Reading (for the first time) with BOB books and Printables

I recently found a group of 6 blogs offering FREE BOB book printables.  I knew that Shrade was ready to read, so I thought this would be fun to not only read, but use these printables to reinforce the new words he was learning.  I love it!  However, one word of caution, it is a little difficult to find all the printables for each book, but I saved what I found to my computer and then printed off what I was going to use.

I developed 5 lesson plans for book 1: Mat.  I probably didn't need to spend this many days on one book, but there were so many activities that I wanted to fit them all in.  I just borrowed the book and CD at the library.

*Day 1-
Listen to CD of book 1
Review 4 letter sounds
Coloring worksheet for letter A
Find all A's in the book
Identify Mat and Sam

*Day 2-
Listen to CD of book 1
Review 4 letter sounds
Find all M's
Coloring worksheet for M
Roll a Word (activity)

*Day 3-
Read book 1 together
Let him read words he knows by himself
Coloring worksheet for T
Draw lines to matching words (printable)
Play tic-tac-toe (printable)

*Day 4-
Read book 1 together and by himself
Coloring worksheet for S
Do word find worksheet
Create sentences

*Day 5-
Read book 1
Word find
Listen and dot (see worksheet below)

I couldn't believe that after only a few days Shrade was reading!!  He was really excited and since he knew his letters, and sounding them out into words was a lightbulb moment!

I bought a few things to help with this lesson, but I can see that I will use these products for a lot of different lessons too:

Cultivating a Heart for Motherhood Book Study in February

Last year Joy from Grace Full Mama posted this series- Cultivating a Heart for Motherhood. I was completely blown away by how much I needed to grow in this area. It was a real turning point for me. As I've mentioned before she has now made this into an ebook and I would love to share my journey with you in a book study during February. Would you like to join me?

Just pick up your ebook for FREE at Grace Full Mama. And meet me back here on Tuesdays and Thursdays in February as we read this book. We will read 2 chapters a week and I will share what I learned last year and what I'm currently learning this year in my life as a mother.

 I would love for you to read along and share in the comments what God is teaching you too! May this book study be a blessing for you as a mom.

Let me know in the comments if you will be reading along with me. The chapters are short, but the assignments are beneficial.  I look forward to reading this book again and discovering all that God has planned for me as a mom!

New Year Bible Reading Adventure #4 and Recap

Our third week is done and we are on our last week!  I will have a short survey next week as I continue to pray about doing future Bible Reading Adventures.  This is a lot of work for me, but I am very motivated to read the Bible to my children and I hope you are too.

Did you participate in the New Year Bible Reading Adventure this week? Thanks for checking in.  It helps me to know how many are participating to see if I should still continue these series.

CHECK IN HERE!


This week we learned all about the first sin.  What a devastating blow to humanity, but a powerful lesson on how temptation can look so delightful, yet can be something that can pull us so far away from God and remove many blessings He wants to give.  Shrade and I reviewed a lot of new words from the wordsearch in our curriculum like ashamed, lied, wrong, forbidden, punish and trust.  Through this whole story I wanted Shrade see how evil sin could be, but how much God still loves us even when we sin.

Adam and Eve Tree from Pocketful of Posies

What fun things did you do this week?  Please share in the comments below and feel free to post pictures on Facebook if you want!!  I would love to see the adventure team!!

This week:
Read Genesis 5:28-6:22  this week and have fun with the activities in the curriculum.  Also, be sure you have joined my newsletter as I will be sharing more tips, suggestions and fun ideas!
 





If you missed the introduction post, here it is below:

Are you ready?  I have a brand new plan for the New Year Bible Reading Adventure!  I discovered Calvary Curriculum which is a FREE resource for parents and teachers.  I wanted to introduce this website to you with our Bible Reading Adventure series that I am doing.  Last session we read through 1 John in short 1-2 verse passages.  However, for this session we will be reading the same large passage for the whole week.  So you can choose to read bits and pieces or the whole passage everyday.  Now remember that the goal is to read the Bible everyday to your kids!

