"F" week

"F" week actually took two weeks to cover here at Planker academy.   We had some interruptions with travel, Halloween, doctor's appointments, etc.  That's the beauty of homeschool though, you can bump and roll without missing out on instruction that others received.  Here's a glimpse into our activities to learn the letter F. 

F is for fire...

...the cutting is great for scissor practice and the boys always love a chance to glue.  This one got two thumbs up from them.  

Our lowercase f was full of flowers...

...thanks to some leftover mothers day resources.  :-)

F is also for FRUIT which gets delivered to our house in this giant refrigerated truck every Wednesday...

 

F is also for FIREMAN pole...

...the boys had fun pretending they had to hurry down this pole.  I had fun getting in my run by taking them there on foot.  They impressed me and walked/ran most of the way back home on foot.  It's almost 2 miles to this park.  

F is for FUN which we always have a story time at Coffee Bar Blue Door...

...Colton was my big rug helper this week...

F is for FIELD trip to the museum.  Our favorites were the bus...

...the model military ships and planes...

....and the collection of old cars that could take turns being displayed on a turntable...

...big smiles all around at that exhibit.  

There was a lot of stuff that was completely over their heads but they had a blast just having a change of scenery and learning what they could from it all.  I had fun too!

F is for FOAM...

....this was much more exciting for Mason than for Colton.  Mason went all in while Colton stayed a chopstick's distance away from the mess.  

F is for FROGS...

...thanks Pinterest for the inspiration, and thanks to Colton for the idea to add legs.  :-) 

We also did a little study of FROG life cycles... 

...when cutting and gluing are included, the boys are 100% engaged.  We had read several books about frogs so we used this activity to review as well as to practice those cutting and gluing skills.  

I got the idea from The Preschool Journey...

...which I highly recommend by the way.  It's been a great starting place for me.   

We also did the FROG sensory sink that was included in the book...

...what a fun idea to color the water with jello!  We had fun testing things to see what would FLOAT and sink.  Next time I think we need a kiddie pool to really have some fun with this one.

We also had fun with the Fish and Tweezers math game from Angela Thayer's book...

...numbers are easy, pincher grasp needs some practice ;-).  

F is also for FIZZ... 

....just your standard vinegar and baking soda trick but stuff like that is ALWAYS exciting for little boys.  I need to get the BJs sized versions of both ingredients so we can do it over and over again.

F is for FOOD... 

...as if Halloween didn't provide enough sweets for our house, I treated the boys to cookies with my leftover birthday reward from Panera.   The boys were kind enough to share with me and we had fun enjoying the fresh air on the patio.  

They even made rockets out of the patio chairs... 

...I love their imaginations and I love Panera for not kicking us out :-)  

F is for FITNESS....

...this basketball court is one of our new favorite places to play.  We're still trying to master FREEZE tag and I'm afraid leapfrog will end in tears but we had a lot of fun running around and shooting hoops.  

We read lots of books about fish, frogs, and firemen as well as tons of others.  You know us :-)    This was one of our favorites this week...

"B" Week

It's a holiday week, thanks to labor Day, so we got off to a late start with school this week.  Our theme of the week is Capital B.  

B is for BEARS...

B is for BLOCKS...

...we used tongs to work on fine motor skills and sorted according to color and shape to work on math skills...

...Colton is continuing to love sorting :-)  This activity was an even bigger hit than I anticipated.  

B is for BALLOONS which are great for hand-eye coordination... 

...we also played a game where I wrote the numbers 1-10 on them and had them search for them in numerical order.  That one was a big hit!

B is for BAKING and who doesn't like to do that?  :-)...

B is for BOATS which we got to play with at "recess"...

...another perk of homeschooling is being able to take swimming breaks when the mood strikes.  It's like a giant water table, great for all of those measuring and pouring activities too.  :-)

 B is for BUILDING with BLOCKS...

...notice how once again Colton sorted the dinos next to the blocks.  I'm currently fascinated with this tendency in him.  Miss Rabe has the best blocks by the way, according to the boys.  I'm pretty sure other people's stuff is usually more exciting than our stuff.  Lately the boys have been building lots of animal houses with their blocks.  It's cute!

B is for BOOKS, which we had fun reading at the library and at home...

B is also for BUGS....

...we had fun making Grandparent's Day cards with our thumbprints.  

B is also for BEADS.... 

...which we used to make butterflies....

...stringing them onto pipe cleaners is great for fine motor skill development.  This is Mason's finished product.  Colton is only halfway done since he's taking his time with sorting colors as he goes...

...we liked how the butterfly had a B in it as well.  Fun stuff!

My proud mommy moment of the week had nothing to do with the letter B but is part of our morning routine around here these days.  Every day we do the calendar, check the weather, say the pledge and do a devotion.  Mason's got the pledge down and is quite proud of himself as am I.  Check him out...

God BLESS America!  

In case you're wondering, we get lots of our ideas from a book we purchased called the Preschool Journey by Angela Thayer.  It is a great springboard for ideas, very simple and practical, as well as very easy to follow.  Obviously, its very easy to supplement and personalize.  So far, I highly recommend it.