Froggy Phonics; Art Activity

Every end of unit (fifth lesson) in Kindergarten Phonics has an optional review activity. Up until recently I had been skipping them with hardly a glance. Last week, though, the activity was too good to pass up. There were about 8-10 sheets of paper, each with a letter or digraph (two letters that make one sound, like sh, ch, th, wh, etc.). These were to be taped to the floor. Then there were about a dozen slips of paper, with one word per slip. Kaith and I took turns, each reading a word, then jumping on the papers to spell it out. I don't know when the last time was he was so excited about phonics! The next unit finished with a Bingo game, which he enjoyed as well, but is looking forward to another episode of "Froggy Phonics" later this week, which will challenge his skills acquired this week--ending words with the trigraph tch or the digraph ck. Maybe this time I'll do it before Sterling wakes up. He was so determined to rip those papers off the floor.

We also pulled another activity out of Art for the Very Young. I got out the Crayola washable fingerpaints and a few washable toys. The children were instructed to dip the ends of the toys in the paints, then make lines on their paper, which could be straight, wavy, zigzag, etc. Trevor enthusiastically went through a large quantity of paper as he experimented with the physical properties of his available tools. Miriam, however, stayed with it the longest. I think Kaith had long left the table when she placed the finishing touches on her first piece. I have great hopes that she will make a charming artistic companion for me, once she matures a little more. Ah, working side-by-side with various mediums, subtly inspiring each other . . .