The 100th Day of School!

Today was our 100th day of school! Having done school for 100 days doesn't really have any signifgance because we live in a no notification state so there aren't any attendance rules. I just thought it would be a fun excuse to celebrate.

Yesterday Buzz and Boo got a 100th day package in the mail from Mimi (my mom) filled with collections of 100 bottle caps, beads, paper clips, beans, and stickers (Toy Story for Buzz and Princesses for Boo). I don't know how Mimi always knows to send packages for our special days at just the right time ;) Thanks Mimi!

We started the day with '100' pancakes

Decorated 100th day crowns

Filled out 100 charts. I filled 50-100 in for Boo and she did most of the rest and then practiced counting to 100 over and over. Buzz filled his in by himself and was excited to discover patterns as he did.

 

We had a lot of fun with our 100th Day Sensory Bin

It's filled with 100 each of critter counters, pony beads, plastic bottle caps, heart shaped "gems", legos, paper clips and craft sticks marked with the numbers 1-100.

Buzz and Boo both came up with lots of creative ways to play with everything:

Linking the paper clips together in one long chain

Practicing one-to-one correspondence with bottle caps and heart gems

Putting all of the craft sticks in order

As a special surprise they each got a 100-piece puzzle

I couldn't get Boo to take a picture with her eyes open :)

For dinner we had '100' pizza

(which looked a lot more like 100 before it puffed up in the oven)

We had a lot of fun and Buzz and Boo both got lots of practice with their numbers 1-100!

Linked to Preschool Corner

No-Bake Cookies

3 c. quick-cooking oats
1 3/4 c. white sugar
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. peanut butter
4 TBS. cocoa powder
1 tsp. vanilla

Bring sugar, milk, butter and cocoa to boil. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter, oats and vanilla. Drop spoonfuls onto wax paper and let cool.

Four Cheese Lasagna

12 lasagna noodles, cooked

1 (23oz) jar pasta sauce

2c. shredded cheddar cheese

2c. shredded mozzarella cheese

1c. parmesan cheese

1 (16oz) container cottage cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Mix pasta sauce and cottage cheese together. Spread a small layer of sauce mixture in 13x9 pan. Layer noodles, sauce mixtures and 1/4 of each cheese. Continue in this order, ending with the last of the cheeses. Bake for 30-40 minutes.

Preschool Reading Activities

Boo spent a lot of time this week focusing on reviewing letter sounds and beginning reading. We used our Explode the Code Wall Chart to play a game. I hid the stuffed toys then Boo collected them in a basket and took them to the chart and put each toy in the right pocket. She loved getting to hunt for the toys and has asked to play over and over again.

Boo used Do-A-Dot markers to do the assessment sheets from Confessions of a Homeschooler. I wanted to be sure that she can identify all of the capital and lower case letters and number 1-20 (she can!)

Boo loves to color, so she was excited to do the color by number sight words from 1+1+1=1

I wrote words on index cards that I knew Boo was able to read. I used words for small items I could find around the house and put the items in a plastic box with the cards. Boo read each card and then matched it with the correct item from the box. She thought this was great!

And perhaps most exciting of all: it was finally warm enough to play outside! We headed to a little playgroud near our house to burn off some energy!

I'm linking this post to Preschool Corner

stART: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

This week we read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault

This story is a classic and of course we've read it many times, but we hadn't read it lately. So when I found Buzz reading it to Boo one morning last week I decided it would be fun to make our own letter coconut trees.

Buzz and Boo cut their tree trunks, leaves and coconuts out of constructions paper and glued them on cardstock. Then they glued on foam letters.

 Boo's tree:

 Buzz's tree:

Check out more stART projects at A Mommy's Adventures!

Muffin Tin Monday: Valentine's Day



Today's theme is Valentine's Day

Heart toast with strawberry jam, cream of wheat with pink sprinkles, pink scrambled eggs (which turned out looking pretty unappetizing, but Buzz and Boo ate them anyway) and heart(ish) shaped bananas

Happy Muffin Tin Monday AND Happy Valentine's Day!

Family Traditions: Valentine's Day

Every year for Valentine's Day we have a treasure hunt for the kids. After breakfast on Valentine's Day one of the kids will find a paper heart somewhere near by (this year it was sitting under Ruben's phone when we asked Buzz to go grab it). Each paper heart has a clue about where to look for the next heart.

This year's treasure hunt was especially fun because it's the first year the Buzz is reading independently, so they didn't need any help from us to figure out the clues.

In the end the treasure is always books and candy. They were SO excited that they received The Doll People trilogy! They love love love these books and if you haven't read them to your kids, I highly recommend them.

We're all about making memories for our kids and the special little ones like these seem to be some of their favorites.

Preschool Valentine's Activities

This week Boo finished lesson six in The Reading Lesson and is really taking off with her reading!



We've been reviewing the numbers 10-20 this week. We used our counting cards for a few different activities. We used heart counters with each card and Boo put them in order both forward and backward. Buzz and Boo liked throwing mini bean bags at the cards and then identifying whichever number the bean bag landed on. Boo's favorite number activity was when I sat at one end of the room with all of the cards spread out at the other end. I would call out a number and she would have to run and find it and bring it back as fast as she could.

 Buzz and Boo both love to do worksheets and asked for a lot of them this week. Boo's worksheets were simple addition problems, patterns and filling in missing letters and numbers (all with lots of hearts for Valentine's Day). Buzz's worksheets were Valentine's Day word problems.

 I made this one for review, matching capital and lower-case letters.

 We also used the heart gems from our sensory tub to practice patterns. Boo made some for me to complete and I made some for her.

 We used our Valentine's trays again this week and Buzz and Boo both spent a lot of time playing with our Valentine's Day playdough.

I'm linking this post to Preschool Corner

Gutter Bookshelves

Buzz and Boo love to read! They each usually take a stack of books to read in their beds at quiet time and bed time each day. This, however, leads to a problem because they then fall asleep with books on their bed and the books end up on the floor by morning. Night stands aren't really an option because they sleep in bunk beds. Our solution? Gutter Bookshelves!

My wonderful hubby and his equally wonderful assistant (Buzz) put these up earlier this week and I love them!

stART: The Rainbow Fish

This is my first time making a stART post! We read The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister, then Buzz and Boo made their own rainbow fish.

I drew the outline of a fish on blue cardstock and Buzz and Boo colored their fish in with crayons.

Then they painted over the crayon with water colors.

Once the paint had dried they added eyes, glue and glitter and tin foil "scales".

Buzz's rainbow fish:

Boo's rainbow fish:

 Bean liked the story too!

For more fun art projects inspired by great stories check out:

Vegetarian Chili

1 can (15 oz) chili beans

1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can (15 oz) light red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 can (15 oz) petite diced tomatoes

1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce

1/2 can (14.5 oz) corn

2 tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. cumin

Salt and pepper to taste

Bring to a simmer. Let simmer for at least 1 hour.

Top with a handful of cheese and crushed tortilla chips

Note: To be perfectly honest, I never measure spices, these are my estimates. Diced onion would be yummy in this if you don't have someone in your house who hates onions (of course I'm not referring to any one's husband in particular)

Muffin Tin Monday



There's no theme for this week, just a regular ol' lunch served in muffin liners

Buzz and Boo both had the same:

Hard boild egg, pretzels, peach applesauce, cantelope and ice cream

Buzz ate everything except the pretzels and Boo ate everything except a few bites of applesauce.

Click on the button above to check out more kid friendly meals served in muffin tins!