Booking Across the USA: Learning about Pennsylvania

I'm very excited to be participating today in the Booking Across America project hosted by Jodie over at Growing Book by Book - a blog devoted to "nurturing our youngest readers". For this project, a child-friendly blogger from each state will showcase one book related to their state and an activity to go with the chosen book.



I'm representing our hometown state of Pennsylvania and have selected My Little Pennsylvania ABC to go along with our learning activity: A fun, crafty, kid-friendly MAP OF PENNSYLVANIA.

When I came across this book at Barnes and Noble earlier this week, I thought it was perfect for this blog, my baby bookworms who are 3 years and 2 months, and the Booking Across the USA project. Here's why:

1) it has this super cute baby on every page that is dressed up as "something Pennsylvanian" (for example, L is for Lancaster and he's dressed up in Amish gear) - which happens to make learning a little more fun,

2) it's a board book which is great for the "littlest learners" ages 3 and under that are the focus here at Land of Once Upon a Time,

3) it teaches alphabet knowledge and phonemic awareness - important emergent literacy skills,

4) it provides a great basis for a discussion about our state and could easily tie in to a crafy learning activity, and

5) baby bookworm could make connections from the book to her life because we had already visited many of the places in PA (which is a great learning mechanism).

Showing off the cover of the book



J is for Johnstown Incline Plane - a place we have visited! 

 

After enjoying this book several times, we dove into our craft and learning activity which was a MAP OF PENNSVANIA. It could easily be created with infants, toddlers, or preschoolers by modifying a few elements.

Here are the instructions for this learning activity, if you would like to make your own (for PA or another state).

Gather the following materials:

• Contact paper
• Scissors (adult)
• Finger paints
• Art smock
• Large sheet of paper
• Pen (for drawing the outline of PA)
• Craft letters (to spell Pennsylvania)
• Craft stars (for showing where cities are)

INSTRUCTIONS: Begin by either tracing or free-hand drawing an outline of the state of Pennsylvania on to the contact paper. Cut it out, peel off the contact paper, and stick it on to your large sheet of paper.

Then you are ready to paint (and make a mess) - which is the fun part!

Let the paint dry for a few minutes and then peel off the contact paper; your outline of Pennsylvania will be revealed.

Allow the paint to fully dry, then grab your craft letters and stars, and your book! Identify the word Pennsylvania on the front cover, and invite your child to name each letter; play a little search and find game with the craft letters and see if your child can find all of the letters to spell out Pennsylvania.

Once you have found all of the letters, glue them on to your map.

Last but not least, add stars on your map to represent various cities in PA. We chose to identify cities in PA where we had friends or family living, or ones that we have visited.

In addition to this book on Pennsylvania we read a bunch of books on the largest city in PA - Philadelphia, which also happens to be where we live.



Our collection of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia books

 

 



1 2 3 Philadelphia by Puck - A counting book for young children

 

Good Night Philadelphia by Adam Gamble - A perfect bedtime story

The ABC's of Philadelphia by Greg Landry - An illustrated guide to the city

P is for Philadelphia by Susan Korman - An ABC book about Philly illustrated by Philly kids

Philadelphia and the State of Pennsylvania: Cool Stuff Every Kid Should Know - A book with tons of facts for learning
 



Baby bookworm loves seeing the places that she has visited in these books, and has a list of places she would still like to see.

I'd also like to mention that Pennsylvania is home to a few of our favorite authors: Jan and Stan Berenstain of the Berenstain Bears series (my last post was about their book The Berenstain Bears Visit the Dentist and learning activities to accompany it), and Mr. Fred Rogers who was from Latrobe! Comedian and educator Bill Cosby is also a Philly native.

Be sure to visit Growing Book by Book for links to each post, but here is also a list of all participating blogs that are full of wonderful kid-friendly activities:

Alabama: Everyday Snapshots
Alaska: Little Wonders’ Days
Arizona: Simply Kinder
Arkansas: Homeschooling in Arkansas
California: Juggling with Kids and The Outlaw Mom
Colorado: Learners in Bloom and Living Montessori Now
Connecticut: The Teacher Park
Delaware: Mama Miss
Florida: Teaching Stars
Georgia: Fabulously First
Hawaii: Teaching With Style
Idaho: True Aim Education
Illinois: Growing Book by Book
Indiana: Teach Preschool
Iowa: Surviving a Teacher's Salary
Kansas: KCEdventures
Kentucky: Chicken Babies
Louisiana: New Orleans Moms Blog
Maine: Maine Adventure Mom and Country Fun Child Care
Maryland: Picture Books and Piourettes
Massachusetts: Mama Smiles
Michigan: Play DrMom
Minnesota: The Wise Owl Factory
Mississippi: Hey Mommy, Chocolate Milk
Missouri: Ready. Set. Read!
Montana: The Honey Bunch
Nebraska: The Good Long Road
Nevada: Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy Crafts
New Hampshire: Elementary Matters
New Jersey: The Pleasantest Thing
New Mexico: Enchanted Homeschooling Mom
New York: What Do We Do All Day
North Carolina: Realistic Teacher Blog
North Dakota: ND HealthWorks
Ohio: Smart Chick Teacher’s Blog
Oklahoma: Herding Kats in Kindergarten
Oregon: Journey of a Substitute Teacher
Pennsylvania: Land of Once Upon a Time
Rhode Island: Smiling in Second Grade
South Carolina: Cookies and Kiddos and JDaniel4’s Mom
South Dakota: The Wise Owl Factory
Tennessee: No Monkey Business
Texas: Curls and a Smile and Kid World Citizen
Utah: Teach Beside Me
Vermont: Burlington Vt Moms Blog
Virgina: Once Upon a Story, and The Freckled Homeschooler
Washington: Home Learning Journey and Boy Mama Teacher Mama
West Virginia: This Week @ Great Peace Academy and Mamas Like Me
Wisconsin: Reading Confetti
Wyoming: No Twiddle Twaddle
USA: The Corner on Character        

Disclosure: Some of the book links in this post are Affiliate links.

