More GAS Conference 2010 Events

So you’re going to Louisville for the GAS Conference next June, 2010 and you want to know what’s up before the conference. The party before the party. There’s always pre-conference activities and I’m here to entice you to check out what’s planned.

If you like horses and horse racing there are a couple of events perfect for you. There’s the Backstretch Breakfast and Louisville Stoneware Tour or the Horses and Bourbon Tour. The first allows you to witness training of the horses at Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, while enjoying breakfast in the Trackside Kitchen. After that you check out two floors of race related exhibits at the Kentucky Derby Museum and see Churchill Downs Frontside and the Winner’s Circle. Once you’e done with the horse stuff you go over to Louisville Stoneware, to see how this stone ware is created. But maybe you prefer Bourbon…then go on the Horses and Bourbon Tour. First you go to the Kentucky Horse Park to visit with more than 30 different breeds of horse. YOu see the blacksmith, International Museum of the Horse and enjoy lunch at Holly Hill Inn. Finally the bourbon, at one of Kentucky’s oldest distilleries, Woodford Reserve. But where’s the glass you say. Oh you’ll get to that…check the GAS web site for more information if you haven’t received your conference information brochure.

I did a post earlier this year with activities and ideas for teaching the alphabet, but a lot or learning letters and recognizing them just has to do with seeing them and working with them a lot.

That means coloring, tracing, identifying things that start with different letters and more.

One way to reinforce the letters is through little activity books like these cute printable alphabet books from Life Over Cs.

These are available for free when you subscribe to her newsletter, and I’d say that’s well worth it if you have a little one (or a group of little ones!) working on the alphabet and letter recognition.

Each mini book includes a collection of things that start with that letter to color, color and read with words that start with the letter, tracing the letter, finding the letter in a grid and other coloring pages with objects that start with that letter.

These little books are super useful reinforcing the different letters and giving kids different activities related to the letters.

If you do a letter of the day or letter of the week you can use a new book for each one, and then keep the copies in your reading center or in a basket where kids can look at them again.

And of course you can add in all the other letter activities you like, go on a scavenger hunt for items that start with that letter, read alphabet books, practice writing letters in rice or with pompoms or playdough or whatever sensory activities you like.

You can grab the free printables when you enter you email address at Life Over Cs, and check out her other great alphabet resources and activities while you are over there.

Do you have favorite activities for teaching letters to kids? I’d love to hear about them!

[Photo: Life Over Cs]

Have you read?