Letter B Interactive Notebook Pages - free printable

My next set of Interactive Notebook pages is now available for download - Letter B. We are adding each set of pages to one of the inexpensive notebooks that I found during the school supply sales.  Because of the holiday, we didn't get to photograph all of the pages with Kaleb but I wanted to post this anyway, so you could download them.

The first pages for the letter B are mini flip books which Kaleb glued pictures that started with the letter B. I added a few more pictures than book so he could have a choice of which pictures to use. He then glued the extra pictures on the side of the page.

I let him cute and glue the pictures himself as we discussed them....b is for....

He is doing really well with those scissors. I did cut the pictures from the main page smaller so they sou;d be easier to handle. But he cut out all the pictures himself after that.

Next set of B pages, I created a beach ball letter sort. Each ball is programmed with capital and lower case letter b's. I cut the ends from an envelope and glued them to the front of the boats, creating a pocket to place the balls in. Kaleb will separate the beach balls into each pocket. I also glued a pocket to keep the pieces and two writing strips to practice writing the letter B. If you would like, you could laminate the writing strips so they can be used again.

We are still working on counting so I added balloons. Kaleb will add pom poms or flat glass beads to each circle while counting and working with his numbers.

I added the B puzzle which I made magnetic and used on a cookie sheet instead of adding it to the notebook. But it can be used in the notebook as well.

I also added a letter craft - turn the b into a boat. This can be a cut and paste activity printed on colored paper or paint and cut.  Hope you enjoy the B interactive notebook pages. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Download Letter B Interactive Notebook Pages HERE.

A is for Airplane

Kaleb was chomping at the bit on Monday to start school. He was so excited, constantly asking when was it his time for school? We started with the letter A - A is for Airplane Unit that I created for Wheel School last year.

I planned about 5 or 6 activities for each day and placed what I needed for each activity in a ziplock bag. The bags were then put in a blue rubbermaid container to keep all of his school things together. I had originally planned to buy some plastic drawers for his school stuff but with all of our moving around, decided to wait until we get more permanent.

We started out with capital and lowercase letter A's. He traced the A's with airplanes. These blank letters will then be used for other activities.

He then traced the letters using the foam blocks that I found at the Dollar Store. He decided to use all of the circle blocks to trace the lowercase a.

Using his planes, he played the shape parking lot game. He threw the die and "landed" his planes in the correct spot. I took this time to talk about the color of each shape (this is on his learning goals that I wrote up before he started school this year). I found this free printable game on Happy Brown House (link below).

I found some chopsticks that look like a clothespin at the Dollar Store and this free cloud math printable from Miss Kaili Bug TPT store ( link below). I added some cute blue and white pompoms and had a fine motor activity. I wasn't sure this activity would be liked but it ended up being a hit! He loved it and we played for awhile, taking turns. He would only let me place the white pompoms on the cloud while he worked with the blue.

The last activity for the first day of school was a new sensory bin. I colored rice blue using food gel to represent the sky, added foam clouds, white/blue pompoms, airplane counters and letter A's to the mix. I have to say coloring rice with food gel gave the rice and awesome blue color - the only downside was when J played with it, the blue came off on her hands. It washed right off but I am not sure why the color didn't stick.

My parents gave these cows that spit little balls out of their mouths to the kids for Christmas last year. They are so cute and what better to knock the cups off the stool? I wrote capital and lower case letter A's on the cups and had Kaleb knock them to the ground. Then, I would ask him if the letter A was big or little.

Kaleb worked on a roll and graph page that I created for my A is for Airplane tot pack. He used mini-airplane stickers to keep track of what picture he rolled. Since we didn't stick the stickers, he can reuse the graph another day.

Kaleb was so excited about school all week that he even took the time to work with an airplane sewing card.

Another sensory project was to "paint" with shaving cream. I added a drop of blue food coloring to make clouds.

We worked on our colors by sorting large buttons into colored cups.

He also worked on learning his name. I created a simple sheet that he can trace the letters of his name and match letter tiles as well. I made a second set of name letter tiles and then hid them in the noodles. He had to find each letter and match them to his name.

