tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14697468607922965832012-02-17T13:52:44.530-07:00Purposeful learning through playNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.comBlogger371100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-83565098458255201992012-02-17T13:41:00.001-07:002012-02-17T13:41:54.214-07:00

We have been focusing on science quite a bit lately. Delaney is very interested in space, and the planets (who isn't, right? Such fun!). She had requested a telescope for Christmas, which sadly, Santa did not bring this year, but mentioned that maybe her birthday will be a better season for skywatching. In the meantime, we have been learning about all of the planets and their order, as well as

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-74845826020212657312012-01-27T14:06:00.001-07:002012-01-27T14:06:25.180-07:00

I began reading chapter books to Delaney in December. It's so important to read to your kids...it builds their desire to learn how to read, improves imagination, teaches vocabulary, improves grammar...I could go on for a long time. We read short books all the time, but I decided to see if Delaney had the patience to listen to a whole chapter with few pictures. We started with "Because of

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-30430911025348687082012-01-10T21:01:00.000-07:002012-01-12T13:10:19.007-07:00

I found this family peek-a-boo idea on Pinterest, and followed it to this AMAZING kids' activity blog.You will get completely lost in all the possibilities on this blog, from babies up to middle school ideas. It is fantastic. ANYWAY...(see, this is how I end up spending my time reading about the cool stuff that I want to make instead of actually making it...) I loved the peek-a-boo tray,

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-34537214552147753742011-12-21T12:51:00.000-07:002011-12-21T12:51:00.079-07:00

Delaney really likes math, and seems to catch on to concepts quickly. I am definitely someone who needs a teaching guideline so I do not get distracted and veer off into other things and perhaps not follow an order, which is okay in most subjects, but math seems to need a definite order. I did a bunch of research, being the OCD researcher that I am, and decided on Singapore Math. It comes with a

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-14480287912926573442011-12-14T13:46:00.001-07:002011-12-14T21:33:50.972-07:00

Delaney started working on a daily journal in November. I read the book Never Too Early to Write by Bea Johnson almost every year to refresh my memory on writing/reading philosophy. Johnson guides teachers through all of the stages of writing, and how to teach kids to be amazing, creative writers, and improve their reading skills as well. I used this book in my kindergarten class, and had amazing

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-67412046358503076612011-11-14T13:56:00.001-07:002011-11-14T14:08:53.661-07:00

This morning, Sophie got up at 4:30am, and Delaney slept until 7am. They usually get up within 15 minutes of each other, so I took this rare opportunity to get some one-on-one time with Soph. I threw together some a "discovery jar"...a container from the dollar store filled with a few fabric flowers, a handful of pom-poms, some scraps of felt, a craft stick, a baby food jar with a lid, and a

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-82112755602023491142011-11-10T20:57:00.001-07:002011-11-10T21:07:54.187-07:00

If you have ever spent time at KRMC, this cup is a familiar sight. I know it as the prize they give you when you have a baby. :) A few weeks ago, Delaney was playing with it, and wanted to identify all of the numbers. Since then, she has learned to identify all of the numbers on the cup (counting up to 19 by odd numbers, and up to 550 by 50's). Today, she told me which even numbers are missing

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-53688840045705610682011-10-22T15:49:00.000-07:002011-10-22T15:49:02.822-07:00

We have been having lots of fun with some seasonal activities. I dug out my ABC leaves from the Kindergarten bin, and we scattered them all over a table. Delaney matched the "Mommies" and the "Babies". She would find the missing "baby" and yell for help. "My baby is found! Please help it find its way home!" Then I had to cut all of the pretend branches out of its path so it could safely make it

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-33116412482667266532011-10-11T16:22:00.000-07:002011-10-11T16:22:56.532-07:00

When I was studying early childhood education, I learned a lot about the Reggio Emilia approach to teaching. It made me want to pack up and go teach in Italy. The main ideas that I took from it were that learning has to be child-directed in order for it to be successful; when you respect and believe in a child, they will amaze you with what they prove to be interested in and excel at. I ask

