Organization Can Be Lovely

I am a fan of the Flower Fairies. I have the Flower Fairies Alphabet Coloring Book and a really beautiful boxed set of 8 hardcover Flower Fairies books. John bought it for me for Christmas a couple of years ago. Love it! I'd link to it online, but I can't find it anywhere. Well, for Alexa's birthday this past summer, my mom wrapped Alexa's birthday gifts in the Flower Fairies wrapping paper. Alexa was thrilled with the gift inside......I was thrilled with the paper! Alexa graciously told me I could have it, so I put it away until I could come up with a wonderful use for it. I had no doubt that I would. ;-)

So, now that school is beginning, I got an idea. *ding* (That's the sound of my idea popping into my head.) I got out my binder/organizer and used the FF wrapping paper to cover it! So pretty! (The pink printed binder is one I covered last year in some lovely scrapbook paper.)

It makes me WANT to pull out the binder, use it often, and therefore it is helping me be more organized! Go figure!

Too bad I can't cover the laundry in Flower Fairies. ;-)

TTFN

~Tina

My Little Preschooler is Back to School

Evan started school this past Monday, same as the girls. He really wants to be active, all the time. A lot of his day is spent running around or playing with his toys and with his sisters. But sometimes, especially if he sees me getting into one of the storage units in our school room, he'll say, "Mom, I need something to doooooo", or "Mommy, can I do a craft?". Busy, busy, busy. I actually didn't have anything in particular planned for his first day of school, but I knew of some things I could pull out if he requested something. I will have a "school bin" for him, like his sisters have, after we get back from the beach. It will have a pencil case (filled with the essential tools that every preschooler should have), and some workbooks I picked up at the dollar store that focus on letters, numbers, colors and shapes (although he knows his colors, shapes and some of his numbers and letters already). His bin will also have a book of stories, probably Fairy Tales, a small dry erase board and this workbook that I saw over on this blog (sorry, forgot the exact post, so I just linked to the main page). I think he'll like having his own bin, like his big sissies, but I really like to teach him the tot school way. I haven't signed up for tot school yet, but hope to once we get into a groove around here.

Once the girls were on a "break" from school, on Monday, they went off to play together. That's when I pulled out some stuff for Evan. I have these feltboard story characters that we made with our toddler/preschool activity bags last summer. I told the story of "The Gingerbread Man" to Evan using the feltboard characters. We did it a few times and he enjoyed being some of the characters. The repetition of the story helped hold his interest and made it easier for him to participate. We got silly with it and had a lot of fun.

We did some other activities, too. Like tracing stenciled shapes onto a dry erase board. I LOVE these boards. They have lines on one side and are blank on the other. Soooo many ways to use them! They were a buck at the dollar section of Target! He loved erasing them the best ;-)

And yesterday, I created this little game for him. It's cardstock, with marker lines dividing the sections. A shape and number are drawn in each box. I cut shapes out of self-adhesive foam. This activity was a hit! He loved sorting the shapes and sticking them in the right place. We counted, talked about colors and shapes AND, as an added bonus, he got the fine motor skill practice of peeling the paper off the back of the shapes. Surprisingly, that didn't frustrate him at all. Silly boy is hiding as he shows his project. ;-) Oh, and I made sure I copied the sheet I created, before he started, so I can bring this out on another day for him to do again.

Evan played with some of his wooden educational activities last night, as I was reorganizing the cabinet. Since I wasn't sitting there, guiding him, he decided to do his "own thing" and build tall towers. That's fine by me. He was occupied and happy.

TTFN

~Tina

Ready or Not....

