I Took the Moon for a Walk!

Day 3 of the week-The theme this week is Books! The letters of the week are x, Y, y. Learning Activity- I read the title of the read aloud out loud to Connor and Lauren and asked if they think this story takes place during the day or at night. Then I had them predict what happens when the boy takes the moon for a walk. Finally, I read the book I Took the Moon for a Walk by Carolyn Curtis, to Connor and Lauren. After the read aloud, I had Connor and Lauren cut out a manila circle moon. They glued the the moon to a sheet of construction paper labeled with the writing prompt "If I took the moon for a walk." Connor and Lauren completed the sentence and wrote their own sentences down! Finally, the illustrated their words. (Connor's sentence - If I took the moon for a walk, we would play Candy Land.) (Lauren's sentence-If I took the moon for a walk, we would go to the park.)
Source- Mailbox Magazine June/July 2009

Today's Learning Activities:
Numbers - dot-to-dot, number recognition
Letters - writing lowercase y
Writing - journal writing

Cock-a-Moo-Moo and Rooster Finger Puppets!

Day 2 of the week-The theme this week is Books! The letters of the week are x, Y, y. Learning Activity- I read the book Cock-a-Moo-Moo by Juliet Dallas-Conte', to Connor and Lauren. I cut a barn shape out of red construction paper and wrote - I am proud like rooster because . . . I can _____________. Connor and Lauren filled in the blank with something that they can do that they are proud of. Connor is proud that he can eat pizza big (this has been an ongoing power struggle in our house that was finally conquered!!) Lauren is proud that she can zip her coat. Then they both drew pictures of their statements. Again, they both wrote their own sentences - I am so proud of their writing and letter formation!! Source - Mailbox Magazine June/July 2008

Project - Rooster Finger Puppets -We received a finger puppet making kit at Christmas from my mom and dad. The kids have been wanting to make finger puppets for a long time,but we kept on forgetting to make them. Today we remembered and we made rooster finger puppets. They turned out ok - the kit really didn't have many options - we used our own feathers to complete the rooster!
Today's Learning Activities:
Numbers - writing numbers, counting, adding, subtracting

Letters - writing Uppercase Y

Writing - journal writing

Duck On a Bike and Free Paint!

Day 1 of the week-The theme this week is Books! The letters of the week are x, Y, y.
Learning Activity- I read the book Duck on a Bike by David Shannon to Connor and Lauren. Then using the form sheet from Mailbox Magazine, (April/May 2009) Connor and Lauren drew a picture of an animal riding the bike. They wrote their animal and what the animal was doing on the page too! They are really improving with their writing. They hardly ever need help with letter formation!
Project - Free Paint- We haven't painted in a long time, so I let the kids just paint today. As you can see they each painted in their own style. Addie just painted, Connor was in his full imagination mode and he painted a "circle of doom!" and Lauren painted a house and a tree. They really enjoyed painting their item/items of choice. We really have to do this more often.

Today's Learning Activities:
Numbers - writing numbers, counting
Letters - writing lowercase x
Writing - journal writing

Earth Day and Where Is the Green Sheep?

Day 2 of the week - The theme this week is Books! Then letters of the week are W, w, X.
Learning Activity- I read the book Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox to Connor and Lauren. Then, Connor and Lauren each chose a color. I cut a construction paper cloud usingtheir chosen color. They glued the shape to the form sheet (Mailbox Magazine February/March 2009). Next, they decorated the shape so it resembled a sheep from the bookand named the color of their sheep and where their sheep might be. They wrote the information on the provided spaces.
Project - Coffee Filter Earth- To celebrate Earth Day, we discussed how we can take care of our earth and how important it is to take care of earth. They came up with; shut off the water and the lights, recycle and throw away trash. Then we talked about what earth looks like from space Directions: paint a coffee filter blue and green with water color paints. Let dry. Glue painted coffee filter onto black construction paper (use a glue stick), write Earth Day on black paper with white chalk. Materials Needed -water color paint, paint brush, water, coffee filter, black construction paper, glue stick, white chalk.

Today's Learning Activities:

Numbers - subtracting writing numbers, counting

Letters - writing lowercase w and uppercase X

Pre-reading - same and different, matching

Writing - journal writing

One Word About Me!

One Word About Me! Mandy from http://www.suburbanstereotype.com/ tagged me in this game.

One word to describe each of the following...

Hair – blonde

Your Mother – honest

Your Father – dependable

Fav Food – cereal

Dream Last Night – Polar Bears!

Fav Drink – Gin and Tonic

Room are you in – loft

Hobby – Reading

Fear – suffocation

Where were you last night? – home

Something that you aren’t – messy

Muffins – Blueberry

Wish List Item – for our house to sell!!!

Where you grew up – Wisconsin

What you are wearing –pj's

Your Pet – None

Friends – wonderful

Something you’re not wearing – makeup

Fav Store – Target

Fav Color – green

Last time you laughed – today

Your Best Friend – entertaining

Best Place you go over and over – to bed

Person who you email regularly – hmm!

