Letter E- Elephants

We are in the process of packing house and preparing to move in the next few weeks.

So if you're wondering why i haven't posted a school post lately or what not its because we haven't really been able to do much school with me packing and stuff.

So Im just going to post links to the things we did last week!

Last Week we focused on Letter E. Our theme was Elephants!

Our first activity each week is Crafty ABC's
Here is where I got our idea for Letter E
http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2008/09/letter-of-the-week-e-e.html
you can see a pic at that site!

I got many of our activities from Confessions of a Homeschooler
http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2010/04/prek-letter-e.html

• Elephant Pre-writing Practice
  
• Elephant Color by Number
  
• E tracing cards
  
• Elephant Size Sort
  
• Elephant Pattern
  

She has many more great activities!

I also got some of our other activities from Home Grown Hearts
http://lovemylifex4.blogspot.com/2009/08/alphabet-fun-letter-e.html

• Feed the Elephant

We mainly just used that activity from Home Grown Hearts although she has many great activities for Elephants I just ran out of time to do the things i wanted to!

We watched a movie online for Science last week the boys ended up watching it daily.
Here's the link: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/african-elephant


Here are a few of my favorite pics from this past week!






A also finished his project on Oklahoma this week here are a couple pics from that as well

This has the state flag, state bird, and state flower on it.


Have a great day!

Our Homeschool Day

I figured I should post what our Homeschool Day consists of.

Heres is our Schedule/Routine for the day.
730-745 Wake up
745-830 Breakfast
845-900 Get dressed and ready for School
900-930 Calendar/Circle time
930-1030 School time
1030-1100 Movie time(educational)1100-1130 Lunch
1130-100 Nap and Quiet Time
100-200 School Time200- 230 Snack
230-330 Finish School for the Day
330-400 Outside play time400-500 The boys spend time with Daddy as i prepare dinner
500-600 Dinner
600-630 Bath Time
630-700 Story Time
700 Bedtime
Now on to our Schooling

Here is what our Circle time/ Calendar time area looks like
We discuss what Month it is, The day, The date, The weather, The season

Here is where i got our songs for each of those above http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/Calendar.html
Once we move I plan to use her weather chart, her color of the day. But for now im just using what came with our Calendar.



A uses the Workbox system ( you can read more about it here: http://www.workboxsystem.com/ )

Here is a picture of our system (I redid things to work for the boxes i have and how i want things for our house)
We have 4 boxes( my picture is of only 3 boxes as i hadn't added the 4th one when i took the pic) and they are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 for the first part of our School day then during Movie time and lunch time I prepare them for activites 5, 6, 7, 8 and then during snack time i refill them for activities 9, 10, 11, 12. He has to go in order of the activites.



Here is what my Lesson plan for A looks like (feel free to click the lesson plan to see bigger and print)


1 Letter of the Week
2 Math
3 Sight Words
4 Handwriting
BREAK
5 Reading ( on tape or I read to him)
6 Science
7 Hands On
8 Art
BREAK
9 Cutting Practice
10 Learning Game
11 Social Studies
12 Numbers and Counting

He does each of those every day. The numbers are how they are put into his boxes. When he completes his work he has a bin that it goes into for me to put away in to my File Folder for him.




D uses the Tot Trays System

He has 6 trays that are loaded with hands on activities that he can freely choose to do.

Here is my lesson plan sheet for him (feel free to click the lesson plan to see bigger and print)



I basically just put what activities i want for him to do each day. Then he has free roam of those activities through out the day.

We only do School 4 days a week. Mondays are our day to do field trips, Library anything to that sorts. Thursdays are also shortened as those are grocery shopping, errand days.

Every Sunday I prepare for the week all though throughout the week before I start trying to decide what I want to do for the next week. I like being able to prepare a week ahead as it means i don't have to plan each night or stay up to late. I have a box that has each day and i start the week with Tuesday and behind that it'll have folder 1 through 12 while the other Days of the weeks activities are in there day folder then the night before I move them to 1-12 for that day, I do that every night. I also have a folder that holds my Lesson Plan at the beginning of the File box.