One last activity was to stick airplane and letter stickers to our capital and lowercase A's. We used the letter print outs all week and this was a good ending project for preschool. It was great to see the enthusiasm for school from Kaleb. I pray that it doesn't leave. He was so thrilled to be part of our school day that he literally begged for it. We are on to the letter B - for boats, buses, and bikes. See you soon.

Links:

Wheel School: free printable A is for Airplane tot pack and preschool plans.

Wheel School - Letter A interactive notebook pages, free printable.

Happy Brown House - free printable Parking Lot Shape and Number Game.

Miss Kaili Bug TPT Store - cotton ball cloud counting free printable.

House of Burke and My Small Potatoes - both blogs had great ideas for the airplane sensory bin.

Parable of the Lost Coin

This year, we started to work a couple of subjects together to make the school day go somewhat smoother. One of the subjects is our Bible Time. We are working through Telling God's Story Year One - Meeting Jesus. It is a hands-on bible curriculum that offers enough activities to do for the week. You pick and choose what you would like to do. Our first week was experiencing the Parable of the Lost Coin - Luke 15:8-10. We talked about how happy the woman was when she found the lost coin and how happy we are when we find something that had been lost.

"In the same way, I tell you there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:10 NIV

Our lesson began with reading the bible story and coloring the page of the widow looking for her lost coin. She searched high and low for her coin, knowing that if it was lost, she lost a day of food and oil for her lamp.

I found some wooden disks that I created a secret message on each one. Then I hid the coins in some corn meal. Giving the kids little brushes, they had to sweep away the dust to find the coins.

J translated the message by putting the letters in the correct order.

I made a simple message for Kaleb that spelled out "Jesus" and had him match the numbers on the coin to the numbers on a paper strip. Telling God's Story is not aged for preschool but I found he can do most of the activities and those he can't, I adapt. Then, we played coin hide-n-seek. We each took turns hiding the coin around the room and trying to find it. And how happy they were when they found it!

Then, we made our own coins by painting the wooden disks with silver paint.

We learned about some of the designs on Roman money and created their own designs on the coins that they painted the day before. Kaleb made car designs on his coins.

And what good is having coins without something to put them in? We made little coin pouches to place our new coins in. Our first week with this new bible curriculum was eventful. They both loved reading the story, playing the games, and creating the crafts. If all the weeks are like this, I am sure I will only have to call them once to tell them it is time for bible!

Sonlight Core B + C - Week 1

This week started the first week of our school. I wasn't able to start as early as I would like but we finally got started and I was happy to begin a new routine. J is working through Sonlight Core B + C combined. Our first week was hectic but it's good to be back!

For Bible, J and Kaleb learned about the parable of the lost coin. While listening to the reading, J and Kaleb colored a sheet that came with the curriculum.

She started her first week lessons with Learning Language Arts through Literature. This is new and I hope to get her able to do this independently. It covers a variety of language arts activities. This week, she learned about nouns, adjectives, wrote sentences, and worked on sight words.

J is reading through a Bible Story book, one story every day. Kaleb and Mouseys joined in for the story of Adam and Eve. I may not be doing all of the language arts activities in the Core manual but I do like the her reading through this book.

J began her math workbook - reviewing concepts from last year. She's smiling - it must be a good day. We read about early civilizations and learned about Judaism.

Thursday was Science experiment day. I decided that I would bring Kaleb in on the science fun. He is discovering what "sticks and doesn't stick."

We worked through the experiments, played the sock matching game, and then watched the Science video. I am hoping to have Kaleb join in on our Science experiments every week. He definitely likes to be part of everything! It was a good week. I am glad to be back to school, with a schedule of sorts. Hope your week went well.

Letter A Interactive Notebook Pages - free printable

This week for preschool, Kaleb worked on the letter A - A is for Airplane. I wanted to create something that he could use to review his letters as we continue through the alphabet. I discovered many posts about interactive notebooks and thought it would be a good tool for this review. So, I created mini interactive notebook pages for the letter A. Each week that we learn a new letter, I hope to add to the printable pages for the notebook - so stay tuned! Here is my first try at interactive notebooks -

Page one - What Begins with A? flap book with pictures to paste under each letter A. Only glue down the strip in the middle and cut the mini pages apart. I used the letter A pictures and cut them into smaller pieces. Then I gave those pieces to Kaleb to cut out. He did a really good job, I can notice a difference in his cutting skills already.

