Fun with the Letter F

It is hard to believe that we have already been working on our preschool program for 6 weeks. I honestly didn't know what it would look like and how we would play it out with three kids close in age yet at very different stages.  That part can still be a little tricky at times. But for the most part, Lilly is content playing near us and Dominic is content trying to be like his big sister. There are very few things he won't participate in. Yes, there is lots of paint and glue eating attempts and he doesn't understand why he can't run around with the scissors, but he's learning! It works and I feel like we have hit our stride! Despite the added work of prepping for "school", my days as a stay at home mom are so much better with homeschooling. Just as the kids do better with structure and routine, so do I. I no longer wonder what the heck we will do Monday through Wednesday from the time we wake up until lunch! It's the same everyday- get ready for school, prayer, calendar, review, songs and finger plays, story, art time, sensory play, free play, math time, and independent work. Having the structure three days a week makes Thursdays and Fridays feel free and open to plan our day however we want (and its more of a treat)! 

With that said, it was onto the letter F this week! 

Monday- F is for Fish!

Books- Fish Eyes: A book You Can Count On By: Louis Ehlert

Little Fish (a finger puppet book)

Songs/Magnetic Board Stories- Once I Caught a Fish Alive and 5 Green and Speckled Frogs

After digging in our box that has objects that start with the letter of the week, we learned that  frog starts with F! We had fun singing 5  Green and Speckled Frogs using magnetic pictures to help us along. 

The kids love it when its their turn to help remove or put up pieces to our felt and magnetic board stories.

The illustrations in Fish Eyes were fun to talk about. There were stripped fish, spotted fish,  and different colored fish.  Ava and Dominic finger painted their own fish. 

Ava is really into figuring out how to make different colors using the primary colors. This activity  was great with helping her explore colors even more! 

Ava's finished fish. 

Dominic's finished fish.

The sensory table has become really fun to fill.  At the start of the new week the kids cannot wait to open it! I make them wait until after art time. Ava's first question when she walks into the part of the basement where the table is kept is, "Mommy is there something new in the sensory table this week?" So far I have been able to say yes! This week the table was filled with shredded paper and shredded green metallic gift filling. I bought both at the dollar story. The yellow was meant to be the hay and the green was meant to be grass. I added animals and a small barn to make a farm scene.  

We made this activity last week on a rainy day, but it fit perfect with our theme of the day!  While the kids fished, we sang a few rounds of Once I Caught a Fish Alive.

"I caught one!"

 Ava is practicing to write capital and lower case Fs. Dominic says, "I practicing too!"

I found this great snack time activity from http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2010/11/letter-f-for-fish.html. Using goldfish, Ava had to measure three different fish pictures. We then discussed which as the longest, shortest, ect... and how we knew!

This math activity was also found from http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2010/11/letter-f-for-fish.html
For this activity, Ava had to count the number of fish on each page. After finding the number, she had to glue the correct numeral next to the number. I assemblede the book out of order on purpose so she would actually count and not just put a number because it was the next in order.

Tuesday: F is for Farm! 
Books: Peek-a-Boo Farms
The Barnyard Dance By: Sandra Boyton

Song: Old McDonald

Kind of slim on the pictures for this day! On Monday afternoon, Kyle took the kids to the zoo to check out the farm animals so they would be ready for Tuesday. We talked about what we see on a farm and what different farm animals are used for! We also had the farm sensory table opened again!

Ava created her own farm scene.

 

Old McDonald's Farm!

Using pattern blocks and mats printed from www.prekinders.com, Ava created different farm animals. This activity was a hit and has remained out all week. 

 F is for Fall! 

Book: Fall 

Songs/Magnetic Board Stories: 5 Little Leaves and Raking Leaves

 Today's theme worked out well because it provided a great introduction to some fall related toys and activities that I will leave out through November. Recently at the Dollar Store and thrift store, I purchased artificial pumpkins and gourds.In addition to making our classroom more fall feeling the kids are having fun playing "pumpkin patch!" I also created fall themed magnets out of fall foam pieces I found at Micheal's. I was able to introduce them through a math activity. 

After discovering that Fall starts with F, we talked about how Fall is one of the four seasons. We looked at each tree and discussed  how they change with the seasons. 

We are not even close to being through the Fall season, yet Micheals's is making room for their Christmas stock. I found these great fall foam stickers for 40% off! We made fall wreaths with them. 

