N is for Nest!

(MFW, Kinder, Unit 5) 

This week, I wanted to write a little about how we simplify MFW Kinder for the Pre-K level. First off, we do a theme for 4 days instead of 6. We only do school with Skipper 3 days a week, so it takes longer than a week, but we just do whatever day is next in the plan. Here's what we do for the language arts part each day.
Day 1- introduce letter & flashcard, trace letter with finger, we sing the Leap Frog letter sound song for that letter. "The A says /a/, the A says /a/, every letter makes a sounds, the A says /a/," to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell. Then we sing the MFW song for all the letters. We also do the cut apart page. (This is Day 1:1-4 on their Teacher's Guide.)
Day 2: We do a hands-on letter activity (see next week), sing a song about the vowel sounds, do a handwriting sheet- we use this book instead of the sheets MFW has, but some PreK-ers would be able to do those. (Day 1:5 & Day 2:1-2 in TG)
Day 3: a review game w/ MFW stuff, sound discrimination sheet, & blend ladder (see pic below) (Day 2:3-4 & Day 3:3 in the TG)
Day 4: play a review game where I put 6 letters out- we review all of them, and then I say a word & he points to the letter that begins that word, another phonics worksheet- whatever I can find, & then we play a phonics review game- again, whatever I feel like that day. (Day 3:2, 5 & Day 4:5 in the TG)

Nest ideas...
make nests out of straw & mud or play-doh, observe nests outside, match animals to their homes (there are lots of worksheets online), play with or learn about birds or eggs

Skipper loves our hammer pictures as much as Kruiser did. I don't think they sell this set anymore, but it's similar to this.

Math game from K4 Letter of Week. You circle the numbers you roll, and whoever circles all theirs first wins.

playing an animal/home matching game

Life Happens...

I put Skipper in the front of the cart after he begged to ride. We quickly realized he was too big! :( So I documented his last ride in a shopping cart, haha. It's the little things. He had to bring his bear along for the ride.