Stages: Emotions Cards review for Timberdoodle

Timberdoodle sent us these Stages: Emotions Cards that are included in the PreK Curriculum kit. We've been having a good time with them. Included in the box are 3.5x5 inch cards with photos of people showing different emotions and a set of scenario cards.

The emotions cards include photos of sad, disgusted, angry, surprised, and happy. I do wish there were more emotions. The 5 that there are, have several different people showing the emotion. We were able to match the emotion in games of Memory or Ispy.

The scenario cards were fun to engage in conversations about feelings during certain situations. We also talked about our memories and emotions when talking about the photo. There are conversation questions on the backs of these cards to encourage discussions which does help guide you.

Also, on both sets of cards are columns for noting when the card or emotion was introduced and when it was mastered. Its a good way to track the development of your child and their understanding of their own and other people's feelings. I'd say, we have a lot more work to do before my kids understand their own emotions and that of others.

I've mostly used these emotions cards with my 5 year old. He has extreme explosive emotions and is quick to react. I was hoping using these cards with him would help relate to how other people feel when he does something or reacts with a temper, but I haven't seen any change quite yet in his behavior. He is able to connect with the photos and match the emotions or feelings when we play games with the cards, but actually applying what we talk about does not always stick in his brain.

My 2 year old really only understood happy and sad when looking at the emotions cards.

This is her being sad, above, after looking through the pictures of sad people.

We only get about 5 minutes of using the cards before they end up everywhere and Little Miss tosses them everywhere.

Overall, these cards a wonderful resource to connect with themselves and others. Emotions and feelings can be a really hard thing to understand and control. I'm glad to have these cards as a tool. Hopefully, we will be able to get ahold of personal feelings, though it can take a lifetime to learn. We do enjoy our Stages: Emotions Cards when we add them to our day.

All About Reading Level 3 review for Timberdoodle

All About Reading Level 3

A review for Timberdoodle

All About Reading Level 3 was sent to us by Timberdoodle to use and review. I was really excited for this experience since we have had a hard time finding a Language Arts curriculum that has worked for us.
Here is what you get with the Deluxe Kit in the All About Reading Level 3:
*Teacher's manual
*Student Activity book
*2 reading books
*Flash cards/ review cards
*Box for review cards with dividers
*Letter Tiles with magnets
*Tote Bag for easy storage
*Phonogram Sounds App

So, it's a lot of stuff and honestly it was a lot of prep to get it all set up. The flashcards come printed on sheets of cardstock and it all had to be cut apart. If I thought about it better, I would have used a paper cutter instead of hand scissors. Then all of the Letter Tiles had to be torn apart with a little magnet square added to the back. All together it took a few hours to prep all of the tiles and flash cards.
This set is included in the Grade 2 Curriculum kit. It is a great resource for reading, language arts and phonics awareness.
There is an assessment in the link of the AAR product that you can give your child to see if this is the right level for them. I actually had a hard time deciding if this was the right fit for my 2nd grader. Turns out, it wasn't. Mr A is 8 and in second grade, but he's probably more of a first grade level reading. He could read all of the words on the assessment, but slowly and the number of pages or amount of words on a page gives him anxiety.

This is a page from one of the reading books and this was way too much for him. He's gaining more confidence now, but I still have to read to him when there are pages with this many words on them. We do love the stories in the readers though.
I have noticed however, that this curriculum has been better suited for us to use the pieces individually than as a daily lesson. We use the readers for reading before bedtime. We take the Letter Tiles and a magnet board in the car to build words. The flash cards/ review cards we pull out randomly for review, but now that my kindergartener is starting to learn letter sounds, we use them more for him in phonics review.

We do love the Letter Tiles. We used a cookie sheet to stick them too for awhile, but it was heavy and luckily I found a smaller one that is better for travel. I would say a word and Mr A would use the Letter Tiles and try to spell it.

Here is a page from the Teacher's Manual. It is easy to follow and layed out nicely, but I haven't used it much. I personally, am not attracted to the book since it's all black and white. I do better with colorful pages. I get a general idea of the lesson and wing it. I think Mr A, my 2nd grader is the same way. He hasn't been willing to do the activities in the activity book, unless I color them first.

This one above, was one that I colored first. It had review words on the strip and we tried to read them as quickly as possible. You can see in his body language and facial expression that this isn't his favorite thing.

There is a of variety of activities in the Student book. This one above is a little flip book that we haven't done yet to practice the suffix ending -ness. 

The flash cards have been a great tool for practicing words, letter blends, phonics of individual letter, vowel teams etc. I love the storage box and the dividers. It's easy to find what was mastered, needs review and what is up-coming. I have been using these on occasion with the kindergartener too for letter phonics. He struggles with Language Arts, so any practice helps. 

But, like I've said before, we do love this curriculum, but as individual components. I think that is what makes learning at home worthwhile. That, you can use what is available in any way that you see fit. The daily structured lessons don't work for us as a family. We take what we are given and use it in ways that fits us. The kids are learning what they need in a way that is special for them.

Mr A says that he likes the Letter Tiles the best because "I can spell the words without writing with a pencil."

My advice also is, be careful choosing the level of curriculum for your child. Mr A was overwhelmed with the amount of reading that he wasn't quite ready for. He can read the words in Level 3, but its also too much. We are finding our way through the curriculum and adjusting accordingly. 

Some Planning Materials from MGT

Mother Goose Time

Teacher Planning Materials

Mother Goose Time provides so much in their curriculum that it can seem overwhelming at first. But, it seriously makes your life so much easier once you know what everything is.