How will it work?

1. Download the FREE lessons from Little One's Curriculum starting with Creation: How the World Began.
2. We will do the challenge for the whole month of January following the curriculum. (Jan 6- Feb 2)
3. Read the Bible passage everyday (at least 5 days of the week) and do one or more of the activities.  There are points to share about the reading, questions to discuss, a Bible verse to memorize, a coloring page, an activity page and a fill in the blank.  Choose what best fits for your children.  (NOTE: You do not have to read the WHOLE passage, but you need to read the Bible to your child everyday).  You can also read children's Bible story books that have these stories in them as well.
4. There will be a simple check-in every Monday.  (Check-in has one question- Did you read the Bible to your children this week?)
5.  You can choose to do your own reading, but I will be blogging about this curriculum as we go through our reading adventure.
6. Do as much as you like or as little as you like.

I chose this curriculum because I think it fits most of the ages of who will be participating in this adventure.

Our schedule:

Week 1: January 6--Genesis 1:1-2:25 (Creation: How the World Began)
Week 2: January 13--Genesis 1:26-2:25; Genesis 2:8-17 (God Made Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden)
Week 3: January 20--Genesis 3:1-24 (Adam and Eve are Tempted)
Week 4: January 27--Genesis 5:28-6:22 (Noah Builds a Boat and Fills it with Animals)


**If you have a child in 1st through 6th grade, you can use the resources on this page: Calvary Curriculum for 1st through 6th grade.  Follow the same titles of the lessons we are doing for Little Ones.  

**I will be sending out a newsletter for those who sign up for this adventure with tips, suggestions and fun ideas.   There will be a few updates on the blog as well, but all the extra information will be in the newsletter.

To join and receive the free newsletter click on the link below!  Thanks, Shonda

Join the New Year Bible Reading Adventure

New Year Bible Reading Adventure Week #3 and Recap

We just finished our second week and now on to our third.  Halfway through!

Did you participate in the New Year Bible Reading Adventure this week? Thanks for all the ones who checked in last week!  It was fun to see all the different ages that participate.

CHECK IN HERE!

We read Genesis 1:26-2:25 and specifically Genesis 2:8-17. We focused a lot on the creation of Adam.  God was so creative to create Adam and Eve in different ways.  We learned that Adam was made in the image of God, he was the first person created and he had a large job to name all the animals, but he was lonely so God made Eve from his rib.

What fun things did you do this week?  Please share in the comments below and feel free to post pictures on Facebook if you want!!  I would love to see the adventure team!!

We made Adam from playdough

This week:
Read Genesis 3:1-24 this week and have fun with the activities in the curriculum.  Also, be sure you have joined my newsletter as I will be sharing more tips, suggestions and fun ideas!





If you missed the introduction post, here it is below:

Are you ready?  I have a brand new plan for the New Year Bible Reading Adventure!  I discovered Calvary Curriculum which is a FREE resource for parents and teachers.  I wanted to introduce this website to you with our Bible Reading Adventure series that I am doing.  Last session we read through 1 John in short 1-2 verse passages.  However, for this session we will be reading the same large passage for the whole week.  So you can choose to read bits and pieces or the whole passage everyday.  Now remember that the goal is to read the Bible everyday to your kids!

How will it work?

1. Download the FREE lessons from Little One's Curriculum starting with Creation: How the World Began.
2. We will do the challenge for the whole month of January following the curriculum. (Jan 6- Feb 2)
3. Read the Bible passage everyday (at least 5 days of the week) and do one or more of the activities.  There are points to share about the reading, questions to discuss, a Bible verse to memorize, a coloring page, an activity page and a fill in the blank.  Choose what best fits for your children.  (NOTE: You do not have to read the WHOLE passage, but you need to read the Bible to your child everyday).  You can also read children's Bible story books that have these stories in them as well.
4. There will be a simple check-in every Monday.  (Check-in has one question- Did you read the Bible to your children this week?)
5.  You can choose to do your own reading, but I will be blogging about this curriculum as we go through our reading adventure.
6. Do as much as you like or as little as you like.

