preschool with CONNOR and mommy

Self Portraits

2007-09-12T21:26:00.000-04:00

My favorite ever art project with my third graders was their self-portraits. They drew themselves with pencil, traced the lines with sharpie, then used water-colors to paint the portraits. They turned out great. The best was the one in the top left corner. Someone asked Calyn while he was painting why he was painting a potato instead of himself. I had to turn around so they wouldn't see me laughing.

I decided that for All About Me week we should try the same thing. I had Connor try it a couple of weeks ago to see if it would even work with 3 and 4 year olds. I think this works for any age and drawing ability. I love seeing the evolution of how children draw people. It'll be fun to have the children do a self-portrait of themselves at the end of the school year and see how much they've developed in how they see and represent people. For this project I also had the children paint sticks in their favorite color to frame their portraits. And I interviewed each child about their favorites: color, animal, number, treat, food, and toy. I taped their answers to the back. It's a great "picture" of what they were like in September 2007.

First Day of Preschool

2007-09-11T19:45:00.001-04:00

I know this blog should be private by now, but I can't bring myself to type in all those email addresses tonight. So, instead I will post about our first day of preschool.

Connor and I are doing a co-op preschool (the moms take turns teaching) with 5 friends. The moms and the kids are all amazing and it's going to be a great year for us.

Because of my impending due date (11 more days...or less!) I am teaching the first week. Which is so fun. Because the kids are so excited to start preschool. And because I get to do an alphabet and number review and have the theme All About Me.

The kids are bringing lunch to preschool and Connor was thrilled with the chance to pack a lunchbox. He thought it was kind of funny that I was getting him all dressed for the first day of preschool and taking his picture when preschool was at our house. But we had to mark the occasion!

{My almost-four-year-old preschool boy}

{Abigail had to get her picture taken in front of the door too}

{The group eating lunch}

{My first mommy-message on a lunchbox napkin!}

Here are my plans for Tuesday and Thursday if anyone is interested (email me if you want more information):

Going Private

2007-09-04T13:53:00.000-04:00

This blog is going private too. I love that people want to use my ideas and want to give people access to it. But because it has personal information and pictures of my son I'll be making it an invitation-only blog as well. Just shoot me an email and I'll include you in the email invitation. The change happens on Thursday.

Z week: plans

2007-06-04T20:52:00.000-04:00

Here are the plans for Z week:

word cards: zebra, zoo, zero, zoom, zipper
poem:

Zebra Question
By Shel Silverstein

I asked the zebra,
Are you black with white stripes?
Or white with black stripes?
And the zebra asked me,
Are you good with bad habits?
Or are you bad with good habits?
Are you noisy with quiet times?
Or are you quiet with noisy times?
Are you happy with some sad days?
Or are you sad with some happy days?
Are you neat with some sloppy ways?
Or are you sloppy with some neat ways
And on and on and on and on
And on and on he went.
I’ll never ask a zebra
About stripes
Again.

Monday: Zzzzz. We all took much-needed naps today. We got our zzzzzz's.

Tuesday (science or social studies): I wish we could go to the zoo, but our pass expired in May. Instead we'll look through pictures we've taken at the zoo over the past two years that we've been members and talk about our favorite animals at the zoo. Connor has a little scrapbook of his own, so I'll let him choose a few photos to scrapbook if he wants to.

Wednesday (fine motor): zippers. I'll work with Connor on learning to zip and unzip his jackets (not that we are wearing jackets anymore). He usually unzips to the bottom, but can't get it undone and steps out of it. We'll just do a few practice runs. Zippers can also be part of our zig-zag obstacle courses on Thursday.

Thursday (movement/music): zig-zag. We'll do obstacle courses (which were so fun during O week) and try to zig-zag our way to the end of the course.

Friday (math): zero. Connor seems to understand the concept of zero. We'll review that zero is nothing and do some simple math problems to illustrated what zero's worth is. I'll also show him that there is a zero in the number 10, but it doesn't mean nothing in this case.

Y week: plans

2007-05-29T21:09:00.000-04:00

Here are the plans for Y week:

We're getting a late start with Y week because of Memorial Day and a busy Tuesday. But here are the plans for the rest of the week (which also happens to be potty-training week).

word cards: yellow, you, yes, yawn, young
poem:

The Yak
by Jack Prelutsky

Yickity-yackity, yickity-yak,
the yak has a scriffily, scraffily back;
some yaks are brown yaks and some yaks are black,
yickity-yackity, yickity-yak.

Sniggildy-snaggildy, sniggildy-snag,
the yak is all covered with shiggildy-shag;
he walks with a ziggildy-zaggildy-zag,
sniggildy-snaggildy, sniggildy-snag.

Yickity-yackity, yickity-yak,
the yak has a scriffily, scraffily back;
some yaks are brown yaks and some yaks are black,
yickity-yackity, yickity-yak.

Wednesday (math): yesterday. Connor (as with most children his age) gets confused by time words like yesterday, tomorrow, week, month, day, year. We'll discuss what these mean while looking at our calendar to help out. When we do our calendar each day we'll say, "Today is..." as we usually do, but we'll add "Yesterday was..." and "Tomorrow is..." as well.

Thursday (movement/music): yodel. We're going to learn to yodel. There's a lesson online and you can listen to the guy yodel and then copy him. I'm going to have the only yodeling 3-year-old around!

Friday (art project): yarn art.
(Yarn Art, using yellow construction paper, scissors, glue, crayons, yarn. 1. Prepare by cutting various colored pieces of yarn into different lengths. 2. Draw/color a shape or picture, such as a yo-yo or yak, onto a piece of yellow construction paper. 3. Glue the yarn onto the outline of the shape or picture.)

X week: X marks the spot!

2007-05-22T19:23:00.000-04:00

Thanks to my good friend ChyAyn for the X marks the spot idea. She did a treasure hunt for X week in our 2-year-old preschool co-op last year and the kids loved it. My sister and I always planned treasure hunts to find the Family Home Evening treats when we were little too and it was a favorite activity. I should do this more often for Connor because it's easy to plan and so much fun for kids.

The X was by the O-shaped bush in our yard and the "treasure" was a big tic-tac-toe game with big X's and O's to go on it. We played tic-tac-toe for quite a while and now Connor's excited to play with Daddy.

X week: plans

2007-05-21T13:35:00.000-04:00

Here are the plans for X week:

The letter X does not come at the beginning of many words. Many children's books use the word xylophone to represent X; but xylophone doesn't start with the /ks/ sound, so it's misleading. The focus this week is the sound /ks/ only. We'll talk about words that have that sound, which means our words do not start with X, but have them in the middle or end.

word cards: taxi, exercise, explore, x-ray, box
poem: (poetry with X was scarce, so this is the one written by the host of Letter of the Week.)

Extra Special X
by Katrina Lybbert

Excellent, exciting letter X!
So extra special is letter X.
Fox, box, mix, wax,
Plox, ox, six, tax.
Always an adventure to explore,
With letter X, which we adore!

Monday (math): Next. What number comes next. I'll quiz Connor on his numbers to see if he knows what comes next. I'll also help him review which day of the week comes next.

Tuesday (science or social studies): X marks the spot. We'll read clues and follow them until we find the X marking the spot where the treasure is.

Wednesday (scriptures/Gospel): Example. Jesus Christ is our ultimate example. We can follow his example and set an example for those around us.

Thursday (movement/music): Tic-tac-toe and Jack-in-the-Box. We'll play tic-tac-toe using X's and O's. Then we'll play Jack-in-the-Box; one of us hides in a box and then jumps out to surprise the other.

Friday (art project): X shapes in play-doh. We'll pull out the play-doh and make as many X shapes as we can, with cookie cutters and by rolling "snakes" and making X's. We'll also have a snack, like stick preztels, that we can make X's with.

W week: W is for Windsock

2007-05-19T20:00:00.000-04:00

Connor made this windsock on Friday, the day we do an art project. He loved putting stickers on and didn't want to stop. Of course the windsock is green, but we had to use two pink streamers too because we ran out of green crepe paper. Connor said, "The green streamers are cool and the pink ones are cute. Right, Mom?" We hung his windsock outside to decorate our house for spring.

W week: Water Play

2007-05-17T21:35:00.000-04:00

Connor loves to play at the kitchen sink and will do so for an hour if I let him. Being a mom who always wants things clean, I rarely allow him to do this. But he's getting older and is more capable of keeping the water in or near the sink. I let him play once last week and he loved it, so I decided that in honor of W week we'd make an activity of it. Abby even joined in. I got out the funnels and the baster and the measuring cups and he went crazy. Abby couldn't reach quite as well, but still thought it was great to be standing by her big brother at the kitchen sink.

Letter Reinforcement Idea

2007-05-17T21:32:00.001-04:00

Pardon the terrible photo, but I had a great idea last week. Rather than taping on the stars we'd been using (or failing to use because I didn't want to get out the tape), Connor wrote the letter V to mark off his chart last week. I thought it was brilliant. Connor thought it was great fun to use Sharpies. And we actually started using his chart again!

V week: Volcano (a little late)

2007-05-17T21:26:00.000-04:00

Well, you never can predict precisely when a volcano will erupt. Right? I'm actually not sure about how well they can predict volcanic eruptions. But we didn't get a chance to make our volcano until Tuesday night, during W week.

But it was still fun! Connor and I made the mountain by coloring rocks and grass and dirt and trees and volcanic rock on paper that we had taped onto a water bottle. When Alan got home we prepared for the eruption. We just put some baking soda into the bottle. (Use a funnel; it makes it so much easier.) Then we poured in the vinegar and our eruption was immediate. We tried twice and both times Connor jumped back and smiled with excitement.

Fast forward 9 years or so and he'll be making a much cooler volcano for the science fair, right?

W week: plans

2007-05-14T11:39:00.000-04:00

I'm a little late planning this week. Today was a "free" day. We'll start W week tomorrow.

Here are the plans for W week:

word cards: walk, window, wish, water, wind
poem:

Wee Willie Winkie

Wee Willie Winkie
running through the town,
upstairs and downstairs
in his nightgown,
rapping at the window
and crying through the lock,
are all the children in their beds,
it's past eight o'clock.

Monday (science or social studies): We walked up to our friends' house today to play. :)

Tuesday (math): days of the week. We know a song that talks about the number of days in the week being seven. We'll review the days of the week and what each day is memorable for in our schedules.

Wednesday (scriptures/Gospel): We've read the story of Jesus walking on the water before, but we'll review it and review the miracle that it is and the faith that Peter had to walk on the water like the Savior.

Thursday (movement/music): water play. Connor loves to play at the kitchen sink in the water. I'll find some fun new toys for him to play with and let him go Wild! I'll turn on some music for him to enjoy and we'll review hearing the violin from V week.

Friday (art project): wind sock. We'll make a wind sock from an oatmeal cylinder. Connor can decorate it with paper and stickers and then we'll hang streamers from it and hang it outside where we can watch it catch the wind.

V week: plans

2007-05-06T21:36:00.000-04:00

We're back from our vacation. We had so much fun at Disneyland and in Utah with our family. Three weeks off of preschool! We're ready to jump back in. Along with preschool we need to get back in the habit of Connor doing his daily tasks and helping out around the house. If you've been keeping up with your own preschool with your toddler, let me know how it's going or share your success stories. I'd love to have some stories from readers to post.

Here are the plans for V week:

word cards: violin, vacuum, volcano, van, vegetable
poem:

The Letter V
by Katrina Lybbert

The letter V, the letter V,
How I love the letter V.
Violin, vegetable, volcano, van.
I can say V words,
Now see if you can!

Monday: vacuum. Monday is clean-the-house day, so I'll teach Connor how to vacuum. It's about time he started pulling his own weight around here!

Tuesday (math): vertical & horizontal. I'll teach Connor the difference between vertical and horizontal lines. We'll look around the house and yard for examples of each and spend some time drawing lines.

Wednesday (scriptures/Gospel): valiant. One of my favorite Primary songs is I Will Be Valiant. I'll teach Connor the song as well as the meaning of the word valiant. (Children's Songbook, p. 162)

Thursday (movement/music): violin. I'll share some classical music with Connor and help him pick out the sound of the violin. Abigail will really enjoy this as well.

Friday (art project): volcano. We'll tie in social studies and science today since we vacuumed on Monday. We'll design a volcano around a 2-liter bottle (just with construction paper) and then cause a chemical reaction inside to create the lava flowing out. I think Connor will love this and it'll be great to do it outside and keep the mess out of the house.

U week: plans

2007-04-08T21:31:00.000-04:00

Here are the plans for U week:

word cards: up, under, umbrella, uncle, umpire
poem:

The Puffin
by Robert Williams Wood

Upon this cake of ice is perched
The paddle-footed Puffin;
To find his double we have searched,
But have discovered—Nuffin!

Monday (social studies/science): Uncles. How are uncles related to us? They're our mother or father's brothers. We'll talk about this relationship and Connor will draw or paint or stamp a picture or card for each of his uncles.

