Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Marshmallows, Milo and Macaroni....Teach It...Reading

So what do marshmallows, milo and muffins have to do with learning to read?

This week we have started our letter of the week program with Master O.
Well actually over the last year we have had a few false starts but now we really feel he is ready!
Each week we will focus on a new letter/sound.  This week its M.
I have debated where to start, but he loves the reading eggs program so much and it starts with M so there we shall begin.....

Here is todays activity.

"The Pantry Hunt"

1. Have a strong coffee (you, not your child) and be prepared that this may get messy.
2. Let your child loose in your pantry.
3. They need to find any items that start with "M"
4. It has to be an item name not a brand name.
5.  If you like take a photo of each item.
So what did we find?



Muffin Mix

Mini Marshmallows


Double word points?
Mini Meringues

Marie Biscuits


and what did we learn?

Letters are everywhere - 
encouraging children to recognise letters in a real life context

Text conveys meaning - 
We need letters to make words, words give us information without the labels on the packets how would we know what is inside?

Letters make sounds - 
By sounding out the words on the familiar items we constantly reinforced the mmm sound.

Vocabulary building - 
We learnt so many new words and their meanings!
Why are the marshmallows and meringues called mini mallows and meringues?

Letter Recognition -
Letter M sometimes look different but is still just an "M"!  
The letter M was printed in all different colours, sizes and fonts but we knew it was always M!
Is this an M? Was definitely the question of the day!  

Instead of pointing to a letter on a poster, and rote learning its name and sound
we reinforced the recognition of the letter and its sound soooo many times without anyone noticing what we were doing!

We were having too much fun!

and how do I know it worked....
later that day.......
Master O pointed out at Gloria Jeans that 
"Mummy got a Mocha
and I had Marshmallows in my baby cino
Thats lots of M words Mummy!!!!


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