B4FIAR - Goodnight Moon

We are currently taking a break from the letter of the week so we can "row" some books. I have missed "rowing great books" and I am glad to be doing this again. This week, we "rowed" Goodnight Moon.

In Science, we are working through a Space Unit and I made this sensory bin for that. It just seemed to fit with Goodnight Moon as well. It has black beans, the planets, glow-in-the-dark stars and moons, and some white pom poms.

We always begin each day by reading the book. We have read this book before and one of Kaleb's favorite activities is to find the mouse on each page. The mouse "hides" in different places on each page. I love books that do this.

We talked about the letter M and completed a cut and paste sheet of letter M words. This was part of Goodnight Moon activities (link below).

We played a mitten matching game (link below). These mitten cards are great. Not only can you play a matching game but you can also sort these mittens according to attributes such as striped, spotted, or solid colored.

I was in Wal Mart recently and lucked out when they ran a half-off mark down sale. I found several learning games that ended up being less than $2! This alphabet soup game was one of my finds. Kaleb started by matching each of the letters to the soup bowls.

This was a fun game that I made up. I gave Kaleb a ping pong ball (looks like a moon) and programmed an egg carton with numbers 1 thru 5.

He would drop the moon into the egg carton and discover what number he got. Then, he would add blocks to the red balloons on the counter page (link below). Another way to play, although some what harder, would be to bounce the ball into the egg carton. We played to 50, counting each time he added blocks. This will help with number recognition.

Another game was to roll the die, and cover the number rolled with blocks.  The first one to cover all of the numbers wins (link below).

He practiced his one-to-one correspondence by counting stars in the sky. I used some glow-in-the-dark stars from our Space Unit as counters. The star page came from Homeschool Creations.

We played alphabet soup again. He scoops the letters from the pot and sorts them in the muffin tin.

This was an activity that he chose to do - he sorted the stars, moons, and planets from the sensory bin.

Kaleb loves mouseys. So, we made two letter M mice. He loved these and they are currently hanging in our dining room.

He practiced his colors by coloring the balloons in a mini book. All mini books and printable will be placed in an interactive notebook for Goodnight Moon.

He made a super cute window scene. First, he painted stars onto blue construction paper with a q-tip. Then, he added a coffee filter moon and some red window strips.

Lastly, I placed a Goodnight Moon printable page under some cornmeal (it has a sand like consistency) and gave him a paint brush. He had to find the pictures below the cornmeal and then find it in the book. The printable came from Life Over C's (link below).

"Rowing" this book brought back so many memories "rowing" with J. I have missed this and will continue "rowing" good books for awhile. The transportation tot school was/is fun but I have missed this. I allow Kaleb to choose his next row by placing 2 or 3 books in front of him and asking which one he would like to work with the following week. He chose Angus Lost - so we will be "rowing" it next week. See you soon.

Links

Nurturing Learning - Goodnight Moon Sensory Bin idea.

Teaching Mama - another Goodnight Moon Sensory bin idea.

Choices for Children - cute fireplace craft idea to go along with Goodnight Moon.

We Bloom Here - a cute mouse finger puppet idea for Goodnight Moon.

Mrs. Kovi TPT - a cute balloon pop free printable number game.

Rachel D TPT - Letter M beginning sound free printable.

Malibu Mutts TPT - a cute cut and paste mouse project.

Mrs. Heather TPT - a cute mitten match game, free printable.

Wunderbare - has a cute tp mouse project which Kaleb loves.

Crystal and Co - has cute M is for Mouse letter craft.

Life Over C's - Goodnight Moon printable pack, free.

Tot Tuesday

My DS has a girlfriend who loves to knit and crochet. Imagine my surprise when she gave me the cutest hat that she made. Thanks so much Alina!

Riley will not smile for me when I pull out the camera. He has the cutest smile complete with dimples but he will not smile when I put that big, black thing in his face :(

He is still a cutie!

Jesus Feeds the 5,000

Our Bible Lesson for the week was Jesus feeds the 5,000. What an amazing story - feeding so many people with just a few items - 5 loaves and 2 fish.

Day 1:

Kaleb is coloring the sheet while listening to the lesson.

Kaleb practiced his books of the New Testament. I made his puzzle easier - he matches the names of the books to the pictures.

J works on her New Testament Books by placing them in order. She doesn't use a picture to match. She is learning them by heart.

