Finishing Our School Year

I haven't been trying to neglect my blog lately. Things have been crazy here. We are finishing up our school year by spending a week or two spring cleaning our house. We have been working hard cleaning every inch of our house. We also have been getting ready for our Little House End-of-the-Year Tea Party. I can't wait to show you the pictures! We finished our aprons, got our craft kits ready, and planned all of activities. We just have to finish planning the menu - Yay! The finishing touches are being put on our Little House. My DH is trimming out the windows, making shelves for the dishes, and finishing the roof. He is doing an awesome job. And my kids absolutely love the play house. Every day, they have taken their lunch inside the house. J and I have also starting watching the Little House series. I was afraid that J would think they were silly but she has loved them! I haven't forgotten about my blog. I will be seeing you soon!

Letter O Interactive Notebook Pages

It is Friday again and I am ready to post another project that I have been working on finishing - my Interactive Notebook series on the alphabet. Today, I am sharing with you my Letter I Interactive Notebook pages - Yay! I am getting ever closer to the end of the alphabet. I love being able to check these off my To-Do List. I hope you enjoy these.

I started with the flip books and words that have the beginning sound of O. Cut and paste the pictures under the flaps.

Included is a simple letter O puzzle. I would print this on card stock and add magnets to the back of the pieces to make it easier to assemble.

I like to include an alphabet review game of all the letters that they have learned so far. Match the lower case letter oranges to the upper case oranges on the tree.

Another simple alphabet review game - easy to use! Just use pom poms or glass bottom beads or even a paint stamper and have child mark the letter you say.

The Math activity for the letter O is owl patterns. I made simple owl pattern strips to add to your notebook. Add the correct color owl to the correct pattern. IF you have any questions, please let me know. Have an awesome weekend.

Download Letter O Interactive Notebook Pages HERE.

Fourth Grade - Final Post

This past week, J has finished up most of her fourth grade work. She finished Math, Bible, Language Arts, Spelling, and our core - Sonlight Core E. This is what we have left to do - reading a few more chapters books and we will be totally done. Yay! Not too bad. Once this is done, we will have our Little House Tea Party, a week of Spring Cleaning, and testing. Then, we are ready for our summer vacation.

We will have a few changes next year such as scheduling. I am already looking towards our new school year, preparing for it (our work is never done:). But we are ready for a break. We have big plans for the summer - well, sort of:) We will be spending some time with Grandma and Grandpa, hosting an exchange student for a few weeks, and playing with our new Little House. We will see you soon.

Farmer Boy - Week 2

We are on our second week of Farmer Boy and we have been super busy. We are finishing our school year and we are getting ready for our Little House End-of-the-Year Tea Party. Our house has been a flurry of thread and sewing machines. We have been having a ball.

The kids have been enjoying our own "Little House" even though it isn't finished yet. They had lunch in their house and J dressed up!

J made cute tea pot invitations for her party. She cut out tea pots and added the details. We discovered Washi tape. She loves it.

We spent several days sewing for the party. Each girl will receive a simple apron when they arrive. The aprons are pink variations as J wanted to have a pink party. She sewed most of the aprons but I sewed on the eyelet trim.

J made white muslin curtains that she is appliquéing birds and hearts onto. These are going to be super cute in the play house. Pictures coming soon.

She made six aprons for the girls. I think they turned out super cute and they were simple to make. (link below)

Here's one of her aprons. They were made with fat quarters and eyelet trim. Didn't they turn out cute? We are still working on our party preparation. I hope to have more pictures soon. Have an awesome day.

Links

Restless Risa - has a cute idea for a rag doll that we will be using in our party.

Creative Green Living - has the simple pattern of the apron that we used for our party aprons.

Red Ted Art - has a cute tea cup pattern that we will be using at our table for the party.

Letter N Interactive Notebook Pages

It is Friday again and I am posting another segment of the alphabet interactive notebooks that I have been created. I am getting closer to the letter Z - Yay! Today, I am posting the letter N. Enjoy.

I always start with a simple flip book of pictures that begin with the letter N. Cut and paste the pictures under the flaps.

I included the letter N puzzle. It is a simple puzzle that I would print on card stock and add magnets to the back to make it easier to put together.

I included a upper and lower case N sort using nets (not pictured). Add pockets to the back of the nets and catch the correct butterflies.

I added another alpha-review game using notes. Place the notes in the correct spots on the scales. No musical background needed. All of the pieces can be stored in the N pocket which is also not shown. If you have any questions, please contact me. I apologize that I am not able to show you these pages in practice. I have decided to wait for my tot to get old enough to work them before printing them. Enjoy.

Download Letter N Interactive Notebook Pages HERE.

Tot Tuesday

This week I wanted to share how the whole family is working hard to complete our Little House playhouse. This playhouse was a dream of mine - a final hands-on project for my kids. And it is finally coming true:) Even Riley has been helping around here.

What a great help he is! I love two-years olds, they love helping (most of the time). Have an awesome day!

Farmer Boy Notebook Pages - free printable

J and I are currently reading our last book of the Little House series - Farmer Boy. J doesn't remember that I read this book to her as part of her First Grade curriculum but that was so long ago. And we are glad to revisit this great book. What I decided for this book since there are so many activities to do, J would do a simple narration page for each set of chapters that we read and then, complete a free lap book that I found at Homeschool Share. The lap book mini books will be adhered to the back of her narration sheets and included in her Little House Notebook.

Download Farmer Boy Notebook Pages HERE.

