FREE Y for Year Do-a-Dot Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)

This is one of my favorite do-a-dot printables! Not only does it work well for a solar system theme, but /y/ for year works well for seasons and even as an extension for the Montessori birthday celebration! As usual, the /y/ for year do-a-dot printable is super easy to download and prepare.

Montessori-Inspired Printables at Living Montessori Now

My daughter, Chrissy Chitwood (a former Montessori child), and I are partnering to bring you a series of Montessori-inspired printables. The printables are typically themed and use a number of Montessori principles (although you don’t need to be a Montessori teacher or homeschooler to use them):

• They use isolation of quality.
• They use photographs or realistic images to emphasize reality. Whenever I can, I’ll tell you the specific name of the object or animal featured on the credits page. This printable shows the earth’s revolution around the sun … one year of the Earth’s seasons in the Northern Hemisphere.
• They typically use traditional Montessori colors such as red for consonants and blue for vowels.
• They use lowercase letters, which are what we introduce letter sounds with in Montessori education. (Children tend to pick up the uppercase letters without being introduced if they’re introduced to the lowercase letter sounds.)
• They often feature themed printable versions of Montessori materials.

Free Y for Year Do-a-Dot Printable 

To download the /y/ for year do-a-dot printable, click here and then click on the file image in the upper right corner of the PDF to save to your computer (just choose where you want it saved).

Montessori-Inspired Activities Using the Y for Year Do-a-Dot Printable (and the ear Phonogram)

Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links (at no cost to you).

Tray with Y is for Year Do-a-Dot Printable with Stickers and Earth’s Revolution Around the Sun Activity

Note: This is just one example of how you can use the do-a-dot printables. There are many ways to use our do-a-dot printables. Scroll down to see examples from previous posts. Just choose an activity that’s appropriate for your child’s age and skill level.

I used a Multicraft tray and ¾” color coding dots along with a “y” font card from our Montessori-inspired solar system pack (subscriber freebie). The font card has cursive letter “y” and the year image. I like to introduce children to both print and cursive letters.

I also added a small black felt piece with the Safari Ltd. sun and Earth for the child to work with the earth’s revolution around the sun each year.

You could have a variety of transfer activities with do-a-dot printable, using tools such as sugar tongs, toast tong,  or even chopsticks for a very advanced transfer activity. Or you could have a totally different type of do-a-dot activity. See ideas below. Just choose what is best for your child’s skill level and interests.

You could add a tracing activity to the printable. If you laminate your printable, you can use an erasable crayon like the Melissa & Doug Learning Mat Crayons or Crayola Erasable Crayons. If your page isn’t laminated, you could add a pencil or colored pencil. I often do that. For a 2-year-old or other young preschooler who’s not ready to write letters, you can just leave off the crayon or pencil.

Year Movable Alphabet Word Building, Handwriting Practice, Sticker Work, and Earth’s Orbit Work.

This do-a-dot printable can be used in a variety of ways, depending on the age and ability of the child. A younger child could just use do-a-dot markers or some sort of transfer on the do-a-dot page and focus on the /y/ sound, while an older child could trace the letters, study the phonogram “ear”, and build the word with the Montessori movable alphabet. We focused on cursive letter “y” so that Zoey can learn both manuscript and cursive.

If you want to know how to introduce the letter sound for y, check out my post on how to teach letter sounds using Montessori principles.

For a child who’s ready for (or already using) the movable alphabet, you could have the child build the word first. My 4½-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, likes to use the movable alphabet to build the word. (We use the small movable alphabet. I have the movable alphabet from Alison’s Montessori, which I love. You can also get a movable alphabet from Amazon or make your own.)

Before building the word “year,” we reviewed the “ear” phonogram and Zoey traced the word with red and blue colored pencils. After that, Zoey used the movable alphabet to build the  word “year.”

Then Zoey placed the yellow stickers on the dots. She wanted to decorate each dot afterward. I’m always happy for her to extend the activity with her own creations. She also wanted to write “year” on the back of the page, and she wrote it twice with the colored pencils.

Then we focused on the earth’s revolution around the sun each year. Zoey used the Safari Ltd. sun and Earth to show the Earth’s orbit. She especially had fun when we sang the Montessori birthday song “The Earth Goes Around the Sun” while she moved the Earth around the sun.

The open book on the table is Sunshine Makes the Seasons, which gives a great explanation of seasons and the earth’s revolution around the sun.

Stars and Constellations Materials on Amazon

Solar System Science Materials on Amazon

More Astronomy Activities and Resources

Free Solar System Printables and Montessori-Inspired Solar System Activities

The Best Space Books for Kids {Featuring Solar System Books}

• Free Solar System Songs and Educational Videos
• Free Y for Year Do-a-Dot Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
• Free Solar System Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
• Montessori Work with Scale Distances of Planets from the Sun
• Montessori Astronomy Printables for Preschool Through Elementary
• Free Sun Do-a-Dot Phonics Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
• Building a LEGO Mars Rover Plus Montessori Space Exploration Resources
• Astronaut Unit
• Montessori-Inspired Astronomy Activities
• Montessori-Inspired Star and Constellation Unit
• Montessori-Inspired Moon Unit
• Montessori-Inspired Solar System Activities and World Space Week Blog Hop
• Montessori-Inspired Astronomy Units
• Montessori-Inspired Moon Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers
• Montessori-Inspired Phases-of-the-Moon Playdough Tray
• Free Moon Printables and Montessori-Inspired Moon Activities
• Montessori-Inspired Moon Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}
• Free Moon Do-a-Dot Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
• Free Moon Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
• The Best Moon Books for Kids
• Free Star and Constellation Printables and Montessori-Inspired Constellation Activities
• Fun Montessori Hundred Board Extension – Count 100 Glow-in-the-Dark Stars
• The Ultimate Star and Constellation Unit
• The Best Star and Constellation Books for Kids
• Free Constellations Do-a-Dot Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
• Create a Glow-in-the-Dark Constellation with Dictation or Writing Tray
• Free Constellation Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
• Free Astronomy Cards from KHT Montessori
• Astronomy Unit Study Pinterest Board

MONTESSORI-INSPIRED PACKS – SUBSCRIBER FREEBIES

Don’t miss our themed monthly packs! You’ll get  the link and password for the Living Montessori Now subscriber library with the current pack and all the past monthly packs if you subscribe to the Living Montessori Now weekly newsletter!

Free Do-a-Dot Printables and Ideas for Using Them

I love the versatility of do-a-dot printables! If you’re doing a month-long theme, you could easily change out the type of do-a-dot activity weekly to add interest. Here are four ideas of hands-on activities for any of our do-a-dot printables from my frog do-a-dot printable post (see post for details and materials used).

Just click on an image to go to the post with the related free printable!

Note: I’ve arranged the following gallery in alphabetical order, although some posts have two do-a-dot printables (and two different letters). Also, I don’t introduce letters in alphabetical order. You can find out the order in which I introduce letter sounds here. I deviate from that order for our unit studies, though, and focus on a letter that’s simply related to our unit. That’s in addition to our other letter work.

You can see all our free do-a-dot printables with the latest at the top here.

For complete themed do-a-dot packs, see our Animal Alphabet Do-a-Dot Pack, Spanish Animal Alphabet Do-a-Dot Pack, and Healthy Food Alphabet Do-a-Dot Pack available

Learn more about my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to. Teach Grace and Courtesy!

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