tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85350712572953019512024-03-05T06:11:57.586-08:00McElwain Homeschool JourneyOur journey through homeschool. Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.comBlogger116125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-25166248130352051102015-01-26T08:00:00.000-08:002015-02-03T10:48:33.330-08:00Blogger & Facebook Opportunity for Free BOOKS & Over $250 in Prizes<div align="CENTER" style="widows: 132;">
<span style="font-size: 20pt;"><b>Blogger
Opportunity! </b></span>
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<b>Here is an AMAZING blogger and Facebook blogger opportunity you may have ever seen! Guaranteed FREE BOOK of your choice, plus the chance to win over $250 in prizes! </b><br />
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<b><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1BpxxK2iAt0w2vRoPgSvWfAmp9IQALDnQFRizbe8U4V4/viewform?usp=send_form">Sign up Here...</a></b><br />
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<b>Have you heard of Usborne books? If yes are you an Usborne junkie like me? If you dont' think you've heard of Usborne books take a look around your house. You probably have one or twenty of them already! Usborne is an amazing book company for children and adults. They have great books for homeschool, school companions, first books, novels and more! My favorite books they have right now are the Illustrated Stories Series which you can see some of below! </b><br />
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<b>Can you imagin reading Shakspear, Dickenson, Asop and other famous tales to your children and having them understand them? These books introduce famous, and historical stories with beautiful illustrations and easy to understand themes! My children ages 4 and 6 are in love with these books and the stories. Even better yet they get histriclal that most adults miss! </b><br />
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<b>E-mail: Adrienne at <a href="mailto:piratezeta@gmail.com">piratezeta@gmail.com</a> to set up a party date! </b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRM-3CwXL9uxSB8yrT8vsbvjo1AG9eL6gYXqolDrin1mkbQV26v3M9TkXdGI5bt_8zLdTEdr8lqeVF7TEMdPYd_NH-e8IqN2BUlq9Q08TRBrA37gXvWsjmvBnOXrwVIUYb9TLJhiBm08I/s1600/usborne+book+party.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRM-3CwXL9uxSB8yrT8vsbvjo1AG9eL6gYXqolDrin1mkbQV26v3M9TkXdGI5bt_8zLdTEdr8lqeVF7TEMdPYd_NH-e8IqN2BUlq9Q08TRBrA37gXvWsjmvBnOXrwVIUYb9TLJhiBm08I/s1600/usborne+book+party.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Rules: In order to participate you MUST have a Facebook account, and be able to invite at least 45 people to a Facebook (online) party to feature Usborne books. If you'd like to be considered for this opportunity read the details below and then e-mail Adrienne! There over 2 dozen open days between now and the close of the party period February 21st. </b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVTMak0nk2LDfJs7DDk8ewSS17TNaG5UU2fwA0LXWZyObYLZNSynsPFegRceaeId7ger4cop8G9wBAYWDQogrZ0Nl43mx6vNNIZ1Lh_D1oBx4lsxwhtPPfAVZPrtiG03tbfwkibk9eyks/s1600/usborn+party.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVTMak0nk2LDfJs7DDk8ewSS17TNaG5UU2fwA0LXWZyObYLZNSynsPFegRceaeId7ger4cop8G9wBAYWDQogrZ0Nl43mx6vNNIZ1Lh_D1oBx4lsxwhtPPfAVZPrtiG03tbfwkibk9eyks/s1600/usborn+party.jpg" height="147" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>E-mail: Adrienne at <a href="mailto:piratezeta@gmail.com">piratezeta@gmail.com</a> to set up a party date! </b><br />
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Host an
Usborne Book Party On Your Facebook Page and Get 1 FREE BOOK of your
choice! Plus get Double FREE Books for your party, AND every blogger
that hosts a party before February 21<sup>st</sup> will get entered
to win a prize package valued at over $250!
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij7ahT0G92TcHCyaiWSzfPTxZ8382sP8ZcmsxfxlhSrXXL8M95X8ei0P-yuOU6Ol34c8jzJCEG5oJ1g4adWSW_DGfLsKakuw6k9V-QtsUsDZzKP-onWe356bxlS5WBsQG7560JoPuCwsM/s1600/necklace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij7ahT0G92TcHCyaiWSzfPTxZ8382sP8ZcmsxfxlhSrXXL8M95X8ei0P-yuOU6Ol34c8jzJCEG5oJ1g4adWSW_DGfLsKakuw6k9V-QtsUsDZzKP-onWe356bxlS5WBsQG7560JoPuCwsM/s1600/necklace.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<ul>
<li><div align="CENTER" style="widows: 132;">
<b>(1) 3d Printed Bookmark Charm!</b></div>
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<i>(From 2 Geeks 1 Mic, up to $50
value) </i>
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<b>(1) Additional FREE
Usborne Book (up to $20 value)</b></div>
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<li><div align="CENTER" style="widows: 132;">
<b>(1) Signed Bookmark by Konstanz Silverbow</b></div>
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<b>(4) Sets of Crayons in
your choice of design. (up to $25 value) </b>
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<i><b>(From Evie the Crayon
Creator)</b></i><b> </b>
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<b>Blue Fiber Optic and
Howlite Necklace $175 value.</b></div>
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</ul>
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Earn FREE
BOOKS, have fun hosting an online party, and get entered to win an
amazing prize package just in time to stuff Easter baskets with
wonderful new reads!
