Community Helpers Week

Home-preschooling has been quite an adventure for me. The longer we do it the more I learn and grow in how to teach them in ways they will be able to take away more than just academics. I want them to value the world around them and learn about the things that make it all up. This week our theme is community helpers. Our focus today was on Police officers and firefighters. We have done a fire safety week before, but it never hurts to review such an important topic and I was surprised how much the kids has forgotten in a years time.

First off in circle time I used a power point slide show to talk about a few different community helpers and the different tools they might use. The kids liked being able to see pictures to relate what we were talking about. Next we talked about what a community was. Community: a group of people who live or work near each other.

I wanted to also tie in a scripture for the lesson and so we used Colossians 3:23- And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.

We packed our morning full of activities:

We colored police hats and badges and practiced fingerprinting just like a real police officer might

Our sight work worksheet (this one is k's and I am impressed at our almost 3 year old and how much he has accomplished)

L's paper, she did great as always

Our fire craft: I used white paper to cut the flame shape and the kids glued on red, yellow, and orange paper and tissue paper. I asked each child one thing they learned about fire and then wrote what they said on the flames

Letter of the week: U- Traced over the highlighted U's uppercase and lowecase

Science for the day was about how fire needs oxygen to burn. What happens when a jar is placed over the candle??

Stay tuned for the rest of our preschool activities this week. We'll be doing more community helpers and also some St. Patrick's day fun.

Lazy weekend

We had anything but a lazy weekend, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. On Saturday morning I was able to go to the temple with a friend and the rest of the weekend was spent as a family. We headed down to Denver for a family trip to the zoo. We spent a lot of time there and got to see all of the animals. They were all out and a lot of them were performing for the visitors. The monkeys put on the best shows in my opinion and I think the kids would agree. They watched them for probably 20 minutes or so. It was the longest of all the animals. The weather was perfect and we had a great family day.

My loves

Seal kisses

Princess siting!

At our local cupcake shop occasionally they have a princess visit and even better its free!Free activities in the colder months are my favorite. We went for the first time a few weeks ago and can we just say it was a huge hit with the kids. L especially was stunned when Cinderella walked in. The princess was great. She read a story, sung songs, and played a little game with the kids. K was the only boy there but he didn't seem to mind and really liked seeing the princess as well. We got a few mini cupcakes to go and had them as an after nap treat. We'll definitely be keeping an eye out for the next one. 

(Of course L's baby had to come too)

Pink and tutus

L is still doing dance and she is still loving it. It has given her an outlet that is just for her. She has grown so much in her gross motor skills and has gained so much confidence. We just love Miss Polly and how great she is with the kids. She never lacks in energy and L is always talking about how much she loves going to class. She and her bother play dance class at home and they take turns being Miss Polly. It's one of my favorite games to watch them play. Very cute!

Backwards skips can be tricky, but we're getting better and better

Listening to instructions from Miss Polly

K got into my purse while I was taking pictures. He loves lipstick and chapstick

Snowy day

You have to come to appreciate Colorado's unpredictable weather. One day it can be warn and the next it can pour snow and be freezing cold. We recently were blessed with some much needed moisture and got a few inches of snow. The kids were excited since we were heading to a friends house it meant extra snow play. They played outside until they were popsicles.

After coming inside we got creative and made an "animal run". Basically it is just a bunch of stuffed animals lined up and spaced out that the kids jump over like hurdles. We ended up adding a little crib mattress to the end of the run and that became our pool. When you get to the end you make as big of a splash as you can into the pool. The kids also played a few rounds of school too. L loves to be the teacher and K doesn't mind being the student (for now at least. I;m sure soon he'll want to be the teacher).

We also created a game out of paper plates with a plastic knife taped on for a handle and balloons. Voila! Easy balloon tennis! The kids ended up mostly hitting their own balloons rather than back and forth but they still loved it and it entertained them off and on for hours.

Successful snow day!

If You Give a Moose a Muffin

I have been inspired lately to get more creative with the kids in our daily activities. I owe most of this to pinterest, an online idea pin board. For this particular day we used the book If You Give a Moose a Muffin as our theme. The kids thought is was so fun and still are reciting parts of the book.

We read the book, practiced counting and matching our letters, we made muffins and then ate them, we were going to also make puppets like they do in the story but we ran out of time. We ended up painting as our daily art instead.

I think the kids love themes as much as I do. It gives them something to wrap their little minds around and relate things back to. An added bonus is that it never hurts to incorporate books, into your day. Through creating activities that come from the book or relate to the story the kids understand whats happening in the story better.

Fresh air

We are a family who prides themselves on getting out and getting active. Our kids love to be outside running and playing whenever possible and so of course when we had a nice spat of weather after all the terrible freezing cold we hopped on our bikes and headed outside.

The kids have been begging for bikes for quite some time now and we have held off, but me being addicted to good deals decided it was time. I found a little trike for 15 dollars for Kyle and Lilly was handed down a bike from a friend, so that settled that. Now all we needed was some good sunny weather and the first glimpse of it we were out riding.

The kids rode for close to an hour maybe even a little longer, which we all know it kid time is a LONG time. They didn't want to come in but the sun was setting and so reluctantly we headed in. It was so great to get out of the house and get active though and enjoy some fresh air.

 Some friends joined us! Kyle became a bus and picked up his friends.

Kyle trying to catch a ride on Lilly's training wheels (FYI this does not work!)

Sisters

In January my sister was able to come out and visit us for the weekend. Though her time here was short we really enjoyed having her here and the kids were really sad to see her go. The best part of her visit was getting to meet Raelin for the first time. She is such a sweet happy baby girl and the kids loved having their baby cousin around to hold and feed and play with. The only thing they complained about was how much she slept. They couldn't get enough of her, and I have to admit neither could I. I am sad that we live so far apart but thankful for modern day technologies that keep us connected.