B is for Bee

W had a blast making another project with the letter B. This project pretty much mimicked the A is for Apple tree we made two weeks ago, except we used flowers and bumblebees. My printer decided to run out of black ink on me, so I had to hand draw the project(instead of using an easy-to-use template). Please forgive my drawing skills, or lack of there of. Unfortunately, I didn't get the artistic gene from my dad, my sister did. W did a fantastic job with his letter B recognition and matched the B and b correctly according to each daisy(he also loves using glue). Here are some pictures from today's project:

B is for playdough?

Nah, but we sure had fun today with playdough and learning about the letter B. We had to take last week off from our "Letter of the Week" curriculum, because we just had so much going on in regards to playdates, errands, appointments, etc. This week, we're back in the swing of things. My printer is pretty much out of black ink, so I was only able to print one worksheet off, so I was researching the Internet to try and find a fun activity that would be fun and enjoyable for W. A friend had pointed me to a website called, "No Time For Flash Cards". They have a ton of activities, especially with letters, numbers, etc. Oh, did I mention that it's free?!

After we did our introductory worksheet, which can be found at, Alphabet Preschool Activities and Crafts. I decided W need to work on his fine motor skills, so I found a fun playdough activity that included letters. I was inspired to do this activity from a post over at No Time For Flash Cards. The name of the activity is called, "Playdough Snake Letters". I helped and showed W how to roll the playdough to make a "snake", and then I wrote both B and b on a white piece of paper with a black marker. Then he took the playdough and traced the shape of the letter. W had a ton of fun doing this activity, plus it was different. After he worked on his letter, I got out some fun kitchen utensils and he was able to practice cutting, etc.

I'm definitely looking forward to the rest of our week (we'll be home bound until further notice due to an ice storm that graced us with its presents last night). I just hope we can get some black ink, so we can do more worksheets and a fun bee activity I have planned. I guess if all else fails, I will just make us some homemade lacing letters. I knew learning was fun, but teaching my child is even better!

"The Alligator is my friend...

...can be your friend, can be you friend, can be your friend too".

That song brings back so many memories for me, especially when I was a camper at YMCA Camp Kitaki in Nebraska. A is for Alligator was also the name of our project we did today for our Letter of the Week curriculum. William had a fun time making his Alligator. I cut out the template and teeth, and he colored in the eyes and glued the teeth to the mouth. We also sang the Alligator song, here are the lyrics:

Alligator
(Chorus)
Alligator
Alligator!
ALLLLIGATOR!
Can be your friend, can be your friend, can be your friend too.

The alligator is my friend
He has a lovely face
I’d rather see him in the swamp
Than to have him on my suitcase
(Chorus)

The alligator is my friend
He has a very lovely pelt
I’d rather see him in the swamp
Than to wear him on my belt
(Chorus)

This alligator is my friend
He has a very lovely snoot
I’d rather see him in the swamp
Than to wear him on my boot
(Chorus)

The alligator is my friend
Step on his tail, he’ll be in a rage
I’d rather see him in the swamp
Than to see him in a cage
(Chorus)

The alligator is my friend
He can be your friend too
I'd rather have him as my friend,
then wear him as a shoe (point to shoe)
(Chorus)

The alligator is my friend
He has a scaly pelt
I'd rather have him as my friend
Than wear him as a belt (point to belt)
(Chorus)

The alligator is my friend
He likes to tease and flirt
I'd rather have him as my friend
Than wear him on my shirt (point to shirt)
(Chorus)

The alligator is my friend
You can do no worse
I’d rather have him as my friend
Than wear him as my purse.

Besides our craft, we also worked on letter A recognition. I found a worksheet where there were six "A's" surrounded by other letters...I then asked William to find each capital A and lowercase a, and I circled them. He found all of them with no hesitation. I can't get over how much he's learning. He is definitely making Jess and I very proud.

We will be ending our Letter of the A curriculum with airplanes and a trip to the United States Air Force Museum tomorrow. I'm crossing my fingers the snow doesn't ruin our plans. However, there is always Sunday and that way Jess can attend too.

I will go ahead and post the directions to our alligator craft in case anyone else is interested in making their own.

You will need:
-Alligator A template found below, copied onto a piece of construction paper
-googly eyes or draw your own
-white construction paper for the teeth
-scissors
-glue

You [your preschooler] will do:
-cut out your Alligator A
glue it to your full sized piece of construction paper
-glue or draw on your googly eyes
-cut triangle teeth out of construction paper
-glue on teeth

Template:

Letter of the Week Curriculum - Letter A

Today is the second day working on our "Letter of the Week Curriculum", and the letter of the week is A. With the help from friends and my wonderful sister-in-law, I've been given some awesome resources and websites to get started on W's early childhood education.

Today, we worked on more letter A recognition and tracing. I'm teaching W about the difference between "big A" (capital A) and "little a" (lowercase a). I found a tree template with apples...I put a capital A on three apples, and a lowercase a on two apples... he then had to match them up with the letters on the tree (pictured below).










W definitely had fun doing this project. After making the apple tree, W really wanted to work on his writing. So, I found a worksheet where he can practice writing the letter A by tracing it. I helped him place the crayon in his hand, and told him what I wanted him to do. He did fabulous! He traced the letter A with no problem. He then looked at me, confused, and goes, "where is the little a?". So, I made him a traceable "a". After he traced it, he went to the bottom of his paper and wrote his first lowercase a. I was so proud of him, and we both just shouted with joy! I can't believe how much W is picking up and we're only on day 2. He's doing such a good job recognizing the letter A, and I can really tell when we read books (picking and pointing out each "a"). I'm having such a wonderful time teaching W and preparing him for preschool and kindergarten. It's so much fun watching them grow and learn new things. **The first photo is W's first lowercase "a"**

A is for...

I have decided to start "homeschooling" W part-time until he attends preschool in the fall. We will only work 1-2 hours in the morning, and hopefully extending hours in the afternoon. However, I don't want to overwhelm him right now, and want to slowly introduce "school time" into our daily routine. This week we are going to focus on the letter A. I have already printed off a few worksheets/trace sheets, and have been given some great craft ideas from a friend and my sister-in-law (she will graduate with an elementary education degree this spring). I have some other ideas with letters, like making our own Chicka, Chicka Boom Boom tree to go along with the book, numbers, shapes, and colors. I hope to add onto our "alphabet wall" in our kitchen, and then create a small scrapbook of all of W's accomplishments and worksheets. This process is definitely a slow one, but I'm so excited to get started and instill an early childhood education into the minds of my children. I'm hoping to share our "lesson of the day" each day on here, as well as link back as to where I learned of our activity/lesson.

For now,