Using the same foam pieces we made wreaths out of, I created fall magnets. I placed various amounts of magnets on the board. Ava needed to count them and pull down the correct numeral. 

After playing with the magnets as described above, I gave her a numeral. She needed to show me what that looked like by placing the correct number of magnets next to the numeral. 

Dominic enjoyed putting the magnets on and off the board when it was his turn to do math with mommy.

We couldn't talk about fall without getting outdoors to rake and jump in the leaves.

Having fun jumping in the leaves! 

True to Ava, she raked for a few minutes jumped in the pile once and was off to look for bugs! 

We finished our school week with a batch of pumpkin muffins! (Did I mention that Dominic managed to empty an entire bottle of nutmeg on himself and the floor just minutes before the county social worker knocked on the door for a home visit with our foster daughter!? It was an eventful baking session, but the muffins were delicious!)

Our Week with the Letter E

Our Week with the Letter E

 Ever have those days where you find yourself stopping in the middle of doing something and saying a prayer for a little extra patience and energy? That pretty much sums up the week. My built in gym (aka-Dominic) has kept me running and chasing extra hard this week! My three year old has pulled out the three year old tricks in full force (extra sassy, whinny, and nothing we make is good enough to eat). In addition Lilly has also started visiting her mother two times a week, Ava started a church school program on Thursday mornings, we had a home visit from the foster agency, and had several little errands to get done that involved loading and unloading everyone into the car at times they really would have been happier not errand running. Phew! It's Friday is all I can say!

In the midst of an off feeling week, I did come to see the perks of home schooling. First, Monday (a normal school day for us), everyone was up early. We switched around our plans and spent the morning playing at the McDonald's play place. It was a nice change of pace and I got a morning off from making breakfast! On Tuesday, I knew I was tired enough to not have patience to chase Dominic around our school room trying to retrieve the white board markers or convincing Lilly that the pattern pieces on the calendar were not for taking down and eating. Since Ava was the first one up, we did a portion of school before breakfast and worked more after the other two woke up. Since we skipped our normally scheduled Monday morning school time we quite simply finished up our week's work today. A crazy week, yes. But there was still some fun learning that went on. Having the flexibility of homeschooling, I was able to work around any bumps in the road so that tiredness, grumpiness, stubbornness,  and must run errands didn't get in the way of some good learning time!

Tuesday: E is for Eyes and Ears 

Books: Ears By: Cynthia Klingle and Robert B. Noyes

My Eyes By: Lloyd G. Douglas

Arthur's Eyes By: Marc Brown

Song: Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes

Ava decorated the capital and lower case E with googly eyes! Since glue and googly eyes are her two favorite craft supplies at the moment, she was all about this project. 

In the sensory table I added cornmeal with plastic eggs, a sifter, and mini buckets. The sensory table stays out all week, It is always a good transition from our art time. When the kids finish up their art, they move over to the sensory table while I clean up. 

For one of our math activities, I used painters tape to make the numbers 0-10 on the living room floor. When the music played, the kids had to dance. When it stopped, I yelled out a number and they had to run to that number on the floor. 

We used the same numbers on the floor and made a new game. Ava was given cards with pictures (all that started with the letter E). She had to count the number of pictures on each card and place the card on the corresponding number on the floor. 

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Wednesday: E is for Eggs!

Stories: What's in that Egg? By: Becky Baines
The Odd Egg By: Emily Gravett

Finger puppet song: Humpty Dumpty

Each of the kids and myself had Humpty Dumpty finger puppets (free printable found at http://www.dltk-teach.com/rhymes/humpty/fingerpuppets.html). We brought these out a few times this week. Dominic got really into the nursery rhyme.

Ava's friend joined us today. I gave them each an egg cutout and a variety of  art supplies. They went to town creating their own Humpty Dumpty art! 

I gave Ava an egg carton with each egg spot numbered with numerals 1-12. Using beans, she had to count the correct amount of beans in each numbered spot! 

She did it!

Friday: E is for Elephant

Books: African Elephants By: Kirsten Hall
Elmer and the Rainbow By: David McKee

Finger play: There was a request for some more Humpty Dumpty!

After reading about Elmer the Elephant, the kids created there own patchwork elephant puppets. This brought up a great conversation about fiction vs. non fiction stories. We read a non fiction story about elephants and a fictitious elephant story. We talked about what made the Elmer story fictitious. 