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These
parties require no cleaning, no cooking, no in person hosting, simply
host the party on your Facebook page. There is no expense to the
host, simply tons of free goodies!
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<b>BONUS</b>:
<b>For each person who signs up to host a Facebok party during your
party you will get 5 extra entries into the drawing! (Winner will be
notified by February 28<sup>th</sup>, 2015). </b><br />
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<b>Here are some ideas for your party! </b><br />
<b>- Little Readers Party</b><br />
<b>- Fairy Tale Party </b><br />
<b>- Easter Basket Books</b><br />
<b>- Homework Helpers</b><br />
<b>- Teaching Children To Read</b><br />
<b>- Books for Babies</b></div>
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<b>E-mail: Adrienne at <a href="mailto:piratezeta@gmail.com">piratezeta@gmail.com</a> to set up a party date! </b><br />
<b>or Sign up <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1BpxxK2iAt0w2vRoPgSvWfAmp9IQALDnQFRizbe8U4V4/viewform?usp=send_form">here</a>. </b></div>
Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-73480471081527769022015-01-24T08:00:00.000-08:002015-01-24T08:00:00.606-08:00Waterford Upstart Review <h2 style="text-align: center;">
Waterford Upstart Pre-School at Home</h2>
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Have you heard of Upstart before? It is an Amazing FREE online pre-school. In order to register you have to log on to their site, and sign up. Then at the beginning of the school year you attend (with your child) a free training session.<br />
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The children go into one room and start playing on the online games (it's an assessment but they don't' even know what's going on) and the parents sit in another room and learn how to use the program. It is required that you use the program for at least 15 minutes a day 5 days a week. But it's easy to do and for the most part after the first week Inara was able to use it completely on her own. It sings songs, has games, and gives the children reading challenges. Upstart focuses on reading, although it does offer math and science as well. Inara has been using the program since august and is reading level 1 books mostly on her own. She does still need help with some of the longer or exception words. But she is doing really well and is only half way through the pre-school year!<br />
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In addition to offering reading, math and science support for our home pre-school it also gives her something that she has to do everyday and gets her in the idea of having a set homework routine which I love! The training had me really nervous when we signed up to use the program but it ended up being really relaxed and a lot of fun. And, Inara got to play games get an award and eat a snack... she didn't mind at all!<br />
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If you are looking for a preschool program I would highly recommend Waterford Upstart! It has been a wonderful tool in our house giving us topics to discuss, reading practice, daily homework routine reinforcement, and a lot of joy! Some children mentioned in training had a hard time staying on track but Inara usually reminds us around lunch time everyday rather than us reminding her! <br />
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Finally this online pre-school crosses over into the 'real world' monthly when Inara gets a post card with a medal on it! Every month Waterford issues each child a metal to hang on their poster (they get the poster at training along with a mouse pad and other tools). These metals can be gold, silver, or bronze depending on their performance (this performance is based on if they completed the time requirement not how well they did in class).<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.waterford.org/products/upstart/">Find out more about Waterford Upstart on enroll here. </a></span></div>
Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-64319115917646995142015-01-23T08:00:00.000-08:002015-01-23T08:00:00.267-08:00Wizards 101 Review for Pre-School & Kindergarten Children <h3 style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Wizard 101 An Online Game </h3>
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I have published 2 reviews for this online game. This review is specifically in regards to pre-school and school age children playing Wizard 101. My daughters Inara (4) and Evie (6) play this game and we have had a blast. However, there are somethings you may want to consider before downloading it. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI_PT94-AFKAhetrtfYSiUiHczMDJwab0YkDk6rXb3vnp2fSowdLUalaWna7N01LTyJv_sLCLBdDBZb4kT6o-hv-QXAgUe_0MGKCTqZW4FG6Z9YPeluBHNQnboRfLtpO6lF_5rCOsGIqE/s1600/wizard+101+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI_PT94-AFKAhetrtfYSiUiHczMDJwab0YkDk6rXb3vnp2fSowdLUalaWna7N01LTyJv_sLCLBdDBZb4kT6o-hv-QXAgUe_0MGKCTqZW4FG6Z9YPeluBHNQnboRfLtpO6lF_5rCOsGIqE/s1600/wizard+101+4.jpg" /></a></div>
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Wizard 101 is a free multi-player game. The other people you see running around in the game are real people playing somewhere in the world. The game is both free and can cost money. It is free to download and play (with coupon code see below). There are specialty areas that cost extra or you can sign up to be a premium member for $9.99 a month or $6.95 per month if you have 3 or more accounts. We played the free version for a long time, about 6 months before upgrading so it is awesome you can try it out and see if you like playing before spending any money on it at all. this game is a free download online (with coupon code see below) so you don't need to go to a store or pick up a disk version. </div>
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There are some themes that select parents my find inappropriate for young children such as ghosts, wizards (obviously), goblins, ghouls, leprous etc. (There is no violence depicted in this game however there are spells cast that 'defeat' certain evil characters.) the wording and game play is intentionally kept very clean. There is no blood, gore, guts, etc. All characters are well designed for young children to not be too scary (although children are all different). </div>
