God Made the Heavens and the Earth

Today was another great day for our homeschool co-op. Most importantly, Noah was feeling better, so he was able to join us today. How cute is this kid!?

 

We did our calendar time again today, and the kids are SLOWLY getting the concept that a calendar has days of the week and numbers on it. There is still quite a bit of disconnect (Except for Eisley. She knows her days of the week and is helping the others a lot.)

 

We also read Genesis 1 again in our Story Bible, and today the kids helped me put up all the pieces on felt board. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask someone to take pictures so we don't have any shots of this. But the kids were very excited to help build the picture as I told the story.

 

Then we listened to our song again (This is the Day). And today turned into an all out dance party. Even the babies got into it!

 

Then it was time for snack. I made "sky cups" today. It was blue jello with puffs of whipped cream added for clouds. I think it was a hit.

 

 

Here Addison is telling me that her "sky" matches the calendar.

 

After snack time we did our craft. Today we made creation wheels. You can find the info about how to make them HERE.

 

 

Then we read Five Little Ducks and the kids acted it out by running away when one of the ducks in the story "didn't come back". I assigned each child a number and when it was their turn, they had to go hide. It was hillarious...and very chaotic!

 

To wrap up our day talking about God creating the Heavens and the Earth, we made microwave clouds! I found this on Pinterest and it was SO cool! You place a bar of Ivory soap in the microwave for about a minute (I set the timer for 2 but pulled it out early). And the soap literally turns into a cloud before your eyes! You have GOT to try this!

It's sort of hard to see, but there is a giant soap cloud in there!

 

Hard to believe that was a bar of soap, right?

 

It was a little hot at first...

 

I think they were pretty into it...

 

 

All in all, I'll call this one a success. I think Elly agrees!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Day of School

I woke up feeling oddly nervous about our first day of preschool. I think I just wanted so much for it to be a great experience for both the kids and moms, that I was giving myself a little bit of anxiety thinking about it being an utter mess. A mess, it was not. Today went better than I could have hoped. The only thing that wasn't perfect about it was that Evelyn and Noah stayed home. Noah has a tummy bug :(

Everyone arrived at 10:00 and we let the kids play for about 15 minutes while the moms got situated. We started with circle time. The kids piled on to Addison's "Hungry Caterpillar" quilt, and we began by talking about the calendar.

We estabished that a calendar tells you what day and month it is. Then Eisley put today's date on the calendar, and the kids took turns counting the days of the week.

 

 

We also read Genesis 1 in our story Bible, and then used the felt board to tell the story again. The kids were captivated by the felt! I had to keep stoping to ask them to sit down because they all wanted to put the pieces up. As much of a pain as it's been cutting out all those pieces, I think the stories are really going to come to life with the flannelgraph.

 

Next it was song time. I played the song "This is the Day" from the album "100 Hymns and Praise Songs for Kids". Addison decided it was time to do some "fancy movements", and soon everyone joined in.

 

 

Then we moved on to our sun. moon, and stars craft.

 

 

And then it was time for snack. I gave the kids cheese and crackers to look like the sun, moon, and stars.

 

While the kids ate, I read the book of the week, Five Little Ducks.

 

Then we went outside to play Duck, Duck, Goose!

 

 

And then it was lunch time!

 

After lunch, we took individual pictures of the kids to document how little they are :) We will get a "class picture" on Thursday when Noah is better.

 

 

 

 

Overall, I think our first day was a total success. There are some things we didn't get to, but the amount of time we spent on organized "lessons" was perfect. (It was about 45 minutes).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

School Starts Monday!

The start of the 2012-2013 school year is upon us, and I'm hosting school for the first week. I took the lesson from ABC Jesus Loves Me and divided it up into 3 days (the first two days we will meet as part of the co-op, and the 3rd day will be done individually with our own children).

I purchased the curriculum lesson plans and the book of printables just to save me the time and aggrivation of printing each week. Seems like we are always out of ink!

 

Also, the curriculum recommends starting with calendar time each day using www.starfall.com. Since this is a computer game, and we have 4 kiddos involved, we decided to turn calendar time into a "circle time" of sorts. During circle time, we will talk about the day and month, season, and weather. We will also discuss character traits, work on our Bible verse, songs, and poems. I'm hoping this will be a good way to focus all the crazy preshool energy a bit at the beginning of our school time. I ordered my calendar on Amazon. Here's the link. I didn't expect to have it in time, but it came this morning! (I ordered it LAST NIGHT!) Gotta love Amazon Prime.

 

The last thing I need to do is finish cutting out my Betty Luken's Through the Bible in Felt set...It's only taken me a month :) I only have two more sheets left. Aren't these pictures gorgeous!? This was a total splurge with some money from my Etsy shop that I'd tucked away. I think it's going to make these stories come alive for the kids.

There must be a thousand pictures. The set is really wonderful. It comes with a storage box, three felt boards with various backdrops, and a lesson book. Looks like I better get cutting!

 

 

And here is how I divided up the lesson plan for the week. I think I'm just about ready! Let the school year begin!

Week 1 - August 27-31
	DAY 1: Introduce	DAY 2: Recognize	DAY 3: Identify (on own)
Bible Story	Creation - Genesis 1 Introduce Using flannelgraph:	Tell story using flannel. Kids take turns putting pieces up.	Review Story - Kids tell alone while putting up pieces.
Verse	Genesis 1:1 (to "Are You Sleeping"	Review Verse	Kids recite without adults.
Song	This is the Day (100 Hymns Disc 3 #18	Review Song	Kids sing without adults.
Poem & Rhyme	7 Days (tune "Are You Sleeping?"	Review Poem	Kids recite without adults.
Book of the Week	Five Little Ducks: Practice counting backwards from 5-1 on fingers.	Read story. Have printables cut and ready to use as props	Read Story: Listen to CD
Craft	Sun, Moon, Stars template	Creation Wheel	Microwave Soap Clouds
Number	Zero - color poster. Trace tactile number. Say number rhyme	Practice drawing zeros, trace tactile number. Say number rhyme
Color	view Boz Colors and Shapes	View Boz Colors and Shapes	View Boz Colors and Shapes
Snack	Crackers and cheese cut to look like the moon.	blue jello, whipped cream (sky)	make flowers with pretzle sticks, colored M&Ms and raisins
Game	Duck Duck Goose	Duck Duck Goose	Duck Duck Goose
Fine Motor Skills	Practice drawing family (demonstrate)	play dough - use mats & cookie cutters	Kids draw family
Gross Motor Skills		Play "Put the Fire Out"
Other	Read "Who Made the World	Read "Who Made the World	Read "Who Made the World