Week 1 - AATAT (All Aboard the Animal Train)

That's a wrap for week 1!

We've settled into a good routine for our preschool. 

We start each day out with breakfast (that they usually help me prepare) and a morning show while they eat. I'll usually let them play in the playroom after this while I get a few things set up for the day. 

We usually start out each school day with 'calendar time'. First, we sing and dance to Shake Your Sillies Out by The Learning Station. Next we sing and move around to their 7 Days of the Week, 12 Months of the Year, and ABC Songs. If they still have a ton of energy, we sing Shake Your Sillies Out again before sitting down. I have a magnetic calendar where we talk about today's date, the seasons, and the weather. 

After that, we move over to the wall where we have our train taped above the window. We do a silly follow the leader train game around the house then back to that wall where we recite our Bible verse, look over our unit poster, and talk about the theme. Week 1 was all about LOVE. 

Next, we have a snack (sometimes with sometimes without a playroom break) then choose something from the MFW lesson plan to do (read a book, sing a song, make a craft, surprise box, etc.) I don't have any particular order in which we complete the lesson plan activities for the day. I just pick whatever goes best with the mood and activity level my boys are at in that particular moment.

After this, we do something more active like go outside to play, go to a jump place, have a friend over to play (or go to their house), swim, story time at the library...just whatever the rotation happens to be for that day. 

Friend fun and red juice-icles with strawberry bits

It's usually time for lunch after this, so we eat, watch a cartoon/show, then have naps. My boys sleep anywhere from 1-2 hours. I use this time to try to get some sort of household chore taken care of. When they are up, they are raring to go again. 

We usually try to go outside to play, but sometimes it's just too unbearably hot so we may play inside instead.

'Invisible' water bead fun

Next, they'll usually have another snack and watch a short show, play in the playroom, or choose a surprise box activity. Then I usually choose another activity or 2 to do from the lesson plans.  

Red Playdoh!

This week, we also had a red silly string fight, had friends over for swimming, went on a red color hunt, made 'get well soon' heart cards for our neighbor, and made cookie brownies for daddy :)

All in all, it was a great start to preschool!

MFW-ECC - Week 1 - YAY!!!

Well, this week didn't go exactly as planned, but all in all, it was still a great week!

It was pretty apparent on Monday that we would not be doing a full day of school every day. So, plan B went into play and we were able to accomplish half days of school.

We started with Exploring Countries and Cultures in My Father's World, which will be phrased as ECC from here on out :) 

This week, the kids filled out and sent off their passport applications. We really hammed it up for them too!  My husband, Jason, even added in background checks. LOL! 

As far as the pre-test...I was super excited at how well they did. 

The kids had fun drawing a miniature model of the earth on their mandarin oranges. Even though we used permanent markers, when they were peeling them, the juice from the oranges mixed with the ink and it came right off all over their hands, but it did seem to wash off a lot easier than just permanent marker alone.

The kids tried to keep their peelings from falling apart, but that didn't work out so well. So glad we had a back-up...for once in my life...I actually planned ahead ;)

I really do think this activity helped the kids understand the distortions between flat maps and globes.

The kiddos did a great job on their John 3:16 poster.

For the pictures, we just made photo color copies of the first couple of pages of the People book by Peter Spier. There were some really great pictures of children from around the world. Under each picture was that child's name and the place he/she is from. 

When exploring the small area of our backyard habitat, the kids discovered...

we have been invaded by CraZy ants!!!

I think some people call them rasberry ants because of the Houston, Texas exterminator who discovered them, Tom Rasberry. Whatever their name, these ants really are crazy! They are faster and lighter in color. They don't really follow in a line with other ants, instead they swarm the ground much like bees do in the air. Odd, very odd!  They are invasive to this area and supposedly attracted to electrical equipment. Let's hope ours choose to stay in the yard!?!

We also managed to get in an extra day of delivering some meals to the elderly and shut-ins for Meals on Wheels. With the start of school and other activities, we have to drop down to just once a month. On one hand, some of the older folks were a little saddened with that news, but on the other hand, still glad they'd still get to see the kiddos every month :)

 

All in all, it was a great week! Next week, we continue with ECC and attempt to add in everything else. So, how was YOUR first week back?