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Especially for Parents Products, Ideas, Activities & Articles
Tony Toledo and KR Glickman share stories in sign language at The Learning Tree Store, Danvers
Parents, you are not just a Mom or Dad, you are a teacher too!
Welcome to The Learning Tree Store, where you will find an experienced sales team waiting to answer your questions about education ... and an outstanding selection of: children's books, gifts, educational toys, parent resource books, homework helpers, incentive charts, science fair materials, puzzles, stickers, games, craft kits, paper crafting supplies, birthday favors, prizes, science kits, Girl Scout merchandise, and more! We also offer gift certificates, which make great gifts for birthdays, teacher appreciation, PTO gifts for schools, event door prizes and awards for special occasions too.
We hope you will bookmark this site, and visit us often to learn more about selected products, activities and ideas designed especially for parents and children. If you scroll down the page, you will find an article on reading, and a few of our favorite book titles highlighted in the left column.
Be sure to register at tltree e-info - if you would like to receive news about store savings, special events, tips and activities and initiatives. This information is sent by request only, is never shared and mailings can be redirected or discontinued at any time by your request.
We appreciate your business, and are happy to help in any way we can.
Jan & Herb Plourde
Owners of The Learning Tree Stores |
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Goodnight Moon Illustrated by: Clement Hurd
In a great green room, tucked away in bed, is a little bunny. "Goodnight room, goodnight moon." ....
Awards: 1988 Choices (Association of Booksellers for Children), and 1995 "Pick of the Lists" - (ABA).
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Chicka Chicka Boom Boom John Archambault Illustrated by Lois Ehlert
In a rhythmic alphabet chant, all the letters race one another up the coconut tree. ..................................
Daddy Makes
the Best Spaghetti
Not only does Corey's father make
the best spaghetti, but he also dresses up as Bathman and
acts like a silly dog with pajama legs for ears.
"Hines's
simple pictures and easygoing text capture all three
characters' personalities, as well as the warmth of Corey's
home." -Kirkus Reviews ..................................
Sarah, Plain and Tall "Did Mama sing every day?" Caleb asks his sister Anna. "Every-single-day," she answers. "Papa too." "In a near-perfect miniature novel, two children experience the apprehensions and joys of the possibility of a new mother, when their father invites a mail order bride
to their
prairie home." -BL. Paperback.
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#1404 Fun Scratchin' Shapes™ Group Pack Scratch-Art® assorted shapes. Ideal for creating colorful classroom decorations, collage projects, mobiles and more! Each group pack features 5 each of 5 different shapes. Shapes are cut from sturdy 10pt. board and measure 3 1/2" x 3 1/2". Scratch with a wood stylus. Clean & safe. 25 shapes/pk. Pack Contains Fish Bowl, Hand, Heart, House, and Star. Grade: All
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wecare@tltree.com 1.800.438.8180 |
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Ideas & Activities
Ideas & activities featured here are created by Carol Hartery, an educational consultant and mother of two grown children, who works and teaches at The Learning Tree Stores.
Carol shares creative ideas from over 30 years experience as a home daycare provider, kindergarten teacher and workshop presenter. In addition to Carol's Ideas & Activities, you will find idea submissions from artists, authors, educational manufacturers, teachers and parents too. If you have ideas to share, please contact us here:
Email Address: wecare@tltree.com Subject: Parent Ideas & Activities
Try This - Parent/Child Activity!
Carol's Favorite Homemade Play Dough A Recipe to Strengthen Fine Motor Skills
Fine motor skills are small muscle movements by fingers, in coordination with our eyes. Parents often come into The Learning Tree Stores looking for ways to strengthen and develop their child's finger muscles.
We show them puzzles, lacing activities, our collection of Zoo, Farm and Ocean Sticks, and puzzle boards that feature self-help activities such as buttoning, lacing, tying, zipping, and fastening snaps. We also show them our small rolling pins and dough cutters that can be used with play dough. Playing with play dough is a great way to enhance fine motor development and it's fun too.
Before my children started school I took a leave from teaching and ran a
family day care program in my home. In those days about 100 cookie cutters hung
from tiny nails on our kitchen walls. Quite often one of the children would show
up with a new one to add to our collection. The lower cabinet in the corner of
our dining room was filled with tiny rolling pins, garlic presses, and pizza
cutters. The children all sat at the dining room table and played with homemade
play dough. Sometimes they created "cookies" and other "delectable treats." Other
times they vied to create the longest snake or the funniest creature. Those were magical days. If the children asked for orange play dough, I'd sigh and tell them I was sorry, but I only had some red and yellow food coloring and I'd whip up a batch of each. I'd hand each child a ball of dough that had a lump of red and a lump of yellow stuck to each other. As the children played something magical would happen and suddenly one of them would shriek, "It's turning ORANGE!!!' Sometimes I'd hand them blue and yellow dough and they'd create green. Other times a mixture of red and blue turned into purple. No matter how many times I handed them a combination of 2 colors the children still believed that something magical was happening...and of course in a sense it was.