They worked on the craft page provided from the book. We made a basket from a paper lunch bag with the top rolled down.

I asked J how we could make these five loaves and two fish feed 5,000 people. She prayed over them but they did not multiply. We talked about ripping them into pieces but that we still probably wouldn't have enough. (She didn't want to rip her creation to prove the point.)

Day 2:

We read the lesson again and talked about it. They made another basket with fish and loaves that I found from Crafting the Word of God - link below.

We also continued to review the books of the New Testament. This time, we made a game. She would close her eyes and I would take away several of the books. She then had to tell me what book was missing.

Day 3:

We started painting noodles for our fish and noodle necklace. They chose about 10 noodles to paint.

Then, they cut fish from foam sheets. The idea for the necklace came from Busy Bee Crafts (link below).

We made pita bread using the recipe from the lesson. If you decide to do this, allot plenty of time. We started about 5 in the afternoon.

I did not take in account the amount of time it needed to rise and such. J and I were baking pita bread at 10 p.m.! It was good and the kids ate it all BUT it was a lot of work. Perhaps, next time, I will find an easier recipe.

Day 4:

Kaleb is working on his tin foil fish. I made a card stock fish and added tin foil to it. Then, gave them Sharpie markers to make designs on their fish.

It was a cute and simple craft that I found from Nurture Store (link below).

Then, they stringed their necklaces since the noodles were dry.

Pretty cute.

I had to add this pic because his smile is so silly. He loves his necklace. Next lesson for Bible is Jesus Walks on Water. See you next week.

Links

Crafting the Word of God - has two cute crafts for this lesson: a flat basket with fish and loaves or a 3D basket with fish and loaves.

Creative Kid Snacks - has a cute lunch idea with tuna fish and slices of toasted bread.

Busy Bee Kids Crafts - has a cute loaves and fishes necklace idea.

Preschool Plan It - has a whole week of lessons for the younger set. Lots of ideas here.

Michelle Paige - love her idea of Share what you have! based on this week's lesson.

Nurture Store - has a simple fish craft involving tin foil and sharpies.

Space Unit - Mercury & Venus

Our SpaceUnit is moving along and J is learning so much. She has truly enjoyed this unit which reinforces the idea of child-directed learning. She asks to work on Science first thing in the morning because she is learning to love it. This week, we learned about Mercury and Venus. We spend about 2 days on each planet and then use Friday for a catch-up day. On this day, we finish reading any book needed, finish our projects that had been started, and finish any writing . It is nice knowing we have an "extra" day to finish what we need to.

The books on her level that we have borrowed from the library have been great. She can read it out-loud to me and comprehend the information. I always look for ones she can read herself. She is reading about Venus.

After she read about the planets, she fills in a few research sheets of certain facts about each, such as how many moons does it have, the distance from the sun, etc..

She is working on a Mercury mini book that I found. All of the items she works on will be added to a Space Notebook.

She is also working on a mural underneath our kitchen bar. You can see her huge Sun with facts written on each of the rays. We add a planet after we learn about it.

J read about Venus and completed a page in her Planets book. She has to write three interesting facts about each planet and draw a picture.

She is still adding to her moon journal. Every night, she checks out the moon and draws what phase it is in. We are on to Earth and Mars. See you soon.

Links

Imagine Our Life - has a cute Solar System quiet book page with free printable pattern. You could use this pattern to make felt planets.

3 Dinosaurs - has a free Space printable pack loaded with stuff.

Paint Cut Paste - has a cute idea for a Solar System bracelet. I truly want to try this with J. Maybe I can find a different way to make the beads other than Sculpey.

Love to Felt - has a great felt Solar System, super cute for inspiration if you would like to make your own felt planets.

Elemental Blogging - has another version of the Solar System bracelet.

Educating Laytons - has two free printable planet play dough sheets.

Craftionary - has a free cut and paste planet order sheet.

Counting Coconuts - has some ideas for a Space unit. Love her felt planets.

Print-Cut-Paste-Craft - has a printable version of the Solar System.

I is for Ice Cream Truck

This week, we worked on learning the letter I....I is for Ice Cream Truck.

The Sensory Bin for the week contained pom poms, an ice cream sand play set from IKEA, several ice cream trucks found here and there.

He traced the upper and lower case I's with his ice cream trucks - large and small trucks. He was thrilled when he woke to find new cars to play with.

