Rabbit Week!

We're wrapping up Rabbit Week!  Sweet Pea was here 4 days this week, and Princess (who's 4) was here 2 days.  I also had some other little munchkins wander in during the week, but the primary teaching time was done with these girls. 
Here are some of the read-alouds we did this week:

We also read about rabbits and hares in the Kingfisher First Animal Encyclopedia. 

For Rabbit Week, we learned the word "Whisker" and made rabbit noses by sewing elastic cord onto felt (I did the sewing, but Sweet Pea picked the thread and learned about needles... thankfully not through experience!!)  When they were done, she only wanted to wear hers as a necklace, not as on her nose, so this was the only picture I captured. 

I also hot glued whiskers on the one for me, and that really helped her get a visual for the vocabulary word.  Here's mine... picture courtesy of Sweet Pea!

We also made rabbit ear headbands, a cut paper rabbit, and really cute rabbit in the grass puppets with a toilet paper tube and a smaller tube made of cardstock for the rabbit. 

We were learning the shape "Parallelogram", but Sweet Pea just started at Precepts Academy so we did a lot of reviewing circles and triangles.  During all of our free time crafts she would ask me to cut her out circles of various sizes.  So we did learn a shape!!  I printed these amazing Pattern Block Picture Cards from Kelly's Kindergarten, and Sweet Pea had a good time matching the right block to the shapes in the picture.  So now I have six cards with pictures on both sides to use with the pattern blocks as a Tot Tray in the future! 

(sorry about the picture quality... my camera does a bad job of focussing!)

Our letter for the week was the letter R, and Princess did a great job coloring in an outline of the Letter R and creating a Letter R mini-book from First-School.  I asked her to tell me what letter it was on each page of the book and that provided just the right amount of review for her.  She also enjoyed cutting out the pictures and gluing them in the book herself.  Sweet Pea and I talked about the letter R and she traced it with her finger a few times, but quickly lost interest.  No problem!!  My goal at her age is exposure only!! 

Our number for the week was 18, but Sweet Pea and I focused on recognizing the number 1.  She does a great job counting and 1:1 matching, so now it's time to start putting the symbol with the number!  I may add some number cards to our tot trays for next week... we'll see! 

Finally, as I already mentioned, we learned the nursery rhyme "Jack be Nimble" and the kids practiced jumping over a candlestick!  That was a really fun way for them to memorize the nursery rhyme!!

Other fun moments of the week...

My funniest moment:
I'm in the kitchen getting snack ready and Sweet Pea is playing (albeit somewhat unsupervised) literally 4 feet away in my line of sight with the Rice Pouring Tot Tray.  Do you remember that in a previous post I mentioned that this tray required a LOT of supervision!! All of a sudden I hear rice scattering everywhere (not on the tray!!) and Sweet Pea pipes up, "Oh no!  Somebody made a big ME-ESS!!" (Read in a sing-song voice and you'll come close to her tone!)  Then we learned about vacuum cleaners!! So Funny!

Other fun moments:
- Playing store with pennies and items from the play food and dishes drawer
- Playing cowboy by tying a string around the stuffed puppy and buffalo's necks and dragging them around
- Playing dominoes and matching the next colour to make the train
- Playing with the Disney Checker Game... not sure why she loved this one so much, but we got it out every day!!  She would line up the blue checkers on the faces on one side and the red checkers on the faces on the other side.  We eould also stack them up to make a patterned tower (blue, red, blue, red) and then she'd flip the board over and set them all up on the squares for the tic-tac-toe board! 
- Having tea parties - everytime I turned around I was handed a cup of tea!!
- Having puppet shows with our rabbit in the grass puppets. 

That's a pretty good overview of our Rabbit Week!  Tune in next week to hear what we're learning about Snow and the letter S!

Thanks for reading!

Jennifer

Tot Trays!