I chose this curriculum because I think it fits most of the ages of who will be participating in this adventure.

Our schedule:

Week 1: January 6--Genesis 1:1-2:25 (Creation: How the World Began)
Week 2: January 13--Genesis 1:26-2:25; Genesis 2:8-17 (God Made Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden)
Week 3: January 20--Genesis 3:1-24 (Adam and Eve are Tempted)
Week 4: January 27--Genesis 5:28-6:22 (Noah Builds a Boat and Fills it with Animals)


**If you have a child in 1st through 6th grade, you can use the resources on this page: Calvary Curriculum for 1st through 6th grade.  Follow the same titles of the lessons we are doing for Little Ones.  

**I will be sending out a newsletter for those who sign up for this adventure with tips, suggestions and fun ideas.   There will be a few updates on the blog as well, but all the extra information will be in the newsletter.

To join and receive the free newsletter click on the link below!  Thanks, Shonda

Join the New Year Bible Reading Adventure

Cultivating a Heart for Motherhood by Joy Forney (FREE ebook)

At the end of 2012 I shared a few series of blog posts that really impacted me as a mother and one of them was Cultivating a Heart for Motherhood by Joy Forney of GraceFullMama.

 I waso excited this last week when Joy announced that she made this series in to a FREE ebook!  If you want to really be encouraged and make a difference in how you want to be as a mother, I suggest that you get this ebook!

Just go to GraceFullMama and follow the instructions to receive your free ebook!  Let me know if you did!

Hope for the Weary Mom Guest Post

I was a Kindergarten teacher for 12 years and I totally thought I would be a "good" mother.  I could manage 25 students and their parents with relative professional ease, I could certainly handle being a home manager with two little kids with no problem.  Or so I thought!  I was very wrong. ...

Join me today over at Hope for the Weary Mom Book Club as I share about chapter 2 "When Your Weakness is All You Can See." 

My name is Shonda and I blog at Milk N' Honey Learn and Grow. My husband and I have been married for 8 years and we have an energetic and fun-loving 4 year old son and a precious 1 year old girl! I am a SAHM (after 12 years of teaching K) and we are very healthy and strive to be holy.  I love to read, teach, cook, clean and organize my home.

Preschool Letter Ee

I'm taking a bit more of a break in this whole Preschool at home teaching.  With a one year old running around, I find that my 4 year old is always so distracted.  After breakfast Shrade usually practices writing his name and does a coloring or tracing worksheet related to the theme.  During lunch we read a book related to the theme and then somewhere in between we do a craft.  I don't have this figured out, but I know that we are having fun and my son is learning a lot!

Also, I'm going to start a new reading program with BOB books and printables that are made by six blogs working together.    I'll share more about that in another post!

I don't come up with any of these ideas on my own.  I LOVE Pinterest!  So here are a few things we did this week for letter E.  I am also concentrating on lowercase letter crafts since we did all capital letter crafts from ages 2-3.

Books we read:



 

Crafts we made:

Elmer the Elephant

little e- Shrade does all the cutting and gluing!!

Next time will be letter Ff!

New Year Bible Reading Adventure Week #2 with Recap

What a great first week we had!

Did you participate in the New Year Bible Reading Adventure this week?

CHECK IN HERE!

We read Genesis 1:1-2:25 and did lots of fun activities with the Calvary Curriculum and a few other ideas I found.  For the crossword puzzle, I wrote down all the words on strips of paper and read the description of the word and Shrade had to find the word.  He spelled it for me as I wrote it in the crossword puzzle.

What fun things did you do this week?  Please share in the comments below and feel free to post pictures on Facebook if you want!!  I would love to see the adventure team!!

The Earth- craft from Pocketful of Posies

Mommy and Shrade colored this together while we chatted about the Bible passage.

