Kaleb is loving the Nativity set. He played with it all day and even fought his sister for the right to play. (We are still learning to share.)
Kaleb is pointing out baby Jesus. This toy is definitely a classic.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Tot Tuesday
I love being back in the states and being able to access my boxes of books and learning supplies. I recently came across our Little People Nativity Set that J received for her 2nd birthday. I left the play set in America, not sure why - suitcase space probably. But, now, I brought out the play set and let Kaleb explore it.
Kaleb is loving the Nativity set. He played with it all day and even fought his sister for the right to play. (We are still learning to share.)
Kaleb is pointing out baby Jesus. This toy is definitely a classic.
Kaleb is loving the Nativity set. He played with it all day and even fought his sister for the right to play. (We are still learning to share.)
Kaleb is pointing out baby Jesus. This toy is definitely a classic.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Jingle and His Ways
Our elf from the North Pole is still around creating some interesting scenes. J truly loves finding him each morning and seeing what he created this time. For a writing activity, J started keeping an Elf on the Shelf journal which she writes what Jingle has been doing and draws a picture. She has enjoyed this as well because she wants to remember the silly things he does.
The night of the parade, Jingle created his own parade complete with bystanders, lights, trucks, and his own flag to wave.
J was thrilled but Kaleb wanted his cars back.
The next night, he took a "bubble bath" using cotton balls and Grandma's bowl. He helped himself to a drink, a plate of sweets, added a beauty mask to keep out the lights, and had some light reading close by, just in case. This night he left a small gift from Santa - bath fizzes - little tablets that change the bath water into any color. Cool gift, Santa!
We have been so busy lately that the Christmas stockings were just draped on a chair. We never got around to hanging them. Jingle found some hooks and lights and went to work. He put the string of lights into the fireplace to give it a warm feeling.
He decided to take a rest in one of the stockings. J saw it and promptly said,"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...."
Jingle made himself a horse-drawn sleigh complete with ponies. I guess Santa's reindeers weren't available.
This time we found Jingle and his friends in the pantry on the morning of our breakfast with Santa (which was closed due to bad weather). Jingle is sharing doughnuts and hot chocolate with Santa and the Snowman complete with candlelight. Hey Jingle, can you pass me applesauce? Have a Jingle of a day.
The night of the parade, Jingle created his own parade complete with bystanders, lights, trucks, and his own flag to wave.
J was thrilled but Kaleb wanted his cars back.
The next night, he took a "bubble bath" using cotton balls and Grandma's bowl. He helped himself to a drink, a plate of sweets, added a beauty mask to keep out the lights, and had some light reading close by, just in case. This night he left a small gift from Santa - bath fizzes - little tablets that change the bath water into any color. Cool gift, Santa!
We have been so busy lately that the Christmas stockings were just draped on a chair. We never got around to hanging them. Jingle found some hooks and lights and went to work. He put the string of lights into the fireplace to give it a warm feeling.
He decided to take a rest in one of the stockings. J saw it and promptly said,"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...."
Jingle made himself a horse-drawn sleigh complete with ponies. I guess Santa's reindeers weren't available.
This time we found Jingle and his friends in the pantry on the morning of our breakfast with Santa (which was closed due to bad weather). Jingle is sharing doughnuts and hot chocolate with Santa and the Snowman complete with candlelight. Hey Jingle, can you pass me applesauce? Have a Jingle of a day.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Winter Promise Week 14
We are in week 14 of Winter Promise and still moving along. This week our focus animal was the cheetah. We also started a new chapter book - Poppy by Avi. J discovered the joy to listening to a book on CD while traveling this week. J started subtraction and learning about quarters. She went to her first Christmas parade and first picture with Santa (not sure it went well).
J worked with her fraction circles to practice fractions. So far she has learned about halves, thirds, and fourths.
She is in her final lessons of All About Reading level 1. J is excited that soon she will be opening her new reading books. Here she is working with compound words, breaking them up to make them easier to read.
She started a new Explode the Code book 3 this week as well. We are working through this series and have been since last year.
She read her story of the week - Cat Traps. She reads it every day for fluency practice.
We discussed singular and plural nouns. Then she went through the story, found all of the singular nouns and wrote them on a chart. She made them plural by adding s.