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Each child get's to design their own wizard (girl or boy) and then report to the head master for training. They earn cards in the game the cards are collected in their card deck. These cards are good for healing casting spells, or blocking spells during battles. </div>
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The card deck appears anytime there is a battle automatically and children do not have to equip various items while entering battle. The battles are strategic and are tern based so each child has time to choose and think about what they would like to do. </div>
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There are other things to do in the game such as magical fishing, gathering magic items to make clothing, weapons, spell cards, etc. </div>
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Here's the downside, the missions don't always give you a clear pinpoint area and the game is extremely large. My children needed help finding the mission areas and reading the descriptions for quite awhile. Now they mostly play on their own but plan on having children who are unaware of turn based games, and large video games spend a lot of time on your lap while learning to play. The upside to this? It's a fun game that's designed for adults too! So play away. I just set up an account and had them sit on the couch with me we all play together.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://www.wizard101.com/home/game/friend/B538D-QL5WQ-2L97M-7LQ6Q">Sign up to try out Wizard 101 for FREE! </a>Use Code: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans', 'Comic Sans MS', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #a64d79;">B538D-QL5WQ-2L97M-7LQ6Q</span></span></b></span></div>
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Disclosure: this post and any other on this blog may contain affiliate links. Affiliate links allow us to continue writing, reviewing and discussing! Thank you for using the links on this blog we appreciate the support. </div>
Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-13633198554877966572015-01-22T14:01:00.000-08:002015-01-22T14:01:45.157-08:00K-12 For Kindergarten (Post 1 of 10) <div style="text-align: center;">
<b>K-12 Online Accredited School</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJZByodIFLvAaRHQ9CQSS5dvBWw9muacn5AK5d7RHCKioUpbBufCmVdjwp62i549ENiWjPFN05fP0Gqx2BJErEXZ1DECiu6HIM7u5EGmMKsDL6Vu3HrjEoCIOhzCzO3xtkVtNvZzGRBpU/s1600/k-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJZByodIFLvAaRHQ9CQSS5dvBWw9muacn5AK5d7RHCKioUpbBufCmVdjwp62i549ENiWjPFN05fP0Gqx2BJErEXZ1DECiu6HIM7u5EGmMKsDL6Vu3HrjEoCIOhzCzO3xtkVtNvZzGRBpU/s1600/k-12.jpg" height="186" width="320" /></a></div>
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For those of you who are like us and want to home school but also knowing ourselves we travel A LOT and we have gymnastics, horse back riding, violin lessons, drum lessons, Girl Scouts, and other family activities every single week. So while home schooling was an awesome option for us, the time spent preparing lessons, finding material, and pre-setting up studies was going to be a strain against the activities we already had established. Home school also is not accredited and if you plan to school all the way through high school it can leave some children feeling like they never really did graduate.<br />
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For these reasons and others including : The opportunity to participate in school wide field trips, spelling bees, science fairs, monthly meetings, and for the chance to have my children interact with other teachers and students we chose an online school. It is a hybrid option with for us, the best of both world. We stay at home, I do most of the teaching with my children, classes and lessons are already prepared and on ones we want to expand on we can easily do that. There are ample field trips, reading groups, spelling bees, poetry slams, science fairs, and other outings, the children have home room teachers, and we have everything we need at our finger tips. But how does educating online work?<br />
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First off not everything is done online, there are lots and lots of activities that we do offline! The lessons are already prepared (we expand on most) and there are books, workbooks, building blogs, math tools, phonics tools, white boards, reading tools, and more that came in our FREE kit. These offline lessons are reinforced with online games, songs and in-class discussions. Evie who started in Kindergarten this year (she finished Kindergarten already and is in 1st grade) has class 1's a day. As kids get older and choose electives they may have classes more than once a day.<br />
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Second off there are lots and lots of options on K-12! You can choose from Free Accredited Public Schools such as the one we chose (Utah Virtual Academy), Private and charter schools which are accredited and offer special learning opportunities but are not free, and a-la-cart classes where maybe you just don't' feel comfortable teaching one subject and want a full course program for that specific schedule.<br />
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The first step is to figure out what type of enrollment you'd want. Public School, Private/Charter School, or A Single Class. We chose a free public school which means we participate in standardized testing, and receive report cards that are recorded with the state every quarter. Our girls are able to seamlessly transfer to any school in Utah with their grades, and classes should they ever choose to. It also means all our supplies were provided for free on a rental bases (for the entire school year). The girls are also able to work at their own pace and move ahead (such as skipping grades by completing more than 1 in a year).<br />
