Teaching the alphabet doesn’t have to be boring. Although I find our preschooler does love repition, I find just singing the alphabet over and over again isn’t ideal for either of us! That’s why I was excited to check out S is for Smiling Sunrise by WordsBright!
S is for Smiling Sunrise is the debut book for WordsBright. It is a book written by a father sharing sing-along alphabet rhymes he wrote for his daughter. It is a hardback book with brightly colored and illustrated pages. Each letter has its own page with the corresponding rhyme. What I find unique is this isn’t just an alphabet book. There is also an mp3 song version of the book available as well as a Teacher’s Guide.
I have been using the S is for Smiling Sunrise and resources mostly with our preschooler (age 5), though our daughter (age 7) likes to also jump in and read to her little brother as well as sing the songs. I have been reading the book 3-4 times per week and work on focusing on one letter at a time as suggested in the guide. He insists I read the whole book each time, though, which is often the case with playing the songs as well. So I will read it all the way through one time and then go to the page with the letter on which we’re focusing.
Although I think just reading the books and listening to the songs would help reinforce learning the alphabet, I definitely find the guide to be helpful. It focuses on concepts, asking questions, talking about vocabulary, and even suggests complementing activities. I have found the book, in general, has been great at extending our vocabulary. Sometimes the picture itself can be deceiving. Chaz would try to guess what the word is but would realize it doesn’t start with that sound, so he got to learn some new words just based on the main word for the letter!
S is for Smiling Sunrise definitely isn’t your “typical alphabet book.” There isn’t the “A is for Apple.” It uses a rather broad vocabulary, and has helped expand not only our preschooler’s vocabulary, but some of his ideas as well! Using the guide has definitely helped in this area to really reinforce what we are learning.
Overall, we have really been enjoying S is for Smiling Sunrise. I initially found I stumbled over some of the words in the rhymes as they didn’t flow how I expected, but reading them over again as well as listening to the songs definitely helped. Chaz really likes the pictures and the music, and I love that he’s learning new words in addition to reinforcing his learning of the alphabet. I think S is for Smiling Sunrise is a good book not only for preschoolers, but for Kindergarten and early readers as well!
For more information be sure to connect with the S is for Smiling Sunrise author Vick Wadhwa on Facebook.
Many members from the Schoolhouse Review Crew had the chance to review S is for Smiling Sunrise by WordsBright. See what they thought in their reviews by clicking on the banner below!
Having Fun Constructing Numbers With Learning Resources
As a homeschooling mom, I am particularly fond of activities that are both educational and fun! Plus, if our kids can work on multiple skills in one activity, that is a bonus! I think whether you’re a homeschooling parent, teacher, or a parent encouraging your children’s education, these are features you can appreciate! This is why I appreciate Learning Resources.
Disclosure: I received Number Construction to facilitate my review. This post contains affiliate links. Regardless, all opinions are my own.
Learning Resources offers a variety of hands-on educational products for young children. They make finding the best products for your children easy by offering shopping by Age, Grade, Category, Brand, Teacher Resources, and more. As a mom of three special needs kiddos, I love that they also have a Special Needs category that is broken down into both Skill Development and Learning Styles. I love that they recognize children with special needs have different needs!
For our review, we received Number Construction.
Number Construction is a fun number building activity ideal for Preschool age children ages 4+. Our preschooler (age 4) has recently taken a more involved interest in his numbers, so I knew he would love this. Plus, because of his special needs, I also knew he would benefit from the fine-motor skills he would be working on while building the numbers! I love that he can work on multiple skills at the same time. Our older two children (ages 6 and 8) also wanted to join in the number building fun as well. They said they were “helping” their little brother, but I think they were enjoying it, too! 😉
What we have been enjoying most about Number Construction is it isn’t a limited activity. It consists of 5 double-sided activity cards, and they can be used for a number of suggested activities. In fact, it includes eight different suggested activities! Each card gives step-by-step instructions on how to build each number. Building the number is a great activity in itself! Sometimes I then ask him (or them) to write the number ask him to confirm what number he just built.
The bolts are great for a variety of activities as well. We have mainly used them to place them on the “touch points” of the numbers. Then I encourage our preschooler to count them. It helps reinforce touch points for our older children as well. As learners that benefit from both hands-on and visual activities, this is a helpful activity! Of course, our preschooler has also decided the bolts are great for stacking. I always encourage free play, and he even counts them as he stacks them!
Other suggested activities include group activities, sorting the numbers, deconstructing the numbers, and more. Of course, you (or your children) can always think of other ways to use them as well! Number Construction is a great activity for young children. I would say children from preschool up to 1st Grade could really enjoy them!
For More Information:
Visit the Learning Resources Website
Connect with Learning Resources on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube
*Giveaway!!!*
Would you like to win Number Construction? This giveaway will run through 9/18/14 at 10pm Central Time. It’s open to US residents ages 18+. Enter the giveaway now!
Character, Social and Emotional Skills {Happy Kids Songs Review}
Having a resource that helps teach young children important social tools can be so helpful. That’s why I was excited to review resources from Happy Kids Songs. For our review we received Friends & Sharing (Set 1), Happiness & Attitude (Set 5), and Manners & Character (Set 6) as well as the Happy Kids Songs Workbook: Hands-on Activities to Build Character, Social & Emotional Skills.
Happy Kids Songs offers a variety of song sets regarding building character, social and emotional skills that is ideal for ages 3-8, though I think children a little younger or a little older may enjoy it and benefit from it as well. We have been listening to (and singing) the songs all together as a family. Our children are ages 4, 6, and 8 and have been absolutely enjoying the songs.
