Letter M

Now that summer has hit, we are not really in the "school" mode, so our crafts tend to come second to swimming and playing at the park. However, we are determined to get through the rest of the alphabet before school starts back up again! This week, we colored Macaroni noodles and used them to make the Letter M, we made a Mask, ate Marshmallows, played with Madelyn, made our M collage, created some art using Marbles, made a monkey, worked on tracing the letter M, and made some Moose antlers. I think Ella's favorite was the marshmallows...and Audrey's too!

Letter L

Lots of fun with L. We collected leaves around our yard to make an L, used shoestrings to Lace some L's, made a Ladybug, made a Lion puppet, and used cottonballs to make a Lamb. We did our picture collage of "L" items, enjoyed a trip to the Library, and best of all got to Love on Lincoln twice this week! :) Ella loved this letter because "She has 2 L's in my name!"

Letter K

Another week, another letter. For K, we made a Kangaroo, colored a Kitten, made a paper Kite and decorated it with stickers, created a Koala bear out of a toilet paper roll, made a "K" collage, ate a Kiwi for snack and practiced our Kicking! Oh, and we spent lots of time being a Kid!

Letter J

I think we are definitely getting to the point where we really aren't "learning" the letters, but rather making crafts with the letter of the week. Ella can recognize all the letters, but I still want to continue the cirriculum so that she understands about finishing what she started.

This week with "J", we used Jellybeans to decorate a big J, made a Jellyfish out of a coffee filter and some tissue paper, created some Jungle scenes, made different faces on pumpkins to create Jack-o-lanterns, and used Jello to paint some pictures. The Jello idea was a big failure, so I wouldn't recommend it unless you want a mess! We had planned to make Jewelry too, but it is hard to get the beads out when Miss Audrey is around!

Almost halfway through the alphabet...hopefully we'll finish it up by the end of the summer!

I is for ICE CREAM

What better letter to learn than the one our favorite food starts with? This week, we made an Igloo out of marshmallows and a styrofoam cup, an Inchworm out of an egg carton, used popsicle sticks to make "I's" (which Ella said right away that if you twisted them around they make an "H"), made an insect zoo with stickers, made an Indian headband that Ella is sporting in the picture, and enjoyed Ice Cream Sundaes! Lots of fun!

Letter H

H is for Hearts! We had another fun week with our friendly letter H. We used different colors Hearts to decorate an H, used popsicle sticks to build a House and then made a few "H"s with the extra, used our Hands to paint, did our "H" collage, made a hat (the one Ella is wearing), danced the Hokey Pokey and played with our new Hula Hoop! To top it all off we headed to Houston for Easter!

Letter G

"G Week" started off with Ella getting to dip Grapes in Green paint to decorate a block letter G. We also used Gravel to make a Goldfish scene. We made a Giraffe puppet and a superhero--Groovy Grape. We colored a Garlic coloring sheet and of course made our collage of G items. We had planned to make gingerbread cookies, but after visiting half a dozen stores, I realized that you can't find slice and bake gingerbread this time of year! The last thing we did was Grow a Garden! In the picture you can see Ella holding her little cup of sunflower seeds we planted. Not quite a garden, but we'll see if anything pops up!

Fun with the Letter F

F is Fun!! We used feathers to make the Letter F, made a frog, created our "F" collage and made our very own flag! Ella is so good at saying the Pledge of Allegiance. They recite it each day she goes to Mothers Day Out and from about the third week of school, she had the whole thing down pat. John and I continue to be very impressed! We spent a LOT of the week holding up our make believe flag and reciting the pledge.

E is For ELLA!!

How can we not love the letter "E" since Ella starts with it? This week we colored popsicle sticks with markers (HUGE mess) and made letter E's, made an elephant craft, our "e" picture collage, created an Elmo from a toilet paper roll, lots of coloring sheets, and made an eggshell mosaic piece by dying eggshells different colors and gluing them on a black sheet of paper. Lots of fun, and definitely Ella's easiest letter to recognize!

Letter D

D was another fun week. Ella is really getting in to "school" and ask every day if we are going to do a craft. We go through at least a glue stick a week as Ella LOVES to go wild with them, getting the majority of it on the kitchen table for me to scrape off later.

This week was a little challenging with all the sickness that hit our house, but we still had plenty to learn. We made a dalmation dog puppet, a duck, painted with dots, learned about diamonds, played dominoes, our weekly collage with "D" things, and lots of coloring sheets. We had planned on making homemade playdough, but the flu curbed that trick.

Ella's Bible verse for the week was "Do all things without complaining and disputing." As we worked on memorizing it, I couldn't help but think that I am learning just as much as she is, maybe just in a different way.

Letter C

Another week, another letter. We had lots of fun with "C" this week. We made a caterpillar, made a paper chain, made a collage, baked cookies with M&M's, colored lots of coloring sheets and learned a very important Bible verse...Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is pleasing to the Lord. Ella can recite it by memory, too bad the application part is where we have trouble!! She is really enjoying all the fun stuff...she loves doing crafts. I think she is most proud to show Daddy each day what she has done!

C is for Cookie!

Since this week we are learning about C's, we decided to make cookies shaped like C's and let Ella and Madelyn decorate them with mini M&M's. Though the majority of the M&M's ended up in their bellies before the cookies were even put in the oven, the girls had fun...which is really all that matters.

Letter B

The second week of learning letters, numbers, shapes and colors and Ella is really having fun. She loves each day to find out if we are "doing a project" and especially likes it when it involves a glue stick! This week we focused on "B", "2", circles and blue. We made a bear out of circles, made a bead necklace, made blueberry muffins, traced circle objects, made letters out of beans, found pictures of things that start with B, and did lots of coloring sheets of "B" objects. I really love getting to have the one on one time with her and she is so proud to show John what we did each day. Two letters down... lots more to go!

Learning Letter A

Okay, I am convinced that Ella knows more than she pretends to, but I realized that I wanted to spend more time with her really working on letters, numbers, shapes, colors, and Bible verses. So, welcome to Mommy Preschool! Each week we are going to pick things to work on and incorporate crafts, coloring, cooking and fun to reinforce the lesson. My good friend Stacy who is mom to Ella's BFF has decided to take the plunge with me and we are rotating weeks on planning the cirriculum. Week 1 we focused on the Letter A, the number 1, the color red and squares. Ella had a blast painting with apples, making a square mobile, putting together a cow made out of squares and coloring an alligator that had "A's" hidden in it. She memorized her first Bible verse and is so proud that "Daddy is so proud" of her accomplishment. I am really glad I am starting to do this because it allows me to really have one on one time with Ella where she gets to learn and we both have fun!