J is working on her notebook page for cheetahs for her animal notebook.
One new activity I added was an Elf on the Shelf journal. J has loves the antics of Jingle, our elf from the North Pole, and the journal allows her to write what he has done and draw a picture. We finished the week with a picture with Santa (sort of), seeing the Christmas decorations at the mall, buying the kids' first ornament for the tree, and taking J Christmas shopping for her family. What a nice ending. Hope your week wasn't too stressful. Enjoy the season.
J worked with her fraction circles to practice fractions. So far she has learned about halves, thirds, and fourths.
She is in her final lessons of All About Reading level 1. J is excited that soon she will be opening her new reading books. Here she is working with compound words, breaking them up to make them easier to read.
She started a new Explode the Code book 3 this week as well. We are working through this series and have been since last year.
She read her story of the week - Cat Traps. She reads it every day for fluency practice.
We discussed singular and plural nouns. Then she went through the story, found all of the singular nouns and wrote them on a chart. She made them plural by adding s.
J is working on her notebook page for cheetahs for her animal notebook.
One new activity I added was an Elf on the Shelf journal. J has loves the antics of Jingle, our elf from the North Pole, and the journal allows her to write what he has done and draw a picture. We finished the week with a picture with Santa (sort of), seeing the Christmas decorations at the mall, buying the kids' first ornament for the tree, and taking J Christmas shopping for her family. What a nice ending. Hope your week wasn't too stressful. Enjoy the season.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Christmas Around the World - Italy & England
We just started our Christmas Around the World Unit study that I bought on Cyber Monday from TPT. I am struggling with the desire to add to the unit but I do not want to overwhelm us for the holiday season. So I am going to keep it simple - right? (We'll see.) The idea behind this unit study is to create a bag book. What is a bag book? Each page of the bag book will cover each country studied and the kids will create mini crafts to fit inside the book. I love this idea. Our first country to learn about was Italy.
J used the QR reader on my iPad to direct us to the website about Christmas in Italy. Using the information from the website, J completed the Italy page for her Bag book. We read about how Italian put cribs in their homes to remember Jesus' birth but don't place Jesus in the crib until December 24th.
One craft I added to the study was to make a noodle version of the Italian flag. I gave the kids six noodles and some paint.
Kaleb loves to paint and had to participate as well. After they painted, they used left over glitter to pour over the wet noodles.
According to the website, Italians believe that a good witch named Befana brings children presents. They made mini brooms to add to their bag book pocket.
My ideal version of this unit study would allow my kids to create and taste different foods for each country. But I don't see that happening since it is basically a new country each day from now until Christmas. When I can, though, I am planning some cooking activities and today, we made English Muffin pizzas to celebrate Italy.
Kaleb added cheese to his muffins after spreading the sauce. I toasted them in the oven for a few minutes. I was somewhat skeptical about whether or not my kids would like them.
Kaleb liked them so-so. At least he tried them and them promptly fed them to Sammy the dog who is willing to eat pretty much anything.
Here's J first page in her Christmas Around the World Bag Book. The noodle flag and pipe cleaner broom will fit into the open pocket of the book.
For England, I added a world map so we can chart all of the counties we learn about and visit. She mapped Italy, England, and our overseas country.
She used the QR reader and went to the website that informed us about Christmas in England. We have British friends and I think the main detail I remember, when hearing about their Christmas dinners, was that they had several meats. Typically, in the states we do a turkey or a ham but most likely - not both. In England, they have several meats among other delicacies for their dinner.
I hung up a large map and we mapped the different countries and sayings for the holidays. I am not sure the map will stay up since I had to hang it over several windows (sorry, mom) but we will see. I would like to leave it up for the month and add to it daily.
I truly like Hope King's Christmas Around the World study for the most part. One item I did not like was the craft for England. It was basically a black piece of paper cut in the shape of a coal. I looked for a different version but since time is short, decided on making crystals instead. (I know they are no where near coal like but I had to do something) We made a solution of borax and boiling water. J then ladled the solution into mason jars.