My biggest advice is to have fun! If your not having fun with it you wont continue to do it! Also keep track of what you are teaching so that way you know you cover the whole alphabet all the numbers 1-20 and other things you have goals set for teaching. I wont say we don't have melt downs over some things and if i feel A is getting to stressed over something we step away and do something else and let him finish later that day.

If you want to know something else about our day feel free to drop me an email at momto2boys24@gmail.com and Ill be sure to either cover your answer in a post or email you back!

Have a great Day!

Letter C-Crab

Letter C Craft: Want to make a Crab show in the picture below, Then click HERE for what you will need!
Letter C tracing and coloring page: Have your little one trace the Cc and then color the Crab.
Letter C Collage: Print the page then cute the pictures at the top out and have your child glue them on the C.
Letter C tracing paper
Letter C Matching: Cut the crabs out then cut them in half in different ways to make fun puzzles.


Math Worksheet: They have to color the shape below the proper color using the pictures at the top.

Letter C Sorting: You print out both papers below then cut the C's in the squares out and have your little one sort them in the two columns.

Another Letter C Tracing paper we did this week: Can be found HERE

Letter C Search

Want to see some other sites that have Letter C themes?
Caterpillar Theme: http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2009/10/prek-letter-c.html

Letter B- Bumblebee

Welcome to Letter B!
Click Images to print the worksheets (they should open bigger for easy printing)

First we made a Crafty ABC Letter B To make this click HERE

Letter B Collage: Print the Paper then cut out the Letter B Images and have your child glue them on the B.

Letter B Tracing and Coloring Paper: Print this then have your child trace the Letter B and color the bumblebee.

Bumblebee Lacing Card: Print the card then punch holes through the Bumblebee for Lacing fun.

Letter B Matching: Print the Paper then cut the Bumblebees in half in different ways to make puzzles. Then have your child match the Uppercase B to lowercase b.

Letter B Tracing Paper: We do a line a day but you can do what works best for you child.

Letter B Scavenger Hunt: Have your child search through the house for objects that start with B.

Letter B Magnet Page: You can use the magnets found here for this. We used pom poms instead for ours so thats another option. And then painted it afterward!

Letter B Playdough Mat: Print then laminate and let your child use playdough to create the letter B.

Letter B Puzzle: Print then cut on the lines for a Letter B puzzle

Uppercase and Lowercase Letter B Sort: Print both sheets below then cut the Bumblebees out and let your child sort them on the 1st paper.
Letter B Letter Search: Have your child search for all Uppercase and Lowercase B's. Then practice tracing them on the bottom part of the worksheet.

Other Sites with Letter B Activities:

• Butterfly Theme( You could do a bug theme instead of bumblebees and work some of her activities in with ours) http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2009/10/letter-b-for-butterfly.html

Letter A- Alligator

Welcome to Letter A!

A is for Alligator!
All images are clickable and should open up for easy printing!
Enjoy!

Crafty Letter A-Alligator:

You will need:

• Green construction paper
• White triangles from construction paper)
  
• Black sharpie or marker
• Googly eyes (or make eyes from paper)
  
• Glue

Letter A Collage: Just cut out the pictures and have your child glue them on the A.

Letter A Magnet Page: You can use the magnets found here for this. We used pom poms instead for ours so thats another option. And then painted it afterward!

Alligator Lacing card: Just cut out the alligator, Laminate then punch holes and let you child string it all up!

Letter A Alligator Match Up: Cut the Alligators out then cut them down the middle for a fun game of Uppercase/ Lowercase matching. Be sure to grab both papers for this! ( theres 3 on a paper)

Letter A Tracing Paper: I have my child do a line a day so he doesn't get to bored with it!

