Works for Me Wednesday: The Learning Kit

K- loves to learn. We like to foster that in our child. So for today's "Mom, I'm Bored" Edition of WFMW, I'd like to introduce you to what K- calls her "Kit."

Over the years I've picked up all kinds of flash cards. They've been passed down to me. My mother-in-law has picked some things up. Things have amassed and now we have them all included in a lovely container. What am I using to contain all of our lovely materials? It is a very deep handled shower caddy that I purchased a few weeks ago on the Target clearance rack for $3.00. Just look!So now that you've seen our container, let me share with you the items within the plastic walls of containment.
1. Several different sets of ABC flash cards. K- is 5 and knows her ABC's, but I think that it is important to not only review them, but their sound and correct place "in line" so she knows -- eventually -- how to alphabetize.
2. Several different sets of 123 flash cards. Same reason as above.
3. Dolch sight words. I purchased the Dolch sight words (K - 3rd grade) at the Dollar Tree. I did find the missing Pre-K listing online. We've been working on at-bat-cat and have pretty well mastered those.
4. Dry erase lined writing board. I found this in the Target $1.00 aisle some time ago. I don't want K- to forget how to write her first and last name. She's been working on it on the board. I also write her name, address and telephone number on there for her to recognize and review.
5. Dry erase clock. My mother-in-law found this nifty little clock with movable arms in the Target $1.00 aisle. The top is a standard clock with hands. The lower portion is "digital" and allows the children to write the correct time in the space allowed.
6. Strawberry Shortcake Groups and Patterns Wipe Off Book. A suggestion by one of the Kindergarten teachers at orientation was to review patterns with our children over summer. This is a nice little wipe-off book that I got at the Dollar Tree.
7. Dry erase markers. Well of course we have to have the markers to make the wipe-off stuff work!
8. An old kitchen dish towel. To wipe the marker off, of course!
9. Manuscript Tablet. You know, the nice young kid writing tablet. Never hurts to get her used to writing on the big lined paper!
10. ABC, Sounds and Math Workbooks. Dollar Tree workbooks. To help reinforce K-'s name writing skills, I have her write her first and last name at the top of each and every page.
11. My Little "ABC" Books from her preschool year. Throughout the school year, each week the children were sent home with the book of the week. They would memorize the book and come back the next week and recite it to the teacher. As a reward, they were able to pick from the prize bucket. K- still goes over the books and remembers most of them. Though it started as memorization, it worked out as sight reading more at the end of the year.
12. Brain Quest Kindergarten and 1st grade decks, Bug File-of-Facts and Presidential Fandex. This past week, my mother-in-law discovered a love for Brain Quest. She asked where I got them and I said the Thrift Store for a buck a piece or less. If you don't know what Brain Quest is, they are fan-type deck books that have all kinds of little quiz questions. The Bug File-of-Facts (another fan deck that goes over basic bugs) was a hand-me-down and the Presidential Fandex (which K- does love) was from a Chick-fil-A kids meal.
13. Color and Shape Flash Cards. Again, K- has this stuff down, but I certainly don't think that it hurts to review. We have a couple of different decks.
14. Word pairing. I'm not exactly sure of what they are called, but this is a deck comprised of two cards that are items that go together. To be certain that you have the correct match, the flipside is a two piece matching picture of either Pooh or one of his friends. A Dollar Tree purchase.
15. Number Match Direction Flash Card Game. This is another Pooh themed deck that matches three different cards by number, number word and the correct number of honey pots. To make certain the correct match has been made, K- flips the cards over to see if they make a neat picture. A Dollar Tree purchase.
16. Addition and Subtraction Flash Cards. Hand-me-down's. We're not to this yet, but I have them in there to keep all of our learning goodies together.
16. Time and Money Flash Cards. We'll be working with these soon enough. Another hand-me-down.
17. Crayons and a few pencils. We need materials to write in all of those workbooks with, right?
18. Leap Frog Letter Factory and Word Factory Videos. When we (the neighbor and I) attended the kindergarten orientation/registration, they suggested the Leap Frog videos as excellent tools to use for letter reinforcement and sound memorization.

So this is our learning "kit." It works for us! Beats boredom at our house. K- loves being able to pick what she'll be learning about. Funny thing is that she chooses something different everyday! I would have pegged her to doing the same thing. Who knew?