Ask Mr. Bear Shelf Work

We are in full swing this week for Ask Mr. Bear!  Below you will find a link to the video I did on our shelf work for the next two weeks.  Keep reading for more pictures and links to the printables we used.

3-Part Cards

In my previous post about our new curriculum, I stated that language arts was one of our main focuses this year.  One of the ways I plan on expanding E's vocabulary is with 3-part cards.

First I show E all the cards, and name them.  I use both sets of cards, but I leave the two-part cards whole.  She can't read yet, and hasn't even begun to master the concept of written words, so for now we are relying on the pictures.

Once I've told E what all the cards show, then I ask her to find the matches, by saying, "where is the ...?" She's definitely gotten better at this as the week has progressed.  I also have her practice putting the cards the correct side up in our table pocket chart next to the match.

Lastly, we are working on correctly saying the word of each card.  I will point to a card and say, "what is this?" Some of these words E already knows, but many she does not, so this is good practice for her.

Sorting Eggs

Next we pretended this brown and white pompoms were eggs, and worked on sorting the different colors into two different baskets.  This was challenging since we haven't focused on the colors brown or white yet.  But, E still had fun playing with the pompoms!

Birthday Cake Hiding Game

This was a fun game! You hide the cake under one of the numbers and the child tries to guess which number it is under.  We played this at a restaurant on E's birthday while waiting for our food, and it was a big hit with adults and kids.  Cute way to pass the time!  This printable can be found at Homeschool Creations.

Forest Animals/Farm Animals Sort

I wanted to teach E a basic introduction to animal habitats.  She is familiar with all the animals we used so we focused on sorting them by where they live: in the forest, or on a farm.

Clip and Learn 1-6 Wheel

Printable from Homeschool Creations.  I laminated the wheel, and cut it out.  The printable comes with numbers that I glued to clothespins.  We are just beginning to talk about numbers, so I used this more for fine motor skills than for math.  I would said "1 bear" and point the bear, then hand E the clothespin with the number 1 on it and help her clip it to the wheel.

Farm Puzzle and Farm Magnets

From our stash of toys, we used this farm puzzle and Melissa and Doug farm magnets to reiterate our farm theme.  These types of learning toys are always a fun hit with toddlers. 

How Many Animals? 

I created a simple barn picture for another math project.  The idea of this is to put a number (can't find my number tiles!) in the corner, and add that many farm animals to the scene.  Again, it was mostly me doing it, with E watching while I counted and then we would add the animals together.

Printable Worksheets

Again, from Homeschool Creations, as part of the Ask Mr. Bear pack.  I used the tracing lines sheet, the beginning letter sounds, and the rhyming word sheets.  I realize E is too young for these, the beginning sound and rhyming sheet are more to work on vocabulary, and the tracing sheet is fun scribbling on, as well as working on our straight line marks.

Story Sequence Cards

Since E can't read, we didn't use these for memory or comprehension.  I would read the story, and as I read, I would pull out the first card, find the hen in our Safari animals, and put the hen on the card, and so on.  Then I started having E help me (these cards are great for toddlers because they have pictures on them!) so as I read, she would pick the card of the animal we would come across, and the corresponding miniature animal and line them all up.

STEM Fence Building

I saw this idea on Pinterest.  I cut small slits in toilet paper rolls, that I had cut down to about half their size.  Then you can add popsicle sticks and create a pen for your miniature farm animals!  This is great fine motor practice.  If you have older children. you could also have them measure where to cut the toilet paper rolls, and where to make the slits.  It's pretty important to make sure everything lines up or you'll have really uneven fence posts!

So that is everything on our shelves for these next two weeks!  Stay tuned for our vidoes and posts on our art projects for Ask Mr. Bear.