Letter A Scavenger Hunt: Put this paper out and have them go on a hunt through your house for items that start with A! Younger kids may need a few pointers but all in all its a fun activity!
Letter A Puzzle: Print then cut on the lines and give to child for a fun puzzle!
Letter A Play-dough Mat: Give your child some play dough and let them create the letter A with it!
Letter A cutting practice sheet: Give your child some safety scissors and they are guaranteed to have fun practicing cutting! Great for motor skills!

Letter A tracer and Coloring page: We use our pip squeak markers on these!

Letter A Wordsearch is another fun school activity! Click the picture to get from beginningreading.com

Other Sites with Letter A activites:

-Confessions of a Homeschool has a great Do-a Dot Paper on her site as well as some other A activities that are Ant related! Check them out here: http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2010/04/prek-letter.html

Homeschool Resources

Ive been asked several times where I get my resources for teaching and so i figured instead of writing everyone Id just make a post here on my blog for you all to refer to as you want. I will post more as I find more resources but for now here is a pretty long list!


My first go to site and blog that I ready daily are 1+1+1=1 Here is her blog: http://1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com/ and her website with lots of printables and lapbooks: http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/index.html I like Lapbooks cause A and D get to help put them together as well as use the hands on approach of it all.


This blog is Awesome!! She puts up a letter a week and posts plenty of activities to incorporate in your week. She also posts seperate activites throughout the week! Her blog is filled with tons of GREAT info!
http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com

This is where I get my weekly Letter craft that we do. I also use it as our theme for the week. I take the boys to the library to get the book for that week that they have posted at the bottom of the page
http://totallytots.homestead.com/NowIKnowMyABCs.html

I got our Shape Viewers from this site. The boys love to use them during our Circle Time.
http://lovemylifex4.blogspot.com/2010/01/shape-viewers.html

This site is filled with lots of great activities as well
http://lovemylifex4.blogspot.com

Each week I print our Letter of the week Search from here:
http://www.beginningreading.com/Alphabet%20Set%202.htm

I search here also for ideas to go along with our Theme of the week:
http://www.first-school.ws/themes.html

Great Cutting Practice Worksheets:
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/cutting_skills_printables.htm


Great file Folder games:
http://filefolderfun.com/index.html


I absolutely LOVE this sites worksheets. A enjoys them as well.
http://www.education.com/activity/preschool/

Homeschool Creations has a great area of Printables as well:
http://homeschoolcreations.com/preschoolprintables.html

The sight words list we are using. I am doing 1 list at a time and once he knows them we will move on to the next list. They are in order of frequency of usage in books.
http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/pdf%20documents/dolch.pdf


If you are having a hard time finding Worksheets for Letter practice or anything to help writing this site will allow you to make your own handwriting worksheets: http://www.writingwizard.longcountdown.com/handwriting_practice_worksheet_maker.html

We will be starting Writing Notebooks in the next few weeks, They will be more of the Drawing type but I will help put words on them for them. I got the idea from here:
http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/writing_notebooks.html

A great craft finding site:
http://www.kaboose.com/

Another great Blog that I read is The Activity Mom, I love how she uses everyday household items into her teaching:
http://activitymom.blogspot.com/

For D I use alot of ideas from Tot School so most of his schooling is hands on play:
Once we move he will start actually using Tot Trays more.
http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/ForTots.html

If I make a worksheet for anything I will be posting it on here so you will want to check back often for those.

I will be back in a few days with a post about how our day spans out. I will also have some lesson plan sheets then as well!!

Have a great day!

School from Last Week

Last week we covered Dinosaurs, we started easy addition math by counting pictures to add them up, We did our letter B sight words. We also covered number 3. A started a study on Oklahoma and we will finish that in a week. He will be learning about the state flag, the state bird and the state flower.

A's Dinosaur he colored and I helped him put it together.

We did our Dinosaur Tot Pack

We also made Letter D Dinosaurs.

D focused on many hands on activities this week with sorting and pouring. He also got some new toys for his birthday so he will have some new stuff for the following weeks!

Sorry for the lack of pics i tried to be more hands involved this week and forgot to pick the camera up! We are taking a week break cause Daddy is on vacation this week from work and we are taking advantage of family time.