Fav Place to Eat – Accapulco

Now I will tag a few of you.
Participate if you will!

Kinsey at http://www.idontknowwhyilaughsometimes.blogspot.com/

Peggy at http://www.lookatitasanadventure.blogspot.com/

Julia at http://www.everydaymomideas.com/

One Duck Stuck!

Day 1 of the week - The theme this week is Books! Then letters of the week are W, w, X.

Learning Activity- I read the book One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root to Connor and Lauren. We talked about the "uck" rhyming words, by coming up with words and comparing duck, stuck, buck, luck . . . . We also talked about the different animals and the onomatopoeia words that are used with each group of animals. Then Connor and Lauren chose an animal and a number and wrote their sentence. I created a sheet with a duck stuck in the muck on the bottom of the paper and lines for the number, the number word, the animal and the action word, plus the typed words - No luck, Still Stuck. (4, four moose clomp to the duck. No luck, Still Stuck). Connor and Lauren then drew their animals on the bottom of the paper next to the stuck duck - Connor drew 4 moose and Lauren drew 2 frogs. Project - Pom Pom Duck- To accompany the book One Duck Stuck the kids also made pom pom ducks. Directions: Cut feet out of orange foam, Glue yellow pom pom onto the orange foam feet, glue googly eyes onto other yellow pom pom, Glue orange tri-bead onto yellow pom pom (underneath the googly eyes), Glue head pom pom on top of the pom pom glued to the orange foam feet, glue yellow feather to the back of the pom poms. Materials Needed -2 yellow pom poms, orange foam, googly eyes, orange tri-bead, yellow feather, craft glue, scissors

Today's Learning Activities:
Numbers - subtracting writing numbers, counting
Letters - writing Uppercase W

Writing - journal writing

Spectacular Suns!

Day 3 of the week - The theme this week is Colorful Spring! Then letters of the week are r, V, v.

Project - Spectacular Suns- Sometimes you think that a project will turn out better than it actually does. This is one of those projects - oh well - the kids had fun painting the suns with forks! I guess if they enjoy the process of the project than that is all that matters!!! :) I found this project in the June/July 2009 issue of The Mailbox. Directions: Trace several circular lids in different sizes on white card stock. Use orange and yellow crayons to color the tracings. Then dip a fork in yellow paint and drag the back of the prongs outward over each sun to make rays. Sprinkle glitter over the wet paint.

Materials Needed - card stock, yellow and orange crayons, yellow paint, plastic fork, glitter, circular lids

Learning Activities

Today's Activities:

Numbers - subtracting writing numbers, counting

Letters - writing Lowercase v

Writing - journal writing

Feather Flowers!

Day 2 of the week - The theme this week is Colorful Spring! Then letters of the week are r, V, v.
Project - Feather Flowers - Directions: Glue feathers onto card stock in a circular pattern. Glue green craft stick on as stem. Glue a milk carton cap in the middle of the flower and decorate with beads. Write the word flower beneath the feather flower! Materials Needed - card stock, feathers, green craft stick, glue, markers, milk carton cap, beads

Learning Activities
Today's Activities:
Numbers - subtracting writing numbers, counting
Math - patterns, , shapes
Letters - writing Uppercase V
Writing - journal writing

Spring Flowers!

Day 1 of the week - The theme this week is Colorful Spring! The letters of the week are r, V, v.

Project - Spring Flowers - I found this project in the April/May 2009 issue of The Mailbox Magazine. Directions: Cut a celery stalk in 1/2 vertically; then cut one of the pieces in 1/2 horizontally. Press the long piece of celery in a pan of green paint and then on the paper to make the main stem. Repeat the process with smaller pieces of celery to make smaller stems. Next, make prints with the end of a piece of celery so they resemble leaves. Press the bottom of a 16 oz plastic bottle in paint and then on the paper to make flowers. Connor and Lauren used their fingers dipped in paint to make the middle of each flower. Finally, dip the leafy end of a celery stalk in green paint and use it to paint grass. Materials Needed - paper, various colors of paint, pan, 16 oz plastic bottle, celery, knife

Learning Activities

Today's Activities:

Numbers - adding, writing numbers, counting

Math - patterns, coloring, shapes

Letters - writing lowercase r and Uppercase R

Writing - journal writing

Friday Follow

Stand-up Caterpillar and the color purple!

This is a repost from last year. It goes along with our Colorful Spring theme for this week. I am doing a repost because Connor is not feeling well today, so Lauren did not come today. We were going to paint flowers today, but we will do that craft next week. I immediately thought of this post - because the caterpillars were sooo cute and fun to make!

Day 3 of our week - Our theme this week is bugs and the color of the week is purple.