Tuesday (math): Up/down; Under/over. We'll review opposites

Wednesday (scriptures/Gospel): Unhappy. (This is a stretch.) We'll talk about how we are unhappy (which means not happy) when we don't choose the right. I need to get Connor a new CTR ring. He heard (and heard us repeat) that story from General Conference about the little boy whose excuse for teasing his sister (or something) was that he'd lost his CTR ring. Now when I talk about choosing the right or doing what Jesus wants us to do, he mentions that he needs to find his CTR ring.

Thursday (movement/music): Umbrella. Thursday is suppose to be very rainy. We'll take a walk in the rain with an umbrella. Connor will LOVE this.

Friday (art project): bUtton sort. I'll give Connor a handful of random buttons. He can sort them by size, color, shape, number of holes, or however he wants to. Then he'll glue them on his paper. cUtting. Connor needs practice cutting. I'll let him play with his scissors, cutting shapes from paper.

Books we'll be reading:
(I couldn't find many books with word beginning with U for this week. We'll be reading books with the /u/ sound in the titles. I'll work with Connor on hearing this sound in the middle of words. We'll sound words out and hear the middle sounds. This is an important step in learning to read.)
Gus the Bus by Olga Cossi
Bear Hunt adapted by Kathleen Savage & Margaret Siewert (this will be fun to act out)
Little Bunny Biddle Bunny by David Kirk
Lunch Bunnies by Kathryn Lasky

T week: update

2007-04-05T14:19:00.000-04:00

Tuesday Connor learned how to tell time. Well, he didn't really learn how. But I taught him about the face and the different hands and he watched the second hand move around the clock for a whole minute. He was really interested in it and is now more interested in the clock.

Wednesday we talked about telling the truth. We read the book about the Berenstain Bears and the truth and then discussed what it means to be honest. Then we made a paper cup and string telephone. Connor had seen his friends try it the day before, only they used paper towels taped together for the string and it didn't quite work. He wanted to try it. And telephone starts with T so we added that to our preschool plans for the day. I had never really played with one of those and it actually worked. I was pretty surprised. I can't get Connor to hold it tight enough without touching the string and stopping the voice from traveling. But it's still fun.

It doesn't look like our Thursday train is going to happen. I keep inviting Connor to come do preschool, but he just wants to play. And I'm going to the doctor in a little while, so we probably won't get a chance today. It's okay because painting with tire tracks tomorrow is going to be lots of fun!

T week: plans

2007-04-02T10:38:00.000-04:00

Here are the plans for T week:

word cards: toy, train, telephone, tiger, triangle
poem:

Teddy Bear

Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Touch the ground.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Turn around.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Show your shoe.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
That will do.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Run upstairs.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Say your prayers.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Blow out the light.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear,
Say good night.

Monday: Shape Train. We cut out two circles, a big square, a triangle and two rectangles. Connor did the cutting with some help. He loves using scissors, but still wants help because he doesn't want to mess up. I need to give him more practice with scissors so he can develop his fine motor skills. We glued the shapes to make a train and Connor drew a T on the train.

Tuesday (math): Telling Time. I want to teach Connor the basics of the clock. Which hands are which and what they mean. I don't intend for this to stick or for him to start telling time from an analog clock right away, but I'd like to give him and introduction so that when I use the clock to tell him how much longer he can play or watch TV or whatever he'll sort of understand. I'll also show him the digital clocks and how to tell what time they say.

Wednesday (scriptures/Gospel): Telling the Truth. We've talked about being Honest before, but I want to review with him the importance of telling the truth.

Thursday (movement/music): Train Play. Connor loves to line up the chairs and make a train. We put his stuffed animals on the chairs. We make little tickets and punch holes in them like the train conductors do. We haven't done this for a long time. I think he'll be thrilled to do it again.

Friday (art project): Tire Track Art. Just what it sounds like. It's going to be messy and fun. We'll run cars in paint and then print the tire tracks on fresh paper. It'll be fun to see how different tires make different tracks.

Other T words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: tank, tree, teddy bear, tadpole, television, turkey, toyland, twinkle. (Check the Letter of the Week and Everyday Preschool links at right for more ideas.)

Preschool Moms

2007-03-12T19:38:00.000-04:00

Check out how cute one mom & son's cloud pictures turned out during C week. I love that people are using my ideas. Why not? They're there for the taking!

If you have something to share from your preschool weeks, let me know and I'll share them here. Or I'll link to your own blog so everyone can learn from your ideas!

I'm working on a post about how to teach children to read and the basic rules of "sounding out." I was talking to a friend about her kindergarten son learning to read and she mentioned that she doesn't know the rules. I was surprised. I thought everyone knew all the vowel sounds and rules of phonics. Alan thinks it's so funny when I refer to it as a short sound. He reminds me that that doesn't mean anything to him. Well, it should! Oh, well. I guess I'll take care of the reading instruction in our home. (Because I feel strongly that it's not something you just leave up to the school. Parents should be involved in their kids' learning to read.) So, I'll post that "tutorial" soon.

Taking a Break

2007-03-05T09:37:00.000-05:00

We are taking a break from preschool for a few weeks. We have a very busy week with doctor appointments and playdates and swimming with a friend, and me getting ready for a big event at Church on Saturday. Then we head to Utah next Tuesday to visit family and we'll be there for a couple of weeks. So we'll be back in late March for T week.

Happy learning!

S week: Wednesday and Thursday

2007-03-01T20:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I read Connor the story of Samuel the Lamanite (from the Book of Mormon) and he was totally into it. He's really enjoying reading the illustrated scriptures with me each night and always wants to read one more chapter. I love sharing that with him.

Today we played soccer outside. Enough snow had melted that we could run and play. I tried to teach him some of the rules. He liked that the "goalie goal" could touch the ball with his hands. And he liked learning how to throw the ball in from the sidelines. I tried to teach him to kick with the inside of his foot instead of his toe, but he didn't think that would be good. So we just played his way. When his pants and feet were all wet and he was cold we came in for some hot chocolate and warmed up so we could do the rest of preschool.

All week Connor has been asking when it's going to be March. I guess he's sick of February; and it's the shortest month! So he was pretty excited today to make his March calendar on Starfall and then to change the calendar on our preschool chart. I love that he's making connections to things like days and months.

Tomorrow is Dr. Seuss day!!!

S is for Super Slippery Slime

2007-02-27T16:38:00.000-05:00

We didn't get a chance to make Super Slippery Slime yesterday. But we did get to play in the snow twice and build a snowman! Connor loved it. He was "making animal tracks" by crawling around in the snow. Abby thought it was pretty hysterical to see her brother in the snow.

So, today we did our Subtraction plans for preschool. Then in the afternoon lull, I decided it was time for some Super Slippery Slime. Connor had a great time and played in it for at least half an hour. His fingertips were raisins when we finally washed all the slime off. What a great, easy, not too messy, easy to clean up activity!

S week: plans

2007-02-25T21:40:00.000-05:00

Here are the plans for S week:

word cards: sand, sunshine, soccer, star, snow
poem:

The Sword-Swallower
by Shel Silverstein

The great sword-swallower Salomar,
He wears no ties or collars.
He leans back, opens up his mouth,
And "Gulp," his sword he swallers.

I guess he finds it fun to feel
That steel down in his belly.
It's fine for he, but as for me--
I'll take some bread and jelly.

Monday: I don't always stick to my social studies/science plan for Monday. This week I want to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday on Friday, so we'll do some sensory activities on Monday. Super Slippery Slime (made from cornstarch and water, a lot like Oobleck from the Dr. Seuss book) will be fun for Connor to play with. And if we have time we'll pull out the shape cookie cutters and the play-doh and review the shapes Connor knows.

Tuesday (math): Subtraction. We'll work on subtraction with manipulatives. I have some ball erasers, some of which are soccer balls. We'll use those to work out some subtraction problems. (At this age he does not need to learn the numeral representation of a subtraction problem, but just needs to be introduced to the concept of having some of something, taking some away, and seeing what's left. And, actually, "take away" is a more appropriate name for this when teaching toddlers.)

Wednesday (scriptures/Gospel): Samuel the Lamanite. We'll read the story and talk about how great it is that Heavenly Father loves us and takes care of us when we are following his commandments and living as He would have us live.

Thursday (movement/music): Soccer. Connor loves soccer and has a collection of soccer balls that Alan has brought back from other countries. We'll play soccer and I'll teach Connor a few rules of the game.

Friday (art project): Dr. Seuss's birthday celebration. This is a fun day to celebrate with children because they love Dr. Seuss's books. We'll read his books all week and culminate the week in a Dr. Seuss celebration with games, mazes, and we'll explore the Seussville and Seussville Games sites online.

Other S words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: spaceship, scarecrow, seashore, sandwiches. (Check the Letter of the Week and Everyday Preschool links at right for more ideas.)

Rainbow Crayons

2007-02-23T14:56:00.000-05:00

I told Connor we'd be doing this activity on Friday early in the week. He kept asking if it was "Friday art day" yet. So he was pretty excited when he saw me pull out the crayons this morning. It was a fun, easy craft. Easier than I thought it would be. This could easily be done with several kids, especially if you chopped up the crayons beforehand and just separated them into piles so the kids could design their own crayons.

Our Rainbow Crayons didn't turn out as great as Martha's, but did I really expect them to? Not really. The important part is that we had fun and that Connor got to mix the colors he wanted to mix together. His favorite colors are green and brown, so he had to make a crayon swirled with those two colors. He also chose to make a gold and pinkish-purple one and a blue and orange and white one. The others, besides the rainbow one which we did that way on purpose, just sort of got thrown together. Next time I'll definitely get some shaped muffin tins (I think they have disposable ones at Michael's) to make it even more fun.

Please Comment

2007-02-20T12:13:00.000-05:00

I have to say that right now, being in the first trimester of my pregnancy, I'm kind of slacking. I'm still doing preschool, but the ideas might not be great. Please use the links to Everything Preschool and Letter of the Week. Those sites have lots of ideas. Enchanted Learning is also great. I'll add that link to my sidebar.

I have heard from a few people that they check this site for ideas for teaching their children. I would like to ask those of you who read this blog for ideas to comment with your own ideas. I'm not looking for comments about how great my ideas are because I leave plenty of room for improvement. But I'd love it if some of you took a minute to share your ideas for each letter in the comments section so that we can share even more great preschool ideas. And if you can share ideas after trying them with your kids and let us know how they worked, that would be extra helpful.

Thanks for reading!

R week: plans

2007-02-18T16:17:00.000-05:00

Here are the plans for R week:

word cards: river, rabbit, radio, robot, run
poem:

RIVER, RIVER

RIVER, river, running through the land,
Are you a traveller over foreign sand?
Are you a carrier from town to town,
River, river, as you hurry down?

Yes, I'm a carrier from town to town:
Here are ships with white sails, there are boats with brown,
What shall they bring you, what will you send?
I'll be your carrier to the land's end.

Monday (geography): We drove home from Rhode Island. We'll look at a map and see where we traveled.

Tuesday (reading): R is for Reading! We'll start reading some early readers I have. I'll read most of the words and have him help with one word on each page. Unless he shows interest in reading more on his own.

Wednesday (scriptures/Gospel): Read the scriptures. While visiting our friends this past weekend, we read the scriptures every night. I need to start this practice with Connor. We'll start on Wednesday, reading the scriptures. Reading and remembering what we've been taught. Not an original or great R week idea, but something I need to make sure I do with my kids and this is my chance to make it happen.

Thursday (movement/music): Red, Red, Red. A game from The Toddler's Busy Book. Call out three colors. If they're the same (red, red, red) then the child(ren) runs, skips, or hops to a distant point and back. If they're different (red, red, yellow) then no one moves.

Friday (art project): Rainbow crayons. I've been wanting to do this with Connor, but never did. This is the week we'll actually do it. I hope.

Other R words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: rainbow, ring, ribbon, right/left, rectangle, responsibility, rose. (Check the Letter of the Week and Everyday Preschool links at right for more ideas.)

Other things we'll fit in this week:
Listening to the radio
Teaching Abigail the sign for rabbit.
Run around as much as possible; Connor needs more exercise.

Q week: report

2007-02-18T16:13:00.000-05:00

Q week was kind of a sad preschool week. But that's okay because there isn't much that starts with Q. Our favorite Q week activity was playing 20 Questions. Connor was really good at thinking of an animal and not telling me what he was thinking of. And he usually stumped me, which surprised me because I thought he might tend to choose an animal that he could see or one related to what I had just chosen (kind of like hide-n-seek with kids; they hide in the same place they just found you). But he was original and very good at the game.

On Thursday we headed up to Rhode Island to visit our friends here, so we didn't have preschool Thursday or Friday. But we did play 20 Questions with our friends.