Here is Shrade reciting the memory verse:
Link to YouTube: http://youtu.be/GqS8oM9BR_A


Read Genesis 1:26-2:25 and 2:8-17 (Lesson 2: God Made Adam and Eve/The Garden of Eden) this week and have fun with the activities in the curriculum.  Also, be sure you have joined my newsletter as I will be sharing more tips, suggestions and fun ideas!

Remember you can read only short bits each day.  We also added a few children's Bibles to our reading:
*Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones
*The Story for Children by Max Lucado
*The Preschooler's Bible by V. Gilbert Beers






If you missed the introduction post, here it is below:

Are you ready?  I have a brand new plan for the New Year Bible Reading Adventure!  I discovered Calvary Curriculum which is a FREE resource for parents and teachers.  I wanted to introduce this website to you with our Bible Reading Adventure series that I am doing.  Last session we read through 1 John in short 1-2 verse passages.  However, for this session we will be reading the same large passage for the whole week.  So you can choose to read bits and pieces or the whole passage everyday.  Now remember that the goal is to read the Bible everyday to your kids!

How will it work?

1. Download the FREE lessons from Little One's Curriculum starting with Creation: How the World Began.
2. We will do the challenge for the whole month of January following the curriculum. (Jan 6- Feb 2)
3. Read the Bible passage everyday (at least 5 days of the week) and do one or more of the activities.  There are points to share about the reading, questions to discuss, a Bible verse to memorize, a coloring page, an activity page and a fill in the blank.  Choose what best fits for your children.  (NOTE: You do not have to read the WHOLE passage, but you need to read the Bible to your child everyday).  You can also read children's Bible story books that have these stories in them as well.
4. There will be a simple check-in every Monday.  (Check-in has one question- Did you read the Bible to your children this week?)
5.  You can choose to do your own reading, but I will be blogging about this curriculum as we go through our reading adventure.
6. Do as much as you like or as little as you like.

I chose this curriculum because I think it fits most of the ages of who will be participating in this adventure.

Our schedule:

Week 1: January 6--Genesis 1:1-2:25 (Creation: How the World Began)
Week 2: January 13--Genesis 1:26-2:25; Genesis 2:8-17 (God Made Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden)
Week 3: January 20--Genesis 3:1-24 (Adam and Eve are Tempted)
Week 4: January 27--Genesis 5:28-6:22 (Noah Builds a Boat and Fills it with Animals)


**If you have a child in 1st through 6th grade, you can use the resources on this page: Calvary Curriculum for 1st through 6th grade.  Follow the same titles of the lessons we are doing for Little Ones.  

**I will be sending out a newsletter for those who sign up for this adventure with tips, suggestions and fun ideas.   There will be a few updates on the blog as well, but all the extra information will be in the newsletter.

To join and receive the free newsletter click on the link below!  Thanks, Shonda

Join the New Year Bible Reading Adventure

Praying Circles Around Your Children by Mark Batterson Book Review and Giveaway!!

Praying Circles around Your Children by Mark Batterson is a book I picked up and read in an hour.  Why?  Because praying for my children is one of the most important things I can do and I hunger how to do it  more effectively!  Mark says, "You'll never be a perfect parent, but you can be a praying parent."  Whew!  This little book was packed with wisdom and practical ways to pray for our children and why we should.  Mark includes The Legend of the Circle Maker which is absolutely astounding.  He then shares 5 prayer "circles."  These "circles" are ways to pray for your kids and through your kids.  There is no greater gift you can give to your children but to pray for them and teach them to pray.  Let's revolutionize this generation and pray fervently for our kids.  You will love this little book!

**Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.**

Buy it: Praying Circles Around Your Children for only $2.99 at Zondervan.

GIVEAWAY:

I am having a giveaway for Mark Batterson's Praying Circles Around Your Children +  one Jumbo Chalk. Giveaway is for US and ends Monday, January 21.

Ways to enter: (Be sure to fill out the entry form at the end of this list)

1. Make a comment on my blog- Why is praying for you children important to you? (required)

2. Be a follower on my blog (see sidebar)

3. Subscribe by email

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

4. Like Milk N' Honey Learn and Grow on Facebook.

5. Post about this giveaway on another site (1 entry for each)- Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Other.

