Preschool at Home: Week 1

This past week was our first week of "Preschool at Home." I felt really good about our learning time each day. We focused on the letter A, the number 1, the creation story, and our rhyme for the week was "Way Up High in the Apple Tree." 

Here's a peek at our display board 

and here' a link to my Pinterest "Preschool at Home Week 1" board:

 We painted over the alphabet with a q-tip. We also sang the ABC's every single day and will continue to do so until Seth knows it. He is close but we have some more practicing to do.

 

 We read the creation story from several different children's Bibles every day. 

On day one, God said "Light shine." Seth loved demonstrating this over and over with the light switch.

We made this number creation craft.

 We made an apple craft.

 

I hot glued some shapes to cardboard and then we did some crayon rubbings.

 Seth tweezed some ants.

We read My Apron by Eric Carle.

Of course, we had to put on our art apron while we read it.

 We also reread My "a" Book.

 We used a felt apple tree and apples to act out 

"Way Up High in the Apple Tree." 

We would count the apples each time one fell off of the tree.

 

 We also circled all the a's in the poem and decorated our sheet with apple stickers.

 

 To help us learn what happened on each day of the creation story, we made creation cups.

 We used foam numbers and all kinds of stickers to decorate our cups.

  

Silas liked playing with a few cups too.

 

We decorated our memory verse for the week and repeated it each day. Seth could say the last few words by the end of the week, but couldn't say the entire verse. It was definitely better than our attempt at memorizing last year.

 

  We also made creation sticks. 

We will probably use these this coming week too, 

since I didn't introduce them until later in the week.

 

It was a busy week! 

Next week we move on to the letter "B," 

the number 2, the story of Adam and Eve, 

Baa Baa Black Sheep, and lots of other fun things.

Watching Model Airplanes

Bowling Green has a really nice runway for model airplanes. This evening we went to Stahl Field to see if we could watch some flying. We had intended to bring Seth during one of our transportation weeks, but we had lots of rainy days and it never happened. Tonight we had perfect weather with just a few clouds in the sky.

 Silas loved watching the planes flying in the sky. 

He would point and stare as they would fly by.

 

 We got to see a few planes up close. 

This one was being disassembled before being loaded into the trailer.

 We also got to take a peek into one of the trailers of a hobbyist.

 This guy liked Seth so much he gave Seth a pilot doll. 

We aren't so sure that this doll will stick around, but the gesture was sweet.

 

We watched until most of the planes were being packed up for the evening. 

We'll definitely be visiting again!

Running

I mentioned in this post that I had started running again. Two nights ago I ran a 5K around our neighborhood. The last time I attempted a 5K, I had to walk part of it. I was out of breath. My legs were terribly sore. This time running a 5K was so different. I didn't run out of breath. My legs weren't about to give out. I was tired and sweaty, but I probably could have kept going. I think weighing 30 pounds lighter than my last attempt helped a whole lot. I never thought I could enjoy running like other people seemed to do, but it's growing on me. I've run over 15 miles total in the last month and a half. I almost can't believe it. Maybe running a 10K isn't so far fetched after all...

Preschool at Home

When Seth turned two I decided I would start Tot School with him. For the last year we have focused on letters or themes each week to help guide his learning. I have had a blast preparing things for Seth to do each week and I think he has enjoyed all the learning. Seth knows all of the letters (but not the sounds), colors, shapes, and can count to 12. He knows how to cut (although not on specific lines), glue, and hold a pencil correctly (most of the time). He's learned lots of other things too, but now that he's three, I thought we needed something more. I searched and searched for the perfect preschool curriculum but I just couldn't find anything that I liked. So I decided with the help of Pinterest, I would come up with my own plans each week. 

Each week we are going to try to do the following:

• Focus on a letter and the sounds of that letter (For example, we will focus on the letter A this week. We will circle A’s in a nursery rhyme, play with animal stickers, do apple crafts, fine motor practice: tweezing ants, etc.)
• Math- Counting (We will practice counting to 20 each day and this week focus on writing the number 1) Shapes (We will do hot glue rubbings.) Other Math concepts
• Writing- (We will focus on writing our name for a while.)
• Bible Story- This is one thing that I felt was lacking this past year. While we read Bible stories, we didn't specifically do crafts with them. We will focus on one story a week and do lots of fun stuff with the story. (This week we are focusing on Creation. We plan to do a Number creation craft, make creation sticks, earth with hands, and creation cups)
• Focus Verse-We attempted this last year, but I gave up on it after a few weeks. I don't think Seth was ready to memorize a verse then. I think he's ready now. (This week our verse is: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1)
• Nursery Rhyme/Finger Play- I don't think Seth has been exposed to enough nursery rhymes so we will practice saying a specific nursery rhyme each day, (This week we are learning "Way Up High in the Apple Tree" and I made a felt apple tree and apples to go along with it.)
• Songs- We will sing the ABC’s and The Ants Go Marching each day this week

At the end of each week I still plan to share what we learned. Just like last year, we might skip a week now and then and we might add or take away some things after we really get going with this new learning time. It's just the beginning, but I think it's doable and I feel confident that Seth will enjoy all that we are going to do.

A Day at the Zoo

The last time we went to the zoo, Seth was just over a year old. We thought it was time for a revisit. Not only did Seth have a blast, Silas loved it too.

 Here's a look at our day in photos...

 lots and lots of pointing...

 

 the petting zoo 

(Seth thought this alpaca was a llama. He was so excited about it!)

 

the jungle gym