Q week: plans

2007-02-11T22:04:00.000-05:00

Here are the plans for Q week:

word cards: quilt, quick, quarter, question, quiet
poem:

The Queen of Hearts
a Nursery Rhyme

The Queen of Hearts,
She made some tarts
All on a summer's day.

The Knave of Hearts,
He stole the tarts
And took them clean away.

The King of Hearts,
Called for the tarts
And beat the Knave full sore.

The Knave of Hearts,
Brought back the tarts
And vowed he'd steal no more.

Monday: 20 Questions. We'll play the game 20 questions and review what a question is. (Think of a color, number, letter, animal, etc. and then the other person tries to guess by asking questions..) I'll also show him what a question mark looks like.

Tuesday (math): quarters (fractions). I'll briefly introduce him to the idea of a quarter being 1/4 of something. We'll cut a sandwich, a cookie, and an apple in quarters.

Wednesday (scriptures/Gospel): not a Q lesson. I want to read from the new illustrated New Testament we got. We'll spend some time looking through at the pictures and then reading together.

Thursday (movement/music): We'll learn the rhyme "Five Little Ducks and Five Little Quail" and do the actions. This is how it goes:

Five Little Ducks & Five Little Quail
Five little ducks went out to play (Wiggle five fingers on one hand)
And met five quail that came their way. (Wiggle five fingers on other hand.)
The five little quail went to get a snack (put quail hand behind back.)
And the five little ducks went quack, quack, quack (use hand to form duck bill)

Friday (art project): Quilt project. I'll cut fabric scraps into squares and Connor can design a quilt and glue them onto paper.

Other Q words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: queen, quack, quartet.

A few books:
Quick, Quack, Quick! by Marsha Arnold
The Josefina Story Quilt by Eleanor Coerr
Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood

P is for patience

2007-02-07T19:01:00.000-05:00

Today's preschool lesson was suppose to be about patience. We had a life lesson in patience instead of talking about the virtue. Connor has been sick for a few days. He woke up Saturday with a red, puffy eye (no goop, though) and by Sunday afternoon had a fever and wasn't feeling well. He did fine for a couple of days with Motrin, acting like nothing was wrong when it was working, and like he really didn't feel well when it wore off. Today I thought he'd wake up feeling better. He slept a little better last night than the previous two. But today he seemed to be sicker. His eyes were really hurting him and his fever was not breaking, even with the Motrin. So even though my gut told me that it was a virus and would pass on it's own, we bundled up and braved the cold and went to the doctor. It's a virus and will pass on it's own. Just as I thought. But I'm still glad I went. Better safe than sorry, right? And it's just good to know. Actually it's good to know that my motherly intuition (based on past experience) is right.

Here's where the lesson in patience comes in. We waited for 10 minutes at the doctor's office. Not too long. We handled that fine. Even Connor who was feeling awful. Then she checked him out, did a strep test, told us it was probably just a virus. But she still wanted us to go down the hall to a pediatric opthalmologist to have him look at Connor's eyes. She thought it was viral, but wondered if because his eyes hurt so badly that it might be something else. I wasn't thrilled about the prospect of going to another doctor's office, but she called and they said to send us over, so I thought they must have time to squeeze us in.

When we got there, there were a couple of little girls waiting, obviously ahead of us in line. One mom was talking to her daughter about how long they'd been waiting. I thought, Oh, great. We're going to be here forever! And we were there for quite a while. We waited there for almost an hour. But Connor was great. Abigail was great, so entertained by the toys. I felt fine. Sometimes in these situations it's easy to be bothered by how long you're waiting, to get restless, to be impatient. But the three of us were models of patience. I'm especially proud of Connor who was feeling awful and really just needed to get some rest, but sat on my lap and even played nicely with Abby for a while. What a patient little boy!

P is for patterns

2007-02-06T20:03:00.000-05:00

Today we made patterns with our snacks. Connor wrote perfect Ps on his paper. Then we made patterns with the snacks and drew the patterns on the paper. Connor and I both really enjoyed this activity. And I remember from school that it's important for children to record their observations, to learn to draw and write about what they see. So we'll be doing this more often. Taking a clipboard outside and making observations, etc. It's great for kids and fun too!

P week: plans

2007-02-05T07:32:00.000-05:00

Here are the plans for P week:

word cards: please, pajamas, parade, people, poem
poem:

Poemsicle
by Shel Silverstein

If you add sicle to your pop,
Would he become a Popsicle?
Would a mop become a mopsicle?
Would a cop become a copsicle?
Would a chop become a chopsicle?
Would a drop become a dropsicle?
Would a hop become a hopsicle?
I guess it’s time to stopsicle,
Or is it timesicle to stopsicle?
Heysicle, I can’t stopsicle.
Ohsicle mysicle willsicle Isicle
Havesicle tosicle talksicle
Likesicle thissicle foreversicle-–
Huhsicle?

Monday (social studies): President's Day. President's Day is just two weeks away. I'll teach him about Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, whose birthdays are in February. I'll try to find a website with a fun lesson or activity about those two presidents.

Tuesday (math): patterns. Connor has been noticing patterns lately. We'll use snacks to make patterns (popcorn, raisins, marshmallows, pretzels).

Wednesday (scriptures/Gospel): patience. Patience is one virtue we all have to develop. Mommy is working on this daily. We'll talk about what patience means and how Connor can try to be patient when he's waiting for me to get him something or sharing with Abigail.

Thursday (movement/music): Pachelbel. We'll listen to Pachelbel's Canon in D. It's a famous song that it will be fun to introduce Connor to. We'll also talk a little bit about what a composer is because he's never been introduced to this concept.

Friday (art project): President Lincoln's log cabin. Abraham Lincoln (Papa Rich's favorite president, and hero) grew up in a log cabin. We'll make a picture of a log cabin.

Other P words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: popcorn, pajamas, pasta, pizza, peace, penguins, pets, picnic, post office.

A few books:
* The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey
* The Teddy Bear's Picnic by Jimmy Kennedy
* Barney Says, "Please and Thank You" by Stephen White
* Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper
* Curious George at the Parade by Margret and H.A. Rey
* Blaze and the Grey Spotted Pony by C.W. Anderson

O week: Thursday

2007-02-01T21:40:00.000-05:00

I haven't been posting daily lately. We've been pretty much doing what was planned. And we haven't skipped a day in the past few weeks! I had a good friend ask for input on setting up her own preschool like this with a friend and it was so fun to sit down and write out my ideas. My inner teacher was so happy to have a moment to shine. I really love being a teacher, especially sharing the teaching and learning process with Connor.

Today I set up an obstacle course for Connor to do for our letter O movement activity.

Here's what he had to do:

play the xylophone

then go under the bar on the upside-down coffee table

clap three times (the picture took after he finished clapping)

run around the ottoman

jump three times on the pillows

wheel the stroller over to the chair

then sit on the chair to finish

Connor was so into this idea of obstacle courses and continued to think of ways to add to what I'd set up to make it even more fun. Fun times!

O week: plans

2007-01-28T19:32:00.000-05:00

Here are the plans for O week:

word cards: octopus, ostrich, octagon, olive, opposite
poem:

Octopus

The arms on the octopus number eight:
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!

All curled up, then pointing straight,
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!

In the ocean, octopuses wait,
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,

For clams and crabs to put on their plate!
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!

Monday (social studies): occupation. What is an occupation? What are some different occupations and what do those people do? Fireman, Policeman, Mail Carrier, Art Director, Lawyer, Doctor, etc.

Tuesday (math): shapes, including octagon.

Wednesday (scriptures/Gospel): Opposition in all things. I know, this is a grown-up concept. But it's really just opposites. We'll talk about how there's being nice and there's being mean. Which is better? Which is what Heavenly Father wants us to do?

Thursday (movement/music): obstacle course. We'll build and challenge each other to obstacle courses.

Friday (art project): Octahedron. I found a template to make an octahedron. Not that I think it's important for Connor to learn this three-dimensional shape, but I think it would be fun to make a cool new shape. We'll color each side a different color and then put it together.

Other O words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: on/off, over, opposites. (I also have an opposites coloring book (from enchanted learning also) that we'll work on coloring throughout the week.

A few books:
Oscar Otter by Nathaniel Benchley
I Have an Olive Tree by Eve Bunting
Emily and the Ostriches by Dan Bernstein
Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall
An Octopus Followed Me Home by Dan Yaccarino
Paul Bunyan and His Blue Ox by Patsy Jensen

N week: plans

2007-01-21T19:30:00.000-05:00

Here are the plans for N week:

word cards: nurse, night, neighborhood, newspaper, noise
poem:

Night
by Mary Ann Hoberman

The night is coming softly, slowly;
Look, it’s getting hard to see.
Through the window,
Throuch the door,
Pussyfooting
On the floor,
Dragging shadows,
Crawling,
Creeping,
Soon it will be time for sleeping.
Pull down the shades.
Turn on the light.
Let’s pretend it isn’t night.

Monday (social studies): nurse. What is a nurse? What does a nurse do? We know a few nurses--two aunts and a friend. Write them a note to say thanks for taking care of people who are sick or hurt.

Tuesday (math): numbers. We'll review counting to 20. And I want to work with him formally on how numbers after 11 look.

Wednesday (scriptures/Gospel): Noah. I have a book about Noah that we'll read and then we'll act out the story with our Little People Noah's ark.

Thursday (movement/music): noise. What different kinds of noises can we make? Loud, soft, different sounds with different instruments.

Friday (art project): noisey instruments. We'll make a "guitar" with rubber bands stretched over a box; it'll add a new noise to our musical instrument collection.

Other N words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: nickel, nursery rhymes, nutrition, nature, names.

A few books:
The Best Nest by P.D. Eastman
What Newt Could Do for Turtle by Johnathan London
The Napping House by Audrey and Don Wood
Too Much Noise by Ann McGovern
Noah's Ark by Linda Hayward

M week: Friday

2007-01-19T15:15:00.000-05:00

Today we made masks. I looked online to find a cute (hopefully Martha Stewart kids) pattern for making cute masks. Nothing super cute, but I found a great website with craft ideas for all holidays and themes. It's called Enchanted Learning. The crafts are a little cheesey and pretty basic, but that's good for the 3 year old age group.

These are the groundhog masks we made today. I figured that Groundhog day is only 2 weeks away, so we could make our masks for M week, then anticipate Groundhog day, learning what it's all about.

We also painted with marbles. We put paper in a small container with paint and marbles and shook it all around, making some interesting paintings. Maybe we'll write notes on them and mail them to friends or family.

M week: Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday

2007-01-18T13:54:00.000-05:00

TUESDAY

We learned the names of the coins with a cute little song (you can hear part of it here). We sorted a pile of coins and talked about who is pictured on them. Sad, but I had to go to Wikipedia to find out who was on the dime. I don't think I'd ever figured it out. We also read a little "book" online about where money is made (find "Birth of a Coin" here). We said, "money is made in a mint" 10 times fast! Lots of M's.

WEDNESDAY

I told Connor briefly the story of Moses. We had a couple of pictures in our Gospel Art Picture kit, but I didn't have a book about it. I should have found one. Not a very exciting preschool day, but at least when he hears the story of Moses at Church it'll sound familiar.

THURSDAY

We did some movement and music activities today. When Connor saw that I'd pulled out some of our song visual aids for preschool today he shot his arm into the air and said, "Yay!" We sang The Ants go Marching... and Old Macdonald. Connor had fun marching around the room.

We also looked on the map and found Spain, Maine, and Africa, which are mentioned in our poem, "The Magic Carpet."

M week: Monday

2007-01-15T20:12:00.000-05:00

We didn't officially do preschool today because I wasn't quite finished planning. I was going to get out the magnifying glasses and magnets and let Connor explore with them and write down some of his observations. Kind of teach him about Scientific observation a little bit. We'll do that another day.

But Connor did learn a valuable lesson about magnets today. He got a big magnet off the fridge and was testing it out to see what it would stick to. I walked into the living room to see him sticking it on the front of the TV. Oops! We had a talk about how that makes the colors inside the television not work correctly (that's about as much as I understand) and that we should never put magnets on the TV. He had no idea, but he definitely saw the results of his experiment and he won't be doing that again.

M week: plans

2007-01-14T19:52:00.000-05:00

Here are the plans for M week:

word cards: magnet, mirror, mountain, monkey, mother
poem:

Magic Carpet
by Shel Silverstein

You have a magic carpet
That will whiz you through the air,
To Spain or Maine or Africa
If you just tell it where.
So will you let it take you
Where you've never been before,
Or will you buy some drapes to match
And use it
On your
Floor?

Monday (science): magnification & magnetics. We'll play and discover with magnifying glasses and magnets.

Tuesday (math): money. We'll learn the names of the coins and who's pictured on them.

Wednesday (scriptures/Gospel): Moses. I'll teach him the story of Moses. If I can get it, we'll watch Prince of Egypt this week sometime.