I read about Tot Trays over at Carisa's 1+1+1=1 Blog and have been following rabbit trails all over the internet trying to garner more amazing ideas!!  (I also really enjoyed the Spinner's End Nursery School posts.)  Anyways, here are some of the tot trays we've been using this week. 

1) Sorting Pom Poms - I included a pair of tweezers with this activity, but they are a tad too small for Sweet Pea to grip... I'm looking for a plastic pair of tongs, I just havent' found a good set yet.  We tried this activity with a spoon yesterday for transferring, and she seemed to enjoy that way a lot more!

2) Lacing Cards - She has figured out how to put the string in one hole and up the next one, but after that, it basically gets whipped around her head like a sling shot!  She really likes it though, so ... almost a success!!

3) Rice - This is an amazing activity for pouring skills.  You should see the number of play dishes that were added to this tray!!  The challenge with this one is to keep the rice on the tray.  It requires pretty close supervision (but it's fun for me to play with too!).  Sweet Pea and I dyed the rice ourselves with food colouring.  I measured out the rice and food coloring into a tupperware container, and she shook it like crazy!!

4) Pom Poms - we used this one for sorting and patterning.  This was (surprisingly, for me!) Sweet Pea's favourite tray!  She requested it a couple of times during the week.  She loved lining them up in rows and was actually quite amazing at creating the pattern (for a not yet three year old!)...  I'm sure we'll use this one lots in the future, which is great because I can coordinate the pom pom colours to fit the theme!!  Next week we're doing snow... blue and white, perhaps!!

Tomorrow, I'll give you a rundown on our Rabbit Theme week and the books and activities we did!

Thanks for reading!

Jennifer

Up and Running!!

Well, the Precepts Academy Preschool is up and running!!  I have my first almost full-time little person!  Sweet Pea is not quite 3 and she loves imaginative play and "paperwork"!  We have had so much fun this week learning about rabbits!  Here is our learning poster for the week:

We haven't done a lot of talking about Parallelograms yet... hmm... maybe I need to get the pattern blocks out tomorrow!!  You can see our calendar beside the learning poster.  We put a shamrock sticker on every day in March and we sing the Days of the Week song every day.  Sweet Pea loves to sing and almost has this one down in less than a week!! We also usually sing This is the Day that the Lord has Made during calendar time.  For Jack be Nimble, I set out a Votive candle on the floor (unlit... duh...) and the kids jumped over it as we recited Jack be Nimble.  They loved saying "Jack jumped over the candlestick!" as they jumped over the candle.  

Here are some photos of our school room set up:

 On the shelves are Stuffed Animals, Mr. Potato Head, Barbies, and My Little Ponies.  In the clear plastic drawer are play food and dishes, dolls and doll clothes, and puppets.

 Behind the chairs is the 100s chart.  Behind the table is the ABC poster.  On the shelves are Lincoln logs, Bus, Lock & Key toy, Animals bin, K'nex, and People bin.  On the white shelves are puzzles, lego, buttons, and misc. games that wouldn't fit in the game cupboard! 

I adore these book shelves!! The first one is all Kids' fiction arranged alphabetically by author.  The 2nd and 3rd shelf are non-fiction loosely arranged according to the Dewey Decimal system.  The bottom middle shelf is coloring books.  The top shelf on the right is CDs.  On the other side of the white shelf are Preschool teaching resource books and arts and crafts books... as well as a miscellaneous sampling of homeschool books that I reference frequently!!

These shelves are the best thing about the whole room!!  They were built to hide the back of the wall oven (which takes up the entire middle shelf on the right hand side), but they hold basically all the craft supplies etc. that we use everyday!  Such as:



Math and Language Manipulatives and Games

Dishes, Preschool Towels, and Tot Tray Supplies

Paints, Perler Beads, Nature Box (Shells, Pinecones, etc.)

Playdough, Pipecleaners, Stickers, Tissue Paper, Fabric & Felt, Yarn, Paint Cups, Foamies, Wood Pieces (Popsicle sticks, skewers, clothes pins), Googly eyes & styrofoam, and Pom Poms!  Whew!

