Monday, November 9, 2009

School Rules

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I may need help from you on Pretty Mondays. It was my turn for preschool the last two weeks and now we probably have the flu floating around (not necessarily the cause of the other). So between playing catchup and trying to keep hands washed and cups separate, there really is nothing pretty to see around here. So wanna see what preschool was about last week?

The letter was 'H'. The theme was 'Houses'. The kids are awesome, I had such a great time, thanks to my incredible mom's perfect ideas.

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The welcome exercises we do every day are so cute. We recognize everyone who is there and sing a song about their name. Then they each come and open their bus window and velcro their name to the front board. We sing about the day of the week and the weather then 'dress' our Bernstein Bears for whatever the weather is that day.

They are getting close to learning the pledge and they love singing 'You're a Grand Old Flag' and marching around the house behind the flag leader.

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I found this idea in the "Teach Me, Mommy" book. I made each of them a house, with five or six pages behind for each room of the house. Then I drew furniture for each room and they colored and cut which ones they wanted in their 'house'.

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We built houses for snack time as well. Sometimes they surprise me with their creativity.

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The best part! Have you read 'The Mitten' by Jan Brett? It's about this mitten that gets lost in the snow and all the forest animals squeeze in to keep warm. It holds for the mole, rabbit, badger, fox, bear, etc. but explodes when the last little mouse makes the bear sneeze. So I made my own, giant, spandex mitten! They LOVED it. They'd each pick what animal they wanted to be then look through the book to see who got to go in first.

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I knew moving here that I wanted to find a group of moms to do a preschool rotation. I happened to talk to just the right person at church who had done this before and was interested in doing it again with her youngest. She found the other moms, got us organized, and had great ideas to keep things consistent for the kids. All the moms are as excited about it as I am and I'm so happy to be a part of it. Abbey is learning things so quickly and also learning respect and invaluable social skills. Love it. And love that I don't have to do it again for eight weeks, ha!

10 comments:

MOSblue said...

You are a very impressive mother! I love reading your blog! Is this like a co-op preschool? Do the kids go to a different house every week for preschool? I would really like to do something like this.

Erica said...

Very creative ideas, especially the mitten! That is so, so cute! I miss teaching, maybe next year.

What else is new? It sounds like you are doing lots of fun and exciting things always!

Unknown said...

I think home school is so much fun. We are on H as well and I'm amazed at how fast kids learn. The fun thing will be watching public school "dumb" them back down to a typical level. Good job lady of the creative mists.

Danette said...

I know I tell you this all the time but you are so amazing. It's sickning actually. Mostly, it is unfair for all of us who lack even a morsel of creativity and skill. I guess we can always come and appreciate those who have it!!

koryn said...

OK - where do I start. First, the mitten. Coolest idea ever! I love Justin there cheering them on. Did he squeeze in a burst it? The houses theme, what fun! I never did this with my kids, always a preschool away and now I am kind of wishing I had. Of course, I did not have to prepare this or clean my house after. Perhaps your charming picture have created an ideal I could not recreate :) Kiss the girls for me.

The Hodsons said...

You are tooooo cute! These are really fun ideas. Now I'm really hoping there are people around here who will want to do something like this too when Brynlee is a little older.

Alisa and Crowells said...

What darling ideas! I love the bus idea--and the pretzel houses--how cute is that! I guess Elsie will have to wait a couple more years--okay so she's not the only one who's excited.

Melody said...

FAbulous in every way.
What great stripey spandex!

DeGooyer Family said...

I agree with Danette! =) I wish there was a way you could spread some of that creativity around... =)

Lauren said...

Hi! I just stumbled upon your blog today, and I really like your style of photography! I am a wanna-be photog but feel like the winter months in Ohio KILL my creativity and learning process. I noticed the post in Kirtland. I assume you are in Ohio also? What ward are you in? My husband is in dental school at Case. If you are looking for a photog buddy, I would love to chat any time. My blog is not nearly as cute, but feel free to check it out. ooohhappyday dot blogspot dot com