C is for...

I have been feeling a little bit guilty because I haven't been as focused on letter sounds as I was with the twins.  She knows more than I thought, but it's no where near what the twins knew at her age.  Granted she knows more about numbers, one-to-one correspondence, and science than her siblings and her interest in letters and phonics has only recently emerged but that mommy guilt is an awful feeling.

We attempted letters in the fall when she first showed interest, but her enthusiasm was short lived so I backed off.  Now that we have started again we have covered CMAT with a focus on the sounds of the letters rather than the letter name.

Letter C

Powder Puff  Clouds

and a Cupcake

There are no more sprinkles left on her cupcake. Smelling leads to eating and eating leads to a bare cupcake.

Cloud Writing

I must remember to tape the handles in the future.  

Writing Practice

We have work to do on that grip!

Car Painting

Cookie Monster Counting

Cookie Eating for my my own Cookie Monster

These were 20 minute oatmeal and raisin cookies and if I could remember where I found them I would give you a link.  

Making Reading Relevant and Fun

One of my favorite parts about doing preschool with  my kiddos is being able to really customize their work. In a classroom of 20-28 it's terribly time consuming and takes a lot of dedication.  To those teachers that do teach to their students, I admire your work and thank you.

Anyway, Mister has had some setbacks in reading and we were both frusterated.  He wasn't enjoying his work and I truthfully I wasn't enjoying working with him.  There was something wrong with that picture because he is suppose to love school. The last thing I want to do is to turn his love for learning into a chore.

After some trial and error I found he loves to be an illustrator or author and illustrator.  In the three weeks we have been working on books, his reading has soared.  Ladybug has taken a renewed interest in learning new words and reading harder books.  The best part is these books are totally customizable.  Sometimes I have Mister and Ladybug add their own ideas, sometimes I have them practice writing a word, and sometimes I just have them illustrate their book.  Each time they create a book, they read it to my husband right before bed.

Working on sight words

Ladybug's book was about making cupcakes.

Mister's book is about his favorite things to do.  

What's On the Shelf - October

I love October because there is so much fun to be had and so much to do!  Here's the first activities on the shelves:

Practical Life

These chopsticks have a tendency to overlap, so just the right pressure has to be applied.

I have cringed at the cutting work  Mister and Ladybug have brought home from preschool, so  for some fun practice they can make a jack-o-lantern and cut it out.

Science/Sensorial

My body wooden puzzle

Human body x-rays

This is a challenge because the pieces are small.

Literacy

Halloween card making

After we played with this, I changed some of the verbs for more variety.  DK should have included blank pieces.

For Fun

JoAnn $1 section

Usborne cards 

Potato Head family

Our Abandoned Activites

We have spent very little time in our Learning Room this month, but we have been so busy enjoying nature and summer.  These are the activities we have dabbled in this month.

Literacy and Language - We are still working on beginning reading, sight words, and handwriting

Sight word sentence strips

Picture to word matching

Ladybug loves Benjamin Franklin, so we celebrated the postal service by writing a letter about one of Benjamin Franklin's accomplishments.

Math - We are continuing our study of patterns and simple addition and subtraction.

 

Sensory

Sun faded paper key matching

Practical Life

Mister and Ladybug traced a diamond, cut it out, punched a hole, and added a string to make a kite.

Maybe next month we will back into our routine, but in the mean time we are having so much fun!

Holy Frijoles - Part 1

We have only done these activities a few times this month.  So far they have seemed to enjoy them.

Math

Mister and Ladybug put the correct number of links on the soccer ball and then add (join) two of them together.

Roll a graph - Mister and Ladybug rolled the die six times and added a sticker to the correct column.  

Literacy

The -et family

Ladybug is very excited to write and for a dollar I made her day.

Practical Life

We are still working on Mister's pencil grip, so I put out "Things from Mexico" pushpin.

Cultural/Geography

The Wee One

This work was first presented to Mister and Ladybug as an introductory lesson to colors in Spanish.  We did a group lesson on the rug and took turns matching and saying the colors.  Also, it's on the Wee One's shelf for color matching.  She finds is really easy and has attempted to say the Spanish words a few times.

There you have it.  Next month I really want to study Mexico and I have plans to include an artist study among other things.

Easter Cards

Everyday Ladybug and Mister ask me if it is time to get the mail.  The wait all day to run out to the mailbox and see what kind of mail we have.  It's an even better day when we get to put up the little red flag.  I wish those little things made me excited.

Easter has given us a reason to put up our red flag all week because we have been making Easter cards.  Ladybug and Mister aren't ready to write, but I have them dictate what they want to say.  It is important to write exactly what is said, even if it has you scratching your head.