Reading Aloud

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This is one of the best "parenting" books I have ever read. I some how got a copy of it when my kids were really little, and I think it has changed the way I do everything.

I've always known reading was SUPER important. I started collecting children's books for my own children long before I ever even got married. I always knew I would avidly read to my children. But I don't think I knew exactly how important it was.

This book is amazing. If you have kids or ever dream of having kids, I strongly recommend this book, and it doesn't matter how old they are. Even teens should be read to...just in a different way than toddlers.

Read to you kids 20 minutes a day. You would be surprised how easy this is to do. Read the cereal box, books, magazines, newspapers. Let your kids see you reading for enjoyment. Make a habit of reading to your children. And read this book. :)

HERE is a printable brochure.

Zoo Phonics

My daughter is starting kindergarten this fall. She went to a few "Getting to know you" nights at the school. They did activities with them to get them used to the environment. This was one of those activities. They came home with a small poster of the zoo phonics, and a work sheet that told how to do each action/sound.

I have heard of preschools and kindergartens all over the country using this phonics method because it is fun and successful.

My daughter came home able to tell me almost every animal and sound. I thought it was SO cute! She has been teaching it to her little sister who will go to kindergarten the next year. They love it.

I can't figure out how to link to a PDF of the work sheets, but this video shows a classroom doing zoo phonics.

Busy Work

We started learning about touch points today. I am a big fan of them...I still use them! :)
We learned them up to the number 5.

Then we worked on our number packets.

Then we played two games that we have played in the past. (I don't like making things and then only using them once.) The first one was a math mat. You roll the dice, and count the dots, then add that many cotton balls to your mat to make rain clouds.

The second one was a bean counting sheet that I made.

We did a little bit on Beginning Sounds. I'm sorry I don't have a link for this worksheet.

Then we worked on sounding out words.

Mixing Colors

Before we get to colors, we made these wind socks. They were very easy! Just print out any spring time color page, I chose flowers, and have your child color it. Then staple it into a tube shape, and staple on strands of crepe paper. Easy!
And now if it would stop snowing we could put them outside! :)

I found THIS worksheet for this activity.

They look bored! lol. But they were just listening to me tell them what we were going to do.
We mixed colors together to see what they turned into, and we used our fingers because we love to get messy. :)

I just did this as an after thought. The purple was SO dark, and they said it looked like brown. So I added some white to it to show them that is was indeed purple. Then that turned into a little lesson on what white does when it is mixed to a color. I showed them how every time I added more white it got lighter and lighter.

We also learned this song about the primary colors. It is a song in our church's children's songbook. I adapted it a little for this lesson.

Our Primary Colors

Our primary colors are 1 2 3
Red, Yellow and Blue.
*Repeat*

Bees and Honey

I thought it would be fun to do a unit on Bees since it's Spring, and we are going to be seeing bees...maybe...if it ever stops snowing here in Wyoming. We read this fabulous book about a bee.
"The Bee and Me" by Elle J. McGuinness. This book is fun with it's "Animotion" pictures and lots of bee facts in the back of the book. Did you know that all of the worker bees we see are females? The males are called Drones, and they stay in the hive with the queen bee to make babies.

Then we made Peanut Butter Bumbles

Ingredients:
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (I had to add 2 extra tablespoons.)
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbs softened butter
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
chocolate syrup for drizzling
1/2 cup banana chips
a handful of mini chocolate chips
Wax paper

Mix the first 4 ingredients. Roll into oval shapes. Drizzle with chocolate to make lines. Add chocolate chips for eyes, and broken banana chips for wings.

Yum! (Basically they are a peanut butter ball with bling.)

Then we tried some honey. They like it.

And then we watched "Bee Movie."

Peter Rabbit

Peter Rabbit just reminds me of Spring, so we did a few activities that involved Peter. We read the story of Peter Rabbit. The girls each have a stuffed animal bunny that they brought with them to hold while we read.

Then we found a printable that fit perfectly. You can find it HERE.


We also watched the Peter Rabbit Movie. I tried to google it but I keep finding a different one. But HERE is a link to a scene from it.

Then we had lunch, and made sure to include lots of vegetables from Mr. Mcgregor's garden!
I also colored and cut out some of the printable for my self! :)

More on Spring

This was actually a family home evening lesson. We talked about how a seed grows. We talked about the things a seeds needs to grow. (Dirt, water, sunlight.) We talked about things a plant might grow into. (A flower, a tree, a bush, grass.) I had this coloring activity from my Primary Partners manual help. We colored them when we were all done, while eating a snack of apples...that grow on a tree...that come from a seed. :) But first we did this:

My husband and I found these cute little green houses at Walmart in the gardening section.

They were very easy to do! All you had to do was add water and plant the seeds.

We also planted some pansies in paper cups. I will update you on the progress of our plants! :)