rain, rain go away . . .

How we are keeping busy on these rainy mornings:

We are making alphabet blocks.

We play "Action Alphabet".  We take turns drawing cards.  We read the letter at the top and make the sound for that letter.  Then we do whatever it says on the card!

We sort, count, and make patterns :)

We're keeping busy but we miss the sun!

Our Second Week Together

We spent a morning at the park and took a ride on a carousel . . .

Leslie and Ella made shape people . . .

We sorted Mr. Potato Head parts and pieces and then made some funny moms and dads . . .

We played a cooperative game called Snail's Pace Race . . .

We had puppet shows . . .

And we practiced one to one correspondence (umm . . . I mean we made cupcakes).

Matching Capital Letters & More HWT Manipulatives

We used blocks to match capital letters and review letter sounds.

Ella used the Handwriting Without Tears wood pieces to make the capital letters.

Wet - Dry - Try

Ella loves the hands-on part of the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum.  Today we used the chalkboards and I introduced her to wet- dry - try.

Bits & Pieces of Our First Week

practicing math on the flannelboard

playing in the park

exploring watercolor paint and learning how to take care of "mr. brushy"

our focus story was "the three little pigs"

every morning we talk about the calendar and mark off our days on the "100 days" chart

leslie was a puzzle helper

we built a tree house

colorforms shape pictures

. . . and making circles

Tea Party!

Tea parties are the best when they serve pb&j with the crust cut off!

We felt just like "Fancy Nancy" with our napkins in our laps, drinking hot chocolate from real china cups, and eating fancy party foods!  Ella ate all of her lunch and got to choose a mini cake for dessert :)
Mr. Brambles Bear (aka "Mr. Scrambles" according to Ella) sat next to Ella and watched her use her best tea party manners.

First Day

We've been anticipating Ella's first day for weeks . . . planning curriculum - selecting toys - hoping the house would be ready.  As first days go, I'd say this one was pretty great.  Ella came bounding in, full of enthusiasm.  She was up for anything.

We made chocolate chip cookies . . .

Ella made friends with Sammy . . .

The dining room became our art studio . . .

We found fairies, and silk scarves, and flocked animals, and shells to add to our summer nature table . . .

We played Pretty, Pretty Princess (and while Ella seemed to enjoy the actual game she much preferred having all of us dress up with the "accessories") . . .

We did a lot of other things, too.  Except nap.  Working on that :)