I found a cute ice cream balance game which I turned into a math activity. He chose a number bottle cap and then had to count the ice cream scoops onto the cone.

He played alphabet soup - I placed all of the letters learned so far into a large container and gave him a spoon and muffin tin. He scooped the letters and sorted them into the tin.

He traced the letter I with foam blocks.

He practiced his alphabet working with a puzzle. I love this one by Melissa Doug because it has pictures for each letter.

We played animal dominoes. He matched the pictures and numbers.

He traced the letter with his tactile alphabet cards.

He worked another alphabet puzzle. He is only working with the letters that we have learned so far.

He made the letter I into an ice cream cone. This activity is one from my Interactive Notebook Pages. You can find them HERE.

He made an ice cream truck with a kit that I found at the toy store.

He practiced his name with his bottle cap letters.

Kaleb then found the letters to his name in the ice cream sensory bin that I created for the week. Letter I week is finished and we are on to other things. Next letter J. See you soon.

Tot Tuesday

A favorite movie around here is Despicable ME with Gru and the Minions. Keke and I were shopping the other day and came across the book 3 Sleepy Kittens which was read in the first movie. We couldn't pass it up.

Keke brought out the book and read it to J and Riley, complete with Gru accent. It was priceless. Not sure it is a classic like Goodnight Moon but....it is definitely a keeper (as long as Keke reads it with the accent)!

Jesus Calms the Storm

The Bible lesson for the week was Jesus Calms the Storm. I am super happy that we have been able to work with Bible again. I missed doing this with the kids.

Day 1:

We started our lesson on Jesus Calms the Storm with the kids coloring the sheet provided from the lesson while I read the story from the Bible.

I found a Books of the New Testament bulletin border at the Dollar Store. I cut up several of the strips to create a puzzle. For every set of books, I add to the "puzzle." Right now, we are learning Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. This was a super simple way to create a hands on learning experience for memorizing the books. I also made one for Kaleb, since I had a bunch of them. But for his puzzle, I made it more of matching. He matches the books to the picture instead of reading the books.

Our after-dinner-treat was Jesus Calms the Storm jello which is really just blue jello with orange slice boats complete with paper sails. I added whip cream for stormy weather. I didn't realize this but it was the first time my kids EVER had jello. Weird, huh? I never made it our other country, so it is an acquired taste.  Even though they tried it, they didn't like it. But, on the bright side, I was unaware that our oranges that we bought were blood oranges until I cut them open. I thought for sure the kids wouldn't try these. J not only tried them, she loved them. She has successfully worked through the entire bag, eating at least 2 a day! I guess I will have to buy more.

Day 2:

After reviewing the lesson again, J and Kaleb worked on a 3D boat depicting a possible scene from the lesson. This was a cute craft because it had the kids write what the apostles might have said while on the boat. J based her quotes by the looks on their faces. They read: (1) Maybe we should wake up Jesus, (2) We're gonna drown!, (3) Look Out! A BIG WAVE!, (4) What's going to happen to us?, and (5) How could He sleep through this? Super cute. I wrote the quotes for her since the word bubbles were just a tad small but everything written was by her. This free printable was from Gospel Hall (link below).

We continue to review our Books of the Bible.

Day 3:

Again, we read the story from the Bible and discussed it. I try to have some type of coloring or craft that they can do while I am reading.

This day, they made the craft from Meaningful Mama (link below). This was a cute idea, complete with a boat on a popsicle stick to act out the story. The kids decided to add black storm clouds and lightning.

J also added fish. She was very proud of her creation.

We also made ocean bottles with items around the house. I used canola oil, water, and blue food coloring. They added beads for fish, glitter, and made a mini toothpick boat to fit into the bottle.

Kaleb was so cute with this lesson. When we would read it, he would put his hand out and say,"Jesus, said, STOP!" And the waves did obey. Awesome lesson. See you next week!

Links

Flame Creative Kids - has a free  printable play dough mat for the lesson.

Gospel Hall - has a free printable 3-D boat with apostles to make complete with speech bubbles to fill in the conversations that took place.

Crafting the Word of God - has a cute printable craft for the lesson. I tried to print this but I had some difficulty. So we did not do it.

Meaningful Mama - also has cute craft with free printable.

Raising Little Disciples - make an ocean bottle complete with toothpick boat.