Thursday (movement/music): marching/music. Movement activities to review left and right. We'll also include the Spanish songs we've learned at Spanish class to review the names of body parts.

Friday (art project): masks. We'll make masks and decorate them.

Other M words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: moon, mouse, microphone, mittens, matching, Mickey Mouse, month, mammals.

A few books:
Are you my Mother? by P.D. Eastman
If you give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
The Mitten by Jan Brett
Marsupial Sue by John Lithgow

L week: Friday

2007-01-13T22:44:00.000-05:00

{Connor and his new buddy Marco playing at the magnet tables}

We decided to check out a different library for L week and it turned out to be a great outing for all three of us. Connor loved the new setting: computers, puppets, puzzles, magnet tables, a cave, etc. It was the best kids library I've seen. Both Connor and Abigail had a blast exploring the new territory.

We checked out a theme bag about penguins, a book and CD set, and a movie to watch for our weekly pizza/movie night.

L is for library!

L week: Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday

2007-01-11T16:06:00.000-05:00

TUESDAY

We listened to our Spanish CD on the way to class and learned some new Spanish words and songs in Spanish class. Connor was very shy again and barely opened his mouth the whole hour. But he must have been listening well because when we got home and I started singing the songs we'd learned, he joined right in. Good listening, Connor!

WEDNESDAY

We read a couple of books with lots of L words in them. For our lesson, we learned a new Primary song. Now that Connor is in Primary on Sundays at Church, he needs to be learning the songs. I think I'll try to teach him a Primary song that goes with our Gospel lesson each Wednesday. We learned "Jesus Said Love Everyone." Simple, easy to learn, and a great message. Connor picked it up after hearing it once.

THURSDAY

After computer and chart time, we did our movement activity. We marched (left, left, left right left) and just walked paying attention to which foot was moving. And then I gave some simple commands to see if Connor knew left and right. He really has it down! I think it must come from when we're driving. If I'm telling him to look at something out the window, I always tell him which side it's on, either left or right.

We also did a triathlon of errands today: Michael's craft store, Costco (lunch & shopping), and Stop & Shop. By the time we got to Stop & Shop the kids were tired of shopping, and sleepy. On the way into the store I told Connor we'd get some lollypops and Abigail could try her first lollypop. I knew it was a sticky proposition, but that it would help them be happy. Connor said, "That's good mom to have lollypops for L week!" I had totally forgotten that lollypop was one of our words this week. Perfect!

L week: plans & Monday

2007-01-08T22:06:00.000-05:00

We're back from vacation and back to preschool. It was fun to get out the calendar today and make our January calendar. Connor also loved getting back into Starfall. He did get a chance to show his Papa Rich Starfall while we were in Utah and loved sharing that with him.

Here are the plans for L week:

word cards: lighthouse, lollypop, lion, ladybug, library
poem:

Lumps
by Judith Thurman

Humps are lumps
and so are mumps.

Bumps make lumps
on heads.

Mushrooms grow
in clumps of lumps—
on clumps of stumps,
in woods and dumps.

Springs spring lumps
in beds.

Mosquito bites
make itchy lumps.

Frogs on logs
make twitchy lumps.

Monday: litter. We discussed what litter is and I asked Connor if he would ever litter and he looked at me like I was crazy. "I won't, Mommy!" he said. We're not litterbugs in our family.

Tuesday: learn & listen. We have Mommy & Me Spanish Class tomorrow. We will listen closely so that we can learn some new Spanish words. We'll listen to our Spanish CD on the way to class to get in the mood to learn.

Wednesday (scriptures/Gospel): Love. We'll learn the song "Jesus Said Love Everyone" and talk about the commandment to love.

Thursday: left & right. This whole week I'll be stressing left and right with Connor. But on Thursday we'll do a fun dancing/movement activity using our left and right arms and legs and ears, etc.

Friday: library. We'll visit the library and pick out a movie to watch for pizza/movie night. Perhaps Lion King.

Other L words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: ladybug, letters, leaves, lighthouse, lollypops, locks, light/dark.

K week: Friday

2006-12-15T14:11:00.000-05:00

We didn't get a chance to make and mail our kisses yesterday as planned, and in the meantime I realized that it would be better to email a picture of a kiss. So today we took K is for Kiss pictures and emailed them to our family who we're going to see soon!

Here's what Connor's email said:

Dear family,

It is K week. A word that starts with K is Kiss.

Here is a kiss from me to you. I'm excited to see you in 10 days (or less!).

Love,

CONNOR

K week: Tuesday & Wednesday

2006-12-13T20:43:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we just focused on the letter K and learned our new words and poems (after doing starfall, of course). We forgot to do the 3 Little Kittens rhyme. That'll be a good one to do in the car while driving to the mall tomorrow to do some Christmas shopping.

Today I taught Connor about King Benjamin (from the Book of Mormon). Connor said that he thought kings should be nice, not mean. King Benjamin was a good king. I told him all about King Benjamin building a tower so that the people could hear him speak. We focused on the lesson of service to others. King Benjamin taught us (by example and word) to serve others. To serve means to help.

K week: plans

2006-12-11T09:37:00.000-05:00

I am obviously not very into preschool right now. It's a busy time of year for all of us. I don't want to just not do preschool the next two weeks, but it will be minimal at best. As long as we focus on that one sound, do starfall, and read our words and poems each day, we'll be doing great.

A lot of our preschool lately has taken place in the car while driving to run errands. We have had discussions about habitiats, gratitude, conifers, etc. while driving. It actually serves two purposes: 1. teach Connor something new & have a conversation with him; and 2. keep him awake!

Here are the plans for K week:

word cards: kangaroo, kiss, king, kitten, kite.
poem:

Keep a Poem in Your Pocket
by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers

Keep a poem in your pocket
and a picture in your head
and you’ll never feel lonely
at night when you’re in bed.

The little poem will sing to you
the little picture bring to you
a dozen dreams to dance to you
at night when you’re in bed.

So—
Keep a picture in your pocket
and a poem in your head
and you’ll never feel lonely
at night when you’re in bed.

Monday: kites. Today we read a book called The Emperor and the Kite with the word kite as an introduction to the /k/ sound.

Tuesday kittens. We'll act out the Three Little Kittens rhyme with mittens. Kitten starts with /k/ and mitten rhymes with kitten.

Wednesday (scriptures/Gospel): King Benjamin. I'll tell him about King Benjamin and talk to him about what service is, especially as it relates to this time of year.

Thursday: kiss. We'll send a "kiss" in the mail to our family who we will be going to visit for Christmas.

Friday: kids. Connor has a playdate with his friends Porter and Caroline. Korea. We'll read the Korean Cinderella and find Korea on a map. (Connor knows about Korea because his Papa Rich and Nanajan used to live there.)

Other K words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: kings & queens, kangaroo, koala, ketchup, Korea, keys.

Review week: F, G, H, I, and J

2006-12-04T13:33:00.000-05:00

This week we are swamped with things to do and places to go, so we will be reviewing the past 5 letters when we can. Next week we'll do K and then L before we go on our Christmas vacation.

J week: Monday and Tuesday

2006-11-28T19:30:00.000-05:00

MONDAY

Connor was excited, as he usually is on Mondays, to click on a new letter at Starfall. I don't let him do the letters we haven't done yet. He can click on any of the past letters and review them, but I want it to be exciting each week when we get to click on a new letter and see what words and activities start with that letter. We read a story about a joey (baby kangaroo) and actually learned a lot. I can't believe those mothers carry their babies around until they're almost the same size as the mother!

TUESDAY

Today we read a story called Bumper to Bumper: A Traffic Jam by Jakki Wood. Then we made our very own traffic jam. Connor was SO excited to do this. I had told him in the morning that that's what we'd be doing for preschool and he could hardley wait to make a traffic jam. He was running and jumping and sayin, "I love making traffic jams!" In the picture of him with his traffic jam, he's signing the letter J.

J week: Plans

2006-11-26T19:48:00.000-05:00

Here are the plans for J week:

word cards: juice, jungle, joy, juggle, jump.
poem:

J’s the Jumping Jay-Walker
by Phyllis McGinley

J’s the jumping Jay-walker
A sort of human jeep.
He crosses where the lights are red.
Before he looks, he’ll leap!
Then many a wheel
Begins to squeal,
And many a brake to slam.
He turns your knees to jelly
And the traffic into jam.

Monday: joey. A joey is a baby kangaroo. Learn about how a joey lives. What are other animal babies called?

Tuesday traffic jam. Read a book about a traffic jam, talk about what it is, and make one with his cars on his road map.

Wednesday (scriptures/Gospel): Joseph & the Coat of Many Colors. I'll tell him this story and we'll listen to some of the music from the musical.

Thursday (movement): juggle & jump. Movement to music.

Friday (art project): jelly fish. We'll make a jelly fish from crepe paper and a paper plate.

Other J words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: jungle, joy, juice, jelly beans, Jack & Jill, John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt.

I week: Wednesday

2006-11-22T20:09:00.000-05:00

Today we didn't officially do preschool.

But we did make a Thankful Basket. And we wrote things we are thankful for on slips of paper and put them in our Thankful Basket.

Connor's thankful for trees and books and couches and Abby and Mommy. So far. We'll continue the Thankful Basket tomorrow.

(I printed the Thankful Basket from the November Friend Magazine. It's page 14.)

I week: Tuesday

2006-11-21T19:47:00.000-05:00

Today we read Insectlopedia by Douglas Florian. It's a collection of poems and paintings of different insects. I also taught Connor what an inch is. This is not a concept for 3-year-olds, obviously, and I knew that. Kids learn to measure first by using paperclips or something as a unit of measure, not something abstract like an inch. But inch starts with I. As we read the poems about the insects, we measured the insects in the paintings. It was fun!

We also made some turkeys out of traced and cut-out hands and feet. They're going to be our Thanksgiving placecards. I love making placecards and it's even more fun to be able to involve Connor and do a craft together. I'll post pictures when we get them done.

I week: Monday

2006-11-20T20:27:00.000-05:00

This morning was a great preschool morning. We did our computer and chart time. Connor is really getting good at "reading" the days of the week. He knows which day is which by what letter it starts with.

We read two books: The Iguana Brothers by Tony Johnston and Up Along Down Along Under Over by Diane Wilmer. I thought I had Inside Outside Upside-Down, but I don't. So we read that one instead. We didn't really talk about opposites as planned because Connor wasn't digging that idea.

So we made Thanksgiving pictures for family. I had printed a little turkey poem on cardstock and then we traced Connor's hand and drew a beak, gobble gobble, eye, and feet on each one. We made 8 of them and put them in the mail to all Connor's grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles wishing them a Happy Thanksgiving!

When we looked at the calendar and I showed him that Thursday was Thanksgiving, Connor said, "Ya! I love Thanksgiving!" I'm not sure he even remembers it, but I love his enthusiasm!

Here's the Turkey Poem:

This isn’t just a turkey
as you can plainly see,
I made it with my hand
which is a part of me.
It comes with lots of love,
especially to say,
“I hope you have a very
Happy Thanksgiving Day!”

I week: plans

2006-11-19T13:53:00.000-05:00

Here are the plans for I week:

word cards: inside, igloo, iguana, inch, instrument.
poem:

Inchworm
by Katrina Lybbert

Inchworm, inchworm on the ground,
Crawling slowly, not a sound,
Do you wonder what you'll see,
When you pass beyond that tree?

Careful now, my little friend,
A bird is just around the bend,
Better hide inside that tree,
Where you will be safe and free!

Monday: in/out; opposites. We'll review the concept of opposites and read Inside Outside Upside-Down by the Berenstains.

Tuesday (math): inches. Introduction to measurement. Connor's seen me use rulers, we'll talk about what they're for and measure a few things in inches.

Wednesday: icky. The clue word for the letter I on The Letter Factory is "icky." We'll read Bartholomew and the Oobleck and then make some icky oobleck.

Thursday: Thanksgiving. Even though this week is about the /i/ sound (short sound of the letter I), we will just use the letter I for today. We'll say "I am thankful for..." and take turns listing things we are grateful for. We did this in the car the other day and it was good to hear what Connor appreciates in his life.

Friday: Honestly, we probably won't do preschool on Friday, but if we do, we'll play some musical instruments together and have a band.

Other I words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: iguana, insects, igloo, inchworm, inside, India, Italy, etc.

Note: This week is all about the short sound of the letter I, as in icky. Of course, it's fine to point out that words like ice cream start with I too and to explain that the I makes two sounds, short and long, but the focus of this week is the /i/ sound.

H week: Monday through Thursday

2006-11-16T22:50:00.000-05:00

Can you tell what kind of week it's been around here? B-U-S-Y!

Monday we sent Uncle "Chihuahua" Scott an e-card and called him to sing Happy Birthday. We also did our computer and chart time and read Who Hops? by Katie Davis. It's a really cute book that has a surprising twist to it. I recommend it!

