Full Swing

We are in full school mode now that Lauren has started. Next year, she doesn’t want to wait a week after Taylor before she starts. Taylor is in 2nd grade and has everything down. No problem. He has lots of advice for Lauren. She had a great first day of Kindergarten. She wanted to go on the big playground with Taylor, but instead she gave him a big hug. So cute. She was thrilled when she saw her little friend as soon as she got to the kindergarten playground. Everyone got hugs that morning!

Summer Bingo Part 2

 We had such a great summer.  We got to do alot of fun things and be with a lot of family!  However, we did have down time here and there and that's where the Summer Bingo was a wonderful thing.  The kids just loved it.  I totally changed it to Summer Fun- because there was no Bingo involved in mine. I used pictures and they just had to do 5 activities to get their surprise. One the the activities was a collage.  (Great cutting practice) Lauren found pictures of certain colors and Taylor found letters in his name.

 

                                                They also built a fort and read books in the fort.

This activity was sponsored by Home Depot- I used paint chips and glued part of the paint chip on a clothes pin.  They had to match the clothes pin with the right color.  Very easy for both of them- but still fun and takes time.  Just what I wanted!  And it helps with their fine motor skills!!
I'm sure I will be pulling these out again over Spring Break and Winter Break and they will become Spring Fun and Winter Fun!

It's the teacher in me

My friend told me about this great program created by Waterford Institute. We've been doing it for about 2 months now and I am loving it. It's a FREE computer program for kids who are in preschool in the state of Utah. However, the curriculum goes up to 2nd grade, so once you have the program for one child, you can add other children as well. It's reading, math and science. You and your child have to commit to 15 min. a day- which we always go over. I got the program for Taylor and added Lauren. The kids take a placement test to see where they are. For example, Lauren is working on finding lowercase G's in a mix of letters, and learning calendar and the 5 senses. Taylor is learning sight words and counting syllables in words. The scope and sequence of the lessons is awesome. All the lessons have fun songs and cute books that they incorporate into the lessons. After they complete their lesson, they get free play. You can also set up how long their lessons are. So Taylor does 10 minutes of Math and Reading before he gets free play. Lauren does 5 min. of each. It's been especially nice this summer for them to have just one more thing when it's too hot to go outside. And it's educational- so we are all happy! Here's the number if you want in on this great program! 1.800.669.4533.