Hearts and Valentines!

On Tuesday we had a blast learning about the letter V!

We reviewed the ABCs and had a blast learning about the letter V this week. Oh buddy, were they good. I would write out a letter and they would tell me if it was the right letter or not. They were really good at spotting the letter when I wrote it down! We also had fun learning that the letter V sounds like vuh vuh voooom.

Then we put it into practice and traced and practiced writing the letter V. They had a lot of fun on the chalkboards last time so I whipped those out for them and they wrote the letter v pretty great.

We also learned that VALENTINE starts with the letter V, as does loVe. So we practiced saying that, and learning that Valentine's day is a fun day to remember those we love and to do nice things for them.

After that we learned about the heart shape. I had cut out some hearts and we learned what it looks like and that it symbolizes LOVE. Then we practiced counting for fun. I had written out the numbers 1 - 10 and the kids all had to find the number, raise their hand so I could check, and if they were right then they got to color in the number circle (or circle it if you were Mr. Everett). I think this was a fun activity because it kept the older boys' attention (there are still a few numbers they needed help with) and the little boys were learning new things too!

Then we made a fun art project to give to our mommies letting them know we sure loVVVVVVe them to pieces. The kids practiced cutting and glueing and did an amazing job! We were sad that a few of the boys were having a rough time & ended up not participating most of the time. Hopefully next time they will have a better day. :(

Thanks again Amber for helping out.

J is for Jesus (Plus the Letter M & Color Red)

We were combining lessons this week because we were playing catch up, so we learned about a few different letters and colors. We reviewed the letter S, and then introduced the letter M and J. The boys were all excited when we were naming things that began with the letters because we named a few of them too! (J is for Jared and R-J!, & M is for Max!)

We started learning about the letter J. We talked about Jesus, sang Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, and even read a few books about Jesus and Jesus' birth. We quickly were losing their interest, so I read a curious George book because he is a curious Monkey and monkey starts with M! I don't think I've seen the boys act so good!

We reviewed colors too - we pointed out things that were white (from previous lesson) and then pointed out things that were red. Jared liked to show off his awesome red shirt.

Then it was time to practice writing the letters we were learning. We started with M & J, and used the cute individual chalk boards to do that. The kids all enjoyed that. (The video makes it look like not all of them did, but I promise they did haha!)

                                         


And then of course it was time to get creative, so the boys cut out strips of red paper to make red and white upside down candy canes in the shape of a J. And since J was for Jesus the boys also cut out yellow strips of paper for straw and glued that on the bottom of the J with baby Jesus.

And then my RED berries decided to go bad, so we enjoyed colorful goldfish crackers. The boys all had to pick out the red ones to show me before they could eat them, and they all had fun with that too.

Thanks Amber for helping out. :)

S is for Snow & Snowmen!

We had a really awesome preschool lesson about the letter S and how it stands for SNOW! (I think our curriculum knows we live in Nebraska so we have two lessons about snow apparently? haha!) We read some fun stories about snow and winter. Then we learned a little more about the letter S and practiced writing it and practiced saying Sssss.

For our activity we did water coloring in the snow. It was actually a lot of fun and the kids seemed to enjoy it. I tried to have them do a little sensory play with it first - they all agreed that it was cold, but had a hard time telling me that it felt wet. (As they wiped the 'wet' snow off their fingers on their shirts, ha!) So we learned that snow is cold and wet, as opposed to dry like they kept thinking. :)

And then we ended with a fun snowman snack - cut up bananas, with mini chocolate chips for eyes & buttons, and then pretzel sticks for arms. The kids could choose to put the snowmen together themselves or just eat it. I think Jared & Isaac decided to just gobble it up, but everyone else seemed to have fun playing and making their snack.

And of course here is a pick of the growing babies that are troopers! Thanks Amber for helping!

D is for Dinosaur!

We had a fun time learning about the letter D and Dinosaurs this week in preschool. We started with some fun books talking about dinosaurs and learned about the word "extinct". We learned that there are some dinosaurs that eat plants and eat meat.

Then we sang songs and stomped around and did fun activities that dinosaurs do. We really enjoyed the "Dinosaur Stomp" song.



Then we moved in and traced the letter D and colored our dinosaur.

And then we did a fun art project with their cute little hand prints. 

The kids enjoyed looking at the snow.

And of course, here is the cute pics of the baby girls. They were pretty happy.

Week 5 - O is for Octopus

The kids all had a blast at preschool this week. Well, I hope they did anyways! :)

We started off school by holding up the letter "O" cutouts and saying the name of it. We talked about the letter O, and then we quizzed each other on the colors of the letters. Then we held up some stars that were the color YELLOW. The kids were really good about their colors, and Kaylee even stood up to show off her YELLOW shirt.

Then I held up the book with an Octopus on it and asked what it was (Octopus! was the happy reply!) and what does Octopus start with? (They were a little less certain, but were happy to find it was an O!). Then I read the book, and when they saw the Octopus they were supposed to raise their "O" cut outs up.

We then sang the fun Octopus song.

Slippery fish, slippery fish 
swimming in the water 
slippery fish, slippery fish, 
gulp, gulp, GULP! 
Oh, no! It's been eaten by a... 

Octopus, octopus, 
squiggling in the water. 
Octopus, octopus, 
gulp, gulp, GULP! 
Oh, no! It's been eaten by a... 

Tuna fish, tuna fish, 
 flashing in the water. 
Tuna fish, tuna fish, 
gulp, gulp, GULP! 
Oh, no! It's been eaten by a... 

Great white shark, great white shark, 
lurking in the water. 
Great white shark, great white shark, 
gulp, gulp, GULP! 
Oh, no! It's been eaten by a... 

Humongus whale, humongus whale, 
spouting in the water. 
Humongus whale, humongus whale, 
gulp, gulp, BURP! 
EXCUSE ME!

The kids loved the song. Kaylee wanted to sing it over and over and over and over again. Issaac in particular loved the song and enjoyed singing it through out the lesson. In fact, he loved it so much, that whenever Jared or Everett would try to join in he let them know it was his words and his song so they had to stop singing/talking. (ha!)

Then we read some more fun stories, and the kids would point out when they saw an Octopus and when they saw the color YELLOW. The kids also helped me hold up some ABC books, where we learned about Oscar who loved his Octopus.

We also played a few games with the Octopus puzzle cutouts. The kids each chose a color and had to find the match. Then we turned the pieces upside down and played a form of memory, where the kids tried to match up the tops and bottoms via their color.

At this point my baby was done and crying a lot, and RJ was sweet and kept asking to help put her binky back in. Amber was there and was a life saver finding the kids a Wild Kratt's episode about squids, who are very similar to Octopus', so we watched that for a few minutes so I could feed the baby.

Once she was fed, we headed to the kitchen to trace "O's" and color our Octopus. Max spent the lesson downstairs because he was sick this weekend with a cold, but he joined us for snack and coloring portion.

I had a fun idea to glue cheerio's to the picture but it was pretty much a failure. I think I needed glue that either stuck better, or that I could get more out of or something. We also traced the kids hands for another project we'll complete next class.

And of course we ended the day with a yummy snack - of an Octopus out in the Ocean, of course.

And of course, have to show a shot of the babies in the family. ;) One slept the whole time, the other? not so much! ha!