Tuesday we learned about habitats (not what I had planned). Since it didn't look like we'd have time to sit down and do preschool, and since I wanted to keep Connor awake on the way to Target and he was looking drowsy, I did an impromptu preschool lesson. We started talking about habitats and homes and the different animal homes there are. I was surprised at first that Connor kept referring to the zoo (or a fence) as a habitat. But really, that's where he sees animals. So I tried to teach him about animals in the wild, but that's pretty abstract to him. We had a good conversation for about 15 minutes about different animal habitats. It was fun.

Wednesday we did our computer and chart time as usual. We read two H books that we got from the library. We also traced our hands and colored them to look like Turkeys. Then I gave Connor the lesson I wanted to teach last week about The Golden Rule and he was pretty into it. More than I thought he'd be. To turn it into an H week thing (and make it simpler to explain, I think) I taught him that he should Help others be Happy. That made sense to him. If he's going to help Abby be happy, should he pull her down? Probably not. Should he smile and sing her a song. Sure! I tried using this phrase after our lesson and it's a good way to encourage good behavior rather than focusing on the negative behaviors.

Today we practiced hopping on one foot. It's hard for him. He's getting a little better. He also had fun exploring Starfall for a while. While his friend Annika was here he showed her how he does his calendar and the letter of the week on Starfall. It was cute to hear him "being the teacher."

H week: plans

2006-11-13T14:38:00.000-05:00

Here are the plans for H week:

word cards: happy, hat, hair, hiccup, home
poem:

HUG O' WAR
By Shel Silverstein

I will not play at tug o’ war.
I’d rather play at hug o’ war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.

Monday (social studies): Happy Birthday. We'll celebrate Uncle "Chihuahua" Scott's birthday by sending him an email and calling to sing to him.

Tuesday (nutrition): healthy foods. Alan and I have been trying to eat healthy lately and it's rubbing off on Connor. He talks about whether foods are healthy or not. We'll review this concept so that I can assess his understanding of it. We'll cut pictures of food from a magazine and sort them and glue them on paper.

Wednesday (scriptures/gospel): The Golden Rule. Doesn't start with H, but we didn't do it last week, so we'll try again this week. We can help make others happy!

Thursday (movement/activity): hopping. The doctor asked Connor to hop on one foot at his 3 year old well visit. He couldn't really do it without holding on to me. We'll practice hopping and doing other movements to some fun music. Maybe music by Hayden or something. And wearing different hats.

Friday: Happy Birthday again! We'll go to Porter's birthday party and have fun celebrating with him. (Can you tell I didn't really plan well for this week if we're doing Happy Birthday two days and Happy another day? I need to get back in preschool gear!)

Other H words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: handwashing (work on doing this really well; we sing Happy Birthday, dear clean hands while washing), homes (different kinds of homes people live in or animal homes/habitats), harvest, hippopotomus, hiccups

Weirdly, this post is not working correctly. Here's the second poem we're doing this week since it won't post at the top.

HICCUP CURE
by: Shel Silverstein

Hic…
Hic…
Hic…
Hic…
Want to cure your hiccups quick?
Stick out your tongue and bite your lip.
Hold your breath and shake one hip,
Pull back your left foot and kick up.
Now, you see, we’ve cured your hiccup.
Nothing much to it—don’t you feel swell?
Hic…
Oh well…

G week: Wednesday & Thursday

2006-11-09T21:25:00.000-05:00

{G is for goose}

Wednesday:

We only got as far as computer time. Never made it to chart time or to learning the Golden Rule. But we did sit on the potty and clean up lots of pee. FUN!

Thursday:

A great preschool day to make up for the previous two days. (I forgot to say that on Tuesday we made green salt dough. Technically not "'preschool" but it was a fun learning/playing experience together).

We decided to abort Mission:Underwear for now and it made us both so much happier. We had a fun time finding deals at Old Navy and getting milk and cereal at Trader Joe's. (Would you believe that the little shopping carts they have there have been stolen? That's right. Stolen. There is only one left, so Connor didn't get to push one today. Sad!)

We walked to and around the duck/goose pond today with our friends. Connor had a great time running and playing and got very muddy splashing in puddles left from yesterday's crazy rainstorm.

Tonight after Abby went to bed we did computer and chart time. Then we played a new game that Connor got from his friends who were cleaning out their toy closet. We were laughing and talking and having fun. Connor is a great kid! And when he's wearing pull-ups I can focus on how great he is and not on the pee that is about to be all over the floor.

We had a few M&Ms for dessert tonight and Connor said, "Look, Mom. A lowercase M on those because they're called M&Ms so they start with M."

G week: Tuesday

2006-11-07T19:17:00.000-05:00

No preschool today. We could only focus on one thing and that thing is

POTTY TRAINING!

G week: Monday

2006-11-06T19:07:00.000-05:00

Today was our busy day. Connor went to his friend Colin's house (thanks, Erin!) and Abby and I went to feed the missionaries lunch. When we got back we had some serious grocery shopping to do. I'm actually planning meals and shopping for them this week. That's big for me. But I figure that since I'll be home ALL DAY, EVERYDAY this week I will have time to cook. And it'll be fun to cook with Connor if I'm not rushed. Plus it'll keep him in the kitchen where any possible potty training accidents will be much easier to clean up than on the living room carpet.

Alan got home at 6 tonight!!! So we did preschool with him. Connor showed him what we do on the computer and on our chart. Then we read a book called Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert and talked about gardens. We did the file folder game called "Grandpa's Garden" and Connor had to tell us whether he thought each food was a fruit or a vegetable. He got most of them correct.

Tomorrow's the big day. Wish us luck!

G week: plans

2006-11-05T15:25:00.000-05:00

Here are the plans for G week:

word cards: green, goodnight, goose, gorilla, garden
poem:

GOOLOO
By Shel Silverstein

The Gooloo bird
She has no feet,
She cannot walk
Upon the street.
She cannot build
Herself a nest,
She cannot land
And take a rest.
Through rain and snow
And thunderous skies,
She weeps forever
As she flies,
And lays her eggs
High over town,
And prays that they
Fall safely down.

Monday (social studies): gardens. It's quite possible that Connor doesn't know what a garden is because I don't have one and I don't think I've ever taught him about gardens. He has referred to our yard as a garden before and he's heard of the Botanical Gardens. We'll talk about what a garden is, read a story, and play the Grandpa's Garden file folder game I have. (For some cute and fun file folder games, not including Grandpa's Garden, to print and put together click here.)

Tuesday (math): greater than/less than. Just the concept, not the signs. The signs still confuse me and I have to think about Pacman to figure out which sign is which.

Wednesday (scriptures/gospel): The Golden Rule. I have basically taught this concept to Connor, but I think it will be good to have a formal-ish lesson on the principle of treating others the way we would like to be treated.

Thursday (movement/activity): Geese at the pond. Since we are starting potty training on Tuesday, Thursday will be the day we see if we can leave the house. We'll just drive down, walk around the pond, and drive back home. I hope we can make it!

Friday (art project): Green (of course!) Crazy Crayons. We'll use different shades of green (and possibly other colors) to make these fun crayons.

Other G words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: grocery store, goodnight stories, good luck.

Note: This week is all about the hard sound of the letter G, as in good. Of course, it's fine to point out that words like giraffe start with G too and to explain that the G makes two sounds, /g/ and /j/, but the focus of this week is the /g/ sound.

F week: Friday...oops

2006-11-03T19:19:00.000-05:00

We didn't do preschool officially today. Oops.

But we did run about 6 or 7 errands on the way to play at a friend's house. And then came home in time to pick up a couple of other friends to come to our house to play. By the time they went home Connor was pooped so we had dinner, got jammies on and went to bed.

Connor was my BIG helper today. He helped me through all of our errands–returning things to friends, Buy Buy Baby for a gift and a non-slip bath mat, Staples for RS stuff, gas station, Post Office to mail back Nike's and the gift purchased at Buy Buy Baby, and Michael's for another gift item. It was a busy morning and I couldn't have done it (happily) without my great helper. Connor was especially cute at the Post Office. He carried in the bag with the big box of shoes in it and dragged it all the way through the long line (is it a rule that Post Offices must be understaffed?) and talked cheerfully to me the whole time. He's such a great kid. A good boy and a fun buddy to have with me on my errands.

We did teach Annika how to make the sign for the letter F and sang the letter F song, so that can count for our preschool on this busy Friday.

F week: Thursday

2006-11-02T14:29:00.000-05:00

Today preschool was short and sweet. We did our usual computer time and chart time and then we painted with fall colors. The paintings will be turned into thank you cards for Connor's grandparents who sent him fun Halloween greetings this week. Connor had fun painting and wanted to mix red and brown and yellow together, so it turned out kind of a pukey color. He's really into what colors will be made when two colors are mixed, so he loves playing with paint.

F week: Tuesday and Wednesday

2006-11-01T22:06:00.000-05:00

Tuesday:

Halloween was a fun preschool day. We didn't officially do the daily preschool routine, but we did do our frog activity as planned. Thanks to Tania for letting us borrow her frog counters, we had a great time sorting and lining up frogs. Very educational too.

But we also celebrated Halloween, which is just as important to Connor's development as learning to differentiate and sort, in my opinion. We had an impromptu Halloween celebration at our house in the morning. Several friends (and their moms and siblings) came over for our usual Singing Time time and we did Halloween activities. Connor had fun sharing his game Pin-the-nose-on-the-Jack-o-lantern that he got in a birthday package from his cousins. He also really got into the books that we shared. They're just little ditto-paper books that Grandma Rama gave him (she was a teacher) but he's loved reading them and loved even more sharing them with his friends.

Wednesday:

A great preschool day. I was a good mom on Wednesday. Despite my really busy day (doctors visits and flu shots for the kids, watching a friend's son, planning a lesson and tutoring a first grader, and meeting with the RS presidency at the church), I spent a lot of time really playing with my kids. That always feels good. I am making an effort to do that more and not always be trying to get something else done or thinking about what I need to be doing when I'm playing with them.

Connor and I spent almost an hour together while Abby was sleeping. We did our computer time and our chart time (making a new calendar for November and talking about events coming up this month). We talked about the miracle of the loaves and the fishes, using his flannel board book. He got so into it that he wanted to do all of the miracles in the book. It was great to just sit with my boy and talk about Jesus and teach Connor about the miracles Jesus performed when He was on earth.

What do you do for Halloween?

2006-10-30T21:06:00.000-05:00

I just asked a friend how she celebrates Thanksgiving being so far away from family. She said they have steak with all the typical Thanksgiving side dishes. I love that! I would have never thought to "break" that tradition. But they just like steak better and she doesn't want to cook a bird.

How do you celebrate Halloween with your kids?

F week: Monday

2006-10-30T20:04:00.000-05:00

Last night as I was preparing for preschool I was thinking, Man, this is a lot of work. Why did I get myself into this? But after the hour or so of preparation (for the next 3 weeks) I was done and ready for a fun week of learning with my boy.

Today was so much fun. We had fun going to Starfall again and checking the weather and doing our charts again. At Starfall we checked the Sign Language "book" (in the ABC's page at the bottom left) and it was great! It shows each letter and a cartoon girl shows how to make each letter while saying the sound. So, now we'll add learning the ASL sign for each letter to our weekly agenda. Connor already knows F.

We read a book about feelings today and talked about when we experience different feelings. Connor talked about how playing with his toys makes him feel happy. And he said he's not scared of anything. He feels sad when he misses Daddy or Nanajan. And he's excited for Halloween. I think it's good to learn to talk about our feelings. To recognize them and to realize that we can have some control over them. I really enjoyed snuggling up on the couch with Connor and reading and talking today. I've missed that.

F week: plans

2006-10-29T19:02:00.000-05:00

We're back from Utah. We had a great trip and had fun with family and friends. Now I have to get back to "normal" life...preschool, singing time, cleaning my house, etc. And I guess I better start potty training now that Connor's 3. If anyone wants to leave any potty training advice as a comment I welcome it. I haven't really researched and I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm giving myself this week to make a plan and then next Monday we start!

Here are the plans for F week:

word cards: fish, frog, feet, funny, fall
poem:

A Fly and a Flea in a Flue

A fly and a flea in a flue
Were imprisoned, so what could they do?
Said the fly, "Let us flee!"
"Let us fly!" said the flea,
And they flew through a flaw in the flue.

Monday (social studies/emotions): feelings. I have a couple of picture books that discuss feelings. We'll read these and talk about feelings.

Tuesday (math): math with frogs. We'll do counting, adding, and subtracting with frogs. Then we'll play "frogs in the grass!" if it's warm enough outside.

Wednesday (scriptures/gospel): Loaves & Fishes. Connor's Nursery lesson today (taught by Alan) was about the scriptures and he learned that there are stories about Jesus and told by Jesus in the scriptures. We'll read the story of the miracle of the loaves and fishes and "act it out" with his flannel board book. We'll review the story of the Good Samaritan that he learend in Nursery.

