Sorry!!

We really haven't been on "spring break" this whole time. Life's just been busy. We've had sick kids and family has been in town and I've just been a slacker. SORRY!! I'm going to get caught up right now!!! Don't hate me. :)

Spring Break!!

This is spring break in this area so Dad is going to be home and we may go out of town for a couple of days so we're taking a spring break too!! YAY!! Have a great week everyone.

Book of the week

    

This was such a fun book! I loved Flossie's attitude in it. I kept laughing out loud as I read it to the kids.

Here's what Amazon had to say about it:

Grade 1-3 McKissack recounts this story which was told to her as a child by her grandfather. Flossie is a young black girl who lives with her grandmother in the rural south. When Big Mama sends Flossie to deliver a basket of eggs to a neighbor, she cautions her to be careful of the fox who had been frightening the chickens and stealing their eggs. To Flossie's "How do a fox look?," Big Mama responds that "A fox be just a fox." Having no idea what this means, Flossie sets out on her mission through a wooded area, where she is greeted by the fox. As he tries to convince her that he is to be feared, she refutes him by insisting that he prove who he is. To readers' delight, the frustrated fox fails every attempt. Fox' final confrontation with a fierce dog saves the day for Flossie, who proves herself to be more cunning than the fox. The watercolor and ink illustrations, with realistic figures set on impressionistic backgrounds, enliven this humorous and well-structured story which is told in the black language of the rural south. The language is true, and the illustrations are marvelously complementary in their interpretation of the events. This spirited little girl will capture readers from the beginning, and they'll adore her by the end of this delightful story. Helen E. Williams, University of Maryland, College Park

Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Wind (toddler)

• Wind Watch: We watched the wind for a few minutes so I was sure she knew what wind was.
• Paper Bag Kite: We decorated brown paper lunch bags w/ crayons and stickers. Then I used a hole punch and put a whole near the top on both sites and stuck some yarn through to make a handle. We went outside and the kids ran around, holding onto their paper bag kite handles letting them "fly". They loved them!
• Wind Chime: We played with the wind chimes for a bit. She shook them, hit them and watched the wind blow them.
• Like the wind: I pulled out different objects (a feather, a piece of cardboard, and a small rock) and asked her which one the wind could blow. Then I demonstrated how we can make wind by blowing out of our mouths. She blew each object --- the feather was the easiest to move and I asked her why. She said b/c it's small. She shocks me sometimes. ;) Then we played around with the feather. All three of us tried to keep it from touching the ground by blowing it up into the air. We couldn't let it touch the floor or our hands. The kids had a ball!
• Wind Dance: I attached crepe paper to her wrists and she spun in circles and danced around pretending to be the wind. :)

The Letter 'C' - Day 3

• Camel Cal's C Race
• similar to the others. I made a board game and then I printed out small pictures of different objects. If the objects starts with a C then move one space, if not, don't move. If you get Camel Cal then you get to move 2 spaces! Collin leaves these so I continue to do them for each letter and they're great to work on phonics with.
• Candy Estimating
• I filled up a jar with candy (we used peppermints) and estimated how many were in the jar.
• Clap and Count
• We practiced counting. We clapped with each number but I made it a bit tricky. I would say... every 10 numbers we through our hands out on the last number then spin around on the first. Example "[spin around] 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-[throw hands out] 10 - [spin around] 11-12-... it was fun. We had to do it several times before he got the hang of it but it was fun!! 

Today was pretty simple... we didn't do much but we always seem to keep Fridays simple.

The Letter 'C' - Day 2

• Read Corduroy by Don Freeman         
• I showed him what corduroy felt like and looked like. Then I pulled out a bunch of cloth samples and we made a cloth collage.
• Where did Corduroy lose his button? He drew a picture of where Corduroy may have lost his button and then glued a button on the picture.
• Finally (this took a while) we made crystals for science. Well, we got them started. He's going to keep a journal of his observations. He's very excited about them. I just hope they work. ;) More info on growing crystals, click here.

The Letter 'C' - Day 1

• Collin saw crackers and cheese sitting on the table when he came in (you can really use any type of snack that starts w/ c -- cookies, candy canes...etc). I said... which animal pal do you think left these treats? He started thinking of animals that start with c -- all he really got was cat. I introduced him to a cartoon picture of a Camel named Camel Cal (our mascot for the week).
• He glued Cs onto paper with Cotton balls. ;)
• We talked a little bit about clowns and had a carnival. We played carnival games like the penny toss, bean bag races... etc.
• We made a C book