Fun ways to do Homework: Name Writing: We need to practice writing our names using an uppercase letter at the beginning and lowercase for all the rest. You can also practice writing last names as well. Journal Writing: Picture above the line and sentence below the line. Thanks for all the wonderful help at home with journal writing. I have seen some great stories. Please remember to encourage your child to sound out words or at least label their picture with sounds. Sorting - Buttons, dried beans/noodles, keys, shells, beads, etc. are all great items to have your child sort. Have your child place the items into various groups/piles and name how the group was formed. For example, the groups can be sorted by shape, color, size, thickness, types of objects (cars and not cars), characteristics (animals that have wings and animals that do not have wings). Patterning - Many of the same items that you collected to have your child sort make great items to pattern. Have your child physically place various items into a pattern and then name the pattern that was created. For example, red car, blue car, red car. - You create a pattern and have your child complete the pattern (repeating at least two more times). Again, have your child name the pattern. - Have your child look for patterns in the world around him/her. One example is the stripes on a shirt. - Every pattern can be named with letters. Red car, blue car, red car would be an ABAB pattern. Blue car, blue car, red car would be an AABAAB pattern. You begin with the first item and call it A. When the item changes, you call the next item B. If two items are the same, they will have the same letter name. Once this is introduced to your child, you can name a letter pattern and your child should be able to reproduce the pattern with a given set of objects. Graphing - When children first begin exploring graphing, it can be very basic. A mini bag of M&Ms can be used to create a real life graph. Have your child sort the M&Ms into piles by color. After the M&Ms are sorted, he/she can place the M&Ms in columns or rows by color. For example, all of the red ones would go in the same column or row. Graphing should be done in one of two ways (left to right or top to bottom). Other items to use for creating a real life graph could include different colored or shaped noodles, buttons (how many holes, the color, or shape), crayons, the color eyes of each member in your family, etc. Numbers 0-20 - The children need to be able to identify the numbers 0-20 as well as represent the number with objects. To incorporate both number recognition and counting objects, fill a baggie full of small objects such as beans and write the numbers 0-20 on individual index cards. Each number should have its own card. For example, the number 7 would be written very large on its own index card. Shuffle the index cards and have your child pull one card from the pile. Using the beans (or whatever item you have collected), have your child count out the appropriate number of items. For example, if your child pulls out the number 13, he/she will count out 13 beans and place them on the number card. Continue in the same manner until your child loses interest. Please do not have your child do this for every number in the stack. We want your child to enjoy learning and not become bored with the activity. - Another skill that your child should be able to do independently is count a given set of objects to 20. To do this, take a random number of objects from 1-20 and place them on the table. Have your child count the objects and state how many are in the set. - The index cards can also be used to practice placing the numbers in order from 0-20. Have your child place the cards in a line on the floor starting with the number 0 and ending with the number 20. By the end of the year, your child should do this without using a number line or other source as a reference. Shapes - Find shapes around your house or neighborhood. For example, count how many times you find a circle or oval. - Collect various objects from around the house and sort the objects into piles by their basic shape. - Practice recognizing squares that are turned on their sides. A square turned on its side will look similar to a diamond. Also, practice recognizing different kinds of triangle. The three types of triangles are triangles with all sides being equal, triangles with two equal sides and one side unequal, and triangles with all sides unequal.