Self Portraits

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

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):

Z week: plans

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.)