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-80450923345632067022011-10-06T12:50:00.005-07:002011-10-06T12:50:00.395-07:00

How do you start your mornings? We begin with sight words. At 5:45am, no less. Not really. :) I found this on the refrigerator the other morning, and if I scramble the letters at night, Delaney is sure to spell a new one for me when she gets up the next day. The Starfall curriculum introduces A LOT of high frequency words each week. When I began reading through the guide and preparing for our

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-63431519321475754982011-10-04T13:56:00.000-07:002011-10-04T13:56:46.534-07:00

We have a bunch of random placemats with pictures, numbers, alphabet and a United States map. They have been around since Hailey was little, and now Delaney uses them at the table. We use them for various activities while we eat all the time. The map, of course, is for geography. She knows where Arizona, California, New Mexico (Grandma lives there), Florida (Papa & Yaya), Michigan (Aunt Dawn),

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-49900032014538480062011-09-22T14:12:00.005-07:002011-09-29T13:54:51.597-07:00

You can take the teacher out of the public school, but sometimes it's difficult to get the public school out of the teacher. At least Delaney is only 3, so I have lots of time to reprogram myself. :) I had started out the year with a "calendar wall". We had the calendar, days of the week, plans for a pattern, money, counting, etc...all of the good things that go along with Calendar Time. It has

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-853471866856403152011-09-16T14:05:00.001-07:002011-09-29T13:55:24.632-07:00

We are still loving the Ellen Stoll Walsh books, Mouse Paint and Mouse Count. I found this super cute mouse pdf  and lesson ideas, and printed out the mice.  I had plans to do another color mixing activity with Delaney, but once again, she had better ideas. We had just read Mouse Count about 3 times and Delaney decided to be the snake. She snagged my mice off the printer before I could, cut them

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-60400025920232752142011-09-08T13:31:00.001-07:002011-09-29T13:55:36.546-07:00

Delaney and her cousin played were playing together a few weeks ago. They used a cash register and pretended to buy things. They had a lot of fun. I thought I would play it with Delaney and sneak in some math! We sorted items by food and non-food. She had to count the items in her cart. We used links for money. She was the cashier first. Bella had taught her that the first step to being a

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-83987219851108810742011-09-02T14:49:00.001-07:002011-09-29T13:55:48.986-07:00

I have been using the Starfall Kindergarten curriculum for 3 weeks now, and I love it. It has been so easy to adapt for homeschool use. Delaney loves Backpack Bear. He joins us for class daily, and sometimes brings his friends, the Turtle, Rex, and Baby. They have to sit quietly, though, or they get in trouble. :) We begin at 8:30am daily, and our schedule looks like this: Calendar - days of the

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-73467296120499881122011-08-30T13:00:00.001-07:002011-09-29T13:56:05.290-07:00

Remember when I wanted to make a monster mask? Delaney finally decided that she was ready to. We have been enjoying the book "Mouse Paint", by Ellen Stoll Walsh. It is a cute little story about how mice learn about making colors with the primary colors. We have read it around 28 times this week, so Delaney has a pretty good idea about how to mix colors now. :) She wanted to make her monster

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-38423670339957241242011-08-25T13:33:00.001-07:002011-09-29T13:56:14.766-07:00

I think Cullen is in charge of Science lessons around here. There is a huge spider web to the left of our front door. I asked the husband to do something about it, because visitors have started noticing it. It is so big and thick that you can't see through it. Cullen went out to inspect, and then went out to the back yard. We curious girls followed. As it turns out, he saw a very big wolf

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-38610019399792622182011-08-16T13:20:00.001-07:002011-09-29T13:56:25.951-07:00

I need to come up with a better name for our School. :) We started our first "official" week of school yesterday. We actually started last Friday, because Delaney was as excited about all of the new stuff as I was, but that is kind of a weird time of the week to begin. :) The Starfall materials are great. There are tons of books and picture cards and various materials, as well as a very detailed

