LEGO WEEK - Home Learning

I shared a picture of our LEGO challenges for this week on my Instagram @mrshenryinfirst and many of you were wondering what else we were doing to make things fun during the Covid-19 #homelearningquarantine so here's a quick snapshot of what LEGO WEEK looks like for us! For reference, my own kiddos are 4 and 5 years old but I'll try and share some ideas you can use and tweak if your kids are a little older!

Morning Work - Color Words

First thing, while the coffee is brewing, my kiddos join me at the kitchen island for our morning work. This week we are working on color sight words and using these FREE sight word fluency booklets from Miss Kindergarten. 

After completing today's color, we start our LEGO fun with this FREE Timmy the Turtle printable where we practiced following instructions using red and yellow LEGOs. 

I also found out that you can type in the number of a LEGO set into the official LEGO website to print off directions for specific builds!! So I'm planning to let the boys have a new build each day during breakfast/morning time. Even if we are missing special pieces, we will find alternatives and improvise as needed. You can search for LEGO printable directions HERE  

Reading - 4 Weeks to Read

I'm currently using a reading program from Learning Dynamics (that we LOVE!) called "4 Weeks to Read." You can find it on Amazon HERE. It comes with everything you need to teach your child to read in 4 weeks!! We complete the day's lesson (one letter a day) which is review for my 5 year old and new to my 4 yo.

After the "4 weeks to read" lesson, we reinforce the letter sound with:

• watching the Sesame Street "Letter of the Day" videos on YouTube (for the target letter)
• singing along with Jack Hartman's "Letter of the Day" videos on YouTube (for the target letter)
• going on a hunt around the house to gather things that start with that letter
• Building the letter with LEGO's in our Literacy Build It Binders

Math - Roll & Cover

Normally I use these "Roll & Cover" math games with mini erasers, but since it's LEGO WEEK we are using building blocks instead! These games reinforce number identification, number word identification, and addition up to 12. To play, kiddos simply roll dice and cover using LEGOs. Simple and fun!

Other simple ideas for using LEGOs in Math:

• ​building numbers
• symmetry
• addition/subtraction

STEM (and writing!) - LEGO Challenge Cards

And for the pic that inspired this post and LEGO WEEK at home, my LEGO Challenge Cards! I printed these from my STEM Build It Binder ".  We are completing one challenge a day. Today's challenge was "Build something you might find in the ocean."

During our build time, we made it EXTRA fun by setting the mood with a video on Youtube called "2 Hours of Beautiful Coral Reef Fish, Relaxing Music." We have YouTube hooked up to play on our living room tv, so we played the video while building on the floor. The boys wanted to use red since it was our color this morning, so we have a red crab, red fish, and red starfish. 

The STEM Build It Binder also comes with writing templates so your kiddos can write about what they built! To show off your kiddos builds, send pictures of their creations each day to a family or friend via text message! 

I hope this post helps inspire some ideas for you to use at home with your little ones! I'll post a link to each of the resources featured below!! Happy Home Learning and Happy LEGO WEEK!!

• Early Literacy Build It Binder
• STEM Build It Binder
• Roll & Cover Math Games
• "4 Weeks to Read" from Learning Dynamics
• Color Sight Word Printables from Miss Kindergarten