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So I finally finished the power point for the kids that has the pictures from our nature walk. (read original post here.) I still haven't gone back out to find "n" so that page is blank in our show :(. The slide show is inspired by the book ABC A New Way Of Seeing by Arlene Alda.  I used a green color scheme since our theme is nature. She uses a black and white theme in her book.  I think it came out pretty nice. I hope the kiddos enjoy it. You can click the file below to see it.

naturepps.ppsx
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Here is a pond theme game I made a couple months ago for the Princess to practice short vowel sounds. The frogs mats have a short vowel on them. Players choose a mat and then take turns drawing bug cards that have CVC word parts on them. If player can make a real word by inserting the short vowel on their frog they keep the card and thus feed their frog. (For example if I have the short a frog mat and I draw a bug cart that says m_p I can make map and thus keep the card. But if I draw b_x I have to place my bug card in the pond and that bug is set free. Game ends when all bug cards have been played.)These cute graphics are from  the Pond http://frompond.blogspot.com

pond_theme_cvc_game.pdf
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Here is a freebie for all.
When I play popcorn with my daughter to practice her sight words my son always wants to play with us. So I made him this ABC version. Just like the sight word version players take turns drawing popcorn pieces out of a container. Players identify the letter on the popcorn kernel if they are correct they get to keep it. If they are incorrect the kernel is returned to the bucket. I bought the buckets that look like theatre popcorn containers at the Dollar Tree so we use those.  We end the game when a "pop" piece is drawn. This set has capital and lower case letters you can combine them or use them separately.  I added a number game too. Enjoy.

a_popcorn_game_for_preschoolers_abc.pdf
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a_popcorn_game_for_preschoolers_123.pdf
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So this week The Princess is on Spring Break, my Little Man and Husband are sick with colds and I am feeling quite lazy. We have done a few activities here and there (mostly with The Princess) but I have not had camera in hand. Today I took the Princess with me to my MOMS Club monthly meeting for an egg hunt but it was kind of soggy since it rained last night and has been sprinkling on and off all morning here.

My church is putting together a community outreach project, a Mentoring Moms group where the kids can get together and play on the BRAND NEW tot yard and the moms can get together to offer support to each other. I have a feeling that this is group is about to be my next project. My term as Vice President of my MOMS Club is coming to an end and I feel ready to branch out now that my kids are getting older. We did enjoy the Preschool group I got started but it never really turned into the Co-op I had hoped for. That too is coming to an end for the year.  So now I am thinking what next.  I really like this Moms group that is getting started at the church so I will put some energy into getting that going.

My husband and I have been deciding what to do with the Princess for Kindergarten next year. We looked at our home school, which is the second best school in our district, we entered the lottery for the fundamental school  (the first best school in our district) and we went to the Kindergarten orientation at the private school where she is this year. She will be entering Kindergarten but she already reads at a late 1st grade level and has mastered the math standards for Kinder and is now working on more advanced math skills. I don't push her mind you, she is just interested and is like a sponge when it comes to all things academic. I found a hybrid program at a school about 19 miles from our home and I think that this is our best option for her with her social issues and academic success this year in Jr. Kindergarten.  I've been praying about the decision as well as the option of homeschooling for several months now. I have a great group of prayer sisters that have been praying as well. I feel that if God pu the desire in my heart to homeschool than maybe that is His plan for us. I was a public school teacher for ten years and as such I am not a huge proponent of homeschooling although I know there are benefits to it. After much prayer and research and consideration I applied for the interdistrict transfer from my home district to the district that houses this hybrid program. My mom really thinks that I should not homeschool her so I'm sure there will be some tension there but this program will allow her to have classroom instruction one day a week with multi age kids (K-3rd) which I think will be excellent for her since she will not necessarily be the brightest or most knowledgable in the group all the time. She will also still have some traditional classroom experiences while being able to grow as a learner at home studying things that are interesting to her.

