H is for Helicopters, Horses

Moving on to the letter H....

We started our week with a book about all the words that begin with the letter H....horses, hands, etc...

Kaleb used his Duplos to trace the upper and lowercase letters. We use the print out for the letter throughout the week and then add them to our notebook.

He stamped all the H's with his bingo painter.

I programmed two containers with upper and lower case H's. I gave Kaleb some soft balls and he threw them into the containers. Then, he would tell me if the letter was capital H or  little h.

In the sensory bin for the week, I added some helicopters and letter H's. We are still using the popcorn, it is a favorite right now.

Kaleb stamped H's onto the helicopter.

He colored a model of a helicopter, cut it out, and glued it together.

Kaleb played with play dough and his tools.

He made a huge tower with his Mega Blocks. Then we measured items around the house to see if his tower was bigger or smaller.

This little boy loves his school, what a ham! Moving slowly through the alphabet....

Tot Tuesday

Recently, Riley had the chance to try his hand at College Algebra with his older sister, Keke. Not sure he liked the math but he enjoyed the pencil! Keke didn't like the math either.

He's a sweet baby boy. He will be three months old this month. Where did the time go?

You can never start homeschooling too early, can you? Enjoy your day.

You Are My Sunshine

There is a special song that my Mom sings to my children. Well, there is more than one special song but that post would take too long :) My Mom often sings "You Are My Sunshine" which my kids love. So, when I saw this on Pinterest one day, I knew that I had to make it for my Mom (and I just had to have one too). Sorry the picture is so dark, I couldn't get my flash to work.

This turned out super cute and I love it. My Mom loved it too! The hardest part of this was painting my newborn baby's toes and trying to get his foot print. I was doing this by myself and it is easier said than done. Kaleb and J painted both the background and the sun onto the canvas. I painted the letters then traced them with a black sharpie marker.
I added their names and also wrote them on the back along with the date and their ages. Simple. This is a simple gift that is easy to do but will be cherished forever.

G is for Garbage Trucks, Goats, Gumballs

Kaleb started G week by collecting all garbage trucks and letter G's to add to our pop corn sensory bin.

He worked on a transportation puzzle. We talked about every vehicle pictured and what letters they began with.

Kaleb then matched the magnetic vehicles to the correct pages in this book that I found at a thrift store.

Using the noodle bin and a complete set of alphabet magnets, Kaleb worked at finding and matching the letters to the alphabet sheet. He matched upper case letters to upper case on the sheet. Soon, we will try to match upper case to lower case as well.

I always try to include some math activities in our week. This was one of them coupled with some fine motor practice. I placed foam numbers into a cupcake tin and gave him some chop sticks. He placed the correct number of pom poms into the tin according to the number. One of my learning goals for him this year was counting (and one-to-one correspondence) to 20. So far, he can count to 15. Not too bad, I think. On to the letter H....coming soon:)

Letter G Interactive Notebook - Revisited

We are continuing through the alphabet and we have made it to the letter G.  Kaleb used the G Interactive Notebook Pages that I made. You may find the free printable pages here.

I always start with the flip book pages when we start a new letter of the alphabet. This gives Kaleb the chance to become familiar with the letter. He cuts all of the pictures and decides which ones to glue in his book.

Then, Kaleb practiced counting using the gum ball page. He chose a number coin and then counted the pom pom gum balls onto the machine.

Next, Kaleb reviewed the letters we have learned so far by matching the gloves.

Using two table legs, I strung some yarn and asked him to hang the matching gloves onto the "clothes line."

Kaleb practiced sorting capital and lower case letter G goats into the correct fences. I added envelopes to the back of the gates so the goats could rest in the correct gate.

Caleb worked through another alphabet review page. I asked him to find a certain letter and he placed a "grape" pom pom onto the letters. The last project he did was to make the letter G into a gum ball machine. He has become very adept at cutting and gluing. A few more pages added to our alphabet book. We are on to the letter H.

Tot Tuesday

We had been preparing Kaleb about baby Riley months before he was born. I was slightly anxious at what anxieties the new baby in the house would bring to Kaleb when Riley joined the family. Kaleb was the baby of the family for four years. I don't know why I was so worried. Kaleb has succeeded in surprising me once more (he surprises me daily). Kaleb absolutely loves Riley without hesitation! He informs when when Riley is crying or hungry. He talks to him and kisses him. He brings me diapers and wipes and will even throw out the dirty diaper! J won't even do that without a bribe!

Kaleb even "shared" his precious Mouseys with him. He shares his Mouseys with no one....until now. What a sweet thing to do. I love this photo. It truly shows Kaleb's love for his baby brother. My heart swells :) Now, if I can just get Kaleb and J to get along, I will be doing good.

A New Year....

Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's came and left sooner than expected. Having a newborn around the house along with my youngers have proved to be more time consuming than expected. I am finding it hard to find the time to blog like I want but I am truly enjoying our new addition. We all are:) He is quite a star around here, everyone wanting to hold him. The youngers are great at helping as well and love their little baby brother beyond words. I am praying that I will be able to get back to my blog, I miss it so but I wouldn't change a thing. Riley has been a blessing and I can't imagine our family without him.

So, I am asking that you bear with me in this time of transition. I don't want to miss a minute with sweet baby Riley but I want to continue writing. So, if I miss a day or two or week....bear in the mind, the time is being well spent. As my first blog post for the new year, I wish you all well. We will be back to school this coming week and I hope to somehow find the time to blog about our new adventures, new interactive alphabet pages, tot school, and Second grade triumphs. See you soon and I pray that your new year began without too much fuss:)