Halloween wishes!

Here's hoping to hardly any Halloween tricks,

This little punkin' is saying "BOO!"

 and lots of Halloween treats!

 

Room with a view

One of my favorite times of the day is when the Noodle gets up from her nap.  For some reason, when she wakes, she always says "Who's there?  Is anybody there?  I'm all done sleeping!".  Ha ha, makes me smile each time I hear it!  Many afternoons she is snuggly and cuddly and I'm only too happy to oblige.  We like to lie on the bed and look out the window in her room and watch the big maple tree in the front yard.  It is, quite honestly, a perfect way to "get back into the day".  During this particular afternoon, she started asking about her Bai Jai Bei quilt.  We talked about the origins of the quilt and then she would point to various squares and ask about who had given them. When I got to the part about how 'whenever a child is wrapped up in the quilt, she is surrounded by all the prayers, wishes and good thoughts of those who donated material' she immediately wrapped herself up.  She definitely has been, and continues to be, surrounded in prayer.

Halloween party

A very useful engine, leading her class into the party. 

This morning was the Noodle's Halloween party.  J was able to sneak out of work for a few hours and join us.  I know the C.N. loved having him there!  The party took place in the church basement (wonderful lighting) and the kiddos went from station to station.  While it was a bit overwhelming, everyone seemed to have a good time.  

I don't know what it is about Thomas, but it seems that most toddlers/preschoolers at some point in time are fascinated by him.  Well, this Thomas certainly drew a crowd.  In the beginning, the Noodle was good about sharing and letting a few kidlets try him on, but then, after a while, she got rather possessive.  Ha!  Great opportunity to talk about sharing :)

Takin' a break from Thomas...to make a little music!

Finishing touches

From this:

 **Cue the spooky, scary Halloween music at the sight of the basement.  Eeeeek!!!
To this:

Peep, peep!  A very useful engine will be chuffing around the neighborhood, come Halloween night!

Clambake!

One of my best friends from high school had us over last night for a clambake, and let me tell ya--it was delish!    I mean, really, when you can swirl anything in melted butter, you know it has to be tasty!!  I didn't realize that there was QUITE so much food and so we ate ourselves into a food coma (almost).  Good things the little ones kept us laughing with their dress-up and silly antics.  Ha ha!!

I mean, seriously!  Look at this spread!  Makes my tummy hurt just remembering :)

***The Noodle has never really been into dress-up before, mainly because we don't have any cool dress-up clothes!  But look at her sweet, little face...do you think she loved every minute of it?  Oh yeah!!  Good thing Ms. D is a dance teacher and therefore has tons and tons of fabulous frocks to put on!

A typical Saturday morning

Household projects, repairs, home-improvement.  Call it what you like, we usually have some sort of something like that going on, on any given weekend.  Those of you who know J, know that he loves to be busy!  The project for this Saturday?  Putting down new carpet in the sunroom.  J had his trusty helper, the Noodle, right by his side, ready to assist.  She wanted absolutely NOTHING to do with me--only Daddy!

Thankful Thursday

My Nana is on just about every non-profit's mailing list.  She receives calendars from the V#etnam V#ts, stickers from P#urple H#arts, postcards from the F#deration of the Bl#nd, and on and on and on!  She saves all of her junkmail "gifts" and every so often mails them to the Noodle.  Do you remember the excitment when you were young, of getting something in the mail, addressed to you?  It was pretty awesome!  Whenever the Noodle sees a large manilla envelope, she always says, "Perhaps it is from Nana?". 

Sure enough, we recently got an envelope in the mail and she was thrilled.  The stickers, pads of paper, calendar, etc. kept her busy and happy as a clam.  I'm thankful for the simple things and how junk mail to some, seems like a treasure to others.

The Glory Around Us

"You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills will bursts into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands."

--Isaiah 55: 12

Catch me if you can!

Wordless Wednesday

Raising Rock Star Preschoolers--the letter Yy

We've been using the Raising Rock Star Preschoolers program now since about mid-July and it is going great!  The Noodle looks forward to "table time" each afternoon after she wakes up from her nap, as do I.  This week we have been working on the letter Yy, the number 9 and the sight word you.  Let me say again how easy Carissa makes this.  Almost everything you need is right there on her website, free for the taking!  I do supplement some things from other blogs/website and some of my own stuff as well, FYI.

I thought I'd break it down into days, so you can see what we've been doing.  Again, if you go here you'll see much of the same type of thing.  One day I focus on numbers, another day colors, a third day ABCs, the next day shapes and then the last day usually sequencing/writing the letters in her name. 

Day 1:

• Introduce the memory verse
• Introduce the song that goes with the letter of the week/verse
• Introduce the letter of the week, number of the week and sight word
• Introduce the "easy reader" book
• Hunt and circle all of the Yys
• Do some pre-writing to get ready to write the letter Yy
• Focus on one-to-one correspondence and number recognition

Day 2

• Review the memory verse, play the song, review letter, number and word of the week, re-read the "easy reader" book
• Do a craft related to the bible verse
• Use playdoh to make the targeted letter
• Work on color and number recognition by completing a color by number, related to the letter of the week
• Practice tracing the letter of the week

 Day 3

• Review the memory verse, play the song, review letter, number and word of the week, re-read the "easy reader" book
• Go over the "Y is for" vocab cards, trace the letter Y and cut out the cards
• Hunt for the letter Yy and the sight word you in the memory verse; discuss the differences between letters and words, identify punctuation, isolate words, etc.
• Complete a shape match-up activity
• Build sight words using letter magnets

Day 4

• Review the memory verse, play the song, review letter, number and word of the week, re-read the "easy reader" book
• Complete a fine motor activity (gluing yarn onto Yy)
• Cut/tape memory verse
• Go over the "Y is for" bible cards, trace the letter Y and cut out the cards
• Complete an uppercase/lowercase ABC match activity

 Day 5 (whew!)

• Review the memory verse, play the song, review letter, number and word of the week, re-read the "easy reader" book one last time
• Review all the past words, letters and numbers
• Practice tracing and writing first name (pic. not shown)
• *Complete a patterning activity
• Hand out certificate for memorizing a new bible verse, learning a new letter, number and sight word

**Day 5 is more of a "mix it up" day.  Sometimes we'll do some patterning.  Other times it is sequencing 4 pictures to tell a story (usually a nursery rhyme) or sequencing the letters in her name.  It just all depends, but I try to hit on each of these periodically.

So there you have it.  What goes on round these parts after nap.  While the letter lessons are broken down into 5 day increments, we rarely do 5 days straight in a row.  Life happens, people.  I know you all understand!  Still, I try to not skip more than a day or two, just so that the momentum, routine, schedule, blah blah blah remain intact.  Also, a little side note--The Noodle is currently 3.5 years old.  Somethings she gets, no problem--patterning, rhyming, letter ID.  Other things (like the pesky numbers 6 and 9 and some of the sight words) not so much.  We just keep working on it but in a lighthearted manner.  No pressure.  The last thing some 3.5 year old needs is pressure.  Unfortunately, that will come all too soon in Kindergarten (I jest, but only slightly.  Sigh.)