Thursday (movement/activity): fruit. We'll try a couple of different kinds of fruit for snack. And we'll play Follow the Leader.

Friday (art project): froot loop sand. We'll make froot loop sand (or probably fruity cheerio sand since we have fruity cheerios) and then make a picture with it. Wherever we stick the glue, the froot loop sand will stick and make a colorful design on the paper.

Other F words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: farm animals, fairy tales, fall, families, farmers market, fire safety, friendship.

Preschool Update

2006-10-19T22:31:00.000-04:00

E week in San Diego was great! We stayed in a house on E Avenue, so that was pretty cool. And we went in many entrances and out a lot of exits. We ate eggs. We forgot to look at an engine. We sang the E song once or twice. And that was it. I really didn't do much. It was vacation! But it was a fun week with family. Connor had a great time with his Papa Rich, Nanajan, uncles, aunts, and cousins (after he warmed up; he takes a while to warm up in big, chaotic situations). He and Ayden played well together for the most part. Much better than 6 months ago when they were together (the older they get, the less the age difference will matter, I'm guessing). And Connor loved baby Sophie and was so cute with her. He became quite the silly boy while with my family. Every word was silly or rhyming and bathroom humor even entered his vocabulary. Poo is really quite funny.

Anyway, now we're in Utah (we drove back from CA in Nanajan's van) and having a great time here with family. We miss Alan a lot. He's working hard to support our family. We spent the last two days with Papa Fred and Grandma Rama in SLC and they threw a great birthday party for Connor. He had a cake with a real (toy) train on it! He loved it and loved being the birthday boy. Supposedly this week and next week are review weeks, but really they're just fun weeks. He is sharing his poems with family, though. To my family it's "If I could be a binobaur...to see where berybactyls by..." But for his cousin Annabelle he actually said two of them correctly. He really likes Annabelle!

So that's the update for now. We'll be back for F week on October 30!

E week: Monday

2006-10-09T14:04:00.000-04:00

Today we did our computer time and chart time. Connor is great at finding the card for the day of the week. He says, "It's Monday. Oh, here's Monday." He just looks for the first letter since he knows the sound. He's on his way to reading!!!

We did his "worksheets" that I printed from starfall.com. He likes tracing the letters. There was one for sorting the capital and lowercase E's and he was great at it.

A few other short E words that I didn't think of before: elevator, enter, exit, excited.

E week: plans

2006-10-07T08:16:00.000-04:00

If there's anyone out there who's actually reading this blog for ideas, I'm not going to be very helpful for the next three weeks. We're headed to San Diego on Monday (E week) and we'll be doing preschool (sort of) while we're there. Then the next two weeks we'll be in Utah, so we'll be reviewing ABCDandE (sort of) while we're there. But here are some ideas for E week:

Make eggs for breakfast (experiment with different kinds of eggs.)
Eric Carle author unit (This is always so much fun since his books are great. I love to do collages in his style.)
Look at the car engine and read books about how it works.
Learn more about fire engines (or go to a fire station to see one close-up!)
Write a letter to everyone you love. Or have a party with every friend.
Help your preschooler learn how to empty the garbages.

We'll be having eggs for breakfast one day, looking at the car engine (hopefully the uncles can help Connor out with that one), and getting a picture with everyone in our family! Connor also just got an etch-a-sketch, so we'll have fun drawing pictures on that. We'll also try to get on the computer when we can to check out starfall.com and the weather.

And we have our word cards and poem that we'll review everyday:
word cards: everyone, engine, empty, elephant, egg

poem:

Eletelephony

by: Laura E. Richards

Once there was an elephant,
Who tried to use the telephant-–
No! no! I mean an elephone
Who tried to use the telephone–
(Dear me! I am not certain quite
That even now I’ve got it right.)

Howe’er it was, he got his trunk
Entangled in the telephunk;
The more he tried to get it free,
The louder buzzed the telephee–
(I fear I’d better drop the song
Of elephop and telephong!)

Be sure to stick with words that start with the short E sound (/e/) like in the word elephant. Not words that start with the long E like in the word eat. This week is about really knowing the short sound of the letter E. The students I tutor who are in first and second grade still have trouble remembering the short E sound. I like the clue for this sound from the Letter Factory. It's an "old man" in a rocking chair saying "eh?" like he can't hear the question. It works!

D week: Friday

2006-10-06T20:46:00.000-04:00

{Daddy}

Today we read Dig Dig Digging, a book we've checked out from the library before. Connor was excited to see it again. And was disappointed to see that it had been ripped pretty badly by another library patron.

Then I did a little assessment. I had Connor draw (starts with D) Daddy. Actually I told him he could draw whoever he wanted, but it had to be a person. He chose Daddy. Sticking with the D theme, of course. I want to do this every couple of months just because I'm interested in how his view of and ability to represent people will develop. (Last week for C week he drew a picture of me under the clouds we made with cotton balls. Yesterday he looked at that picture hanging on the fridge and said, "Mommy, I forgot to draw your feet. I have to draw your feet on there!" But then he didn't draw feet today.)

We went to Costco this afternoon to get the pictures we had printed of Connor's birthday party so we can send them out in our thank-you cards. While we were there we somehow started saying the D poem that we've been reading each day this week. I thought it was a harder one that Connor wouldn't be able to memorize, but would enjoy. But he can say almost the whole thing! It's catchy and cute and once you say it a few times it does stick. It'll be fun to share our poetry with our family on our trip!

D week: Thursday

2006-10-05T22:18:00.000-04:00

Just a regular preschool day. Computer time. Chart time. Word cards and Poem. Connor's really catching on to this week's poem now. But it's trickier to memorize than the last three. We read a book called Dog's Day about a dog who spends his day playing with other animals, doing what they do, for example, changing color with chameleon and flying with bird. And it ends with him saying that his favorite thing to do is play with his daddy. Cute book. I loved the illustrations. We were suppose to do play-doh today for our activity, but it was a busy day getting ready for the birthday party tomorrow and the kitchen was a mess from cake baking.

D week: Wednesday

2006-10-04T20:40:00.000-04:00

Today we read two books. One by Syd Hoff–Duncan the Dancing Duck (we read his Danny and the Dinosaur yesterday). And one Little Golden Book about David and Goliath. Connor knows the story, and this book was written for older children, so I was just going to skim through, show him the pictures, and tell him the story. But we got into it and ended up reading the whole thing. Kids can really understand and appreciate more than we give them credit for. Connor really enjoyed it more than I thought he would. We talked about how Heavenly Father helps us when we need help and when we ask him in prayer. And when we do what we can to prepare for our challenges.

D week: Tuesday

2006-10-03T22:58:00.000-04:00

Well, I said I wouldn't skip another day of preschool for a while, but we ended up skipping Monday. We went apple picking (again) with our friends Jaime, Kylie, Kaitlyn, Porter, and Halley. It was a beautiful day and so fun to go pick apples and be outside. We even stopped at the Red Rooster to play (and eat our McDonalds salads and happy meals). We left the house at 8:30 a.m. and got home at 6:30 p.m. (because we played and went to Target before coming home) then hustled to get the house ready for my Stake Relief Society Presidency Meeting that was at 8:30 p.m. A crazy, fun-filled day!

Today we had fun getting back into preschool. We had to make a new calendar for October. And Connor couldn't wait to hear what the D poem is; he wanted me to say it again for him. We did math with dinosaurs and ducks. He's pretty good at counting now and was really excited when I said the word equals because "that's from Math Circus!" We did 2+2=4 and 3+3=6 and 4+4=8. He thought it was great representing the math problems with his dinosaur toys (which have been in the basement for a while, making them fun "new" toys).

Connor also got to play with his friend Caroline today. They have fun together and play really well together. Connor especially loves jumping on Caroline's trampoline. And I got the kitchen and bathroom really clean while he was gone and Abby was sleeping!

Mr. C seems to think he's too old for naps (and bed, actually) now too. Help! It's rough. It'll be great that he's not taking naps on vacation. But it's a huge adjustment for me. I am so accustomed to my quiet, free time to study the scriptures and read blogs and organize and putter on the computer. I have to adjust and I have to teach Connor to have his own quiet time.

The good thing was that Connor fell asleep at 7:15 tonight. I can handle that!

D week: plans

2006-10-01T10:08:00.000-04:00

I totally forgot to post my plans on Friday. It was quite the busy week. And this upcoming week is even busier. I'm slightly overwhelmed.

But here are the plans for D week:

word cards: daddy, dinosaur, dog, duck, dolphin

poem:

If I Could Be a Dinosaur

If I could be a dinosaur
I wouldn't talk, I'd only roar.
I'd stomp around and shake the ground,
If I were a dinosaur.
I'd stretch my long, long neck up high,
To see where pterodactyls fly.
I'd eat the leaves off tall, tall trees,
If I were a dinosaur.

Monday (science): desert. We'll talk about the desert, what it is, look at the map to see how it looks different where there's desert and mountains and plains. Utah is a desert and we'll be going there soon, so we'll discuss that.

Tuesday (math): Adding and subtracting with dinosaurs. We'll use Connor's toy dinosaurs to count and add and take-away.

Wednesday (scriptures/gospel): David & Goliath. We'll read a book about David & Goliath (Little Golden Books that I found at the library on their sale rack--50¢ each!) and review the story. Connor knows this story and likes it, so it should be fun. If he's into it, we may talk about Daniel and the lion's den too. Connor knows and loves that story.

Thursday (movement/activity): doh. We'll play with playdoh. We can make dinosaurs and dogs and ducks out of playdoh.

Friday (art project): draw Daddy. Sort of an assessment. I want to see how Connor is representing people in his drawing.

Other D words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: Dr. Seuss, drawing, decorating (cookies), dirt, dumptruck.

Note: Next week we will be going to San Diego and Utah. We will do E week (informally) while we're in San Diego and then the two weeks in Utah we'll focus on reviewing A, B, C, D, and E. So, October 30th we'll be starting F week.

C week: Friday

2006-09-29T21:12:00.000-04:00

Today was another busy and fun day. We did preschool this morning while Abby was napping. Connor and I mixed paint colors to see what other colors we could make. We had the primary colors and did three color experiments. We mixed red and yellow first and made orange. We mixed red and blue next and made purple. And last, but definitely not least, we mixed blue and yellow and made green! Connor has been talking about what colors make when they're mixed for a while. Actually, it's probably been since our ice-cube melting experiment in the summer. The only combination he never forgets is the blue and yellow make green. Of course!

We spent the morning at our friends' house, playing with the kids while the mom went to the doctor. And then after Connor's brief nap on the floor of the living room, we went to the birthday party. After Abby went to bed Connor and I did some party preparation for his birthday party that's coming up next week. He's a great little helper.

Actually, right now he's crawling around on the floor behind me. He sneaked out of his room. He says he's "not really tired" and he's just playing and whispering to himself. It's pretty cute and he's not bugging me, so how can I be mad? But I better get him back in the general vicinity of his room and bed, I guess.

C week: Thursday

2006-09-28T19:48:00.000-04:00

It happened. Today was the day. The first day that we skipped preschool. We had a busy day. Connor played at Annika's this morning and then we went straight over to the RS potluck lunch. I was really planning on Connor falling asleep on the way home so that I could check something off my ever-growing TO DO list. But he didn't. And then after about 10 quiet minutes in his bed he whispered so sweetly, "Mommy, I'm not tired." And since it was almost 3:00 I just let him get up.

Then our friends came over to visit for a little while. And then we walked up to another friend's house to style her daughter's hair (and play in the backyard). Then we came home, had dinner, took baths, did tapping, brushed teeth and the kids are sleeping soundly.

It will not become a habit to skip preschool. In fact, we were about to do it before our friends came over, but Connor was resisting and I don't want to force it, and we wouldn't have had time to do all of it, so we just skipped it. But that won't happen again! At least not very soon.

But Connor did have some good socializing today. He had fun at Annika's for his play date. And then at the potluck, he played with two other friends. They were hiding out in the "forest" in the backyard. It's cute to see him playing so well with other kids. And great that he's not asking me to play with him so often when we're at get-togethers with friends.

C week: Wednesday

2006-09-27T20:33:00.000-04:00

No pictures again today. Today was a very full and busy and fun day. This morning I chose to do my hair instead of do preschool before we left the house. We took Connor's friend Caroline with us over to another Singing Time group at Connor's friend Porter's house. Caroline, Porter, and Connor played so cute together. It's really fun to see Connor having relationships with his friends and being silly and having fun with them.

So, we did preschool after Connor's nap today. We did our routine on the computer and with our chart. Connor's starting to catch on more to the days of the week. That's a tricky thing to learn. Our lesson today was about Christmas and why we celebrate it and about Jesus Christ. (It's scriptures/gospel Wednesday.)

