August: Sink or Float science game

Unfortunately my phone was dead so no pictures of the game but we took a lemonade pitcher and filled it with water halfway and then we gathered stuff outside and around the house and then went on the porch and Z made her prediction (ooh vocab word) and I marked it down and then we watched (even Daddy helped!) to see if they would sink or float. Z loved it because she could splash the water and got to throw rocks in it. And then after that we played with the Daisy and Minnie cars on the porch until the bugs came out. Here is the prediction paper typed out.

Name			Date
Object	Prediction	Sink	Float
Football	F		x
Duck	F		x
Zebra	F		x
Car	F		x
Block	F		x
Pom Pom	F	x
Z spoon	F		x
Spoon	S	x
Kid Spatula	F	x
Big rock	F	x
Little rock	F	x
Medium rock	F	x
Leaf	F		x
Acorn	S		x

August: School prep continued, math and science lesson plans

So I had my planning meeting with my other mommy resources and I took over math and science. They are in charge of reading/writing and fine motor/sensory. So lately I have been pinning up a storm based on math and science alone. I'm not a math or science person really so it's been helpful for me to expand my horizons.

I did a pictoral schedule with Z today to see if it helped her learn the schedule better. We drew it together. I also tried to draw it with environmental words (McDonalds, JC Penney, Post Office). I am still working on learning that.

One more week til school!

August game alphabet and gross motor

Way too hot to finish this but she did it for a little bit. Try again when it's cooler. I had to make circles so it wasn't overwhelming. Without them she was overwhelmed. But then she jumped on a j, flew to a f and galloped to a g. And then we talked about if it was uppercase or lowercase. 

Starting square

Jump to the J

Hang on I have to take my shoes off

Jumping on J

Fly to F

She flew to f

Gallop to g

August prep continued: Time for the Dreaded Lesson Plans

So I haven't done lesson plans since college and they weren't horrible just time consuming. However that was back before Pinterest existed sooooo I am hoping that will make my prep work minimize a lot. I downloaded a bunch of new apps for Z's leap pad 2 today so she can have more educational help and she loves the LP2.

She has Alphabet Stew (letters), Get Ready for Kindergarten: Counting at the Dragon Cafe (counting, numbers, writing numbers) and GRK: Ozzie and Mac's ABCs (letter recognition, uppercase, lowercase, writing letters), Scout and Friends e book (read along e book focusing on over, under, above, below), Peep and the Big Wide World volume 1 (its a science app), Sesame Street: Super Maria (numbers), a couple coloring apps for creativity. I didn't want to super overwhelm her or I could have got more.

Last night, I was reading one of the new books and realized that Z was not doing very well with number recognition so I made some last minute flashcards. I still have to laminate them. It's a match game I saw on Pinterest.

Alright off to Pinterest letter recogniton!

http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/insects/mcaterpillar-letters.htm

http://www.kidzone.ws/imageschanged/kindergarten/ib-book-g.gif

http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/vowels/lettera.htm

http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/abc/match/match3.asp

http://pinterest.com/source/kidzone.ws/

August: Getting ready for school: First week of September theme and books!

For books, I didn't want to do all books about back to school, so I found a list for books about ballet (since the bonus for week one is gross motor skills and Z loves dancing)

http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2013/08/books-about-ballet.html

You could really just get any book about jumping, sports, dancing, walking, running, whatever the kid is into.

This is on my list (and from this list http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/category/board-books-for-babies) but I already own it so I don't need it from the library...
Chicka Chicka ABC by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault  is a fantastic board book and shorter version of the longer book. My son loves this book and it’s the perfect amount of text for a toddler, the illustrations by Lois Ehlert are so bright and bold that even very young babies will respond to it! A must have for all bookshelves.

Definitely taking books off this list since the first week theme is back to school! http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2012/07/31-books-to-read-about-school.html

And def check out this list now and in future (http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/book-reviews)

Okay so here is my first list (hopefully the library has the titles in)
Books about Gross Motor Skills (for Z - ballet)
Ballerino Nate - Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Katy Duck is a caterpillar - Alyssa Satin Campbell
Ballet Kitty: Ballet Class - Bernadette Ford
Brontorina - James Howe
Bea at Ballet - Rachel Isadora
Ella Bella Ballerina + Cinderella - James Mayhew
Tallulah's Tutu - Marilyn Singer
Ballerina! - Peter Sis
Hilda Must Be Dancing - Karma Wilson
Dogs Don't Do Ballet - Anna Kemp

Books about Preschool/Back to School (appropriate for age 3)
Maisy Goes to Preschool - Lucy Cousins
Miss Mingo and the first day of school - Jamie Harper
Kindergarten Countdown - Anna Jane Hays
My Preschool - Anne Rockwell
What to expect at preschool - Heidi Murkoff
Starting School - Janet and Allen Ahlberg
Going to Nursery - Catherine and Laurence Anholt
Too Small for School - Lauren Childs
I love you all day long - Francesca Rusackas
DW Guide to preschool - Marc Brown
Llama Llama Misses Mama - Anna Dewdsey

