20 Best Tips

Preschool Corner: Totally Eclectic

Little by little we’re getting back into the swing of school time. Some days are a little crazier than others, but that’s to be expected when coming back from a nice long vacation. :)

Next week promises to be fun and crazy too, but we’re going to fit in what we can! I will be out of town at the end of next week, so I’m not sure about my internet connection, but should have things ready on this end…but we all know how plans can go awry!

We didn’t really have a set focus this week, other than lots of books about snow and cold weather, but otherwise we just had fun doing a little bit here and a little bit there.


Art

H is for House


Our letter craft this week was the letter H for House {full directions are on Totally Tots}. We read The Napping House by Audrey Wood to go along with the craft.

Cooking

Snoman on a Stick

IMG_2857

We had fun putting some fruity snowmen together this week. If you’d like the full details, you can find them on my Little Books for Little Cooks post at Totally Tots.

Games

We had a lovely HUGE box that the kids called dibs on this week and have had WAY too much fun playing bus stop, elevator, boat…really anything that they can think of .

Math

Pennies and Nickels  ~ This week we’ve been working on money values. We’re only focusing on pennies and nickels right now. Remembering that pennies are worth one cent is going well, so we’re learning how to count by fives and remember how much the nickel is worth.

One of the ways that we are incorporating more money counting into our day is during calendar time. Carisa at 1+1+1=1 had a great idea to use coins to count the date out ~ you can see more on that here.

We aren’t using the printable coins. Instead I bought some play money and put velcro dots onto the back of the coins. Depending on the date, we use the money to make the date {i.e. January 8th is a nickel and 3 pennies}. Zachary is loving the hands on aspect of using the money too. :)

Telling Time ~ Zachary is able to tell time using a digital clock and also to the hour on our many other non-digital clocks. A book that he loves is Telling Time with Tickety Tock {a Blue’s Clues book}.

Reading and Spelling

I really can’t say enough about All About Spelling and how much we love the program! Zachary asks me if we can do it every day {we usually do it once, maybe twice a week}. some days we do half of a lesson, depending on his attention span.

Sometimes we use the letter tiles and other time use the whiteboard to practice handwriting. Since we’ve been working on lowercase letters, the whiteboard was handy this week.

We have several different books/programs that Zachary is using for his reading time. One of them is the Beehive Reader that goes along with All About Spelling and their level one program. We just read a few pages every day together, but this week have been working on the ‘th’, ‘sh’ and ‘ch’ sounds. He is obviously getting it too! McKenna was fussing about how to spell the word ‘inch’ and Zachary sounded it out and spelled it for us. :)

Stories & Books We Used

Ready to Link Up?

Share what you are doing with your kids! Please link your exact blog post to the Mr. Linky below and link back here too! The updated guidelines can be found here if you need them.

Photobucket

Paper Strip Pumpkins {Craft}

These little pumpkins were so super-easy to make and all of our kids wanted to make one, so we had them hanging all over our house for the last few weeks! Here’s what you’ll need:

  • Orange construction paper cut into 1″ strips
  • 1″ strip of brown construction paper
  • 2 leaves cut out of green construction paper
  • 2 brads
  • hole punch

1. Stack the orange strips of paper together. Use the hole punch to put holes in the end of the strips. Depending on how many strips you are trying to punch through, you many need to do it a few pieces at a time.

2. Take one brad, poke it through the hole, and fasten the strips together.

3. Fold the brown strip in half {for the stem} and use the hole punch to punch through the stem, leaves, and the strips on the opposite end. Push another brad through and fasten.

4. Spread or ‘fluff’ out the paper strips until it forms a round pumpkin shape. Hang and enjoy!

Photobucket

F is for Fox {Craft}

So simple it almost makes itself…well, almost!

When I first showed it to the kids, it took them a minute to figure it out {majority of guesses were ‘squirrel’}.

But it’s a fox. {grins}

What You’ll Need:

  • Brown foam sheet/construction paper
  • Scissors
  • Pen {to trace letter}
  • Fake fur
  • Googly eyes
  • small pom pom for nose
  • Glue

How to make the ‘F’ Fox:

  1. Trace and cut an uppercase ‘F’ out of the foam sheet or construction paper. I used a foam sheet that was about 4″ x 5″ in size.
  2. Using the extra foam, cut out two small triangles for ears.
  3. Cut out a tail from the fake fur.
  4. Glue the ears, tail, eye and nose onto your letter F.

Photobucket

E is for Elephant {Craft}

The saddest part of my week {ok, I exaggerate a little bit…} was discovering that our craft stores carry every shade of foam sheets and construction paper ~ except GRAY!! Do these people not know that elephants are just begging to be made by local preschoolers?

I got the idea from this post at No Time for Flash Cards. The kids have been loving the crafts {and the parents too, I believe!}.

What You’ll Need:

  • Gray or white foam sheet/construction paper {our craft stores only had white}
  • Scissors
  • Pen {to trace letter}
  • Paint ~ if you can’t find gray paper or foam
  • Googly eyes
  • Glue

How to make the ‘E’ Elephant:

  1. Trace and cut an uppercase ‘E’ out of the foam sheet or construction paper. I used a foam sheet that was about 4″ x 5″ in size. Since our craft store didn’t have gray foam, I used white and we painted it gray after we had glued it all together.
  2. Using the extra foam, cut out an ear and a trunk for the elephant. I used a little sliver of our white foam to also cut out a tusk for him.
  3. Glue the elephant’s trunk onto the middle section of the letter ‘E’.
  4. Glue on the ear and paint if needed.
  5. Add an eye and tusk to finish!

Photobucket

D is for Dinosaur {Craft}

This dinosaur was great for identifying several different shapes with the kids ~ triangles, rectangles, and ovals. When we sat down to put the craft together, the kids had to count out four rectangles, five triangles, and one oval so we were able to squeeze in a little math too! Depending on the colors of scales the kids pick out, you can also pattern the scales.

What You’ll Need:

  • Green foam sheet or construction paper {I used two different colors}
  • Scissors
  • Pen {to trace letter}
  • Googly eyes
  • Glue

How to make the ‘D’ Dinosaur:

  1. Trace and cut an uppercase ‘D’ out of the foam sheet or construction paper. I used a foam sheet that was about 4″ x 5″ in size.
  2. Using the extra foam, cut out several triangles for the dinosaurs back.
  3. Cut out four rectangles to use as ‘legs’, an oval for his head, a neck and a tail.
  4. Glue the legs, tail and neck onto the back of the letter ‘D’.
  5. Flip the dinosaur over and add his head, scales and eye.

Photobucket

C is for Crab {Craft}

You’ll have to turn your computer sideways if you want to see the ‘C’ correctly, but I figured you all were smart enough to see the ‘C’, right?

I’m betting you all are going to think I have an obsession with googly eyes…and it’s true. I do. There’s just something about those wiggly things that make a craft so.much.cuter.

What You’ll Need:

  • Red foam sheet or construction paper
  • Scissors
  • Pen {to trace letter}
  • Googly eyes
  • Glue

How to make the ‘C’ Crab:

  1. Trace and cut an uppercase ‘C’ out of the foam sheet or construction paper. I used a foam sheet that was about 4″ x 5″ in size.
  2. Cut out two ‘claws’ for your crab. I didn’t use a pattern, just freehanded it.
  3. Cut out four long, skinny rectangles to use as ‘arms’ and eye extenders for the crab.
  4. Glue the legs and eye extenders onto the back of the letter ‘C’.
  5. Flip the crab over and add the eyes and the claws.

Photobucket