B is for Bus

We are in our second week of Wheel School - B is for Bus. 

I am still using the black beans for our sensory bin. Kaleb loves playing with the beans but I will change the bin soon. This week's bin I added the letter B's and a couple of school buses that I found at some thrift stores. He had fun piling the B's into the bus.

Scissors are the next best activity. He loves cutting paper. Today, I gave him yellow construction paper, scissors, and glue. He cut the yellow paper into pieces and glued them onto the bus.

Kaleb then worked on his transportation puzzle. But this time, he brought out his transportation magnets and matched the vehicles together. He did this on his own.

Can you tell he loves vehicles?

I had planned this game a week ago but never got around to it. I finally was able to pull it out. Kaleb loved it. He rolled a die and parked the car in the correct parking space. This was a free printable game that I included in my visual plans. 

He loved this game so much that we played it over and over.

After bath time, one night, we watched The Wheels on the Bus DVD by Scholastic. It was a nice ending to our bus week. We didn't get to all of the activities planned so I imagine that we will be revisiting bus week soon. Hope your week was good.

Tot Tuesday

It didn't take long before my kids figured out what food was good here in 'Merica. If they had it their way, they would eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day.

But their all time favorite is Mac n Cheese.

It may not be the best thing for them but...

look at those smiles. Priceless. What are your kids having for lunch today?

Wheel School - Cement Mixer

Wheel School week three C is for Cement Mixer is available for download. We are currently still working in B is for Bus but I wanted to post the plans for Cement Mixer plus the new free printable for the week.

For C is for Cement Mixer, I went with a tools theme. The reason behind this was the difficulty I had trying to find different activities for just the cement mixer. By adding a theme, it made it easier to add a variety of activities. 

The free printable of the week contains upper case alphabet puzzles with a transportation focus. The lower case alphabet puzzles will be available soon. I would suggest laminating the pieces and adding small magnets to the back to make them easier for children.  The whole alphabet is available even though we have only completed to letter C. 

Download C is for Cement Truck HERE

Book Suggestions

Job Site by Nathan Clement

Trucks A to Z by Christopher Hernandez

City Lullaby by Marilyn Singer

Tool Book by Gail Gibbons

Tap Tap Bang Bang by Emma Garcia

These are just suggestions for books for C is for Cement Mixer. I include the amazon links but I do not receive any compensation from these. Enjoy your week.

Winter Promise Week 3

Week 3 is already among us and I still feel like we are missing some key elements to our school day. I can't quite put my finger on it but I feel that I am not scheduling enough. I feel like we aren't reading as much as we did with our other program. How can I fix this? Not sure, but it is something I am definitely going to work on. I have added several books from the library each week but I get the feeling that this literature rich program is not rich in literature. Sound crazy? I know. Maybe it is the fact that I feel like we are schooling on the go and I can't quite get the quality that I expect. This living like a nomad is tough on the family. I am praying that I can work this out soon.

This week, we focused on deer. We read several books about deer and worked on our notebook page. In Math, she worked on addition and tally marks. She had her first spelling test which I did not mention that it was a test and she read a story about clouds.

J is reading about clouds in this reader that I found from a used book store.

She wrote her own sentences with her spelling words for the week. I found a spelling work book that had plenty of practice sheets. There were eight spelling words and she worked with them all week. Then, I gave her a sheet of paper and asked her to write the words that I said. She did really well.

So I am not sure what I need to do to make this work for us. I am committed since we have already spent the money on our Core and J has really loved learning about the different animals. I am struggling because I feel it is not as organized as others. I might have to research better books to add to our weekly work. So far she has enjoyed reading Ereth's Birthday by Avi but we have been reading ahead and will be done with it soon. I just feel like she isn't learning as much as she could. If you have any suggestions as to how I can make this better, I would love to hear it. See you next week.

Tea Party

"Would you like some sugar?" J asked Kaleb and he shook his head yes. I had the privilege to experience a quiet moment between the kids while they played tea party. It is moments like these that I believe my children will be good friends. (And then there are the other moments when I wonder if they will EVER be friends!)

 

Maybe, just maybe....they will be great friends :) I am waiting for that day. 

Tot Tuesday (Somewhat Late)

Kaleb recently found a container that had milk lids in it. I have been saving them for a couple of weeks. I have many plans for these lids but today, they were just meant to be played with.

 

He lined them up, sorting them by color, and just had fun pushing them around the floor with his bulldozer.

Plastic milk lids - great distraction.

Wheel School - Bus

Week 2 of Wheel School is under way. I know that there is a holiday this week but I wanted to post the second lesson plan for B is for Bus. I had forgotten about some of the smaller holidays since they weren't recognized where we were living, so I am going to try to work on school for the full week.

Download B is for Bus Visual Plans HERE.

This week's printable is a printable bus mat with matching cards. Depending on the age of your child, he can match the upper case, lower case, and the vehicle it corresponds to OR create number sentences using the numbers (4 + 1 = 5) OR work on sight word recognition by putting the sight words together. I included a few of the sight words that are available through the Zoomin Movin printable packs.

Use the windows to match the letters to the vehicles. I included the whole alphabet for later review, even though we are only working on letter B. 

Book, Video and Game Suggestions for the Week

The Wheels on the Bus by Child's Play

Hello, School Bus! by Marjorie Blain Parker

3, 2, 1 Go! by Sarah Schuette

Pete the Cat The Wheels on the Bus

Away We Go! by Meredith Rusu

Can You See What I see? by Walter Wick

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems DVD

The Wheels on the bus Storybook Treasure by Scholastic DVD

Wheels on the Bus Board Game

I do not own all of these books. I have been enjoying the library here in 'Merica. In fact, I have gone some what crazy. These links are for your information only, I do not receive any compensation from Amazon. Stayed tuned later this week for pictures of our bus unit.