Preschool - Letters K & Q

We really enjoyed K & Q week. The kids are getting faster and faster with their letter formations and doing the Handwriting Without Tears worksheets very well.
I found some cute little crowns and jewels and had them decorate them for kings and queens.

For K, I bought some Kix cereal, made a K with glue and had them stick the Kix on....they LOVED this. So easy!

For Q, we did some Q-tip painting...

...and made a Q-tip Dandelion.

Then it was cheese Quesadillas and Crustless Spinach and Mushroom Quiche (SO GOOD) for lunch, along with Kiwis and Kit-Kats for dessert!

Preschool Day - M & D

Thought the Handwriting Without Tears idea for letter formation for M was great....had a Mouse chasing the cheese to get them to write the letter correctly. Loving it!

We did these letters at the beginning of May for Mothers Day. So M and D went nicely. We went and tried a Cinco de Mayo celebration at the local library....however it was a bust....I think they prepared for about 10-20 kids and had more like 60!! We made Dog paper bag puppets which were fun. They got to color the template and then we put them together.

Then they made Mothers Day Necklaces for us out of different kinds of Macaroni noodles. Angelica really enjoyed stringing these on and I HAD to wear the necklace a lot! I got lots of smiles when people saw it!

Another good day of learning fun, with Muffins they Mixed and Melons to go with a yummy lunch.

Preschool Day - R & N

For the letters, R & N, we had so many ideas we had to limit ourselves! We did the letter formations first, with Handwriting Without Tears worksheets.

Then it was story time, we try to find books that go with the letters, or the words we are learning that day or crafts we are doing.

We learned about rainbows and the colors that make them.

Then they got to paint their own rainbows and of course the letter for their name.

We made "rainbow flyers" out of paper plates and tissue paper. Ours is STILL hanging up as decoration.

Then the kids got to help with some of their favorite activities....making the EDIBLE items. We made chocolate bird nests and they LOVED them. I just used the chocolate candy melts (Michaels sells them) and then we had leftover Easter egg candy (jelly beans would work for eggs too) and topped with marshmallow birds. YUMMY

To go with lunch, I had rainbow color fruit separated in bowls and had the kids put them on wooden skewers (again found at Michaels) in the order of the rainbow....they really enjoyed this a lot...although Emma had a hard time not eating all the strawberries!!

Preschool Day - E & Z

Shortly after Easter, we had a preschool day so we decided to do the letters E & Z. We still LOVE the Handwriting Without Tears program and worksheets, teaches great letter formation and fun ways to learn the technique.

During Holy Week I had wanted to make Resurrection Eggs, but did nto get to it. So we decided to make them here. THEY ARE AWESOME. The kids decorated the boxes and then filled the numbered eggs as we talked about the Easter Story. It was so amazing to see what they knew and understood. I used the list on the link above...but you could make more eggs for different symbols...next year might do it for two dozen since these were such a hit. I found all the items just around the house and did not have to go buy anything!! Angelica has been doing it almost every day since, will have to get a video soon. Kids love the tangible, hands on ways they can tell stories and it sticks with them longer.

We made the delicious Resurrection Rolls for a snack and to show the Empty tomb....they really enjoyed making these by themselves and thought it was very funny that Jesus was a marshmallow and how we rolled Him up! We will definitely be making these again!

To practice Z - I gave them graham crackers with peanut butter on them and they had to make the letter with pretzel sticks and chocolate chips...then they got to eat them of course!!

And what better way to celebrate Easter and the letter E but with an Egg hunt!!

For the letter Z we went on a trip to the ZOO! Pics to follow...

School Days

Along with the different learning activities we do at our house, we are getting together with a friend every couple weeks for letter lessons and school fun. We try to learn two new letters each time, read corresponding books to whatever we are learning, do an art project or two and have lunch together. So this time we decided to do letters B and P. We did P so that we could "P"aint our "p"umpkins we got at the patch the previous week. Angelica wanted to paint EVERY inch of her pumpkin and Emma was not happy when we had to put the paints away....way too much fun. Then I picked up some frames at Michaels and foam stickers and let them decorate the frames with a "p"icture we took from the patch field trip. Again, Angel tries to cover every free space that there is.