I am a strong advocate for learning in ways that children enjoy, and I believe children learn a lot through music. The Happy Kids Songs have songs that are really catchy. The kids were catching onto them quickly, and before I knew it, they were singing them without the music and knew every word! I love this because it means they are retaining what they’re learning as well!
What I appreciate most about Happy Kids Songs is it such a flexible yet helpful resource. We can listen to the songs while we are working on pages in the workbook or even while we’re going about our day. The kids are still listening and learning! The songs are available through download, so they can be played straight through your device or burned to a CD. We listened to them on the laptop.
Friends & Sharing is the set we started with, and our preschooler was singing the first song Sailing on the Seven Cs the entire day. So I knew right away this was going to be great for them!
Friends & Sharing addresses various topics regarding friends. Examples are what it means to be a friend, reaching out to others, sharing with and including others, being happy, and sharing time/saying goodbye. All of the songs have a positive message about friendship, and they are all catchy and fun.
Happiness & Attitude is the set I was most curious to check out. This is an area that can be challenging for our children, and some approaches just haven’t worked well for us, so I was definitely excited for a positive approach in a form they love – music.
Happiness & Attitude covers a variety of topics regarding attitude from giving compliments to self-encouragement. Other topics are handling limitations, ways to happiness, and being together and apart. It has really made our children consider not only how their attitude is in regards to others but to themselves as well, which is so important!
Manners & Character is the set that might be my personal favorite, though the kids seem to like them all equally. I just love what is covered in this set, though. I feel sometimes these topics are easily overlooked yet they’re so important. Manners & Characters covers topics like honesty, being considerate of others, learning manners, appreciating differences, and respecting other perspectives.
Having three special needs children, I have gotten questions from other children that don’t understand our children’s differences. I decided I wanted our children to know and understand differences because everyone is unique. I feel like this is a great resource.
In addition to listening to and singing the songs, we also discuss them. I gauge this on how receptive the kids are at the time. Having children with social/emotional special needs, I always appreciate resources that support positive social and emotional skills.
The Happy Kids Song Workbook is a great complimenting resource. It has activities for all of the music sets (125 pages). If you have multiple children like we do, they also allow copies for the family, which is really nice.
The Workbook has a variety of activities from color sheets to word puzzles. Some of the activities were too difficult even for our oldest two children because they are still beginning readers and have challenges with word related activities. All of them can color, though! Plus, beyond just workbook activities, there are also hands-on activities as well! It was a great way to reinforce what we’ve been learning in the songs!
Overall, we have really been enjoying Happy Kids Songs, and our kids are learning a lot in a way that they love. They sing, dance, and learn important life lessons at the same time! The song sets can be purchased for $4.95 each, and the Workbook can be purchased for $12.56.
Many members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew have also share their Happy Kids Songs Review. Read their reviews by clicking on the button below.
KinderBach Review
We were excited to kick off the Schoolhouse Review Crew year with a review of KinderBach! We received the The KinderBach Online Piano Lesson Membership with Teacher Corner for our review. KinderBach encourages starting music education between the ages of 3-7 and offers an online program for teaching music and piano without needing previous experience.
I was particularly excited that all three of our children are in the age ranges. They are 3, 6, and 7, and we have been using KinderBach together as our main music curriculum 3-4 times per week. Although our older two children have used piano before, we decided to start at the beginning so we could include our preschooler as well. Because KinderBach is so much more than “just piano lessons,” I felt like this wasn’t a problem. Our older two children really enjoy the lessons and have not mentioned that they feel they are too easy or boring.
In fact, I think what we enjoy most about KinderBach is that it isn’t just get on the keyboard and play. It truly builds upon the basics and incorporates a broad range of activities like coloring sheets, cut and paste, rhythm, marching, dancing, and more. There isn’t a lesson that wasn’t fun. Even our preschooler who tends to be a little reluctant was eager to get involved as soon as he knew it was “music time.”
With the Online Piano Lesson Membership, there are easy to follow videos and printable PDF books for the activities. I also got a lot of use out of the Teacher Corner as well. I found that the Lesson Plans helped guide me a little and helped me to know what to expect for the day. Having multiple children, I sometimes opted for the printouts from the Teacher Aid book and laminating the printouts for all three children to see rather than having them each do separate activities with them.
What I like most is that I have the option to do either – whichever happens to be best for that particular printout. Sometimes we do both! For Dodi’s house they each colored their own sheet and circled the keys that could be Dodi’s house, and we also have the color copy from the Teacher Aid book that we use dry erase marker on to practice circling Dodi’s house over and over again!
KinderBach starts with Dodi’s house (which is a fun way of teaching the two black keys), high/low notes, finger numbers, and quarter notes (taught as “walk”). It continues to build on those basics then expand from there. It really makes it easy for those that may be unfamiliar with music themselves as well as making it a great start for young children as they need to learn more than just playing piano, but the basics of music as well. Because it is presented in a fun, easy way that young children can understand it was also effective in engaging our children in learning.
Each lesson takes us around thirty minutes, but we also tend to repeat a few of the activities because the kids like it so much. The “high/low song” is one of our favorites, and everybody is laughing at the end. It’s really quite a workout, too!
KinderBach has even noted a correlation between “the three R’s” versus those who didn’t have music education. So although it is a music curriculum, it is also helping prepare children for success in the key educational areas as well.
The KinderBach Online Piano Lesson Membership with Teacher Corner can be purchased for a special price at the time of this post for $95.88/year (works out to $7.99/month – regular price $130/year). They offer a Free 2 Week Trial and 30-Day Money Back Guarantee.
For more connect with KinderBach on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube.
Ninety members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew have shared their reviews of KinderBach. Click the banner below to read all of the reviews.