Then she added a snowflake made from pipe cleaners to the jar. She immersed it completely. According to the website, it should take only about 5 hours to create. We will see. She also made one for her napping brother - a candy cane. Now this craft won't fit in her bag book but I think it will look nicely on the tree. If I had black food coloring, I so would have made coal candy (link below). That looks awesome.
Lastly, they made pigs in a blanket for dinner. This, according to the website, was one of the foods the English eat for the holidays. Well, two countries visited and many more to go. I am not stressing, I just want this to be fun. I keep telling myself this is just an overview and we don't have to do too much. Hope your week is going well without stress. Enjoy.
Befana tells her story (in English) - a youtube video about Befana's story
Mrs. Nelson's Class - has some printables for a Christmas Around the Worlds study
Blissfully Domestic - the idea for the borax snowflakes
Sprinkle Bakes - recipe for coal candy, totally would have loved to do this but just couldn't bring myself to run out and get black food coloring
5 Orange Potatoes - has a cute pattern for a coal stuffie, super cute. I think this could also be made from paper and stuffed with cotton balls. It has to be small to fit in the bag pocket.
Minie Co - has templates for Christmas crackers, both large and small. The small one might fit into the bag book. Crackers are an English tradition. They usually hold small gifts, jokes, or even paper crowns.
J used the QR reader on my iPad to direct us to the website about Christmas in Italy. Using the information from the website, J completed the Italy page for her Bag book. We read about how Italian put cribs in their homes to remember Jesus' birth but don't place Jesus in the crib until December 24th.
One craft I added to the study was to make a noodle version of the Italian flag. I gave the kids six noodles and some paint.
Kaleb loves to paint and had to participate as well. After they painted, they used left over glitter to pour over the wet noodles.
According to the website, Italians believe that a good witch named Befana brings children presents. They made mini brooms to add to their bag book pocket.
My ideal version of this unit study would allow my kids to create and taste different foods for each country. But I don't see that happening since it is basically a new country each day from now until Christmas. When I can, though, I am planning some cooking activities and today, we made English Muffin pizzas to celebrate Italy.
Kaleb added cheese to his muffins after spreading the sauce. I toasted them in the oven for a few minutes. I was somewhat skeptical about whether or not my kids would like them.
But J surprised me - she loved them! In fact, she ate 3! She kept commenting how good they were.
Kaleb liked them so-so. At least he tried them and them promptly fed them to Sammy the dog who is willing to eat pretty much anything.
Here's J first page in her Christmas Around the World Bag Book. The noodle flag and pipe cleaner broom will fit into the open pocket of the book.
For England, I added a world map so we can chart all of the counties we learn about and visit. She mapped Italy, England, and our overseas country.
She used the QR reader and went to the website that informed us about Christmas in England. We have British friends and I think the main detail I remember, when hearing about their Christmas dinners, was that they had several meats. Typically, in the states we do a turkey or a ham but most likely - not both. In England, they have several meats among other delicacies for their dinner.
I hung up a large map and we mapped the different countries and sayings for the holidays. I am not sure the map will stay up since I had to hang it over several windows (sorry, mom) but we will see. I would like to leave it up for the month and add to it daily.
I truly like Hope King's Christmas Around the World study for the most part. One item I did not like was the craft for England. It was basically a black piece of paper cut in the shape of a coal. I looked for a different version but since time is short, decided on making crystals instead. (I know they are no where near coal like but I had to do something) We made a solution of borax and boiling water. J then ladled the solution into mason jars.
Then she added a snowflake made from pipe cleaners to the jar. She immersed it completely. According to the website, it should take only about 5 hours to create. We will see. She also made one for her napping brother - a candy cane. Now this craft won't fit in her bag book but I think it will look nicely on the tree. If I had black food coloring, I so would have made coal candy (link below). That looks awesome.
Lastly, they made pigs in a blanket for dinner. This, according to the website, was one of the foods the English eat for the holidays. Well, two countries visited and many more to go. I am not stressing, I just want this to be fun. I keep telling myself this is just an overview and we don't have to do too much. Hope your week is going well without stress. Enjoy.