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-44012380966238845892011-08-11T06:29:00.001-07:002011-09-29T13:56:39.372-07:00

School is about to begin and Hailey will be beginning middle school on Monday. I have been thinking about what I want to do with Delaney this year...it's difficult to decide whether to begin a structured language arts & math curriculum with her, or continue with a scheduled make-it-up-as-I-go method, which is basically what I have been doing. She is only three, and I don't want to overwhelm her,

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-32113105475695015502011-07-20T14:16:00.002-07:002011-09-29T13:56:49.963-07:00

We have managed to stick with a consistent school schedule around here lately. It's been great! Delaney has continued to practice 1:1 correspondence. She can now count out up to 4 objects without help...as in "give me 4 of those" and understanding that she has to do more than count to 4 while giving me a handful. Our current goal is up to 6, and she does this with about 75% accuracy. I think

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-63493112408991564912011-06-30T12:59:00.001-07:002011-09-29T13:57:00.820-07:00

...aka The Beauty of Child-Directed Work! :) Delaney has really been enjoying all of our monster books lately. Some of our favorites are "There's a Monster in My House", "Leonardo the Terrible Monster", and "Go Away, Big Green Monster".  (P.S. "Go Away.." is only $6.81 on Amazon right now, for the hardcover. That is a REALLY good deal. Maybe Amazon should consider sponsoring this blog. Haha.)

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-38670726875282559582011-06-09T12:58:00.002-07:002011-09-29T13:57:14.116-07:00

My little sweetie pie turned 3 last week, so in honor of her birthday, I made a little cupcake counting center. I used this .pdf I found through a Google search... http://www.tlsbooks.com/cupcakefun.pdf Hailey colored the cupcakes for me, then I cut them out. I let Delaney pick which numbers she wanted to use, and pick from an assortment of candles to place the right amount of candles on top

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-42701966764533728782011-05-25T06:03:00.001-07:002011-09-29T13:57:27.577-07:00

I am not always the most structured person (my husband is laughing right now..."are you even the least structured person?") I tend to appreciate the grey area a lot. I need goals and plans and schedules to keep myself on track, and even then I really treat them all as guidelines rather than rules. I have been working on the same skills with Delaney for a few weeks...counting to 20, number

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-88386989029082990182011-05-11T06:59:00.004-07:002011-09-29T13:57:36.495-07:00

Delaney hasn't really shown much interest in learning how to write, but she loves to paint and draw with chalk. While it was nice outside last week, she asked if she could water paint, and I turned it into a nice opportunity to practice writing numbers and her name. Water painting is the least messy painting ever. All you need is a nice big paint brush, a flat area outside, preferably a lot of

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-550964480734600492011-05-05T14:43:00.001-07:002011-09-29T13:58:04.448-07:00

Spring time is such a great time of year for art! There are so many possibilities...butterflies, bugs, flowers, baby animals, etc. I found a spring book that focuses on 1:1 correspondence through 5 and leaves lots of room for creativity. It was originally from www.pre-kpages.com, which has wonderful ideas and themes. I use the site all the time.  I searched the Pre-K Pages site yesterday to link

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-40607793164830652432011-04-29T13:10:00.002-07:002011-09-29T13:58:14.366-07:00

Although I consider myself fairly computer savvy, and can look at examples of HTML and CSS and figure out how to change it to do a little bit of what I want, such as, make a cool little blog button and a way for you to put it on your blog too, which you should definitely do, by the way, hint, hint....Whew, sorry. Run-on sentence and getting carried away...:) ANYHOW...there is some code on this

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-32699258306600802332011-04-28T12:41:00.001-07:002011-09-29T13:58:25.110-07:00

There is a general order for learning how to read. The first skill a child learns is usually alphabet recognition, then sound recognition. Then comes phonemic awareness, or the understanding that a word is made of different sounds. The first step to this is typically an understanding of rhymes and alliteration. I bought some rhyme puzzles at Ross for $6.99. I can use them in a variety of ways.

