Joyfully Weary

Early this week I posted some of our favorite Independence Day books and thought also share some of the activities we've been doing as well. As I've mentioned before, these activities are geared for my children ages three to six. They are used as a supplement to Big Buddy's (age 6) first grade curriculum which you can read about here . Flag themed rhyming cards   I've made the pdf available  here . Language - Nomenclature cards and definitions.  I've made the pdf available  here . If you would like to create three piece cards just print two copies and cut the names off the ends.  Flag themed rhyming cards.   I've made the pdf available  here .

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been adding a few Easter items to our schoolroom shelves . The rotation  of activities helps keep my kids interested in learning and mastering/practicing skills. They especially like it when our theme is holiday related. The activities below are designed for various ability levels; my youngest is three and my oldest is six.  For my oldest, Big Buddy, these are a supplement to his  first grade curriculum.     Language  Creating patterns with glitter eggs. The glitter eggs are from dollar tree . I cut a few egg cartons in half and then glued them together to create a long but divided row.  Upper and lower case egg matching with phonic inserts.  The younger kids just match the  letters. While the older kids match the letters and insert the correct corresponding picture.  The inserts were purchased from  Monstessori for Everyone  and printed at 60% so they'd ...

This unit came together pretty easily. I picked up a few fun heart things (toothpicks and jewels) at Dollar Tree, that I then added to some activities we've done before. If you are still trying to get children to master a skill sometimes simply changing a few of the materials makes the activity exciting again.  Language - matching lower case letter hearts to the correct upper case letter carton the hearts are plaster-of-paris poured in to a silicone heart tray. the egg carton was  originally made for matching letter buttons and has also been used for letter easter egg matching filling in letters with heart jewels *the cards are from,  early learning activities . i printed two per page so they'd be a bit smaller. My youngest two enjoy using these cards to practice spelling their names. sorting hearts pushing heart toothpicks in to the matching color i used sharpies to color the styrofoam, toothpicks are from ...

This past month we've been learning a little bit about winter - original, I know! We've done a winter theme is the past and I've been rotated some of those activities on our shelves as well as adding some new ones. In addition to my three kids (2, 4, & 6) I also babysit a 5-year-old girl. These activities are designed for their various ability levels. For my oldest, Big Buddy, these are a supplement to his first grade curriculum.  Here are the new items I have added, you can see our previous winter theme unit, here .  Language lower case and capital letter mitten matching: i've hung a rope across one of our doorways and  the  children match the letters and then use the clothespins to hang them.  *i've made the pdf available here . homophone mitten matching: follows the same process listed above but with homophones. I have made the pdf available here. snowball letters: depending on the child, they can either ...

One of my favorite wintertime picture books is the the Caldecott winner,  Owl Moon . The illustrations are, of course, fantastic but I also enjoy the excitement and magic the the girl in the story feels for this "adventure" with her father. All three of my children sat with anticipation as I read it too them. They also, all three of them, now want to go owl hunting. Especially Little Lady - I think she's asked me over a dozen times when we get to go. After finishing the story we looked up the Great Horned Owl in our  Encyclopedia of North American Animal s to learn a little more about them. The boys were very impressed that it has such sharp talons and that it dares to eat skunks....boys :) After we finished our research, we set out to make our own Great Horned Owls out of a lunch sack. Our supplies: paper lunch sack, two newspaper sheets, glue, brown/black markers, scissors, brown/black/yellow construction paper.  Step 1:  draw wings on the b...

Here's a simple yet fun craft that will keep little hands busy and make use of some of the leaves piling up in your yard.  Supplies: paper, white glue, dry leaves, marker/pencil, and stencils if desired.  Step 1: use hands to crush leaves, removing any stems as you go. This is also a great sensory experience since not only do the leaves have an interesting texture but are also surprisingly fragrant.  Step 2: free hand or with the aid of a stencil draw a large/open-spaced design on your paper.  Step 3: trace design with white glue. Step 4: sprinkle crushed leaves over glue.  Step 5: let dry a minute or so and then shake off excess leaves The kids ended up making a ton of these over a several different days. Unfortunately, we don't have enough wall room to display them all.  Lots more great kid friendly ideas can also be found at these link parties:  Link and Learn , Weekly Kid Co-op ,  Mo...