Books about Alphabet Recognition, Number Recognition, Colors and Shapes
Chicka, Chicka ABC
Chicka, Chicka 123
My Many Colored Days - Dr. Seuss
The Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle
10 Rubber Ducks - Eric Carle
Poky Puppy
10 Hungry Rabbits: Counting & Color Concepts - Anita Lobel
123 A childs first counting book - Alison Jay
123 to the zoo - Eric Carle
123 Yippie - Lisa Jahn-Clough
Counting Crocadiles - Judy Sierra
Big Fat Hen
Quack and Count - Keith Baker
Eggs and Legs - Michael Dahl
On the Launch Pad - Michael Dahl

Updated to add the books that were in at the library that I got. 
I also got a few board books. 

August: Lesson Planning for September/Year

So we have library books today and what we check out today won't be back until Sept. 13 which is the end of the first week of school! So I had to put together my calendar today with themes so I could start planning and getting books I need!

I don't think I can put a whole excel sheet in here and honestly I don't feel like dealing with format right now LOL so here is what I can copy/paste from Excel... the list I got from http://dbsenk.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/planning-time/ via Pinterest (of course). It is a kindergarten theme for the year from 2009-2010. I just had to change the dates and of course make up my own lesson plans based around the themes. And since Zoe is only 3... cater it to a 3-year-old and not a kindergarten. No problem!

I am also in a Mom's group so I tried to incorporate upcoming play dates into the themes. This is just what I came up with today...

Week	Dates	Theme	Play dates
Week 1	Sept. 9-13	School/Bears
Week 2	Sept. 16-20	Bears/Mexico	Mexican Independence Day, Cheeseburger Day
Week 3	Sept. 23-27	Apples	Superheroes, Johhny Appleseed
Week 4	Sept. 30-Oct. 4	Me/Senses

and for lesson plans (def. still more research needs done...) I came up with ...

Lesson plans
Letter recognition (LR), number recognition (NR), colors, shapes. Focus: gross and fine motor skills
LR, NR, colors, shapes, Focus: science project
LR, NR, Colors, Shapes, Focus: art and music
LR, NR, Colors, Shapes, Focus: reviewing This is what the Web site I got the themes from did but like I said it is for kindergarten level.... http://dbsenk.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/scope-and-sequence.jpg

Abcs and art. August set up. Schedule so far

Put up the alphabet banner today that mom c gave me. Hubby said use straight pins on walls. Some went in and some required thumb exercises in pushing. And I think it's crooked. Must learn from this experience lol

I also brought her easel upstairs for an art corner and opened her princess drawing station from her birthday. 

Schedule wise so far has been

Breakfast and wake up for hour

Weather and mail

Read books and do letters

Art time

Snack

Morning play time - doll house, pretend play

Science or sensory

Lunch

Mommy errands out if any

Math and counting

Clean up

Play outside - afternoon play time

Daddy home

Play outside

Eat dinner

Bath/jammies

Screen time

Bed

Schedule try out

8a Zoe woke up

Circle time - calendar, and finger plays

Mail time - sent mail, got mail from Saturday lol talked about how stamps are not stickers. Talked about first and last names. 

Played with little people while I folded laundry. 

Morning pre-breakfast snack (she was still tired) of milk and granola bar

9a cooking lesson and breakfast. Made muffins. Went over instructions. Measured.

930 breakfast - muffins and milk

August transformation

Switched around some things. Added clean up labels to bins. Added calendar. 

Before labels

Before labels

Circle time rug and play rug

I've had these in our house forever. They are canvas bins from Target. I love them! 

Just another bin before clean up label. 

My labeling tools. First I made labels with green construction paper, contact paper and marker. Then I cut them. Then I put a Velcro circle on back of both and boom - clean up labels. Also for labels, Zoe and I went over the pictures and named what is in the bins. 

After

After

After

Pretend play area

The front of "classroom" 

8-11-13 our new calendar! Zoe and I did it yesterday. 

August

My job as a stay-at-home-Mom is to educate, socialize and better my daughter's life until she is ready to go to school full-time. I am to be her educator at this very early stage. I have a little bit of a background in elementary education but not enough to actually teach in a public school. Over the past two years (birth through age 2), play time has been a big part of our lives. I didn't focus a lot on the learning aspect. It was more about growing and learning as she went. As we reach the preschool years, I thought it was more time to get serious and prepare her more for kindergarten. Most likely, she will be in a partial or full-time pre-K next year at age 4. So now at age 3, it is time to learn!

I've invited a couple friends to join in the learning process and share the wealth a little bit. I want to focus this year more on structure - a day schedule closer to a kindergarten schedule - only with leeway because she is only 3.

Her playroom is the perfect spot for a learning space. It has space for pretend play and space for learning.

I am still going through the curriculum but have narrowed down my themes for lesson plans and am in the process of setting up my classroom.

School begins September 9.

I will be using this blog to keep track of activities, schedules, plans, etc.