4th of July Week in a Glance - 40 & 19 months

We decided to take a break from our summer break and worked on a mini 4th of July unit this past week.

Montessori
We  placed red, white and blue toothpicks into a ice cube tray (from Dollar Tree).

M threaded red, white, and blue beads onto pipe cleaners of the same color.

We placed red, white, and blue pom poms into a red star ice cube tray (Dollar Tree).  M used tweezers and R used his own fingers.

M stuck "firework" toothpicks into Styrofoam.

Preschool Skills
M worked on some of the printables from 2 Teaching Mommies' 4th of July Unit.  (She did more, I just didn't take pictures!)

Misc.
Daddy is teaching summer school for a couple of weeks and brought home a Spirograph one night.  The kids were fascinated!  I didn't manage to get any shots of them trying, but here are some of their daddy showing how it works.

That's it for now!  I'm considering doing a quick letter review in the following weeks for M before we really focus on Beginning Reading.  (She is so close!)  But if not, I will be sharing my plans for the upcoming school year very soon.

We'll be linking up to Preschool Corner as well as Tot School. Visit their websites to find some more great learning activities!

Jar of Summer Fun!

We still aren't back on our school groove yet as you can probably tell by the lack of posts!  My hubby is home for the teacher so it is really hard to be on a concrete schedule right now.  I've seen tons of ideas for "summer jars" all over the Internet, so I thought this would be a fun way to incorporate some fun activities into our summer without being tied down to a schedule.  Ours is just a simple jar covered with summer scrapbook paper and filled with scraps of paper with fun ideas written on each.  Here's what's on our list:

• Go to the Splash Park
• Play Water Balloon Angry Birds
• Go to the Library
• Get a Scoop of Ice Cream from the Ice Cream Shop
• Get out the Art Supplies and Make a Card for Someone We Love
• Have a Picnic in the Park
• Go to Red Light Green Light (a local kids play area)
• Finger paint With Pudding
• Go on a Color Hunt
• Cruise the Mall
• Have an Indoor Photo Shoot with Props
• Throw a Birthday Party for a Stuffed Animal
• Make Edible Necklaces with Cheerios
• Play Outdoor Chalk Beanbag Toss
• Have a Family Story Time
• Go Outside and Blow Bubbles
• Go to Explora (children's museum)
• Go to the Zoo
• Make a Bird Feeder
• Freeze things in Ice and Dig them Out
• Create a Stuffed Animal Zoo
• Go to Talin (international grocery) and plan an International Meal
• Indoor/Outdoor Bowling
• Play with Chalk Paint
• Look Through Old Photo Albums Together
• Have a Family Music Jam Session
• Play Board Games Together
• Play in the Sprinklers
• Go Magnet & Pipe Cleaner Fishing
• Go Outside and Play with Sponge Comets
• Blow the Pool Up and Play in the Water
• Go on a Morning Picnic in the Mountains

Sorry!

If I've been an absent blogger, it's for good reason!  I've decided to start my own home preschool next fall so I've been working madly on lesson plans, scheduling, and reorganizing my home.  I've got a few projects up my sleeve for the kiddos this summer, but it will all be very casual.  I'll try to post as often as I can, but I will definitely start up full force in the Fall once my little school starts!

Easter Montessori Trays

This was our inaugural attempt at Montessori Trays, and I think they turned out really well.  I'm using a shelf we've had for ages, and some trays that I found at the dollar store.

Egg Transfer
Materials: Plastic eggs, egg tray, bunny tongs (used for egg dyeing), bucket to hold eggs.
How to: Have your child transfer eggs from the bucket to the tray using the tongs.

Egg Eraser Counting
Materials: egg erasers, magnet numbers
How to: Have your child pick a number and count out the amount of erasers that corresponds to each number.

Easter Sticker Cutting
Materials: paper w/ stickers, scissors
How to: Have your child cut in between each sticker

Egg Color Match Puzzles
Materials: egg template w/ each half colored, plastic eggs
How to: Have your child build an egg that matches the puzzle that they have chosen.

Sound Eggs
Materials: 12 plastic easter eggs (6 of each color), various fillings (I used rice, lentils, coins, 2 empty, pasta, and pony beads).
How to: Have your child choose an egg, shake it close to their ear, and try to match it to another egg by only listening.

JellyBean Spoon Transferring
Materials: jellybeans, ice cube tray w/ small holes, spoon
How to: Have your child transfer the jellybeans into the holes of the ice cube tray using the spoon.

Easter Egg Memory Game
Materials: Easter Eggs, various items that fit inside the eggs (2 of each)
How to: Have your child open one egg and try to find it's match.  This is just like a card memory game, but uses eggs instead.

Easter Sensory Bin

I hit the jackpot on the day after Easter and bought lots of goodies half-off for our sensory bin.  (Yet another benefite to celebrating Easter for 50 days!)

Easter Sensory Bin

Theme: Sensory/Messy Play

Materials: Easter grass (I bought paper since I'm a bit afraid R would choke on plastic), plastic easter eggs, spring cookie cutters

How to: Play!

Easter Calender

I know I've said this before, but I LOVE being Catholic!  We get to celebrate 50 awesome days of Easter!  I made this simple Easter calender using ribbon and ovals cut from my Cricut on spring colored scrapbook paper.  I numbered them, wrote a fun activity on the back of each egg, and every day starting on Easter, we do the activity for that day.  When we are done, we turn the egg around so that the number is no longer showing.  Cute, huh?  If you do a countdown leading UP to Easter, this would be fun for you next year too!

P.S.  That cross on the bottom is a neat calender from Catholic Icing; check it out!

