Mommy School: Shapes...

I'm still working on the basics with Zoe, so I thought we would kick off Mommy School this year studying shapes for August/September. 

This is the first year that Zoe is actually focused and spending more time working on activities with me. In fact, she gets so excited on home days and is begging for us to learn together :).

I began by introducing shapes and labeling. I found this adorable book online that we read through several times and even matched our shapes to the poems.

We actually started the unit doing several matching activities and just reviewing repetitively each shape. 

I finally feel like Zoe is old enough to work on scissor skills, so I made sure we had an activity for practice...

She has used scissors a few times before, but for random cutting of teeny, tiny pieces :)...this time I drew shapes and she worked on cutting along the lines. 

Let's just say she was a bit overjoyed about using scissors and glue all by her little self without this momma butting in! After minor assistance, we made a shapes collage...

My recent obsession has been YouTube kids...they have all sorts of incredible little videos and songs. I found a couple of awesome shape videos that not only labeled shapes, but also identified those shapes in regular objects we encounter daily.

*I had planned on doing a scavenger hunt for shapes around the house, but time got away from me.* We practiced drawing shapes...

and then was let loose to just explore and build with shapes!

I got my shapes flashcards out to review and reteach...

before we built shapes out of popsicle sticks...

Zoe loves to build things, so this activity was super fun for her.

In fact, we actually did this a few days in a row because she kept coming back to it :). We even played a matching game where I called out a shape and she had to erase it by tracing the chalk line with water...

 *Thank you pinterest mommas for this one!* Zoe even explored creating a scenery using tangram shapes...

 We worked on comparing shape sizes to determine which one was littlest/biggest and ordering from small to large. Zoe will jump at any chance to get her hands into play dough!

 Then, we got moving by jumping from shape to shape as I called the shapes out...

 We wrapped up our shapes unit by tracing...

 This activity was probably the hardest for Zoe because she is still working on staying within lines, but she did it...so proud! Then of course, I couldn't help but end on a puzzle...

one of her favorites :). I cut out all the shapes we had been working on and cut them in half using various lines (vertical, horizontal, diagonal). She had to find the two pieces and match them together. Like I stated previously, this girl is ready to learn and this teacher lovin' heart is enjoying her eagerness to learn. She was absolutely precious these past few weeks even practicing her shapes in the car by having me guess what shapes she created with her hands :). Up next on the Mommy School calendar...numbers...so stay tuned!