Befana tells her story (in English) - a youtube video about Befana's story
Mrs. Nelson's Class - has some printables for a Christmas Around the Worlds study
Blissfully Domestic - the idea for the borax snowflakes
Sprinkle Bakes - recipe for coal candy, totally would have loved to do this but just couldn't bring myself to run out and get black food coloring
5 Orange Potatoes - has a cute pattern for a coal stuffie, super cute. I think this could also be made from paper and stuffed with cotton balls. It has to be small to fit in the bag pocket.
Minie Co - has templates for Christmas crackers, both large and small. The small one might fit into the bag book. Crackers are an English tradition. They usually hold small gifts, jokes, or even paper crowns.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
And a little elf came to visit....
During the Thanksgiving holidays, the kids received a package from the North Pole - directly from Santa! Inside the package was a letter from Santa, a book, a DVD, and a special elf that we promptly named Jingle. We read the letter, watched the movie, and welcomed Jingle into our home. Little did we know that Jingle was going to cause some problems....
The first day, after he arrived, he was making snow angels in the flour. He wrote "Be Good" using marshmallows.
Second day, he noticed J eating a ton of oranges and he decided to get in on the fun. He is "drinking" an orange and left a note, "Orange you sweet." J was wondering if we had to pick up after Jingle made his messes.
Third day, he must have stayed around us too long. Since Thanksgiving, we have been battling colds and coughs. We must have infected him because he decided to stay in bed. I hope he feels better. Well, we are waiting for his next set of antics...better not make too much of a mess!
The first day, after he arrived, he was making snow angels in the flour. He wrote "Be Good" using marshmallows.
Second day, he noticed J eating a ton of oranges and he decided to get in on the fun. He is "drinking" an orange and left a note, "Orange you sweet." J was wondering if we had to pick up after Jingle made his messes.
Third day, he must have stayed around us too long. Since Thanksgiving, we have been battling colds and coughs. We must have infected him because he decided to stay in bed. I hope he feels better. Well, we are waiting for his next set of antics...better not make too much of a mess!
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Tot Tuesday
Lately, with all of the traveling that we have been doing in the states, Kaleb seems to have forgotten about naps. We have had a yucky schedule and trying to fit naps into it, well...was just a little difficult. But I like naps and I was finding that Kaleb still needed them, often falling asleep around 5 or 6 P.M. (just before bed - not good). So to bring back the nap required some negotiation on my part. He refused to bring back the nap but I found he loves games. Now, when I put him down, I tell him that when he wakes - we will play a game. He can choose the game but he must first take a short nap. That was the ticket! And the first thing he informs me when he wakes - "wanna play a game." The child never forgets.
Kaleb is playing Tangoes - matching the shapes to the pictures.
Kaleb is playing Puppy Dog Bingo from Target. This is a good game for matching shapes, colors, and patterns. Games - the reason Kaleb's naps came back.
Kaleb is playing Tangoes - matching the shapes to the pictures.
Kaleb is playing Puppy Dog Bingo from Target. This is a good game for matching shapes, colors, and patterns. Games - the reason Kaleb's naps came back.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Our Christmas Plans
This year, since we are in the states, I was looking for something easy to do but fun for Christmas. I love the idea of an advent book series which I have done before. I love the idea of The Names of Christ study for Christmas but I am not sure J is ready for that just yet. So I went on a search for something to work with this advent season. Then I found this devotional book by Mukkove Johnson - Christmas is About Jesus. It is a 24 day devotional using the symbols of Christmas to remember Christ in the holidays.
We will be using this book through out the month of December for our Christmas study. Each day is based on a different symbol of Christmas and how it ties into Jesus. We will read the devotion, do some Christmas crafts and games, and create an ornament for our home-school room tree. My goal is to create a handmade ornament for each day of the devotional. Please join us through the month of December to celebrate the true reason behind Christmas - Jesus.
As a last minute addition, I decided to work with a Christmas Around the World unit study that I found on TPT Cyber Monday sales. I couldn't help myself - it looked so cute, and relatively easy to do. It is a unit by Hope King about Christmas and other holidays around the world Interactive Bag Book. This will keep us hopping for the Christmas season but I will try not to get carried away. I will stick with the activities in the unit and not plan too many extras. I always want to add more and then get frustrated at not getting everything done. So join us for this wonderful time of year - I am super excited about having Christmas in the states. Enjoy.
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