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.)

Rainbow Crayons

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

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!