Magnificent Monday

On Mondays J.R. goes to preschool so Caitlin and I have Tot School without him(and then we repeat many of the activities later because he feels left out!)  So here is what I have lined up for tomorrow:

This book talks about big and little and has great pictures.

All of our caterpillar activities are downloaded from "Confessions of a Homeschooler"  She has a great letter of the week curriculum which you can buy for a very reasonable price.  She also has so many adorable free printables....here is her link to the C activities.

http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2009/10/prek-letter-c.html

I only downloaded the page without the numbers because Caitlin isn't recognizing numbers by sight yet.  I am using small foam bead for the markers and a square lacing bead that I wrote on for a dice that only rolls 1, 2, or 3.  I have to find a dice like this or a plain cube to make my own because this one rolls funny.  I don't think that Caitlin will care though.  I am trying to teach her how to play a game...taking turns, moving in order...etc.

Then it is music time...her favorite.  We have been dancing to Hap Palmer songs....I LOVE THEM...

http://www.happalmer.com/

Today we will dance to "How big is baby".  It asks questions like "is she bigger than the sea?" then no, no, no....so very cute.  We'll also dance to his version of the "five little monkeys"....just because we can:)

Next time for some edible fun with our Cheerios play book

gonna try this one with her...another caterpillar goody from Confessions of a Homeschooler...you clip the right number of clothespins onto the laminated caterpillars.

more big and little practice....throwing some medium in there too.  If its too much then I plan to cut the page apart and just do Small and Large.  Thanks again Confessions of a Homeschooler.

Workboxes for tomorrow all lined up.  I love this system and I keep the trays stacked right next to the boxes so activities that need trays will have them in a flash.  I can't believe how easy it is for the kiddos to remember not to make a mess with an activity when they have that visual and physical reminder.  What a great idea.  I just use one set of workboxes even when JR is home because I have them doing the very same thing.  

Well, that is our plan for in the morning....if miss Caitlin cooperates with it all that is.  She loves "Preschool" though so I bet we get most of it in!

Goodnight and God Bless!!

Our Felt Flower experience

First I would like to say that this is not my own idea....and I can't remember whose blog I saw it on.  If you know then please comment, otherwise I will link it when I find it again...and I certainly hope I do.  How do you keep track of where all these great ideas come from????

The pieces for our felt flower activity....got all the shapes cut out(please don't judge my shapes...sort of brain dead that morning, and I was just going for graduated sizes) then I realized I didn't have any pipecleaners.  Hmmm....I was sure I had some.  In my quest for pipe cleaners I did find some knitting needles in a learn to knit kit(I plan to learn someday....maybe) so I let them use those instead...

She was very proud of her flower.

I couldn't get him to hold it like a flower for anything...he was making it into a space ship or something:)

ready set go

Well, its almost midnight, but I am ready for my first really organized day of preschool tomorrow.  We'll see how it goes.  I have workboxes set up with the activities.
1. circle time: calendar activity, creation story, song
2. table work...dots on a letter a, rubbing of a capital A, abc story, letter a coloring page
3. ball skills....all sorts of balls to toss, kick, bat...should be fun
4. our family activity...I'm going to draw a picture of our family while they dictate how it should look...might also play head, shoulders, knees and toes
5. flower pot activity and folder game......flowers on Popsicle sticks with either an A or a on them.  label pots with florist foam to push the sticks into.  folder game is simply four apples with the numbers 1-4 on them.  put the correct number and/or color of counting bears on the apples.

I also have a puzzle center and a lego center...

We are going to try to do school downstairs tomorrow so when we come up for lunch or whenever we are done I'll sit them down with playdough at the table so I can tackle kitchen chores.  I think I'll let them help me bake a loaf of banana bread too.

They are four and almost three so we'll see.  I don't know whether to think it will take all morning or we'll be through in an hour....I guess we'll see.  I'm excited though because all afternoon today they asked me when we could do school again.

Goodnight!