Holy Week In a Glance

Holy week was a very low key.  We tried to keep the TV off as much as possible, and we read many versions of the Passion so that M could be familiarized with what the week was all about - Jesus' last week on Earth, His death and resurrection.  We were hoping to take the kids to Holy Thursday and Good Friday services but R was teething and M's mood was a bit off, so it didn't happen either days.

Resurrection Eggs

We did quite a few of the activities using 2 Teaching Mommies' resurrection egg printables.  We adjusted the amount of eggs a little bit to fit M's age (it is difficult to have 5 eggs that all deal with torture and death for a 3 year old).  All reading were using The Beginner's Bible.  Here's how mine were set up:

Egg 1 - Palm Sunday
Object: A palm leaf cut out of a piece of paper
Bible Reading: pg 427-431
Activity: Jesus & the Donkey Activity and Coloring Page

Egg 2 - Judas Betrays Jesus
Object: 3 dimes
Bible Reading: pg 432, 440-441, 446
Activity: Coloring Page

Egg 3 - The First Eucharist*
Object: a small barbie cup and a cracker
Bible Reading: pg 442-445
Activity: Cleansed by the Blood Activity and Coloring Page
*I just need to stress that in the discussion prompts from 2 Teaching Mommies they talked about it being LIKE the body and blood of Christ, wheras as Catholics, we truly believe that it IS the body and blood of Christ.

Egg 4 - Washing the Feet
Object: a piece of paper towel
Bible Reading: pg 437-439
Activity: None

Egg 5 - Praying in the Garden of Gethsemane
Object: a picture of hands praying
Bible Reading: pg. 447
Activity: Bubbles to Heaven Activity & Coloring Page

Egg 6 - Good Friday
Object: a picture of the crucifixtion
Bible Reading: pg 448-452
Activity: Coloring Page

Egg 7 - The Stone in front of the Tomb
Object: a small rock
Bible Reading: pg 453-455
Activity: The Stone and the Tomb Activity

Egg 8 - The Resurecction
Object: an empty egg
Bible Reading: pg. 456-458
Activity: None

We also watched the animated Worthy is the Lamb - found on youtube.  M was not all that interested in it after a while.  It is sort of slow, and again, death is a really hard concept for a child her age to grasp.

We are doing 2 weeks of Easter Activities, so stay tuned for that!

Gardening Weeks In a Glance - 37 & 16 months

We did 2 weeks of gardening activities.  I wish we had had even more time since this was such a fun unit!

Preschool Skills
We used printables from Itsy Bitsy Learners (we downloaded it for free using a special promotion), Home School Creations, and Our Little Monkeys.

Motor Skills/Practical Life
Michaela worked on flower arranging by placing fake flower stems into the holes of a parmesan shaker.

Crafts
M made tissue paper flowers by crumpling pink tissue paper and wrapping green pipe cleaners around them for stems.  It turned out pretty cute.

Sensory/Messy
I gave the kids some planting containers, soil, fake flowers, garden stakes, trowels and cultivators, and watering can and let them play around.

We also planted some marigolds in a small pot.

Books
We read:















Field Trip
We went to our Botanical Gardens with a friend and her kids.  Ok, it was a few days before we started this unit, but it still counts. :)

Misc.
M has been walking around asking us questions as if she is teaching us.  It is pretty cute.  In this picture she brought her daddy some MegaBlocks and asked him to sort them according to color and size.  Too cute!

That's it for this week!  We will be focusing on Holy Week this week and then will do 2 weeks of Easter activities. :)

We'll be linking up to Preschool Corner as well as Tot School.  Visit their websites to find some more great learning activities!

Around Town Week In a Glance - M is 36 & R is 16 months

We did an "Around Town" unit this week, which included learning about the post office, library, grocery store, and restaurant.  I knew I was going to have a super busy week, so this was the perfect unit because it included a lot of independent pretend play or activities that she could work on while I was doing something else.

Monday - Post Office
We read the pages in Richard Scarry's Busy, Busy Town  that talk about the post office.
We also read Millie Waits for the Mail, a really cute book about a cow and a mail man.

We sorted mail, using index cards w/ our family and friends' names.  I cut little mailboxes out of paper lunch bags and labeled them A-Z and M sorted based on the first letter of their names.

We put "postage" on envelopes.  I put some fake writing in appropriate places on an envelope and then wrote a number in the upper right corner where a stamp goes.  (We used 11-20 since M still has a hard time recognizing those).  M then had to put that number of stickers as "postage".  Using stickers was great motor skills practice as well!

R was feeling left out so I pulled out our mailbox toy and had him practice putting the letters in.

M decided she wanted to send letters to two of her friends that are sick this week, so I pulled out some cardstock, stamps, and stickers and we made a couple of "Get Well Soon" cards.  Then we addressed, stamped, and put in the mailbox together.

Tuesday - Library
We read some great library themed books.















M sorted some of our books various ways, including by subject, size, color, and at one point even by room (potty books went to the bathroom, princess books went to her room of course).

Wednesday - Grocery Store
We went through our weekly ads and M cut and pasted things we needed to buy on an index card.  We went shopping later and she was able to use her special shopping list.

We read:















Thursday - Restaurant
M worked on a great practical life activity - learning how to set a table.  I took some of her pretend kitchen toys and traced them on a piece of aper.  She  put each item in the correct place and then practiced her water pouring skills.

We read:















That's all for this week!  I'm so excited for our Garden Theme next week!

We'll be linking up to Preschool Corner as well as Tot School.  Visit their websites to find some more great learning activities!