So that is the preschool... next time I'll show you the quiet room and kids bathroom, as well as some of the tot tray ideas we've been using this week!!  I'm having a blast, and I love that I'm able to do what I love out of my own home!  If I can't homeschool my own kids, this is the next best thing!!

Thanks for reading!!

Jennifer

A Salute to Moms

Yesterday was an amazing day!  I had one of my favourite preschooler friends over for a lesson in the morning and we got to talking as we were completing a paint with water (and watercolours!) picture. 
"Who's your mom?" queried my little friend.
"My mom is Mrs. Edwards who teaches you about Jesus in Children's Church, " I replied.
"And my mom teaches me and [brother] and [sister] at home," she said.
"That's right.  And my mom used to teach me and my brother and two sisters about Jesus at my home when we were little.  Now, she doesn't have any little people living at her house, so she teaches you about Jesus in Children's Church."
"This paint is white, just like the colour Jesus made my heart," she remarked, moving on.  I just treasured this little snippet of conversation because it shows what a difference moms are making.  I praise God for a mother who raised me to know Jesus, who taught me to spend time in God's Word and in prayer everyday by setting me the example of doing this herself.  Sometimes I don't always see eye to eye with my mom about everything, but I respect her opinions because she has lived out her life demonstrating faithfulness in all she does.  She taught me to obey not because she was right (which she was), but because in obeying her, I showed my love and obedience for Jesus.  (This early teaching, by the way, saved her a lot of grief when it came to the teenage years!)  I remember her reading Little Pilgrim's Progress to us as well as countless children's books, poems, and Bible stories, not because they catered to her interests, but because she wanted to instill in us a love of literature.  It is a direct result of this early influence that I was reading at 4 and have a library of over 2000 books today, including a treasured copy of Little Pilgrim's Progress (as well as the original) which I found a couple of years ago in a thrift store rummage!

Anyways, all that is just to say that I love moms and I think they need a lot more encouragement than they get some days.  So if you're reading this, and you're feeling guilty because you didn't have time to construct the Great Pyramid out of sugar cubes this week amid running the eight year old to hockey, dance, soccer, swimming, and guitar lessons and making fresh play dough for the 4 year old while hearing her recite the alphabet and feeding the baby and getting meals and making sure the house runs smoothly, please remember that the choices you are making for your kids now have a lasting impact and above all, stay close to Jesus.  "Apart from me you can do nothing." John 15.  Have a blessed week!

Jennifer

Still Praying

Well, I'm still looking for full-time preschool / day care kids.  This has certainly been an exercise in trusting God.  I do not consider myself to be entrepreneurial by nature, so starting my own business and not having a regular paycheck can tend to cause slight panic attacks until I remember that I'm not in this on my own.  God has given me a passion for this little corner of Northern Ontario and a passion for educating children to high, Christian standards.  There are so few teaching jobs available in the Public or Catholic boards, and we don't have a local Christian school... yet. 
What does a Christian preschool mean?  It means that every morning, we start the day off with prayer, trusting God to lead us into the learnings He has for us that day.  We thank Him for the weather, whatever it may be, knowing that by the "word of His power" He is "upholding all things" (Hebrews 1:3).  We thank Him for daily providing for our needs - our snack, our lunch, the roof over our heads, our families.  We read Bible stories that tie into our theme - Jonah for Oceans, Noah for Rainbows, Joseph for Clothes...  We listen to music that honours God and reminds us of who He is and what Jesus has done for us - Jesus Loves Me, For God so Loved the World, He's Able...  It means that we look at all of our science experiments through the lens of God's Intelligent Design of the world - monkeys climb because God made them that way, ice melts because God knew we wouldn't want it to be winter all the time, God gave whales blubber to keep them warm in the cold water... In everything we do, we want to "remember our Creator in the days of our youth" (Ecclesiastes 12:1).  It is not my job to force kids to make a profession of faith.  It's not even my job to lead them through that process.  It is God's job to capture their hearts and lead them to Himself through the work of His Holy Spirit.  It is their parent's job to daily live out their faith at home, to answer their kids' questions about God, and to lead them in prayer when the time comes.  If I can keep on praying for them and encouraging them to see God's hand at work in their lives and in the world around them, to live their lives for His honour and glory, I will have produced much fruit!
This entry may have turned out to be more mission statement-y than I originally intended, but it was good for me to stop and consider why it is still so important for me to advertise as a Christian preschool, when that "label" may turn some people off.  I am a Christian and this is the only way I know how to live.  God honours faithfulness to Him.  Jesus, let me be faithful. 