It was fun watching Dominic work on his project. 

There is something about kids' art that just makes me smile! 

I am sure we will be having lots of elephant puppet shows going in the coming days!

This was a really fun sound matching activity. Kyle and I put rice, cheerios, pennies, and beans , (I am drawing a blank on the last object) in sealed Easter eggs.  We left one set empty, but sealed it anyway so it looked like the rest. The kids had to shake each egg and find another egg that made the same sound. Some sounded very similar and needed a little extra listening. 

When a match was found, Ava put the eggs back in the carton.  I found this activity  at
http://familysponge.com/create/kidsart/re-use-plastic-eggs-musical-sound-shakers/ 

We practice our rhyming skills with an activity I was able to dig out from a college class! Ava was given a picture and had to find words that rhymed with her picture using a set of other pictures. 

Ava loves paper and pencil tasks. "Mommy I need some school work!" is commonly heard during the day. Today she worked on  tracing capital and lower case Es and created the next page to her alphabet book. 

D is for Dinosaur, Ducks, and Dots

This week was all about the letter D!

Monday: D is for dinosaurs!  

Stories: Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs  By: Byron Barton and Ten Terrible Dinosaurs By: Paul Stickland 

Ava started her school day with a color sorting activity. She had to sort different shades of blue, red, yellow, purple and green. The activity mat is part of an old window shade and the shades of colors come from the paint store.

During circle time, we reviewed letters A, B, and C . Ava had to pick a sticker out of a bag and tell me what letter was on the sticker (and if it was capital or lower case).Then, she had to find a picture on the white bored that had the same beginning sound as the letter on her sticker. She labeled each picture. 

Dominic doesn't like being left out so he got to help too, Ava was his helper. 

During art time, Ava created a dinosaur out of the letter D!

She made it all by herself!

In the sensory table this week, I added home made cloud dough (just like moon sand). I found the recipe from Tinkerlab (http://tinkerlab.com/2011/11/cloud-dough-exploration/  ) Instead of vegtable oil we used baby oil. It smells so good! It's been a big hit with the kids! I added plastic dinosaur skeletons and small paint brushes. The kids had their own dinosaur excavation site right at home.  

During math time Ava had to sort dinosaurs by type and then put them into a bar graph. She had to label the number of each type of dinosaur on the graph using pre-made number labels. We then discussed which dinosaur she had the most of, which she had the least of, etc.. We did this using 3 times using different combinations and numbers of dinosaurs. 

Here she is working on her alphabet page for her ongoing alphabet book. 

She also practiced tracing the letter D. 

 Tuesday: D is for ducks! 

Stories: Down of the Farm: Ducks By: Sally Morgan

Song: We acted out Five Little Ducks using a puppet and rubber duckies.  

Ava's completed duck project.

We made duck ponds and played with rubber ducks. I dyed the water blue for something different and added  measuring cups, a funnel, spoons, and smaller containers for scooping and pouring water. The kids played with this for an hour and were as wet as ducks when they decided they were finished playing! 

Lilly didn't like the fact that big brother and sister were out on the deck without her, so I let her have a go at some water play in the kitchen. I added some ice and a few toys. She really got into splashing around. 

During math time we worked on AB patterns. Ava had to Velcro different colored ducks to complete patterns on laminated pattern strips. Some patterns needed to be continued, while on others she needed to figure out what was missing inside the pattern. There was even one strip that had an ABC pattern. 

At the end, she was given the chance to create her own patterns on a blank pattern strip

Look Mommy!

I found great alphabet mini books on  http://www.first-school.ws/theme/alphabetp2.htm#d. The books are a great little activity because they involve, coloring, cutting, gluing, sorting pictures, and  practice writing the letters. The site has them for every letter and both long and short vowel sounds. I plan on having her create these mini books for each letter. 

Wednesday: D is for dots! 

Story: 10 Black Dots By: Donald Crews
We spent a good part of our day at the Cincinnati Children's museum participating in story time and doing lots of playing and exploring! We worked on a couple activities while the two little ones were taking their afternoon naps.

Ava made a number dot book with numbers 1-10. Each page had a numeral and corresponding number word. Ava had to put the matching number of dots on each page using our dot paints. 

Using the dot paints, Ava filled in a capital and lower case D.