Entry FORM for Praying Circles Around Your Children

Desperate Book Study

I can't believe this book is finally here! Oh, and to study this book sounds awesome! Please be sure to read my book review!  This is a MUST READ book for all young moms.

See Desperate Mom for more information.

I Can Teach My Child to Read Ebook by Jenae Jacobson ($1.99 SALE)

I just started working with Shrade to learn how to read. I taught Kindergarten for 12 years and I taught hundreds of kids to read, but when it comes to teaching my own child, I'm a little unsure! I have been introducing my son to letters and sounds since birth, but I need some guidance from a parent's perspective. Jenae Jacobson from I Can Teach My Child just wrote a new ebook especially for parents!! I am so excited to share this book with you.

Get this ebook on pdf or Kindle TODAY through Friday for only $1.99!!

I Can Teach My Child to Read by Jenae Jacobson 

Desperate by Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson Book Review

   

Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe by Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson is a lifeline for a young mom like me.  Both Sarah Mae and Sally share their experience and what they have learned in honest and encouraging dialogue.  Sarah Mae was a mom drowning in young motherhood with three little children very close in age.  Her letters at the beginning of each chapter echo the hearts of desperate mothers.  And Sally, the seasoned mentor, offers hope and love in her wisdom filled words.  Each author explores many topics that moms need answers for: how to ask for help, sin issues, selfishness, the housework beast and how to live in victory despite feeling desperate.  Each chapter ends with a few Bible verses, questions for reflection and a section to encourage journaling and action steps.  There is also a link to a short video from Sarah Mae and Sally.  This book is for Desperate Moms who want to breathe and give life to their families.  It is for moms who want to protect themselves from drowning and rise above with hope and peace.

I am sure that I thought I knew everything about being a mom before I had kids.  Then I had my second child and my first child turned 2.5 years old.  I was unprepared for the desperation I felt and the helplessness I experienced.  At the time I could not think beyond the moment and even now that my kids are 1 and 4 I still have many days where I feel overwhelmed.  I appreciate Sarah Mae's authenticity and honest confessions that could have been written by me.  I absolutely adore Sally's motherly wisdom and long range perspective as well as her direct challenges and her belief in me as a mom.  This is a MUST HAVE for every mom because we want the help ourselves not have those hopeless feelings, but rest in the power that God gives us to be moms with vision.  It takes daily work, but it is worth it.  Join the movement of no more desperate moms!

Check out the great giveaways at SarahMae.com all this week!!

And be sure to check out DesperateMom.com for freebies, places to connect and many other goodies!

*This book was provided to me free of charge for purpose of this review. This is my honest opinion of this book and no monetary compensation was received for my opinion.*

Prayer for Our Children

I find all kinds of neat ideas on Pinterest. See my Parenting Board. I love this prayer idea of using the cutouts of the hands of my kids. Every year at Christmas/New Years I will trace their hand and my husband and I will come up with 5 things we want to pray for them during the year. I will write each prayer point on a finger. Then, each day or as often as I can, I will be praying for those specific areas. Also, it gives me a focus for teaching moments through the day.  Eventually, I will have many hands to put in their Bibles to send them off to college and let them know that they were prayed for often as they grew.  I will also include a Bible verse to pray for them that year. (I still need to do that for each child)

Here are the areas I will pray for my children this year:
Shrade- Respect, Servant's Heart, Brotherly Love, Persistence, Open Heart to God
Jessna- Gentleness, Patience, Obedience, Respect and Joy/Contentment

Here's a bonus idea for giving the gift of God's Word to your kids when they leave home (a far off time for me):  Well, I thought I had it on Pinterest, but I can't find it!  Well, take one year or longer with a Bible and write notes as you study.  Underline, highlight and mark up that Bible so what is important stands out.  Give that Bible to your young son or daughter before they go off to college and that will be the Bible that will mean the most to them, I promise!  I can't wait to do this for my children.  I have a Bible right now and I'm going to use it while I study Luke in my Good Morning Girls study.  I know that some people don't write in Bibles, but I cherish the one I got in high school where I wrote all over it and had to retire it because it was falling apart.