Here’s my favorite play dough recipe:
2 cups flour
2 cups water
one cup salt
4 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 Tablespoons oil
Mix all ingredients in pan. Cook until thickened over low heat. Cool.
Knead.
You can add food coloring and/or glitter to this recipe. I often add a
small bottle of extract (as part of the water) to give the play dough a scent. You
can also add spices Store the play dough in a Tupperware container. It does not need to be refrigerated.
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Construction Chunky Puzzle colorful board and can also stand up for additional pretend play. Full-color pictures
beneath each
piece! Ages 3 and up. |
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Top Ten Things to do to Help Your Child Read From Reading Games by Jackie Silberg, Gryphon House
1. Teach Children about the alphabet--
Darken the room and make a letter on the ceiling using a
flashlight. Ask the children to identify the letter. Then let the
children take turns writing letters on the ceiling.
2. Teach children that words are made up of speech sounds called phonemes--
Draw three boxes, horizontally, on a sheet of paper. Explain that you are going to say a list of words. They will all have the same sound or phoneme (in this case the sound /s/) in the word. Sometimes the sound will be at the beginning, sometimes in the middle, and sometimes at the end.
Give the children
bottle caps or checkers to use as markers. Tell the children to put a
marker where they hear the sound. If the sound comes at the beginning,
the marker goes in the first box on the drawing. If the sound of /s/ is
in the middle, the marker goes in the middle box, and the last box is
for words that have an /s/ at the end of the word. For example, say the
following words: silly, happiness, missing, mister, sad, bus. 3. Teach children about the sounds of language--
Help
children hear differences between what they expect to hear and what they
actually hear. Invite children to sit down and close their eyes so that
they can concentrate on what they will hear. Recite or read aloud a
familiar story, nursery rhyme, or poem that you have changed. Their
challenge is to detect the changes. Reverse words, such as “Dumpty
Humpty sat on the wall” or “Jill and Jack went up the hill”; substitute
words, such as “Little Boy Purple, come blow your horn”; or switch the
order of events--for example, tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood
and have her go to Grandma’s house before she goes through the woods. At
first, make the changes obvious. 4. Teach children about written and spoken words, what they mean, and how they are used--
Pick a word (in this case, the
word “cat”) that the children have learned and say the following. What Can I Do With__________? What can I do with cat? I can say it. (say cat) I can spell it. (spell the word) I can act it. (pretend to be a cat) And I
can That’s what I’ll do with “cat.” 5. Teach children about alliteration--
Alliteration
is the repetition of words starting with the same consonant or sound,
and is a good starting point to phonemic awareness. Pretend to have a
store that only sells things that begin with a certain sound. Once you
have selected the sound, draw pictures of all of the words that you can
think of that start with that sound. For example, create a store where
everything starts with the /l/ sound, such as lilies, lights, lemons,
lipstick, and ladders. Talk with the children about all the
possibilities. 6. Create reading rituals, including a regular reading time every day--
Reading books to children encourages their
desire to read books by themselves. Show the children that the words you
are reading are written on the page. This seems obvious, but children
often think you are making up the words. Let children know the
importance of the text. Pointing to the words with your finger as you
read is very helpful in developing this concept.
7. Read to children with expression
Emphasize rhythm and rhymes, and use different voices for characters.
8. Play games that require following directions, listening, or solving problems--
Write five different letters on a piece
of paper. Make the letters large, with room between each letter. Say one
of the letters and ask a child to make a circle around that letter.
After you have finished with the first five letters, write five more
letters on the paper. Reverse the procedure--ask the child to write and
say the letters, and you make the circles. 9. Increase children’s comprehension by telling stories about real and imaginary events
Retell a familiar story but
include some of your own changes. For example, instead of Goldilocks and
the Three Bears, call the story Goldilocks and the Three Billy Goats
Gruff. Tell the story, but change the dialogue to sound like the billy
goats. For example, “Who’s been sleeping in my bed, trip trap, trip
trap?” Improvise, using familiar stories. 10. Keep a box of writing supplies available to children
Provide an assortment of the following materials so children
can practice writing, forming, and decorating their names: - pencils, crayons, markers and paper -
finger paints and paper -
chalk, chalkboards, and sidewalk chalk -
paintbrush and water for writing on the
sidewalk -
white glue on black paper, with or without
glitter - playdough or clay and a cutting board - pipe cleaners/chenille craft stems - Wikki sticks and paper
For more information about "Reading Games" by Jackie Silberg, go to
www.gryphonhouse.com |