I also just signed up for the Great Homeschool Convention which is coming to my area in May. Although the program I hope to enroll my Princess in offers curriculum at no cost to us, I am not sure that it will be the right curriculum for us so I am going to go take a peek at what is out there. So stay tuned to our schooling adventure. The next step after we get confirmation that our transfer application has been approved will be to get my husband to add a sun room onto our house so we will have a space to homeschool. Otherwise my living room (my favorite room of the house) will have to get a makeover :(

If you know of any great blogs of parents who homeschool their
 
This week we focused on Easter. Jesus, eggs, bunnies, and all. The kids have really been enjoying the Resurrection Eggs. (See my beginning post on the Resurrection Eggs here).I was too until we got the day 5, 6 & 7 where the eggs contained a whip, crown of thorns and nails. So hard to discuss something as ugly and the crucifixtion with a 3 and 4 year old. Naturally I focused on the Love Jesus shared and I knew in my heart that the story of Easter rally is pretty dark up until Easter itself.  Even the whole story of Judas betraying Jesus for the thirty pieces of silver.My kids couldn't understand why his friend gave him (Jesus) to the authorities. Again so hard to explain. None the less they continue to ask to open the eggs each day and get quite excited in anticipation as we read the scripture passage for the day.

I made the week a light fun one because we had quite a few activities to attend out side of the home this week and Daddy was on a business trip. And wait for it... the big news... we were POTTY TRAINING!  I didn't think Little Man would ever decide to go for it. He was pretty committed to his diapers and very vocal about wanting to keep them.  I kind of felt that Daddy telling him often that Big Boys don't wear diapers and he needed to be a big boy was having a negative effect on him. I asked Daddy to stop saying that and waited a week. I admit that i had to kind of push the first two days and we were not very successful but by day four we had an accident free day- Woo Hoo! An Easter Miracle has occurred in our house.

This week I just lacksidaisically (sp?) put out various Easter themed activities for the kids. One the Princess enjoyed was tossing small wiffle balls into a Spring Themed Basket. She was pretty good at it too. We lined up and took turns tossing the balls from a few feet away. My Little Man really liked the felt board Easter Eggs he played with them almost everyday. I used a few Easter Themed printables as well. Here is a little peek at what we did this week.

We link up with Preschool Corner at Homeschool Creations, 1+1+1=1, Montessori Monday at Living Montessori Now, Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom, Fun Stuff Fridays at Toys in the Dryer, Teach me Tuesday at Preschool Powol Packets and the TGIF Linky Party at Living Life Intentionally each week. Be sure to check them out to see what others are doing.
 
Last week we focused on the letter R and Rainbows.  See my Rainbow Trays post here for a look at our trays (activities for the week with links to the original sources). See my Fun Friday post here for a more thorough look at our science investigations- using shaving cream, color paddles and milk. See my ABC Nature Walk post here to check out a cool nature walk we took this week based on a book we read by Arlene Alda titled, ABC A New Way of Seeing.  Here is just a quick glimpse of us in action this week. Again for more specific information about what you see here click on a corresponding link.

We link up with Preschool Cornerat Homeschool Creations, 1+1+1=1, Montessori Monday at Living Montessori Now, Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom, Fun Stuff Fridays at Toys in the Dryer, Teach me Tuesday at Preschool Powol Packets and the TGIF Linky Party at Living Life Intentionally each week. Be sure to check them out to see what others are doing.
 
Deb over at Living Montessori Now has an amazing giveaway going on right now (through April 13th) be sure to head over to her site to enter. You could win big! While you are there be sure to peruse her site there are so many amazing ideas for working with your tot/ preschooler. I lover her site!!

2 VERY LUCKY grand prize winners will win a Montessori Print Shop Deluxe CD Rom 2-Disc Collection – 1118 Montessori Materials AND 4 Primary Teaching Manuals! $599.00 value.  Click here to be redirected to the giveaway.
There is also second prize as well a $100 MPS in store coupon.
 
Rainbows were our theme this week. So for our Friday Fun (aka Science) we explored color. First I let the kids explore with the color paddles from Oriental Trading again on the light box. The Little Man really enjoyed making new colors. I also so an idea on Pinterest where you add food coloring to shaving cream and when the kids mix it you get a rainbow effect- sort of.  I had also put food coloring into shaving cream to make bath paint.
Our finale was the milk investigation where you pour milk into a shallow bowl or deep plate. Add four drops of food color to the milk close but not touching. (key here is to wait til milk settles and stops moving- very difficult to do with a 3 and a 4 year old by the table- lol). Next you place one end of a q-tip in the center of the milk careful not to "stir" it. Not much happens. Next dip the other end into some dish soap and place that end into the milk- again careful not to stir- AMAZING!  After a few seconds take it out and just watch. When it appears to stop moving you can dip another soap covered q tip into the bowl some other place and AMAZING! it moves again.  Way cool. It all has to do with the molecular properties of milkfat (I think the property of adhesion) but you can read more about it here.  Ok now for the slide show. Enjoy, we sure did.

Discount School supply has a sale in the color paddles through April 9th 18 paddles for $5.96.