Favorite FREE Christmas Preschool Packs

With Thanksgiving just a few days away, some of you may be already planning your December preschool units.  So, I wanted to share a few of my favorites.   There are plenty of options here to get you through the whole month!      

From 1+1+1=1	From 2 Teaching Mommies
From 2 Teaching Mommies	From Homeschool Creations
From Homeschool Creations	From 2 Teaching Mommies
From 2 Teaching Mommies	From Living Life Intentionally

Have you done any of these units?  Which one was your favorite? 

Valentine’s Day Learning

We’ve had a fun week celebrating Valentine’s Day.  To kick the week off we were invited to a God is Love party.  The boy had a lot of fun learning all about how much God loves him.  Then he got to create a Valentine just for God. 

The rest of the week we continue our Valentine themed fun. 

Language Arts: I was really excited when I came across Mama Jenn’s Little Letter Collection. I used her idea and the boy’s words to create a Valentine’s letter for the boy’s Daddy.  He had a great time tracing the letters and then decorating it.  He couldn’t wait to give it to his Daddy when he got home that day. If you don’t have the time or the resources to create your own, don’t fret.  Mama Jenn offers free generic ones you can download.

 

Math: We did quite a few math activities. Most of them were taken from the Sweetheart Valentine unit from 2 Teaching Mommies and were old hat for the boy.  However, I was really excited about introducing him to the Valentine's 100 Chart Art from Lil’ Country Kindergarten.  I wasn’t surprised that he wanted to quit before he was done, but I made him complete the red.  He finished the picture off the next day.  Once he started to figure out the image, it definitely was a little more exciting for him.  I plan to include this type of activity again.

     

Science: Of course we couldn’t have a Valentine’s Day theme without including one of the boy’s favorite activities, candy observations.  Below he’s tasting a sweetheart to find out if it’s sweet, sour or salty. 

 

  

So, that was just a little glimpse into our week.  How did your week go?

 

We’re linking up to: Preschool Corner and Weekly Wrap-Up.

Free Groundhog’s Day Preschool Printables

This went up last minute, so I thought I would share them here too.  Don’t miss out on this mini unit from 2 Teaching Mommies.

While you’re there you might also want to check out these other two free preschool printable packs.

Lots of fun surrounding Sweetheart candy hearts!

Perfect time to pull out with the 2012 Super Bowl!

Weekly Wrap Up

I’ve gotten out of the habit of writing about our school time this year.  I’m just terrible at taking pictures while we are doing it.  But I managed to take a few pictures this week during our reading time and thought I would share.

Language Arts

The boy and I have been working on his reading.  Currently we are using Hooked on Phonics because we picked it up real cheap a couple of years ago because it was out dated. It was like $30 for 3 kits (K, 1st, and 2nd).  My husband said we had to use it before I can buy any new reading curriculum. (I’ve got my eye on All About Reading.) 

Anyway, getting off track a bit.  So, in the picture above the boy is circling words that rhyme with mat.  However, since I know that I want to sell this kit when we’re done with it, I just slipped a sheet cover over the worksheet page and gave him a dry eraser pen. It works like a charm!

 

 

We’ve also used our Education Cubes and inserts to practice reading words.  (I recently won a membership through a giveaway!!)  We used some of the ‘a’ word family cards and the letter cards.  The boy would roll the two dice and read the word.  Then we would talk about if it was a real word or nonsense word.

 

On this particular day, we were stuck indoors due to storms.  So, to get the boy moving I decided to have him roll the dice down the stairs, go down read the word and then come back up.  It was a great way for him to use up some energy. (You can visit the Show & Tell to get and share more Education Cube ideas!)

So, that was just a little taste of our week.  How did your week go?

 

We’re linking up to: Preschool Corner and Weekly Wrap-Up.

The Boy Does Portraits

While many artists preferred medium is paint and canvas our son opts for magnet and metal shavings. He's found that the temporary nature of the Magna-Doodle provides for a virtually endless supply of materials.

Below are some of the boy's latest works. They are from his "My Family" collection. His subjects were his parents, of course.

First we have his depiction of me.  He says of this piece, "Mommy has a messy ponytail."

Next he drew his daddy. You can sense the affections he has for him through this portrait. The eyes placed below the mouth. The head abnormally large when compared to his other works. His reaction to the finished piece speaks volumes.

Handwriting, Counting & Eggs

This week I didn’t plan anything except our daily resurrection egg’s lesson and activities.  We did however throw a couple of random activities in because the boy wanted me to print him some activities.  I’m definitely not going to stand in the boy’s way of wanting to learn, so I quickly found some non-prep activities.

 

Language Arts: One of the things the boy wanted to do this week was write letters and even though I didn’t think he would stick with it I went ahead and printed Confessions of a Homeschooler’s A-Z Handwriting Worksheets.  I picked out a few that I thought would be easier for him.  He was really excited and proud when he wrote a U, but this was the only sheet he ended up doing. He tried the W next and got frustrated.  I don’t really push him when it comes to hand writing for this reason and he has plenty of time before he really needs to perfect it.  At the homeschool convention that I went to I really liked some of the activities that I saw with Handwriting Without Tears and I may try some of those at some point.

   

 

Math Concepts:  Another activity we did from Confessions of a Homeschooler this week was Egg Counting, which can be found with her Easter Lapbook. 

  

Extra: Like I mentioned at the beginning we started our 12 Days of Easter plans that go along with our resurrection eggs. So, far the boy has been enjoying the lessons and additional activities.  Here’s some pictures of the extras we’ve been doing with our resurrection eggs:

 

For the first egg, he helped Jesus get to Jerusalem by coloring in palm branches.

 

Then with the second egg, he counted how many coins Judas received for betraying Jesus.

 

 

Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures from day 3.

 

My Favorite: To find out why this picture is my favorite this week, make sure and check out my post, Praying for Worms.

So, there you go.  Don’t forget, you can download all the 12 Days of Easter printables (not all seen here) for FREE at 2 Teaching Mommies. 

 

We’re linking up to: Preschool Corner, 1+1+1=1, and Weekly Wrap-Up.

Easter Activities

Life has been crazy!  Last week were taken out by spring allergies.  Then I headed to a homeschool conference.  Unfortunately, I didn’t stick around as long as I originally planned due my head cold, brought on by my allergies.  What I was able to see and hear was very informative, but I’m sure glad that I still have time before I have to make any decisions on curriculum.  I figure we will be set until Kindergarten and that is a few years away.

 

We did do a few things this week and I’m looking forward to starting our 12 Days of Easter activities next week.

 

Language Arts: Even though Lil’man is getting better at tracing dotted lines, he still gets frustrated easily.  He prefers the writing practice with the solid boxes. 

 

 

He really enjoys the alphabet match.  A matter of fact he did this activity twice this week, using a different color marker.  I usually have him find the matches before starting to draw the line.  Otherwise, he lines are all over the place.

 

 

Math Concepts:  Another favorite this week was the Easter Egg roll and cover.  This day we played it together.  He would roll and cover and then I would. 

   

Extra: The weather was beautiful this week so we got outside and played.

 

 

We also got to learn about taking care of a pet.  We took care of my niece’s fish, while they were out of town.  The boy loved just sitting up at the table watching them swim around.

 

Finally, here are some of the books that we've been reading:

Don’t forget, you can download all the Easter printables (not all seen here) for FREE at 2 Teaching Mommies. 

 

We’re linking up to: Preschool Corner, 1+1+1=1, and Weekly Wrap-Up.