The other letter we did was B mostly because it was Eddie's "B"irthday that day!! My friend has the Handwriting Without Tears manual and we use the worksheets from there, I am going to have to get...really great! Then we also practice making letters with Play-Dough and cardboard pieces. Angel is doing really well. Then the girls got to decorate cupcakes with icing and candy for Eddie's birthday and of course it was more tempting to eat the goodies along the way than to decorate. Really enjoying these lessons and fun to share with friends. Next week I think we are doing letters F for Fall and E. We swap houses each time so that each person prepares more for the crafts and hosts the lunch.

Preschool Beginnings

Jason and I have decided that we will most likely try to homeschool the kids. There are so many great options and curriculums out there today, as well as lots of support and fellow homeschoolers. I did Seton Home Study for my high school years and loved it and wish I had started earlier. It is funny though....Angelica is just of preschool age and will be for the next two years. So as I started my reading and research you start to get a little overwhelmed by all that is out there and doing things "perfectly"....ok, well maybe that is just me and my OCD-perfectionist nature. I have had several good friends and my mama keep telling me that I need to remember I am already doing the important things at this age.....reading lots, playing lots and forming strong, healthy and holy behaviors. I completely agree and will try very hard to keep those things in perspective....like now when I haven't done much of what was "planned" due to circumstances in life that happen and with a new baby I know I will need to be flexible. I laughed at THIS POST by Danielle Bean the other day....totally read it at a perfect time for me. So true!!!
With that said....I did get some fun programs that we will start to experiment with and use over the next two preschool years and with each child after....
The first is the Little Saints Preschool Program. I love the structure this provides as well as ALL the reading lists for the lessons and art project ideas and songs etc. We will definitely be picking and choosing what we will do this year. I have been ahead of the lessons...searching online at our library and putting the books they carry on hold. As we read them we will decide which ones we should and want to invest in buying. I went ahead and put all the art pattern packets into sheet protectors and will just copy as we use them so I can reuse them every year.
The second program is part of the Five in a Row program. I got the Before Five in a Row and there are some great ideas and twists to do with some of the favorite books out there. We already have some of them so that is good and teaches lots of different ways to interpret and gain different insights from books and stories each time you read them. Looking forward to trying some of these ideas and activities and also getting the rest of the books.
I found a really fun music program which I am so excited about, Making Music Praying Twice. This program comes with a songbook and CD for each season of the liturgical and calendar year. It teaches traditional and spiritual songs with different ways to learn and perform the music. Can be used for many years and I am excited because the songbooks have piano music which I can play as well. The girls are going to LOVE this!!!
I will have to take pictures of our new school-play-music area and post soon as well as some of the fun learning projects we have done. We hope to still do fun learning field trips and have schedules for the library and YMCA activities as well. I hope to continue celebrating our special days during the liturgical year as well, we have created different book baskets too...we have our faith and liturgical year book basket, our school curriculum book basket and then a seasonal book basket for each month. I can't wait to try some things from the Right Start Math site and the Handwriting Without Tears program....they have lots of cool tools and learning products...thinking these would be great to put on Christmas and Birthday wish lists!!!!
We will keep you posted as we begin this journey and all you homeschoolers out there....pass along any tips, advice and resources!!!

So Proud

I have been working on identifying the letters of the alphabet for awhile now with Angelica....she definitely likes and knows some better than others. Last week, we were working really hard on writing the letter "A". I did tracing and coloring and silly ways to remember how to write it. Saturday, I was having Angel color thank you notes she needed to get out and all of a sudden she said, "Mama, look I did my name!" I looked over at the card and she had drawn the letter "A" all by herself!!! I was so proud of her and then she signed her letter A on all the thank you cards. Caitlin.....her first letter "A" is on the back of your card, so I may steal it back to keep in her baby book!! Now we are working on "B"....so much to learn and love watching it all unfold!!!