Project- I found this project idea from Family Fun Magazine the May 2006 issue. The magazine called it A Stand-up Guy. It is a critter - we called it a caterpillar - made out of practice foam golf balls and foam cut into circles and a 12-inch wooden skewer. First, I sliced 2 foam golf balls into thirds using a serrated knife, then I cut 12 colored craft foam circles (trace the cut balls, for perfect circles). Then I had Connor and Lauren assemble the bug, by poking the craft foam circles and ball pieces in a pattern on the skewer. I had Connor and Lauren lay their pattern of foam circles and golf balls on the floor first. Finally, Connor and Lauren drew a face on a third ball with permanent marker. I put the antennae on ( I used black pipe cleaner that I curled at the ends, the magazine says to use 2-3 inch pieces of 18 gauge wire). At last, Connor and Lauren pushed the face ball on the top of the skewer and they were done! The magazine has you put the critter/caterpillar into a planter, but Connor and Lauren just wanted to set their creations up in the house! Materials needed: (per caterpillar) 3 practice foam golf balls, 12 foam circles, 1 wooden skewer, wire (or pipe cleaner), black permanent marker.

Activity 1- Connor and Lauren practiced writing the letter q and the word queen. We used the worksheet Printing Practice - worksheet 5 from the website http://www.worksheetuniverse.com/
Activity 2- I made a math worksheet for this activitity. Connor and Lauren had to count the plums (purple!) and then draw a line to the matching number in the left column. This activity emphasized counting, one-to-one correspondence and fine motor skills (drawing a straight line)

Activity 3- I made a beginning sounds activity for Connor and Lauren. They had to circle the beginning letter/sound for zebra, van and kangaroo.

Swirly Stones!

Day 2 of the Week - The theme this week is Colorful Spring. The letters of the week are N, n, R

Project - Swirly Stones- I saw this project in the July/August 2006 issue of Family Fun Magazine. http://www.familyfun.com/magazine Directions: Take flat, smooth rocks, clean them off, and bake them for 15 minutes on a foil lined cookie sheet in a 225 degree oven. Remove the rocks from the stove (with an oven mitt), and set them on a pad of newspapers. Use old crayons (with out the wrappers) and draw on the hot rocks. The heat will melt the crayons into liquid wax. For a swirly effect, hold each crayon against the rock in one place to create a puddle of color and use the end of the crayon to swirl it around. Connor and Lauren had a lot of fun mixing colors, and making designs on their rocks. They were very careful with the hot rocks, and they liked seeing how the crayons melted on the hot rocks.

Materials Needed - smooth, flat rocks, old crayons, oven, oven mitt, tin foil, cookie sheet, newspaper

Learning Activities

Today's Activities:

Numbers - adding, counting, writing numbers

Beginning Sounds - beginning consonant sounds, recognition, matching

Shapes - recognition, counting

Writing Letters -Lowercase n

Paper Circle Caterpillar!

Day 1 of the Week - The theme this week is Colorful Spring. The letters of the week are N, n, R
Project - Colorful Paper Circle Caterpillar- Cut circles out of colored construction paper (about 25 circles/caterpillar. Poke the middle of each circle with pen point to make small hole. Push the paper circles onto a pipe cleaner (bend end part of pipe cleaner up, so the paper circles do not fall off), Cut another pipe cleaner in half (for 2 wholes), bend the halves in half and twist (the antennae), Attach the antennae by twisting it around the other pipe cleaner and tape it to the back of the face circle, twist the pipe cleaner into a circle to form the nose. Draw eyes and mouth.
Materials Needed - colored construction paper, pipe cleaners, scissors, tape, marker
Learning Activities
Today's Activities:
Numbers - adding, counting, writing numbers
Beginning Sounds - beginning consonant sounds, recognition, matching
Shapes - tracing, recognition, matching
Writing Letters -Uppercase N

Friday Follow!

Easter Sugar Cookies!

Day 3 of the Week - The theme this week is Easter. The letters of the week are k, M, m. Project - Easter Sugar Cookies - We made cookies instead of a craft today. I have some cute Easter/Spring cookie cutters so we used them to make some delicious sugar cookies. Lauren was a great helper. She loved cutting the cookies out, frosting them and of course eating them. I used my mom's Sugar Cookie recipe and her cream cheese frosting recipe too! I am sharing both of them just in case you want to make some cookies too!!! Sugar Cookies
Mix: 1 c. white sugar, 1 c. powdered sugar, 2 c. butter or margarine
Add: 2 eggs, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp cream of tartar, 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp vanilla
Add: 4 1/2 c. of flour - form into 3 balls. Chill well - roll out on floured surface. Use cookie cutters to cut into cookies. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 min. (I halved the recipe for our Easter Cookies)

Cream Cheese Frosting
1/4 c. butter, 4 oz cream cheese, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 lb (2 c.) powdered sugar. - mix until smooth!

We also did a little Easter Scavenger hunt with number recognition! Lauren had a blast searching for her eggs!

Addie playing while Lauren is searching for her eggs.

Addie and Lauren with their Easter Scavenger Hunt prizes!!

Learning Activities

Today's Activities:

Numbers - counting pennies, writing numbers, less than

Pre-Reading Skills - reasoning
Beginning Sounds - writing beginning consonant sounds, recognition

Ending Sounds - recognition, writing ending sounds
Writing Letters -Lowercase m