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-54419558749355900482011-04-26T12:58:00.002-07:002011-09-29T13:58:39.695-07:00

One of my friends recently asked me if I have any ideas about how to organize materials for various ages. My organizational skills are something that I am constantly striving to improve. Most of my materials are for ages 3-6, and honestly, they are just packed in some Rubbermaid bins in the garage. I really need to sort them. I generally go through them every few months and attempt to rearrange

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-16601437571798856102011-04-25T14:09:00.001-07:002011-09-29T13:58:51.407-07:00

I found these fun little goodies while looking through a bin of school supplies... Nesting eggs! I bought them for $1.00 at an Easter clearance sale a few years ago. They are great for talking about bigger and smaller, ordinals (first, second, third..etc), counting, sorting by shape or color, counting and probably 1500 other things too! Hiding them around the house was fun for awhile, as was

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-47642540946376817652011-04-20T21:07:00.004-07:002011-09-29T13:59:01.195-07:00

Delaney knows her letters and sounds, and of course the ABC song, but needs some help with the concept of alphabet order, so we worked on that for a little while this week. One of our favorite alphabet videos from www.starfall.com... How the Alphabet Got Its Order We began with her alphabet puzzle and dumped all the letters out. First, we had an alphabet race to see who could put the most

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-20625430268337308662011-04-18T19:54:00.002-07:002011-09-29T13:59:14.245-07:00

I found this great Garanimals ABC game at Wal-mart. I think it was only $8. It has SO MANY uses. On one side of the card, there is an alphabet letter, and the other side has a picture whose sound begins with that letter. There are two sets of letters. We have played this game several different ways. We have done a basic alphabet match on the board, and played a concentration-style game. We did

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-48090078979716801272011-04-12T14:33:00.004-07:002011-09-29T13:59:24.687-07:00

Delaney and I were getting ready to work on a cutting and gluing project, and she began without me. I discovered a piece of paper with a HUGE glue puddle, instead of the little dots I was expecting. But, you know, most great art isn't actually planned and carried out exactly according to plan, right? I let her add a few more big puddles to the paper. I took some food coloring (she chose red)

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-92038340560747206382011-04-11T14:08:00.010-07:002011-09-29T13:59:38.410-07:00

Delaney is working on recognizing numbers 1-20. Learning with food is always a great time, so for Valentine's Day, we used some heart patterned plates and candy hearts. The plates are numbered 1-20. First, she put them in order. We used 1-5 the first day, then 1-10 on subsequent days, using my approach I talked about with M&M Number Order. Once she mastered putting the plates in order, we

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-6186864048399365232011-04-10T14:19:00.001-07:002011-09-29T13:59:50.112-07:00

I made some number flashcards that have small circles to indicate "how many" the number is. The circles are just the right size for M&M's, or other small candies or objects. First, Delaney had to put the cards in order. We began with 1-5. It's always good to not overwhelm and frustrate her during the first time we do an activity, so I begin with a little easier project than I think she can do,

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-58703697219021051742011-04-09T14:09:00.020-07:002011-09-29T14:00:01.109-07:00

I want to keep track of the girls' academic progress, so this is a baseline of the skills Delaney has currently mastered or is working on as of the beginning of April 2011... She knows... Alphabet letters Can recognize all 26 letters and corresponding sounds Initial sound recognition and give examples of words that begin with a given sound Counts to 10 Recognizes numbers through 10 Knows all

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-72716160096303793832011-04-08T15:17:00.007-07:002011-09-29T14:00:14.520-07:00

...to start learning the alphabet. :)

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1469746860792296583.post-42134909183729762692011-04-08T14:44:00.006-07:002011-09-29T14:00:29.119-07:00

I have been blessed with the opportunity to be a stay at home mom and raise our babies, Hailey, who is currently 11, Delaney,2 3/4, & Sophie, 4 months. My oldest attends public school, but I plan to homeschool our youngest two. Before becoming a full-time mama, I taught kindergarten for one year, and special education preschool for three years. I have a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education,

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09947101477187865041noreply@blogger.com0