Awesome Alphabet Learning Circle

I was on pintrest the other day pinning a bunch of recipes I want to keep. While I was there, I saw a pin about putting the alphabet on the floor. Since we've been working pretty hard on lower case letters (Amita only knows upper case) I decided to do it. What I couldn't imagine is how much the kids love it. Mommy for the win!

I used painters tape so it comes off easily. Also, let me tell you, I've never had greater appreciation for letters like X, T, and Z. Those round letters can be difficult and I hope they don't come off if the kids step on them. Also, if I had thought of it, I might have somehow pre-spaced my letters. I went from thinking I had too much space to having too little. I am not going to redo it, though, I had just enough tape so I'll have to take it as it is.

Possible games/activities I've thought of using the circle: 

1. Assigning each kid a letter - when I read books they have to sit on that letter while I read (also keeps them from crowding me and pulling each other's hair as I read - definitely a great idea!). 
2. Musical Letters - dancing/marching around the circle when music is on, turning it off, and having them run to a letter. 
3. Having them trace the letters with their fingers.
4. Placing corresponding objects on the letters - plastic eggs on the letter E, a bear on the letter B, etc. 

Can you think of any games? If so, please comment and I'll add them to the list!

What I Do To Ensure Daily Learning of Major Concepts

In addition to lessons plans, which I don't always have time to plan for, we have certain things we do every day to continue working on main concepts I want the girls to learn. Here are some of the things we do:

ABC banner - I put a chain of letters up down the hall. When we go down the hall, I have Amita point to a letter or sing our ABCs. If she asks for something, I'll tell her she can have it after she points out the letter G, etc. It is a great way to reinforce her letters.

Color banner - This is the same concept as the ABC chain. Sadly, this chain no longer exists as Amita pulled all of the papers off the chain and gave them to Ashima who proceeded to eat them. I am thinking about getting some laminated and trying again.

Bulletin board - On days when Amita seems like she is willing to pay attention, we review many things on the bulletin board: days of the week, ABCs, seasons, months, shapes, and colors.

I will probably change these as necessary during the learning process. Currently, these are the main concepts we are working on so I want the girls to really grasp and practice them daily. It is really nice to always have something I can work on with the girls even when I don't have time for a formal lesson.

Lesson Plan - Making Awesome Alphabet Bracelets

One thing Amita really wants to be able to do is write her letters. Any time she colors she really tries to make out the shapes of each letter.

One of the first thing she needs to work on before she can write is her fine motor skills. This means practicing with lots of little "things". One of the things we do is have her put little tiny stickers on paper, another is lacing her cutouts (another post on this to follow). The one I concentrated on today with Amita was lacing beads. Ashima was grief-stricken that she was not also allowed to play with the beads, but alas, she will just swallow them. Instead, she played with blocks and ate blueberries! She also played with her water coloring book.

Steps to the bracelet-making lesson:

1. Put the beads out and talk about each color.
2. Go over the letters on the beads that have letters.
3. Show an example of a bracelet so Amita knows what it is she's making.
4. Help her figure out how to begin beading.
5. Let her go to town with the beads.
6. Put it on her hand and celebrate! Also, talk about how beautiful and wonderful it is and how I have never seen a bracelet better than Amita's. 

The alphabet beads I used

The finished Product:

Skills: letter recognition, color recognition, and fine motor skills.

Strangely enough, as I was getting the activity ready for the girls (while they were napping) I saw a friend posted this link on Facebook (yes, Lindsay, this means you):

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/psyched/201402/fine-motor-skills-and-academic-achievement

Apparently this lesson will make the the kids super smart!

Intrigued by the idea of a water coloring book? I really like them - no mess and it lets kids work on their writing skills! They are available here: http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Water-Coloring-Book/dp/B009B7F6DO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1391820651&sr=8-2&keywords=water+color+books