It's here! Our first day of school! We had a wonderful day, overall. Not to be confused with "perfect", because, well, we all know there is no such thing. I would have liked another week or so of summer break, to finish cleaning out the school room, but it's about 75% complete. Not bad.
We are easing into school this year. Our beach vacation with John's parents begins on Saturday, and we are really looking forward to it. Taylor is only doing her language arts this week, especially since her co-op classes haven't begun and some of the books I ordered for her aren't in yet. Science lessons for Alexa and Skylar this week will focus on shells, mostly seashells. I'm hoping they'll pick up enough from this mini unit study to really notice and appreciate the seashells as they collect them and maybe even be able to name a few. And I'm hoping they'll ponder the animal that once lived inside.

To enhance this study, I made a Montessori-type seashell box. It consists of a little pouch of seashells that I've collected from other beach trips, magnifying glasses, a seashell field guide and some sea life stickers.
I misplaced my Montessori seashell cards, but plan to print more out tonight, then place those in the box, too.

For a change of pace, we worked in my bedroom. It's very bright in there with lots of natural light. We began with this book that we borrowed from the library. Alexa really enjoyed that story. Then we read a science book called What Lives in a Shell? that I purchased at a local bookstore a few weeks ago. I realize this book is geared towards children younger than Sky and Alexa, but we aren't studying seashells in depth, so this book provides us with a nice, simple overview of what animals live in shells.

Next, I opened the box. Their faces lit up when they saw that I had seashells for them to touch and examine. I let them enjoy that for a bit, then I had them each choose one or two to draw, either from the shells I collected, or from one of the stories. They anxiously began. At this point, Evan joined us and was fascinated by the shells, too. I talked to him about how the seashells felt and what colors they were. Then I gave him some paper and the sea life stickers along with some colored pencils, so he could "draw" like his sisters. We will continue with these drawings tomorrow, and label them. I also have a few more interesting seashell stories and books to share with the girls (and possibly Evan) over the next couple of days. Skylar and Alexa will do some fun copywork and decorate it. I'm thinking of having Alexa copy the tongue twister, "She sells seashells by the seashore" but I'll choose a more difficult poem or quote for Skylar. And the girls will narrate one of the stories that we read together this week. All of these things will go into their nature notebooks.

You can view the books we are using for this study in my sidebar.

I took some photos of Evan's school time. He and I had a lot of fun! I'll try to post those tomorrow. No promises, though. I'm really trying to get off on the right foot with school this year, so I don't want to be on the computer too much.

Hope you are enjoying this new school year!

TTFN

~Tina

Movin' On Up

Skylar is really enjoying her Kenpo Karate classes. She has been doing this for a little while now. Three times a week we take her to class, and she looks so forward to it each and every time. Skylar has made a bunch of friends of varying ages and the instructors are so supportive.

We had stopped her classes for the summer last year. When she started her classes back up again, she said, "It feels like I'm home again". That's when I knew she was dedicated and serious about this sport. This past Friday she attended a belt ceremony. She received her purple belt! Skylar dreams of becoming a blackbelt someday, and with the attitude she has, I don't doubt it for a second.

TTFN
~Tina

So Very Sad

I don't know the Barrett family personally, but have read Mary Ellen's blog for a couple of years, now. They are suffering a tragic loss right now, and really need our prayers. So very sad, and if you have children, you can begin to imagine what the family is going through. Our hearts go out to Mary Ellen and her family.

~Tina

Summer Boredom Buster #3 Fortune Tellers

Last week, when we went to the library, Skylar found this book.

She has been asking me to help her with some origami creations ever since. We have some origami paper in the garage, but she really only wanted to make a fortune teller today, and that doesn't need special paper. I remember making these when I was a kid! We followed the directions in the book and it was pretty easy.You can also find the directions online here.
Part of the fun for the kids, was deciding what fortunes to put inside. I personally like putting things like, "You will clean your room willingly tomorrow." or "You will cooperate for bedtime tonight." Those are my fave's (lol), but my girls chose differently. Kids can be very creative with the fortunes.....or just plain silly. Well, they have been having a good time with these ever since.

I have to warn you, though. By the end of the day, you might be kinda sick of hearing, "Pick a color, pick a number, pick another number".

TTFN

~Tina