Build a Pizza Game

Tuesday

November 3, 2009

We have been playing games with dice and number cards as recognition practice. Yesterday, we went to Walmart and picked out felt colors for our pizza toppings and created our new game.

*UPDATE* I realized the instructions didn't match the die. I fixed the document...sorry to those of you who printed a copy already! ;-)

Click on images below to print templates.

Rag Quilt Letters w/ Bag Giveaway

Monday

November 2, 2009

One of my MOST FAVORITE websites is http://www.makinglearningfun.com/. I have found so many really cute and creative activities to use in our classroom there. Some of them I have blogged about in the past. The creator of that site, Jo is giving away these cute rag quilt letters and bag in celebration of her 100th post. Check out her blog and enter to win here.

Happy Halloween

Saturday

October 31, 2009

I have fond memories of Halloween as a little girl. My favorite costume was a gypsy that my mom pieced together with items we had around the house. She let me use her shaw and costume jewelry and gave me a special makeup mole on my cheek. Even as a child I felt the sense of community, neighbors caring for other people's children and their kindness in giving all of us candy. I pray Meara has fond wholesome memories of Halloween like I do.

Paper Bag Pumpkin With a Special Meaning

Tuesday
October 27, 2009

We created this craft with our 4-year-old sunday school class also. We told them then and Meara today how we are a lot like pumpkins. Jesus picks us out like pumpkins in a field. He "washes" all the dirt off and removes all the "yucky stuff" called sin from the inside. He carefully removes all those seeds of doubt, hate, greed, and fear. He replaces them with the seeds of faith, hope and love. His light is placed in our hearts to shine for the whole world to see just like a candle inside a pumpkin.

Practicing Tally Marks

Tuesday
October 27, 2009

Meara likes to play games, she likes playing with dice also. We decided to practice how to write tally marks using the dice. She rolled the dice and put a mark in the appropriate column. I LOVE how little things make her happy and she learns while having FUN!!

Number Matching

Thursday
October 22, 2009

We like to have the lights off in our learning room/classroom as long as there is enough light. We save on electricity and it's FUN!! So, I apologize if it's a little hard to see the pictures. A while ago, I found these incredible number cards that Jolanthe made at Homeschool Creations. The set includes numbers, roman numerals, dots, and number words. We laminated them to last longer. Meara LOVES to ring a service bell. Today, we pulled out our magnets, cards, cookie sheet, and the service bell. She practiced counting the dotted cards, reading the number cards and matching the correct magnet number on the cookie sheet. If she got it wrong I made a buzzer sound (which she found very amusing). If she got it right she was able to ring the service bell herself (which she also found very amusing).

Hermit Crab Lapbook

Friday
October 16, 2009

Monday we got new pets...hermit crabs. We got one for each of us, three total. We instantly became mesmorized by them. My husband, Meara and I sat for hours watching them in curiosity. Meara was having a hard time staying focused on school work. So, I used that to my advantage by doing a unit study on hermit crabs with her and creating a lapbook. This is our humble attempt to create a hermit crab lapbook. We would like to share it with anyone who would like to make one to.

The hermit crab diagram was found here. Go to page 21 of the pdf file.

What they eat booklet.

You can find the hermit crab picture to decorate and color here. The blank Venn Diagram can be found here. I copied and pasted it into Word and reduced the size to fit on the side flap.

In the original document I created there is a s on the word Predators but when I uploaded it to Scrbd it took the s off for some reason. If you would like the original version please contact me and I will email it to you.

Predators

All the other files we created and used for this lapbook can be found here.

Address and Telephone Number Songs

Tuesday
September 22, 2009

Meara is learning her phone number and address. She can remember the street name, city and state but not our street number. I found two great songs she has been enjoying help her memorize her information.

My Name and Address
(Tune: Rain, Rain, Go Away)

My name is [child's name],
This is my address, [address],
[city], [state].