Hope you are enjoying the final installment of The Little House books as we are. We are super excited about this one - there are a ton of ideas and projects to do. See you soon. 

Wheel School - W is for Wagon with free printable

It is Friday again and I am checking off the items that have been on my To-Do list. Today's finished project is Wheel School's Visual Plans for W is for Wagon. This one was somewhat difficult as the wagon items and activities that I found were for the western theme and covered wagon. I thought about doing the western theme but I really liked the little red wagon idea. So, here goes....W is for Wagon.

Download W is for Wagon Visual Plans HERE.

Links

Tippy Toes Learning - has a free printable emergent reader that includes a wagon.

Our Own Corner - has a simple tissue paper craft idea.

Parents - has a free printable coloring sheet.

School Time Snippets - has a cute wagon math mat and a W cut and paste activity.

Artists Helping Children - make a cardboard box wagon, cute and easy.

Crystal and Comp - has a cute and simple watermelon wagon craft idea with printable.

YouTube - a video on how to draw a monkey in a wagon. (I did not preview it, you should)

Farmer Boy

We are in our final book of our Little House School Year - Farmer Boy. J and I have worked through all of the Little House books and The Prairie Primer. It has been a great year. We have both learned a tremendous amount. And this week, we have something exciting happening at our house.

This is the beginning of something fun :) From the start of our Prairie Primer and The Little House series, I had this crazy idea of building a little house playhouse as a final project. I thought it would be a great learning project for the kids to help build their own playhouse -oh, what they would learn with a hands-on project like that!

We truly didn't think that this project was going to be possible because of some snags with the city. But, with grit and determination (I just about gave up), my husband took hold of my vision and made it happen. Isn't he great?

It is coming along :) We can't wait for it to be finished because we are hoping to have an End-of-the-Year Little House Tea Party with some of J's friends. We have been planning this all year and J is super excited. See you soon. 

Tot Tuesday

My Riley is always in the middle of whatever we are doing. He is usually parked on my lap while I am trying to work with Kaleb. But lately, he has decided that my lap was not good enough and he has taken up residence on a chair that he moves right next to me. (practically on my lap:)

"I sit by you, Mommy!" he says while dragging his chair around Kaleb's chair and planting it right next to my chair.

After a few minutes, though, he comes back to sitting on my lap:) I will take it either way!

Letter M Interactive Notebook Pages

I am crossing unfinished projects off my To-Do list. Today, the unfinished project that is now finished.....Letter M Interactive Notebook Pages. Yay! I am working on finishing these Interactive Notebook Pages and I hope to have them done by the end of the school year. Keep coming back every Friday and you will see a new finished project. I am hoping to finish my Wheel School visual plans as well as my Interactive Notebook pages for the alphabet.

The Interactive Pages start with some flip books that your child will glue pictures of items that begin with the letter M under the flaps.

There is a simple letter puzzle. I would print this on card stock and add some magnets for easier use. The magnets allow the puzzle to stay in place instead of moving around and frustrating the child.

I included an upper and lower case muffin sort. Your child will place these muffins on the correct plates (not pictured). You could add pockets behind the pates to store the pieces.

This is a fine motor activity - have your child hang the mittens up on a mini clothesline with clothespins. Match the upper and lowercase letter mittens.

The Math activity is a ten frame on a muffin. Child could practice number recognition by placing blue pom poms in the ten frame to match the number candle on the top of the muffin.

I created another alphabet review page. Just use white pom poms or glass bottom beads and call out a letter. Have your child cover the correct letter with the pom poms. If you have any questions for this download, let me know. Have an awesome weekend.

Download Letter M Interactive Notebook Pages HERE.

Nature Journaling

I had the privilege of camping this past weekend with a few of my friends. We camped at a neat little cabin near the beach on a small remote island. I can tell you that it was super hot and sweaty but, being by the beach, I was able to find some really cool shells. My friends are also super creative and I came home inspired:) Inspired by a book called Natural Journal by Kristen Rogers, and armed with a cute handmade journal, I encouraged J to draw the shells that I brought home.

J truly loved this activity - it was Science and Art all rolled up into one. We spent the morning, quietly observing the shells and sketching what we saw. It was a nice ending to my camping trip, an impromptu session for learning about shells. Have an awesome day.

These Happy Golden Years - free notebook pages

J and I have been working through The Prairie Primer this year and we have definitely enjoyed reading all of the Little House books. I had never personally read through all of them but it has been nice to read about Laura's life after the Big Woods. While working through each book, J has been completing notebook pages for each reading. I noticed that I forgot to post the notebook pages for These Happy Golden Years.

As we come closer to the end of the series, the activities and ideas in The Prairie Primer have been fewer and fewer. Since we are all most done, I decided to make it easier on myself and just create the notebook pages minus the mini books. For the mini books, I used the lap book printables that I found on Homeschool Share for the actual book. After each reading, J would write a summary of what was learned and then work on the mini books from the lap book. Then, she would glue them onto the backs of the summary pages. This tended to be easier and she was still able to add to her ever-expanding Little House notebook. Enjoy!

Download These Happy Golden Years Notebook Pages HERE.

Links

Homeschool Share - These Happy Golden Years lap book, free download.

Tot Tuesday

Someone has been hitting my school closet....you know the one with all of the manipulative that are off limits unless it is school time. My tot believes that is his play closet. While I am engaged somewhere else, he will open it and go to town. Today, he found the music instruments to discover.

I love that smile:) Busy, busy, busy...