What Have We Been Up To?

 To me Cely Kay's face in this picture summarizes how much fun we have had in these first few weeks of school!

" I did it" is what she said to me in this picture! This was one of our first tot trays and she started with two colored apples, but now she easily sorts three!Amazing what happens when you continue to let them try. 

 For this tot tray I laid out three letters and a flash card. I would call out the letter on the flashcard and ask her to match the magnet to the flashcard.

 She did it! (most of the time) This tray is from the dollar store. The magnetic letters are Melissa and Doug. The set comes with upper and lower case.

 Lillian had to sort these Handwriting Without Tears flashcards into three groups.

 Next she pieced them together in order. The top of each card had a letter as well as the bottom of the card had animals.

 She loved this activity!

 Our theme for these first few weeks has been Apples! One of Lillian's favorite centers is apple picking!

 She had to pour the "apples" on the tree and then pick them off with a pair of tweezers.

Alpha Omega which is our preschool co op started this week as well. We have two classes this year with a total of 14 students and two classes. It was a perfect start with a lot of parent participation, learning, and smiles from all students! 

 Cely Kay loved co op as well. She spent her day in the nursery and dreamed of being a part of her own class next year!

 We took our first Alpha Omega field trip on Saturday to Sky Top Apple Orchard. This is a family tradition for us and it was a delight to spend the day with friends. 

 Cely Kay had fun "picking" the apples from the ground!

 I had a lot of fun creating some apple treats to share with our friends. 

All the pictures of all of us are on my in laws camera, but one of the neatest parts of the trip was that the dads were able to go along as well. I look forward to sharing all of our adventures of Alpha Omega with you. 

Ideas of Teaching Your Children to Serve

This morning I had the privilege to speak at our first  MOPS meeting of the year. I shared with the other moms encouragement of why we teach our kids to serve and project ideas they could do at home. So, I decided to share some with all of you as well. 

Serve the Lord with Gladness

 Psalm 100:2

                I used a small corkboard from our kitchen and created a Pumpkin Patch of Service. Children can "pick" a pumpkin and complete the service project.

           I did a project for each letter of the word pumpkin. Here is a list of ideas but you could also just do random projects that your family chooses. 

P-put a surprise note on Dad's car before work

U-Unexpected visit to a staff member at church with treats

M-make muffins for a friend and their family

P- pick a family and take a meal to them

K-Kit Kat for a kind friend

I- Icee at QT with a friend

N-Note to an elderly member at church telling them why they are special

        I also thought this idea would be easy for all who have children's books at home. Here is a list of ideas for these books, but many more books could be used. 

Read and Serve

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey- Read the book and then take blueberries to someone special

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen- Read this book and then make a scavenger hunt for a friend. Invite them over so their mom can run an errand.

The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall- Read the book and then make an apple pie and deliver it to an elderly member of your church.

Duck and Goose by Tad Hills- Read the book and then take a friend to the pumpkin patch and get them a pumpkin

We’re Going on A Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger- Read the book and then hunt for a yard that needs the leaves raked and complete the task.

Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann- Read the book and then choose a friend to go to the zoo with you.

If you Give a Moose A Muffin by Laura Numeroff- Read the book and then bake muffins for someone of your choice

Giggle, Giggle, Quack by Doreen Cronin- Read the book and then type a note to someone special

      On Pinterest I found the idea to do service projects for each day of the Advent Season. I thought you could also do a project for each week of Advent. This is a cute way to display the project ideas. Your child would pick up the bag for the week and find the project idea inside. 

If you are interested in more ideas please send me your email and I will send you my handout from MOPS that includes my list for our A to Z service projects along with others for shorter amounts of time throughout the year.

Here is a full picture of our morning board. I downloaded my printables a great blog by Mama Jenn She had the amazing and efficient idea to use metal rings for storage of each days cards. It is great because you don't have to switch out cards each night. I also laminated everything it will last longer. We also do our memory work and calendar during this time.

As I mentioned in my last post we are using materials from Handwriting Without Tears. I am also reading through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons to see if we will use it in a couple of weeks for reading. For "science" we are planning on keeping a Nature Journal where we simply take nature walks and Lillian and Cely Kay will draw what they see and describe to me what they see so that I can journal their responses.

For Cely Kay we have a new letter every two weeks. We are currently on Q. I use pictures from the internet for each letter. I also have printed out pictures of objects starting with Q in the color we are working on as well. For example one of our pictures these two weeks is a purple question mark. With each letter we also do the sound of the letter.

For bible we are reading through the bible. We read two chapters a day and I ask simple comprehension questions based on what we read. We also work on whatever we are memorizing at that time. For example we are currently working on the Lord's Prayer.

I do not share these ideas to boast in what I am doing, but to encourage and share that if you are thinking about what should you do with my child, or when you should do it, or if what you are doing or not doing  is the right way, JUST DO IT!

First Day of School

                      I started weeks ago taking down last year's school room...

 I love decorating and thinking through where everything will go for the upcoming school year! I used to decorate my "classroom" as a little girl as well. It is still a favorite!

           And I love the result! As you can see apples are my theme this year.

 Here is how I display our schedule. It is more for me to refer to during class. I found these apple cutouts at the dollar tree. Great find!

 This year I wanted to start a morning board. After prayer at the beginning of class we go over our morning board. Most of my ideas and printables for the board came from www.MamaJenn.com.

 This is how I organize our papers and supplies for each day. I try to restock this at the end of the week, so that supplies are ready to go on Monday.

 This is how I organize Lillian's centers. Each apple has a center number on it. As Lillian completes a center she removes the post it from the apple and places it on my desk. After she has worked through all centers I will replace the post its and she can start again.

                 I place activities in each center basket for our current unit.

             I found this adorable apple lantern idea on www.schoolgirlstyle.com

 These are Cely Kay's tot trays. I change these as well about every week depending on how well Cely Kay has done with an activity.

                        We have composition notebooks for everything!

                   And this year Cely Kay starts her first notebook!

My first day with two students was an adventure! Cely Kay really enjoyed sorting plastic silverware.

                                And she was actually very good at it!

 Lillian was working on one to one correspondence in math. We are using Handwriting Without Tears preschool math program and it is Fabulous! We are also using the same program for handwriting. I will post pictures soon of the Hokie Pokie with our wood pieces!

                                          Finished party of six!

 I can not remember a time in life in which I did not want to be a teacher. I thought that desire was meant for a traditional classroom with new students every year who move on to a new classroom. I never imagined that the "classroom" would be in my home with my children who are truly a blessing from the Lord and who he uses to teach me daily to Rejoice!