So we talked about who Jesus Christ is and he remembered quite a bit from what we've talked about and especially from the Nativity that he played with last Christmas. He loved that Nativity and has talked about it a lot over the year. (In fact, the word activity used to confuse him because he thought it was about Mary and Jesus and shepherds.) Then we watched a cartoon video about the story of Christ's birth. He wasn't thrilled at first since he wanted to watch Frog and Toad. But once the movie started he enjoyed it and asked questions and commented about what was happening. (King Herod was mean!)

It was a good preschool day. I know I've said this before, but I'm so glad that our preschool plan is so flexible and that Connor's really learning. And I'm proud of myself for keeping his social schedule filled with fun play dates with friends.

C week: Tuesday

2006-09-26T19:46:00.000-04:00

Today we worked on counting from 1 to 20 and Connor did great. I love the way he's been counting and haven't wanted to correct him yet. But today we worked on getting the numbers in order and he did great. I even found a book that counts to 20 that we could read together and count pictures together before counting objects. It's called Counting Our Way to Maine by Maggie Smith. After reading the book, we counted little pom poms (something Connor had never seen before, which made it more exciting to count) all the way to 20. Then tonight before bed we counted all his fingers and toes–20! And all my fingers and toes–20 too!

C week: Monday

2006-09-25T19:50:00.000-04:00

Preschool was split up today. We did our computer time and chart time, then read a book together (Curious George goes to a Chocolate Factory) and then went for our walk around the duck pond.

Then we did something really fun, not preschool related. We went to Party City to shop for Connor's birthday party that's coming up next week. We are so excited to have a green ABC party. We bought everything green in the store. It'll be great to have our house decorated green!

After Connor's rest (no nap today, but he's already asleep!) we read The Cloud Book by Tomie de Paola. Well, we read the first few pages, but when it got into all the kinds of kinds of clouds, we just looked at the pictures. Then we drew a picture together. Connor drew the grass and a flower. I'm amazed at how good he is getting at drawing. He drew me and I drew him. Then he drew a sun. Finally, we got to glue cotton ball clouds in the sky of our picture. It turned out pretty cute and Connor was excited to hang it on the fridge so we could see it from all the way across the kitchen!

We also had fun laying on the grass outside, watching the clouds move by and trying to find shapes in the clouds. Once I mentioned seeing a shark, that's pretty much all Connor could see in the clouds. "But those sharks aren't scary because they're just cloud sharks."

Photos wouldn't upload, so you can go here to see them.

C week: plans

2006-09-22T16:00:00.000-04:00

Here are the plans for C week:
word cards: caboose, construction, cloud, color, cookies

poem:

Caterpillar Crawling

One little caterpillar crawled on my shoe,
Another came along and now there are two.
Two little caterpillars crawled on my knee
Another came along and now there are three.
Three little caterpillars crawled on the floor.
Another came along and then there were four.
Four little caterpillars watch them crawl away
They'll all turn into butterflies some fine day.

Monday (science): clouds. We'll talk about the different kinds of clouds in the sky (and read The Cloud Book by Tomie de Paola) and then make clouds from cotton balls to glue on blue construction paper.

Tuesday (math): Counting from 1 to 20. We'll just practice doing this, probably dancing while we do it or counting our fingers and toes. Right now Connor counts like this after 10: "eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, sixteen, eleventeen...oh, and fiveteen."

Wednesday (scriptures/gospel): Christmas/Christ. We'll talk about who Jesus Christ is and why we have Christmas to celebrate His birth. We may watch the scripture video of the Nativity too.

Thursday (movement/activity): construction fieldtrip. We'll go for a drive to a place up the street where they're doing construction and watch the construction trucks work.

Friday (art project): colors. We'll mix the primary colors to make the secondary colors. Connor is already catching on to this idea, so it'll be fun to have some hands-on time with mixing paint colors and making new colors.

Other C words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: camping, community, cookies, caterpillar, clown, clock, castle.

NOTE: This week is about the hard sound of the letter C. It's important to focus on words that start with this sound and not bring in words like circus and circle. Of course, you can always explain to your preschooler that C has two sounds, but for the first exposure to C, you should stick with one sound.

B week: day five

2006-09-22T14:09:00.000-04:00

I had a question in a comment about how I schedule preschool throughout the day. I spend a total of 30-40 minutes (more if the activity is more time consuming, particularly on art project Fridays) each day doing preschool with Connor. It's not very long, but it's consistent that we do it every day. I think the repetition of the calendar, day of the week, weather, five senses, words, and poem is important for Connor.

Today we read Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey. Connor loved this 1948 book. It was a Caldecott Honor book. It's a great story, good for making predictions and the pictures are nice because they're just one color.

Instead of building with boxes as I had planned (today is a busy day!) we worked on the two B worksheets I printed from STARFALL. I downloaded their entire set of letter worksheets just to have for days when the planned activity doesn't quite work out. And Connor loves to pull out his binder and his pencils in a zipper case and do his schoolwork.

So it was a quick and fun preschool day since we were getting ready for a new friend to come over and play.

B week: day four

2006-09-21T13:42:00.000-04:00

I was a little worried this morning when Connor said, "it's not still B week?" because I don't want him to get sick of a week and be forcing him to enjoy preschool every Thursday and Friday. But it was only because "the bear [on STARFALL] is scary" so we just did part of the letter B site today.

If you have kids, you should check out the site (link to the right). For each letter there is a "book" that they click through and hear words that start with the sound and then there's a capital/lowercase sorting game at the end. It's really cute.

Connor loves the part in the letter B one where the boy says, "I am a boy" and clicks on it a few times to hear it again and again. But next comes the bear. So we have to stop after the boy.

We read a Berenstain Bears book today about a Big Red Kite. Connor loved it. It was just your basic Berenstain Bears story.

Then we had Annika come over to play and they made Balloon Boppers. They colored on paper plates and then we taped them onto paint stirs. Connor kind of took on a teacher role and was telling Annika what to do since he's done it before. We blew up balloons and they bopped to their hearts content. It was cute to see them reaching and jumping to bop the balloons.

B week: day three

2006-09-20T22:30:00.000-04:00

I love that Connor is learning to use the computer as part of preschool. He knows where the bookmark links are in my toolbar and can find STARFALL to do the calendar and the letter of the week and WEATHER to check the weather for the day. He thinks he's pretty cool when he's using the mouse, too.

Today we read The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss. It was a silly Dr. Seuss book, as you may expect. A little over Connor's head, but he liked the sound of the silly words. When we finished reading it I asked him if he liked it and he said, "no." It probably won't be one we repeat all week like the great beach one from yesterday. But it was a fun read.

We learned about the Book of Mormon today. I read him the introduction in the illustrated (like a comic book) Book of Mormon and we talked about Joseph Smith. He said that he remembers being in the Sacred Grove where Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We were there almost a year ago with my family.

Then Connor got to go play at Caroline's house. He had a great time playing with Caroline (something about hammers and they had to take turns), especially jumping on her trampoline. I love that he's making friends and having fun with them. He insisted on wearing his Frankenstein hat to Caroline's house. Silly boy!

Can you tell that in this picture he's explaining something very important to me?

B week: day two

2006-09-19T15:09:00.000-04:00

Every day I am so glad that Connor still loves doing preschool with me. He laughs and laughs at our poem (about the butterfly not being made of butter). He is already catching on to our 5 B words. He is getting more into the five senses thing, although we forget to do that some days.

Today we read two cute books about the beach. Beach Day by Karen Roosa. Cute, but not excellent. Don't go out searching for it. And How Will We Get to the Beach? by Brigitte Luciani. Very cute. A woman wants to go to the beach and she's taking five things with her (one of which is her baby). Since her car won't start she's looking for another way to get there, but each mode of transportation she tries would make it necessary to leave behind one of the five things. You have to guess which thing won't be able to come with each mode of transportation. And of course in the end they find a way to get there and have a great day at the beach. Connor and I both highly recommend this book.

Singing Time was at our house today, so we had fun singing and playing with our friends. I read Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing to the kids and they (and their moms) loved it. Connor was so into it when I was reading it. Like he was the proud owner of this great book. He was helping me read it and explaining the pictures to the younger kids. It made me so happy to see him get so giddy about a book, especially about sharing that book with his friends.

After all our friends went home we went to the post office to mail Connor's birthday invitations. We are excited to have an ABCs and Green party for his 3rd birthday since those are his two favorite things. He enjoyed putting the "Happy Birthday" stamps on the postcards and handing them to the postal worker to be mailed. (On a side note, Glenn, our friendly and quirky postal worker is retiring this Saturday. We'll miss him and all his weird comments, especially since all the others are very straight-faced and monotone.)

Then we went to the bakery so Connor could spend some of his pennies on a cookie. The man there gave him the cookie for free, but pretended to take a few pennies from his "spending" cup. He picked a horseshoe shaped cookie today.

B week: day one

2006-09-18T21:53:00.000-04:00

Photos wouldn't upload, so I'll try to add them later.

I think Mondays are going to be tricky for preschool. I like to clean the house Monday mornings. I cannot clean the house if I don't do it first thing in the morning (after mentally preparing myself for it the night before). So that means that preschool on Mondays will most likely be happening in the afternoon. It's also better because we've started to meet a group of friends at the duck pond on Monday mornings (usually after I've finished cleaning everything except the bathroom).

So this afternoon when Connor woke up from his nap we jumped right in. Actually, he came in to me and said, "we have to go to Starfall, Mommy." (That's the first website we visit each day.)

He is catching on to the two-thousand six thing with the date. It's cute. He's not getting the days of the week very quickly (he thinks it's Sunday if it's sunny and yet knows that Sunday is Church day, hmmm), but he knows that it's 2006 and was very excited that I added that to our calendar today.

Connor was excited to watch the letter B at Starfall today. Five days of watching the letter A was enough. But not too much. He didn't get bored with it, but said today that he didn't want to do A again. Good thing, because it's B week now!

We skipped reading today because I knew Abby would wake up and wanted to get our activity done before she was awake. We used Connor's brand new scissors and glue to cut pictures from magazine to make a timeline. We first talked about babies and how we get "bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger." Connor often goes on and on about how he's doing just that. We talked about how we grow into little kids and then big kids and then teenagers and then grown-ups and then parents and then grandparents.

I was talking about how we are dads and moms first and then we get to be grandparents. But I guess because I was thinking about myself I said, "and then you get to be a grandma." Connor immediately said, "no-o. 'Cause I'm a boy. I can't be a grandma."

We cut pictures of kids and grown-ups out of magazines and glued them onto construction paper. He was getting tired of it by the time we got to teenager, so we just did grown-ups and then called it quits (no dads or grandpas). The picture we found of grown-ups is They Might Be Giants. That's cool because Connor has loved their Here Come the ABC's DVD.

My Philosophy of Preschool Education

2006-09-17T14:39:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about my philosophy of preschool education. Why am I doing what I'm doing? Why do I teach Connor the way I teach Connor? How do I feel about preschool? What are the beliefs that drive me in educating my preschooler?

I'm going to attempt to answer these questions in writing so that I can free up some brain space and have a source to come to when I need reminding about the important things in educating Connor.

First and foremost, I believe that children are supposed to have fun when they're learning. I read an article in Newsweek (September 11 issue) about how competitive kindergarten and first grade are becoming. I started to try and summarize the article, but I can't do it justice. Basically, young children are being required to focus so much on academics at the ages of 5 and 6 that they're getting burnt out. It's too stressful! Young children have a natural love of learning and discovering. It's our job as parents and teachers to help them nurture that love of learning so that it doesn't die.

Second, I believe that all children learn at their own pace. Does this mean we sit back and let them do their own thing? No. This means we figure out how they learn and help them learn, understanding that they will have strengths and weaknesses. Particularly as toddlers and preschoolers, children develop differently. Their strengths and interests are already manifest in what they talk about and what they catch on to quickly. As parents and teachers we have to look for these things and use the teachable moments we have to expand their knowledge.

For example, Connor loves letters. He loves words. He picked up sign language amazingly quickly and well and then transitioned to talking brilliantly. He listens to words and thinks about how they're related to other words. He notices the way letters are formed and how they relate to each other. He hears a word once and stores it away in his little brain to use later, and he uses it appropriately most of the time. Language is Connor's "thing." So as his mother, it's my job to help him develop it. Not to force him to develop it, but to give him opportunities to learn more. To lovingly guide him in his discovery of language.

Does that mean that I ignore other areas of learning because they're not his favorite? No. He's still 3, so he loves learning anything. He just asks to learn about language. He loves learning about numbers and the way things work and people and relationships.

Which leads me to number three, a belief that has always guided the way I parent. I believe that kids can handle the answers to their questions. Okay, there are a few subject areas that I will not give him full details on until he's old enough. And I always give him answers in language that he can understand. But I give him the correct information when he asks me a question. I think this is one of the reasons he retains so much information. Because there aren't "holes" in the way he understands things. Because I tell him all about it.