We have always liked the monthly calender that comes with the curriculum. For a long time I just had the kids take turns putting the days on where it was supposed to go. They looked forward to it in the mornings and of course would sometimes fight over who got to put it on next. Recently though, I started using the calender for planning too. I write on the days of things that I need to remember plus things that the kids are looking forward to such as a birthday party, appointments or places of interest. It has been useful for them to recognize that something important is coming up and that has given them a better sense of time. Oh and of course the calender is a great math tool for recognizing patterns and numbers. 

The Gathering List is found in the Teacher's Tool Bag and is a great help when you need to quickly gather extra materials for crafts or activities. It lists all the things you still need in addition with what is in the daily bags.

The Teacher Newsletter and Family Newsletter are things that I never really paid attention to since I'm a stay-at-home mom. The Teacher Newsletter includes a layout of the activity titles for each day. There are short articles on topics to help gain understanding of topics or resources. It is a great quick learning letter. One Family Newsletter is included for each child in the first daily pack. It includes a schedule of the topics for the monthly theme, things to look forward to and tips and tricks or activity ideas to do at home to reinforce the monthly theme.

These My Creative Mind handouts haven't been much use to me at home, but I'm sure they are so great for kids that are learning wtih MGT outside of the home. They are small handouts to briefly describe the craft that was done during the day. Because you know, sometimes kids just "make a mess" and don't know how to tell you about their art. There is also a question to encourage a discussion about their craft.

I love this next page that is included in the Teacher's Tool Bag, The Supplied Tool page. Items included in the daily bags are sorted by the different tools like Literacy Tools, Make & Play crafts or Math & Logic Tools. The items are then listed by what lesson bag you can find them in. I love being able to refer back to this sheet if I need to find a game that was loved to play again or craft. I can find what day it was from in a jiffy.

There are so many other planning materials included and ways to assess your child(ren). It's amazing how you well you can help them get a jump start on loving to learn. My kids have always enjoyed MGT. Now that my oldest will be 8 soon, he just likes the crafts mostly. Little Miss is now 2 and really likes the manipulatives.
Anyway, but what great tools these are! I haven't used them as well as I should... but it's nice to know I have them available just the same. I just grab a bag and go. I've tried other curriculums and I keep coming back to Mother Goose Time.
Happy Planning. I dare you to find a preschool curriculum that gives you all these amazing resources to succeed.

The Greatest Dot to Dot Books review... The Super Challenge pack

We were so excited to recieve more of The Greatest Dot-to-Dot Books to review recently. We were given the Super Challenge pack which includes Books 5, 6, 7 and 8 in the whole series.
My 8 year old, Mr A was a bit protective of the books and didn't want to share them with us. But, he had too even though he tried hoarding all of them. I love these books too and grabbed Book 8.
There are 17 different puzzle types (here). I couldn't believe how many different ways there were to do dot-to-dots. I always thought it was just a dot and a number, but nope! It was awesome to have a variety of puzzles to challenge the brain.
Here are some of the different puzzles that I worked on while I was having a stressful week recently.
I worked on one puzzle called Crazy Dots from Book 8. There are no numbers, just different graphics. The key to connecting lines had 2 pictures; one to start your line and the other to connect too.

When I had gotten to this point in my lines, below, my 5 year old blurted out, "Mom, Its a train!" I wasn't really paying attention to what the picture was turning out to be and was excited that he could tell what it was.

My 5 year old wanted in on the Dot-to-Dot action and grabbed Book 5 and found a page he wanted to attempt to complete. Since Mr Z is young and doesn't really know how to count above 20, I helped him find the numbers in sequential order. His lines were squiggly and all over the place, but he loves trying to do them. Mr Z recently figured out he likes the puzzles called Crazy Dots also instead of the numbered dots puzzles.

Some of the other puzzles that I really liked to do were the ones called:

Field of Dots

 You have a key with coordinates to connect and a grid.

Compass

I had the most trouble with the Compass dot-to-dots. I kept skipping compass directions around the mouth area and the tip of the ponytail of the girl. I erased quite a bit and had to back track to find my spot. I highly suggest crossing off the compass direction after completing it.

Numbers: I liked the Numbers puzzles because there are no dots to connect. You just aim for the middle of the next number. Lines were able to flow together better and curve more easily.

Mr A likes to have alone time or quiet time with these books. He does them before bed, in the play tent or in the playhouse fort in the yard.

"I just love these books so much. I want all of these books." Mr A says.

The Greatest Dot-to-Dot Books are awesome for anyone really: the mom who needs to relieve stress (like me), the puzzler, the schooler who needs a little something extra to stay focused or as a reward, the senior who needs a bit more mental exercise or hand & eye coordination.

They are great for so many different things too: activities in the car while on trips (if you don't get car sick), while waiting in the waiting room for appointments, gifts for birthdays or stocking stuffers or quiet time activities.

I always liked dot-to-dot puzzles, but they are redundant after awhile. The Greatest Dot-to-Dot Books offers brain stimulation and activity that make me want to do more. They aren't boring and are a great exercisefor the brain. We will recommend these to anyone. The Greatest Dot-to-Dot Books are such a great way to unwind or relax and have a simple, yet challenging activity.

Use this discount code DTD30AAL at the Dot Store for 30% off Dot to Dot books of your own. Valid for US addresses only. Code does expire.

Head on over the Dot Store for some of your own books. You or your children will love them... because we do. There are so many to choose from also! Some have over 3,000 dots to connect!

Mr A wants everyone to know, "There are so many ways to do the dot-to-dots. There's lots of numbers and some with pictures that you have to connect. Some are so super crazy. They're just so super crazy."