Telephone Number Song
(Tune: London Bridge)

[123-4567], ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring.
[123-4567] is [child's name] telephone number!


We LOVE to sing this one too!

The Old Schoolhouse Spiffed Up Classroom Contest

*UPDATE*
We won the contest! Thanks to The Old Schoolhouse magazine for all their effort that went into making this contest happen and to the sponsors who donated the prizes! Thanks to everyone who voted for us...we enjoyed everyone's kind and generous comments!

Saturday
September 19, 2009


I am soooooo EXITED to be one of five finalists with some other very creative people in The Old Schoolhouse Spiffed Up Classroom contest on facebook. We truly feel blessed to have an unused room in our house that we transformed into Meara's classroom. Thanks to ALL of you who voted for me so far!!! ;-)

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
Each photo has been tagged with the name of the semifinalist. Please go back and look at all of the photos belonging to each semifinalist before you decide on your favorite. I have only included one photo from each person here. To vote, choose your f...avorite schoolroom and click the "like" button below the photo. On Sunday at midnight EST, we will tally the votes and award the winner with a $100 gift card for the Container Store.

The Kissing Hand and more apples

Wednesday
September 9, 2009

We are continuing with our apple theme but this week we added The Kissing Hand book. Here are some of the things we did today.


We talk about money everyday and recite these poems.

The Penny
Penny, penny, easily spent Copper brown and worth one cent.

The Nickel
Nickel, nickel, thick and fat, You're worth five cents. I know that.

The Dime
Dime, dime, little and thin, I remember, You're worth ten.

The Quarter
Quarter, quarter big and bold, You're worth twenty-five I am told!




You can find this apple stamp book here.



We are reading The Kissing Hand this week. These are some of the activities we have done with it.
I found these really cute raccoon Uno cards to print out yourself. You can find them here.

In the book the mom kisses Chester's hand and in turn he kisses hers. We decided to depict that with our hands.

Letter A Apple Art

Thursday
September 3, 2009

Continuing with our apple theme Meara made a finger painted apple. It works so much better on the glossy paper plates! She used the Crayola finger paint. I was surprised that it stained her hands. She was a little embarrassed when we went out later in the day with her bright red palms...after 24 hours of hand washing it has finally worn off. I don't remember it doing that when I was a kid. She had so much FUN squishing the paint around and using the foam letter sponge. I LOVE watching her face when she is being creative.

Making Applesauce

Wednesday
September 2, 2009

For two weeks our theme is apples. For science this week we decided to make applesauce. Since Meara LOVES to cook this was exciting for us!

When it was all finished the taste test proved that it was delicious. Although, it wasn't like Mott's applesauce in texture or color but I think it was more tasty!

Crock Pot Applesauce

Take ten large apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks. Put them in a crock pot along with 1/2 cup water, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and 3/4 cup sugar. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 8-10 hours. Take a potatoe masher and mash. This can be eaten warm or cold. Refrigerate the remaining sauce.

Our Learning Room

Tuesday
September 1, 2009

This is our "learning room". I LOVE that someone else called their room that so we have adopted that term. We have two stuffed handmade planets and a HUGE space shuttle hanging from the ceiling. The hutch we inherited has made accommodating storage space for us. We also turned our bookcases on their sides to make everything more accessible for our kindgergartner. I think it's really important to have at least one real piece of art, we chose a piece my cousin painted to give us inspiration(it reminds us of home).

I found this chain with hooks at a yard sale. I thought it would be perfect for hanging our puppets. We are using an old microwave cart for storage also. It's great for storing the water tub and toys where Meara can easily take them out and put them away with little assistance. We also have our FAVORITE thing sitting on top...my old record player and records from when I was her age.

Our art display area (piece of burlap rope tied to the banister) and storage. The basket houses our musical insturments and the green and yellow containers hold our legos.

Our morning routine wall with the reminder of love...our family tree with everyone's handprints.