From A to Z: Simple Ways to Teach Alphabet and Letter Knowledge

Being able to identify letters is one important skill that is related to beginning reading and decoding of words.  And, although your child may not be able to identify a few letters by name until he is into his preschool or kindergarten years, the process of learning the alphabet and letters can (and should) begin at a young age.  There are some children who can even learn to identify all of the letters of the alphabet well before their second birthday.

Baby bookworm has been learning about letters since about 6 months of age.  Now, that doesn't mean that I've been giving her alphabet quizzes each week, or that we have some strenuous or even formal lesson plans focused around learning the alphabet.  Rather, I have made letter learning a part of our day to day lives in very easy, subtle, and fun ways......take a look at some of the things we have done over the past year and a half.....

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

1) Games/Crafts/Worksheets

OK, so I have grouped a bunch of things into #1, but they do all sort of go together in a way.  I'll subgroup them for organization.

     a. Letter Games

• One of my favorite, recent alphabet games that I've done with baby bookworm was based on Bill Martin Jr.'s book, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (which comes in hardcover and board book form).  Basically, I got foam letters from a craft store and assembled the coconut tree with construction paper in advance.  I spread out the letters on the table, and as we read the book I asked baby bookworm to find each letter and glue it on the coconut tree.  It was wonderful practice!  If your child is trying to learn his/her name, you could also read the book first then ask the child to search for the letters in his name. 

• A matching game involving letters is also a great skill builder.  All you have to do is ask your child, for example, to match a letter A to another A. We've done this in a number of ways, but I like this idea here posted on The Learning Hypothesis.

     b. Letter Crafts - there are tons of letter crafts you can do, but here's a few good ideas for inspiration.

• We recently decorated a letter B with buttons.

• We've made letters into objects or animals (this idea came from Kathy Ross Crafts: Letter Shapes)

• You can check out No Time For Flash Cards for some really great craft ideas involving both the upper and lower case letters.  She has ideas posted for the whole alphabet so this should keep you busy for awhile!

     c. Letter Worksheets - Baby bookworm and I have not really been "into" worksheets thus far into her
        short little life, but I thought I would throw it in for good measure.  Plus, worksheets are great for kids
        who are just about to enter preschool because they give some practice at letter recognition and writing.

• Check out School Sparks for some great letter worksheets and activities.

2) Alphabet Books

There's nothing like a few good books to help your baby learn the alphabet!  Here are a few that we have read in the past week. For an extensive list, check out this 50 Fantastic Alphabet books over at No Time for Flash Cards.

T is for Turkey: A True Thanksgiving Story by Tayna Lee Stone and Gerald Kelley

(appropriate for this time of year)

Eric Carle's ABC

C is for City: An Alphabet Book (Mr Doodle) by Orli Zuravicky and Giuseppe Castellano

3) Living Literacy

What exactly does living literacy mean?  To baby bookworm and I it means finding literacy (and letters) in our everyday lives.  So for example, we will find letters in our take out menus when I get them out to order food (this happens frequently, by the way).  Or, letters on street signs when we are out for a walk.  Or, letters on cereal boxes when we sit down for breakfast.  It's as simple as that.  I'll just ask baby bookworm..."can you find all of the letter A's in that menu?"

Living literacy is a FABULOUS way to teach letter knowledge to those very active babies who just won't sit still to read an alphabet book from start to finish.

Here's some of my favorite things that we have used to have a letter lesson in disguise:

• Magazines
• Business cards (why do I have so many laying around the house?)
• Can/Box labels
• Street signs
• Greeting cards (I have saved so many of these too!)
• Store signs
• Menus
• Fridge Magnets
• Newspapers

4) Songs

So I can guarantee that you've already done this one with your own baby, but of course, singing the ABCs is one very easy way that we teach letter knowledge.  Your child may even learn to sing them himself before his third birthday.

5) Flashcards

Yes, flashcards.  But, let me clarify before I have other educators and educational psychologists jumping down my throat over this suggestion.  Flashcards may not be for everyone, BUT I have used them with baby bookworm and, personally, I think they can be a great learning tool (when used properly).  I do NOT recommend drilling and practicing letters, however!!!  Think of flashcards much like you would any other "toy".

What I have done with baby bookworm is I've let her "play" with flashcards since she was very small.  Sometimes that involved sucking on the corner of the card, sometimes that involved stacking them in piles, or spreading them out all over the floor.  Sometimes it actually did involve practicing our letters, too.  And when it comes down to it, when used in a "laid back" kind of a way, flashcards are not ALL that different from alphabet books.  Baby bookworm especially liked these Sesame Street Slide and Learn flashcards very much as a baby (and it's especially fun if you make it into a peek-a-boo game). For other creative ways to use flashcards, check out this titled: How To Use Flashcards Creatively For Learning.

So go out there and practice the alphabet in these easy ways! 

Your child will be learning without even realizing it!