Saturday, January 29, 2011

Tot Trays….Puzzles & Games!

Tot Tray ideas: Day 1

Goose (3 1/2 years) is still enjoying Tot Trays along side some preschool activities.  She has shown interest in preschool learning so we have started the transition.  We are using a workbox system that works beautifully for us.  (I will post about our workboxes soon.)  She has 2 preschool boxes that have a clear end and then 2 tot trays that tend to be more open ended.  She works on her boxes when I am working with Crew, otherwise we are reading, writing and crafting together.  Here are some of the Tot Trays Goose enjoys…..

Puzzles

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Goose enjoys many different puzzles.  She has transitioned from wooden puzzles to floor puzzles which seem to be a bit more challenging for her.  Some fun puzzles she loves: alphabet, colors, numbers, animals and of course princesses!

Speed Stacking Cups

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Boggle Junior

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I picked this game up at a yard sale for $1.  She loves choosing a card/picture and matching the letters to make the word.

Matching Card Game

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Aunt Laura recently passed this game down to us.  (Thanks Aunt Laura!) Here Goose is playing Monkey in the Middle.  A monkey in the middle with 3 matching animals around the outside to make a triangle.  Goose and I played this together the first time ,and now I can put it in her Tot Tray and away she goes!

The list of puzzles and games are endless!

Brigit

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Celebrating the 100th Day!

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Today we celebrated our 100th day of school.  What a great day!  There are so many fun activities and books out there it was hard to choose.  Here are just a few we enjoyed…..

Cereal necklaces

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Counting

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by 10’s

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And A Cake

(Why you might ask? Scroll down to see!)

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Brownies on the bottom and ice cream for the top!

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Now to count the candles….100!

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Yes, the cake was blazing!  We could have roasted marshmallows over those flames.  They huffed and puffed and finally blew the house down.  I thought the smoke alarm was going to go off.

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We also enjoyed dribbling balls and jumping 100 times.  Here are some great books we enjoyed….. 

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My favorite!

Brigit

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Celebrating MLK Jr.!

Such an important part of our history.  I really wanted to do something other than just read a few books and do a craft.  We did those things, but we also headed downtown for a celebration. We enjoyed a MLK marade. Yes, marade (march/parade).  What a fun day!

MLK Jr. Statue

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream, 1963

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Here is a link for a MLK Jr. Printable Book that we used.  On the way downtown, the kiddos read and colored in this book.

We also watched a video on History.com MLK Jr. .

Brigit

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Vermicomposting….What? Why Worms??

In a continuing effort to live more of an earth friendly life, we are vermicomposting.   We have a traditional composter in the backyard which is great, but to speed up the process we are moving to worms for help.  After some research online as well as books from the library, we have begun our endeavor. 

This great website/tutorial helped us get started… Red Worm Composting - Getting Started

This entire project was less than $20 and was fun, educational and will hopefully produce an amazing garden this coming year!

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                                           Drilling holes for ventilation

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       The Reservoir Bin                                                                  Bins stacked….

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    Worms love shredded cardboard!                                                     Wetting it all down

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         Some food scraps                                                                       Of course the worms!

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Last step, top on!  Of course we feed them and check on them regularly.

Now when Crew or Goose are asked if they have any pets ,they say “Yes, a bunny and worms”.  Boy do we get some interesting looks!

More pictures to come with the books, science and art we are working on too =)

Friday, January 14, 2011

Under Construction!!

As you can see, our blog is getting a face lift.  Being a new blogger and not knowing much about HTML, it is taking longer than expected....progress nonetheless.  Many thanks to Confessions of a Homeschooler .  Great blogging tips =)

My goal is to have changes complete by the end of the weekend so that I can update posts.  We have been enjoying a lot of fun activities and projects.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Brigit

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Happy Birthday Crew!!!

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Wow, my little man is 6!   Happy Birthday Crew!  You are the most amazing little guy.  I love your cuddles, smiles, great conversations, loving heart, inquisitive mind, gentle spirit, adventurous nature, love of the outdoors, …… !  I am who I am today because of this little guy. 
Anyone who knows Crew would agree that he is not your average 6 year old.  His birthday requests….no not a Spider Man cake and party at Monkey Business,  rather, cheesecake and a day of skiing (still to come….thanks LaLa!).

We have been in the kitchen together ever since I can remember!
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         Crust                                                     Filling
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In to the oven……  Yumm!

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Homemade pizza for dinner!
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 Legos makes the world go round.
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Crew’s first mountain bike with gears and hand brakes…..can’t wait for 
Spring to get out on the trails!
A great day with an amazing little guy! 
Brigit