Letter Y

The theme we had for this week was yarn. A few of the books we read were: You Were Loved Before You Were Born by Eve Bunting and Karen Barbour, Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni, Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep by Teri Sloat, This Next New Year by Janet S. Wong. We also read Sometimes Y by Mary Elizabeth Salzmann.

Vocabulary words were yo- yo, year, you, yes, and young. We also looked at the color yellow with Hello, Yellow by Christianne C. Jones and Colors All Around Us: Yellow by Daniel Nunn.

Our sentences for the week were:
You are loved!
Where is the yarn?
Do yaks yodel?
The sun is yellow.

Our Bible verse was from Genesis 16:13, "You are the God who sees."

For science we had a yellow warbler, a yak, and yarrow flower up.

For art time we did some yarn painting. We put the yarn in paint, placed it on half a sheet of paper. I folded the paper in half and then we opened it up. The girls had a mirror image of the yarn paint. We also took some yarn around card stock and wove construction paper through it to make a weaving. The girls really enjoyed the yarn weaving.

Letter X

Extra special letter X! This letter is so hard. We didn't have a theme but we did have a poem.

Extra Special X
By Katrina Lybbert

Excellent, exciting letter X!
So extra special is letter X.
Fox, box, mix, wax,
Phlox, ox, six, tax.
Always an adventure to explore,
With letter X, which we adore!

Six Little Chicks by Jez Alborough, The Crayon Box that Talked by Shane De Rolf, Hattie and the Fox by Mem Fox, Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall, Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss, My "x,y,z" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure, A Fox the Sound of X by Alice Flanagan,

Our Bible Verse was from Genesis 16:13 "You are the God who sees."

For science we looked at: fox, archaeopteryx, phlox.

Texas by Sarah Tieck

During our art time we took a letter X and made a xylophone. I also outlined the girls hands and gave them Q-tips to make x-rays of their hands. We also took some time to do a fun art project and finger paint a pumpkin for this fall weather we have been having. Oh yeah, I knew there was one more, we took some leaves from the backyard and glued them onto the edge of a paper plate to make a fall wreathe that we have been enjoying in our dining room. It looks nice when the light shines through the leaves into the room.

Letter E

We started letter E this week our theme was eggs. Our vocabulary words for the week were: easy, East, early, and exit.

Our poem for the week was:
I Bought a Dozen New-Laid Eggs,
Of good old farmer Dickens,
I hobbled home upon two legs,
And found them full of chickens.  

The Bible verse for the week was from Romans 10:13 - Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

 For science we looked at Electricity. I found a book but it was a little too advanced for the girls. We also looked at elephant seals, elk, eucalyptus flower, and eel.

In our social studies time we read about Thomas Edison, which went along well with electricity.

For art time we made an E, Elephant out of construction paper.

E gluing on her elephant ears. (Look at all the E's in that sentence!)

A and E's finished 'Elephant's.

We have started adding in some writing. I like this because it helps with our reading skills too. I try to incorporate our letter for the week into the sentence as much as I can. This has also helped to introduce punctuation.

Letter F

The letter F was our next letter and our theme was frog. Our vocabulary words were: fish, fun, fan, flag, fly.

Our poem was

"Yaup, yaup, yaup!"
Said the Frog as he hopped away:
"The insects feed
On the floating weeed,
And I'm hungry for dinner today."

 "Yaup, yaup, yaup!"
Said the Frogs; "It is charming weather;
We'll come and sup,
When the moon is up,
And we'll all of us croak together."

We had some great books this week were Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister and
The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss. We had some others but I returned them to the library and can't find the paper I wrote them on!

Our Bible verse was from Hebrews 13:8 - Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

For our math time we looked at a rectangle and the number five.

In our science time we looked at ferret, flounder, flamingo, and flax. We read a little bit about flamingos.

Social Studies we read about Franklin Roosevelt and Florida. We also read a bit about fire safety. This was good for the girls because I haven't done this much. We talked about how to leave a room during a fire. We looked at a fireman's gear and how they are helpful during a fire.