For example, if he asks me what "chair" starts with I'm not just going to say, "Oh, you'll learn that later" or bypass the question or redirect him. I'm going to say, "chair starts with /ch/. When C and H are together in a word they sometimes say /ch/." And he'll file that away somewhere in his brain. He may remember it. But he probably won't. I don't expect him to remember it. I just want to give him the correct answer.

That's not the best example because maybe everyone would do that. And maybe most moms and dads do give kids answers like this. But I've heard parents who just bypass subjects or don't explain them in detail because they think their child isn't old enough yet. We can't underestimate what toddlers and preschoolers can understand. They are sponges and will soak anything up. So why not let them soak up all the information they can to help their brains develop?

There are other things I could write about now, but I've blabbed about the three big things I've been thinking about:

1. Learning should be fun, not stressful.

2. It's important to understand each child's way of learning and teach in ways that will best benefit him/her. It's equally important to figure out what a child is interested in and guide him/her in developing in that area.

3. Children can handle all the information we can throw at them. Don't hold back (except in inappropriate subject areas).

I'm sure I could sit here for hours and think of all the things I want to remember as I teach Connor. And I'm sure I'll edit this post or add to it later. But for now I just wanted to remind myself why I'm going to these efforts with Connor. Is it to make him the smartest 3-year-old around? Not at all. My goals are to help him love learning. To be involved in learning with him. To nurture his interest in letters and lanuage. To foster a love of math and other subject areas. To help him get used to a school routine. To make memories with him. And to help him socialize with friends (not in preschool this year, but that's a main goal of mine).

B week: plans

2006-09-15T14:30:00.000-04:00

A week went very well. It was fun learning together. It was completely not stressful for me. I set it up so we repeat the same steps every day and there is very little for me to create or prepare for each day and each week.

Each day: jumping time and singing time may be different–different songs or movement–but that doesn't take much planning. And the daily activity is different, but that's only one thing to plan for. And for many of the lessons/activities I'm just "winging it"; I can get away with it because he's only 3 (almost).

Each week: the word cards (just five words written on index cards) and poem (that I print and mat on cardstock).

That's it. It's pretty simple, but I love it because I have a routine to stick to. It's planned. I just have to do it. And because it's so simple, I get it done and we have fun doing it. Connor's caught on to the routine too and knows what comes next. I think that's good for him to learn. That's one thing he'd learn in a formal preschool, so I'm glad he's getting that with me.

Here are the plans for B week:
word cards: book, bicycle, balloon, banana, butterfly

poem:

Butterflies, You Puzzle Me by Jack Prelutsky

Butterflies, you puzzle me,
for as you flit and flutter,
I study you, but never see
the slightest bit of butter.

Monday (social studies): babies. We'll discuss how babies grow and make a timeline of the changes people go through in life, ie. baby, toddler, preschooler, school-age child, teenager, adult, parent, etc.

Tuesday (math): We'll go to the bakery and Connor can use some of his pennies (that he earned for obedience and helping out around the house) to buy a cookie of his choice. We'll also be playing bingo.

Wednesday (scriptures/gospel): Book of Mormon. I want to give Connor an introduction to the Book of Mormon and explain where it came from. We'll probably read a little bit in the picture Book of Mormon too. And I'll check out the Family Home Evening lesson manual for some ideas.

Thursday (movement/activity): balloon boppers. Annika will be here for our swap and I'll have the kids make balloon boppers out of paper plates and paint stirs. Then they can bop balloons to some music. We can also play with bubbles outside if the weather's nice.

Friday (art project): buildings. We'll use boxes to build a cool building. We may even pull out the paint. I'm not sure exactly how this'll go, but Connor's creative, so he'll help me out.

Other b words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: beach, big/little, bubbles, bugs, butterflies, bus.

A week: day five

2006-09-15T14:04:00.000-04:00

This morning we had a friend's 21 month old little girl Addie here for a couple of hours. We did preschool while she was here (and Abby was in bed). Connor was excited to do it with Addie. I love that he's totally open to doing preschool whenever and with whomever. He knows that it's time that's dedicated for Mommy and him to learn together and that my focus will be on him, even if there are a couple of interruptions. He's great.

We did our computer time and our chart time. I'm excited that he's learning the days of the week and can help me say, "today is Friday, September 15, 2006."

Then we reviewed our A word cards. He can remember all five words: apple, animal, acrobat, astronaut, and alligator. And he's been excited throughout the week when he sees an astronaut or an alligator (in a book or pictured elsewhere) and tells me that it starts with A. It's helpful for kids to know words that go with each letter so if they ever forget the sound, they can say the word and hear the sound. Especially the short vowel sounds.

Then we said our poem. He almost has this memorized. It's so cute to hear him saying it with me. And later in the day he'll reference it or say a few lines of it out of the blue. This is our A week poem:

Apples, apples, one two three.
Apples for you;
Apples for me.
Apples big;
Apples small.
Apple trees shiny;
Apple trees tall.
Apples sour;
Apples sweet.
Apples, apples, are good to eat!

We read The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall and Animal Orchestra by Tibor Gergely. Both are great books.

This afternoon we did apple printing. We cut an apple in half to see the star shape inside, removed the seeds, then put paint on the apple, and pressed it onto paper to make a print. Not amazing results, but the goal was not a great painting, but the fun of the process. It worked better when I cut the apple into a square and pentagon shape. smaller, easier to work with stamps. (Also note: cut straight through the apple or it won't be a flat surface and it won't print evenly.)

Connor requested apple shake-ups (see A week: day four) for a snack again today. So we got to do dancing time and shaking time again! And Connor just had to take a picture of Abby and me doing dancing time and shaking time. Kind of missed our heads on the first shot, but it gives you a good view of the apples. They were so yummy!

We got to color in the Aa on our alphabet poster because today is the last day of A week. Connor is excited that we'll get to do G week someday. G seems to be his favorite letter lately. He talks about it all the time and writes it whenever he has a pencil in hand. He especially likes that it's a C, just with another little line added on.

A week: day four

2006-09-14T15:45:00.000-04:00

This morning we did most of preschool, but we saved our activity/lesson part for after Connor's nap. We read two books. One about having manners. And Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall, an excellent children's book (it's a Caldecott winner). I was surprised that Connor was so into it since it's kind of long and it's about a time so different from our own time. It made me think about how removed we are from the source of everything in our lives. The family in the story was completely self-sufficient. It's inspiring. Makes me want to plant a garden or learn to whittle or knit (but I'd have to cut down the tree myself or shear the sheep myself, so maybe not the last two).

After stories we got ready to go to our Thursday trade. Connor went to Annika's house and they had fun playing and watching Dora. Abby and i went to the mall while Connor was playing. Connor fell asleep on the way home (yippee!!) and took a good nap.

When he woke up we made apple shake-ups! (idea from The Toddler's Busy Book, page 107) It's just cinnamon and sugar in a bag, put in cubed apples and shake-up. It was fun to do dancing time and shaking time while making a yummy snack!

A week: day three

2006-09-13T14:07:00.000-04:00

Connor's response to "Are you ready for preschool?" was an emphatic "YES!" this morning. That made me feel good about my efforts.

We read a story called The Alligator Baby by Robert Munsch. It was kind of a dumb story, in my opinion. The parents kept going back to the zoo and coming home with the wrong baby. Then the little girl had to go find her baby brother in the gorilla's cage. I guess it's kind of a clever story. But just not my favorite. Not that I want Connor to read books that tell childbirth like it is, I just don't like stories that make it seem like you just go to the hospital (or zoo) and pick up your baby. Like it's no big deal. Because it's a pretty big deal!

We danced to some REM today. Connor picked the CD because it had a checkerboard on it and we danced to "Losing My Religion." Nice song for scriptures/gospel study day, huh?

Then we learned about Adam and Eve. We read one verse in the scriptures about how Adam had the job of naming all the animals. Connor thought that was cool. I started to tell him about the tree and the fruit and Satan and then decided maybe he's not old enough for that story yet. So we stuck with Adam getting to name all the animals and his wife's name being Eve.

That's it. Another fun day of preschool.

A week: day two

2006-09-12T13:43:00.000-04:00

Today we did preschool after Connor's nap because he had a CF check-up at Columbia in the city. He is healthy and doing great! We're so grateful for that.

Tuesday is math day, so we read a book of number rhymes that had cute illustrations. It's called One Two, Skip a Few and it's illustrated by Roberta Arenson. Then we did some serious jumping time and singing time. So much jumping that we made Abby barf! I was holding her and jumping and singing and then when I looked at her she was covered in barf. yuk!

then we worked with math boards. they're just pictures of trees and we use apple erasers as the manipulatives to work on counting and numbers (and I used these in elementary school for addition and subtraction). We put apples on, counted them, "ate" them, and then counted how many were left. Connor enjoyed it and said that the apples "smelled good!"

We also did a couple of A sheets that I printed from starfall.com. Connor was very good at circling the capital A's red and the lowercase A's green. He also drew an amazing capital A all by himself! I'm amazed at his fine motor skills. In the picture he's writing C for Connor on the name line.

A fun and successful second day of preschool!

A week: day one (first day of preschool)

2006-09-11T14:24:00.000-04:00

Connor and i had a very fun first day of preschool. I'm trying to make it really feel different than just Connor and Mommy time. It's school. We have a routine that we follow each day and Connor is the student and Mommy is the teacher.

This week is A week. We will be doing fun activities that include words that start with the short A sound (/a/).

Today after computer time, chart time, and story time (we read Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing by Judi Barrett; love this one!), we did "running time" instead of dancing time and singing time. We went to the duck pond and met our friends and ran around and played. It was great to get outside. And it was a little chilly, so we got to wear jackets. We love fall!

When we got home we had snack. While we were sitting there eating, I was trying to think of something we could discuss while munching. And Connor said, "what things get messy? And what things don't get messy?" So we talked about things that make messes, like mud, and popcorn booty on your fingers, and toys all over the room. And things that don't make messes, like drinking from sippy cups. I thought it was great that Connor came up with such a good topic of conversation for snack time. Maybe he should be the preschool teacher!

Then we did our activity. For social studies, we talked about writing letters and then we wrote a letter to Alan (Daddy) since his name starts with A. We'll walk down and put it in the mail later today.

To end, we reviewed what we'd done and talked about how we used our five senses. Connor thought the envelope glue tasted yucky, but the "popcorn booty"* we had for snack tasted good.

It was a great preschool day!

*We used to buy Pirate's Booty, but now I buy the Trader Joe's brand that's the same and much cheaper. Connor refers to the TJ's kind as "popcorn booty" to differentiate.

Our Daily Routine

2006-09-11T14:20:00.000-04:00

preschool with CONNOR and mommy

COMPUTER TIME
check the calendar
listen to the letter sound
check the weather

then we sing the letter sound song on our way to do our daily chart

PRESCHOOL CHART TIME
day of the week
day of the month (look at upcoming events)
weather wheel
read word cards (5) together
read poem together

STORY TIME
enjoy a book or two together

"DANCING TIME AND SINGING TIME"
(this name came from max, I think. Connor likes to say this, so we'll do some dancing or singing or listening to music each day.)

ACTIVITY TIME
Monday: science or social studies
Tuesday: math/numbers
Wednesday: gospel/scriptures
Thursday: music/movement/activity
Friday: art project

CLEAN UP & REVIEW
clean up preschool stuff
review the letter and lessons taught
talk about how we used our 5 senses today in preschool

How this Preschool came to be

2006-09-11T14:00:00.000-04:00

Last year I did a co-op with two of Connor's friends and their moms. We took turns teaching a once-a-week preschool on Thursday mornings. It worked out great. The kids had fun. The moms had fun (and got breaks when they weren't teaching). The kids learned a little bit about the ABC's. And they learned a lot about sharing and having fun with friends.

I wanted to do the same thing again this year. We have a great singing time tradition with all our toddler/preschooler friends on Tuesday mornings. And I loved adding the Thursday morning preschool to our schedule. Connor has 3 more years before he goes to kindergarten, so I just wanted to do one day a week for another year, and then switch to two days for the two years before he goes to school.

But it didn't work out. So, I thought about teaching a preschool in my home and having 2 or 3 other kids and making some money that way. But that didn't work out either. Not enough paying customers since all our friends had already figured out preschool plans (we were late getting started).

So, I decided to just do my own preschool with Connor and focus my efforts on getting him together with friends to play. At his age preschool is for social development more than anything anyway. So I have some scheduled play dates for him and then I have open days each week for us to call a friend and play or go to the park.

And that's how preschool with Connor and mommy was born. We do a letter each week and after five (or six) weeks we do a review week; when we finish reviewing all 26 letters, we'll do the long vowel sounds. We do a little activity each day along with our routine (see above). I love that it's just me and Connor. I love that it's scheduled, but flexible. We have a routine to follow, but we can do it whenever it fits in each day (most likely during Abby's morning nap). We can break it up and do part in the morning and part after his nap. It's going to be a fun year learning together.

And it'll be fun to have this blog to record what we do and learn together!