Jennifer

Back Online!

Well, I finally have internet access again after my move!  This is very exciting, but does not necessarily guarantee that I'll be writing any more frequently!!!  My self-education journey continues to progress.  Here is a list of my 2011 Reads so far:
Anne of Green Gables series (all 8 books, a yearly reading selection since I've been 12 years old!  I still cry in every book!)
Voyage of the Dawn Treader (C.S. Lewis - I had to read it before I saw the movie!)
Gullivers Travels (only Lilliput & Brobdingnag - again, I just watched the movie! Aside: Jack Black is hilarious!)
Brothers Far From Home: The WWI Diary of Eliza Bates (I'm on a bit of a WWI kick right now - it started with Rilla of Ingleside)
The Wingless Bird, Catherine Cookson
Sinners and Shadows, Catrin Collier
Danny Boy, Anne Bennett
(The last three were recommendations from our local librarian... I don't think she quite understood what I was looking for... they were basically romances about women not about the actual events of WWI... oh well, the last one, Danny Boy, I actually quite enjoyed.  It is the story of a woman and her husband who had to leave Ireland to get away from the IRA and their search for employment in England, among other touching events.)
Megiddo's Shadow - excellent about Cdn. Yeomanry trooper sent to the Dardanelles
If I Die Before I Wake: The Flu Epidemic Diary of Fiona MacGregor, Toronto, 1918 (Jean Little)... amazing read - I finished it in one afternoon and I cried buckets!
Currently, I'm reading All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque which is written from a German protagonist's perspective and is exceptionally interesting. 
I'm also attempting to get through Confessions by St. Augustine, but it's a pretty hard row to hoe!  If I can get a couple of Books done per month, I count myself as doing well!
In addition, I'm doing tons of reading from the Old Fashioned Education grade 3 reading list relating to Ancient History.  She does have some excellent selections and the Science Readers by William J. Long are amazing... they make me want to become a naturalist!!  (http://www.oldfashionededucation.com/)
I'll try to be back soon with more of an update on the preschool program, but wanted to get these readings recorded while they were still fresh in my mind!
Happy life-long learning!

Jennifer

Poetry... the stuff of life!

So as part of my journey to self-education, I adore reading and copying poetry.  Having begun a study on the 17th century (simply because other than some American history, I don't know that much about it), I came across the Puritan writer Anne Bradford and her poem "By Night When Others Soundly Slept".  I have copied it here for your enjoyment. 

By night when others soundly slept
And hath at once both ease and Rest,
My waking eyes were open kept
And so to lie I found it best.


I sought him whom my Soul did Love,
With tears I sought him earnestly.
He bow'd his ear down from Above.
In vain I did not seek or cry.


My hungry Soul he fill'd with Good;
He in his Bottle put my tears,
My smarting wounds washt in his blood,
And banisht thence my Doubts and fears.


What to my Saviour shall I give
Who freely hath done this for me?
I'll serve him here whilst I shall live
And Love him to Eternity.

Being of the type to stay up at night and pour out my heart to God, I felt a decided kinship with this poem.  I'm now headed off to copy it into my poetry journal.  Poems do not have the same effect unless they are copied out by hand!