We had lots of fun singing Five Little Speckled Frogs. We were a little slow this week because we had some illness going around our house. Hopefully we can catch up soon.

Letter I

Our fourth week of school! After a month of doing something it becomes a habit, right? Well, at least we are doing a better job of staying on track than we did last year. For our reading time we read: Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni, How do Dinosaurs Say I Love You by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague, Imagination and the Letter I by Cynthia Klingel. Our poem for this week was Inchworm by Katrina Lybbert:

Inchworm, inchworm on the ground,
Crawling slowly, not a sound,
Do you wonder what you'll see,
When you pass beyond that tree?

Careful now, my little friend,
A bird is just around the bend,
Better hide inside that tree,
Where you'll be safe and free!

Our vocabulary words were: inside, ice, island, itch, and inch.

Our Bible verse was: I am with you always. Mth 28:20

For our math time we read  My Four Book by Jane Belk Moncure. Our color was indigo. We also talked about inches. I had the girls pick four objects to measure. This helped us talk about length and width. We took a small ruler and measured the objects. We wrote down the measurements in their notebooks and they drew a picture of what they measured.

A measuring one of her objects.

E counting how tall her cup is.

E and A drawing the objects they measured.

For our social studies time we read about Indiana by Judith Jensen Hyd.

For our art project I cut out a letter I and three ice cream scoops. The girls glued the I and scoops of ice cream.

Now to leave you with a little cuteness!

A, E, and AM all together.

AM, the youngest. How can you not smile at this face?

Letter H

The letter H seemed to go a little better this week. The books we read this week were: Once there was a house, a house that was a Home by Alex T. Smith, My "h" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure, Old Hat, New Hat and The Honey Hunt by Stan and Jan Berenstain, and Hello by Kelly Doudna. Our poem for the week was the Horse's Tail by James McDonald:

The tail of a horse,
Helps it stay on its course
Wherever it's running around.
It doesn't use force,
To help guide the horse
And it makes just a slight
Swooshing sound.

The girls enjoyed this poem because we did some motions with it. If I don't have some silly motions to add to it they aren't as interested in learning the poem. So, I have been changing my poems from our last time of the alphabet and the girls seem to enjoy them more.

We also sang the Hokey Pokey. This was good to help work on left and right again.

Our Bible verse was: And do not grieve the Holy Spirit. Eph. 4:30

For our math time we read My Three Book by Jane Belk Moncure. Our shape for the week was a hexagon. We counted by hundreds a little bit when we could.

For our science time we looked at: herons, harp seal, hibiscus, hippos, hedgehog, horses. We read a book called Horses by Sheryl Doyle. We also looked at Honey Bees and Honey by Lola Schaefer and I Wish I Were a Humpback Whales by Christina Jordan.

For our social studies time we read Exploring the State of Hawaii by Emily Rose Oachs.

For our art time I cut out a letter H and a triangle. We put the triangle on top to make a house. I also drew a dotted outline of four hearts and the girls practiced tracing the hearts. I was going to do it with paints and got lazy and didn't want to deal with a mess.

Letter L

The Letter L! We enjoyed this week, somewhat. The girls are realizing the new routine of school and having school again on a regular basis. They weren't that excited about the poem this week. Our books for this week were: The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegarde H. Swift, My "l" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure, The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle, Leila at the Library by Cynthia Klingel and Robert B. Noyed, and The Little Island by Margret Wise Brown.

We enjoyed singing I'm a Little Teapot.

For our Bible time our verse was: The Lord bless you and keep you. Numbers 6:24

In science our words were: lobster, llama, lilac, leopard, and lorikeet. We also read a book called Lions by Clara Reade. We looked at leaves in a book called Exploring Leaves by Kristin Sterling and Little Hands Leaves by Ruth Thomson.

For social studies we read: A Day with Librarians by Jodie Shepherd, Exploring the States Louisiana by Lisa Owings, Abraham Lincoln by David and Patricia Armentrout

For our art time we made ladybugs.