Page two - Where is the Airplane? Game. One of the skills that I am working on with Kaleb is recognizing his colors. This is a simple game where you tape the edge of the clouds down and hide the airplane. The child has to guess where the airplane is using his color words. I also added a pocket on this page for the small pieces. The clouds and pocket were printed on card stock for durability.

Page three - this craft idea can be added as another page to the interactive notebook or used alone. Kaleb made the lower case a into an airplane. I printed the pieces onto colored paper and allowed him to glue them anywhere.

It turned out cute - even though it has a helicopter feel to it. He likes it so that is really all it matters. I created this page not so he can copy the craft exactly. I really just wanted to give him some practice gluing and such.

Page four - I added this activity to practice counting from 1 to 5. The airplanes are programmed with numbers as well as the correct number of windows. Kaleb's task was to pin the clothespins onto the windows and count them. These airplanes can fit in the pocket on page 2 (not the clothespins though).

Page five - Letter A shape puzzle. I added a blank letter A to make the puzzle easier to put together. Print, laminate, and add velcro if you want to include the puzzle in the notebook or do what I did, add magnets.

Add a cookie sheet and the outline letter A. He worked the puzzle several times while we discussed the pictures on the pieces.

So, this is my first installment of Interactive Notebook Pages. Hope you enjoy them. If you have any questions or problems, let me know.

Download Letter A Interactive Notebook Pages HERE.

New School Year Begins

Because of traveling, I didn't quite get to start the school year as early as planned. But, as my DH keeps reminding me - we homeschool for lots of reasons and flexibility being one of them. J will be in Second Grade and Kaleb will be continuing preschool activities. Here is a break down of the curriculum we will be using for the new school year.

J - Second Grade

Bible:

Telling God's Story Year One - Meeting Jesus. This is a hands-on bible curriculum that comes with coloring sheets, art projects, and games. I am hoping that we will be able to do it together with Kaleb, after some adjustments for the preschool age.

Core: (History, Science)

Sonlight B + C - Intro to World History Combined Year. Because we worked with Winter Promise last year, I decided to use the Combine B + C to keep J on track with the Sonlight schedule. It is definitely more intense than Winter Promise as I hoped to be in a permanent environment by now so I am praying that we can keep up with all the work involved.

Math:

Horizons Math Grade 2 Book Set.  We are continuing with Horizons Math, it seems to fit J. She tested well in Math last school year so why change something that isn't broke? I know many parents who don't like Horizons but J likes it and it works for her.

Language Arts:

Learning Language Arts Through Literature: Red Book.  Even though I love Sonlight, I always feel that their language arts program needs some amping up. This year, I decided to supplement with LLATL. 

All About Spelling Levels 1 and 2.  I decided to add a spelling curriculum this year. I probably could have left it with LLATL but we will give All About Spelling a try. If it proves to be too much, I will eliminate this. I bought both levels because the first 8 to 10 lessons are alphabet sounds and such which she already knows. We will review the first lessons at a quicker pace and then slow down to a lesson per week when the actual spelling lists come in play.

All About Reading Level 3. We will also continue with All About Reading Level 3 and possibly Level 4 (since I heard that it is coming out in September). 

Explode the Code Books 4, 4 1/2, and 5.  We are still working through these books and have been since Kindergarten. 

Handwriting Without Tears 2nd Grade. This book also came with a pre-cursive workbook. 

Art and Music: I have plenty of ideas but I haven't finalized this one yet. I may just continue where I left off last year.

Kaleb - preschool

Kaleb's curriculum will be a mixture of Before Five in A Row books, Wheel School Alphabet packs, and my own literature studies that I have created. I will be focusing on many preschool skills such as learning his name, the alphabet, numbers and counting, etc... He will participate in our bible time as well as art, music, and some science. I am still working out how I will schedule and work with two children but most likely, I will work with Kaleb first. I will have some work that J can do independently while I am working with Kaleb to make the day run smoother. We will see how it will work. If it doesn't, I will just have to adjust.

So, we are now ready to begin our first week of school. Wish me luck :)