New Year Bible Reading Adventure Week #1

The New Year Bible Reading Adventure starts today!  Read Genesis 1:1-2:25 this week and have fun with the activities in the curriculum.  Also, be sure you have joined my newsletter as I will be sharing more tips, suggestions and fun ideas!

If you missed the introduction post, here it is below:

Are you ready?  I have a brand new plan for the New Year Bible Reading Adventure!  I discovered Calvary Curriculum which is a FREE resource for parents and teachers.  I wanted to introduce this website to you with our Bible Reading Adventure series that I am doing.  Last session we read through 1 John in short 1-2 verse passages.  However, for this session we will be reading the same large passage for the whole week.  So you can choose to read bits and pieces or the whole passage everyday.  Now remember that the goal is to read the Bible everyday to your kids!

How will it work?

1. Download the FREE lessons from Little One's Curriculum starting with Creation: How the World Began.
2. We will do the challenge for the whole month of January following the curriculum. (Jan 6- Feb 2)
3. Read the Bible passage everyday (at least 5 days of the week) and do one or more of the activities.  There are points to share about the reading, questions to discuss, a Bible verse to memorize, a coloring page, an activity page and a fill in the blank.  Choose what best fits for your children.  (NOTE: You do not have to read the WHOLE passage, but you need to read the Bible to your child everyday).  You can also read children's Bible story books that have these stories in them as well.
4. There will be a simple check-in every Monday.  (Check-in has one question- Did you read the Bible to your children this week?)
5.  You can choose to do your own reading, but I will be blogging about this curriculum as we go through our reading adventure.
6. Do as much as you like or as little as you like.

I chose this curriculum because I think it fits most of the ages of who will be participating in this adventure.

Our schedule:

Week 1: January 6--Genesis 1:1-2:25 (Creation: How the World Began)
Week 2: January 13--Genesis 1:26-2:25; Genesis 2:8-17 (God Made Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden)
Week 3: January 20--Genesis 3:1-24 (Adam and Eve are Tempted)
Week 4: January 27--Genesis 5:28-6:22 (Noah Builds a Boat and Fills it with Animals)


**If you have a child in 1st through 6th grade, you can use the resources on this page: Calvary Curriculum for 1st through 6th grade.  Follow the same titles of the lessons we are doing for Little Ones.  

**I will be sending out a newsletter for those who sign up for this adventure with tips, suggestions and fun ideas.   There will be a few updates on the blog as well, but all the extra information will be in the newsletter.

To join and receive the free newsletter click on the link below!  Thanks, Shonda

Join the New Year Bible Reading Adventure

Christmas Pictures of the Kids

I want share these pictures that I will start making a yearly tradition with you! Love my kiddos!

2011- Jessna 7 months, Shrade 3 years

2012- Jessna 19 months, Shrade 4 years

Happy New Year 2013

Monthly Plan January 2013

BIBLE: 

*Bible Verses: We use verses from Songs for Saplings. I love that all the verses are songs. It makes it so easy to remember.

-N verse- "Apart from me you can do Nothing."  John 15:5
-Bible verses from Awana

Singing: We sing lots of praise songs and listen to the radio, but I am going to start teaching hymns to my kids.  Last year Shrade learned This is My Father's World.  So for this month we will learn Count Your Blessings.

Bible verse activities and printables from Totally Tots

Story time (see blog post): New Year Bible Reading Adventure

We also do free Bible lessons that we get in the mail from The Mailbox Club.

LESSONS:
*Milk N' Honey Preschool:
We have started Preschool.  See my Preschool Plans.
So far we have done A, B, C and D.  See my lessons and blog posts below.

This month we will be doing Letter E and Letter F.  See my Pinterest boards for ideas.  I was spending WAY too much time planning and not enough time teaching, so I've scaled back on what I will be sharing, but we will still do crafts, activities and read books.  And I will still share blog posts of what we did.  We will concentrate on lowercase letter crafts this year from No Time for Flashcards.  And we will do lots of Sensory Activities with letters as well.

