand my kids  permanent  markers. 

This is a great thing to have on hand for learning time. It is also great when you are cooking something in the kitchen and your child needs something to do.

Simple for Mom: Do a Dot Letter

Since I have a newborn at home, I need activities that can be fast for me to prep yet fun for my 3 year old to do. She loves do-a-dots right now. One day, I quickly wrote this block letter M out on a paper, gave her the do-a-dots, and let her decorate the M (the first letter in her name). She fully loved it!

Apple Math

This last week, we did an apple theme here. I came up with a couple new pages for the week and thought I would share them here.

The first was inspired by Raegan's: 

Apple File Folder Game- Counting

I wanted to do this, but didn't want to do the file folder thing. So I made this. I printed it and laminated it. I can write whatever I want on the baskets with a dry erase or wet erase marker. I think you can print from the image, but if not, here is the link in my google documents.

I had her first sort the skittles into three different bowls, then she put the correct number into each basket.

This was inspired by my 

Apple Seed Counting

I wanted to put the seeds on the apple and have the kids do math with them. The idea here is you put seeds in each apple, then the child counts and writes how many under the apple. You decide if the child is doing addition, subtraction, multiplication, division...write that in the square between the apples. The child writes the answer on the provided line. I liked this because I can use the same sheet for all three of my children. I laminated it so I don't have to do a bunch of printouts. My kids get a big kick out of using the markers to write. Here is the link in Google Documents.

Apple Unit Ideas

We must love apples around here because we have lots of ideas for you with apples.

Baked Apples with Cranberries

Paper Plate Apple {plus fine motor bonus}

Simple Apple Sort

Blast from the Past: Apple Prints

Apple Books

Handprint Apple Tree

Apple Seed Counting

Apple File Folder Game- Counting

Apple Sort

Fruit Bowl Math

Miniature Candy-ish Apples

Turkey Apple

Fall Craft: Apples & Thankfulness

Apple Unit for Toddlers

And how about some ideas from Pinterest

Diagram of an Apple

Apple-Themed Activity Pack

Apple Unit (First Grade)

Long List of Apple Ideas

Apple Printables

Letters: Angled Lines

The other day, I had McKenna (3) practicing her pre-writing skills as Raegan described in this post:

Pre-Writing Skills

Once she was doing a good job at connecting the dots, we started to practice writing letters. We did the straight lines (like T) and curved lines (like C) with no problem, but the angled lines proved tricky (like A). Since she had done well with the connecting the dots, I had her first write the letter by connecting the dots like we had done in our pre-writing skills practice. It really helped her see how you create the letters with the angle. You can see the progress in the photo I took above (with my phone). So if your child has a hard time with the angled line letters, give this a try! 

It could also be applied to straight line letters. Or you could do a series of dots to follow for the curved lines.