Preschool Lessons (finished):

Letter A

Letter B 

Letter C

Letter D

All About Reading

This month we started using real curriculum from All About Learning Press- All About Reading Pre-1 Level for pre-readers.  I made a recent post about the material which I just reviewed.

I like using this because I don't have to plan anything and the activities are intentional, fun and full of great learning!  Thumbs up for All about Learning!
 

Be sure to pick up your FREE activity book from All About Learning.

*Brightly Beaming Toddler:   Jessna is now 20 months old.  

This curriculum includes 24 lesson plans.  There are 2 lessons for each month of your toddler's life from 13 months to 24 months of age.  You can spend approximately 2 weeks on each lesson plan with your toddler.  The lessons are geared to a toddler's development as he/she progresses through the second year of life.  Keep everything fun and only do activities when your toddler wants to.

20 months: Lesson 15

20 months: Lesson 16

Also with Jessna I'm going to try some activities from these websites:
*Pocketful of Posies- Toddler Time
*Activity Mom- Learning with your Toddler
*FamilyEducation.com- Activities for Toddlers

*Sensory Play:
-water play
-playdough 
-rice

Everyday Sensory Alphabet Activities by Melitsa Avila

We will be using a lot of these activities when we learn the letters!

*Daily Music time: Songs from Music Notes and CD's we get at the library. 


*Art:
 -watercolor painting
-using paintbrush
-coloring
-crafts

*Field Trips:
Playdates
MOPS 
Library story time for Preschool
Mall playground
Nature Center
Play to Learn- free community program

Math:
Hands on activities from Hands On As We Grow

Source: handsonaswegrow.com via Shonda on Pinterest

Writing numbers with Thomas the Train math book

Pretend Play:

Source: simplekids.net via Shonda on Pinterest

*Other Activities
Check out my Pinterest Boards for Preschool Ideas and more! 


We are also working through a BIG Preschool Workbook for ages 3-5.

I also ordered a The Everything Preschool Kit from Time for Tots on Etsy to give us some fun for the afternoon.


*Skills/Chores:
 What Shrade is working on: 4 years of age
Chore ideas from Money Saving Mom
-Responding with "yes, mama"
-brushing teeth
-brush hair
-playing gently with sister
-setting the table
-wipe up spills
-gather laundry- NEW
-sort laundry and put laundry away
-making bed-NEW
-empty dishwasher-NEW
-helping mom cook in the kitchen
-cleaning up room in 15 min-NEW
-empty wastebasket- NEW

*Academic
-cutting
-tracing
-letter sounds
-tracing first name
We will also do some name activities.

Source: blog.memetales.com via Shonda on Pinterest

Cooking:
We are going to try some non-reader recipes with Kids Cooking Activities.  Hopefully 1-2 a month!


Reading:
I was using this great free reading program called Reading Teacher, but it looks like they are going to start charging this year.  I might still get the membership since I really like it.  I also have Hooked On Phonics that I will try a little bit if Shrade is interested.  We do reading for fun and he just loves it!


Another great website that I will start using is This Reading Mama.  She has a great free Pre-K Reading program.

I really want to use the Preschool and Toddler calendars from Preschool Express.



Jessna is working on:
Chore ideas from Money Saving Mom
*first moments of discipline- what to touch, what not to touch
*learning how to sign "more"-done
*learning to sign "all done"-done
*learning to sign "please"-done
*coming when called
*learning how to go down the stairs-done
*drinking from a cup-NEW
*putting toys away-NEW
*taking off clothes and putting in the laundry basket-NEW


I get a lot of these skills/chores from What Every Child Should Know Along the Way (Teaching practical life skills in every stage of life.) by Gail Martin.  I HIGHLY recommend this book that has so many practical ways to teacher your child along with many Bible verses. I will be sharing from this book during  2013 on my Thursday parenting series.