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There are some major benefits online that you can not receive in most public schools. Our favorite benefit so far is that we can choose extra classes to enroll the girls in, EVEN IN KINDERGARTEN! Evie is taking Spanish, Art Appreciation and Music Theory in addition to regular Kindergarten classes. Not all subjects are required every day and when we log into her student portal it tell us what classes she is expected to complete that day, and which are not required for that day. This gives us a great variety throughout the week, and is very easy to complete even while traveling! Watch for upcoming reviews on just how things work within the classes, and some of the possible downsides as well as the perks of schooling at home and online!<br />
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Check out all the K-12 Optiosn on their website at www.k-12.com </div>
Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-34826693258496457582014-11-03T09:02:00.001-08:002014-11-03T09:02:11.630-08:00Stone Soup Cooperative Game Review <h3 style="text-align: center;">
Stone Soup Cooperative Game Review </h3>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HVKA9Y/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004HVKA9Y&linkCode=as2&tag=youllfapissc-20&linkId=2IWCNITDTXBX2PWA"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B004HVKA9Y&Format=_SL110_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=youllfapissc-20" height="160" width="200" /></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004HVKA9Y" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></div>
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I got this game from a bloghop giveaway and was very excited to try it out! The girls and I had an interesting time reading the instructions. It is the first cooperative game that i had ever played with toddlers. Instead of playing against eachother we are playing to beat the game it's self!<br />
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The girls had a blast playing, even though it was about round 4 before they got the hang of not competing against eachother. Once we got the hang of cooperating instead of competing the game became even more fun.<br />
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There are several things we love about this game! First of all it can be played in about 15 minutes so you can do it in between other activities, as a quick restart to the day, or you can plan on playing several rounds during family game night! Because it promotes cooperating and working together we even play it when the girls are having a hard time getting along, it seems ot help them remember to be a team!<br />
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The only con to this game is that it is quick and it would be boring for children if they are over the age of about 8.<br />
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In order to play you turn the game pieces upside up, and see fi they are an ingrediant in the soup (which there are many ingrediants and a story to go along with them) or stones. If they are stones they could ruien the soup. There are even some cute twists and turns! One piece will give you the power to put back a rock but who holds the piece and rather or not they are willing ot use it comes into play. Find the right time to play this special piece and make sure everyone is on board :)<br />
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<b>You can <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HVKA9Y/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004HVKA9Y&linkCode=as2&tag=youllfapissc-20&linkId=2IWCNITDTXBX2PWA">Buy Stone Soup on Amazon Here...</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004HVKA9Y" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
to play at your next family game night. </b></div>
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Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, however all the oppinions and experiances with this game are mine.Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-633476793044352402014-11-02T20:28:00.003-08:002014-11-02T20:28:29.263-08:00Upstart by Waterford Pre-School Online <h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #674ea7;">Upstart by Waterford Review & Additional Useful Resources</span></h3>
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Have you heard of Upstart? It's a free pre-school online that helps to teach children phonics, sight words, math skills, and science interest. Inara (our youngest) has been participating in the program for just over 2 months now, and we LOVE it! Read our full review below and learn how you can sign up your preschooler for this program next year.<br />
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<b>Upstart Review:</b><br />
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Let's start with signing up online. You simply go to the Upstart website and sign your child up if they meet the basic qualifications (they must be starting Kindergarten the year following when they start Upstart, and they must start at the beginning of the year or semester mark). It took us about 3 minutes to sign Inara up. However, after she was signed up it was radio silence until the beginning of the school year so that's a big of a wait.<br />
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Around the end of July we heard from an Upstart program manager who set us up for training. Yes we had to attend a training class and Inara got to try out the program on a little 'pre-evlauation'. The program is free and it's quite amazing, but you do have to agree to use it according to the terms and conditions. YOU MUST PARTICIPATE ON THE PROGRAM FOR A MINIMUM OF 15 MINUTES PER DAY 5 DAYS A WEEK. They stress that point over and over and over and over. They will even call and check in if you miss too many times within a week.<br />
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Once you attend training you can start using the program that day! And, they say that once your child reaches 2000 minutes they start to really take off on reading and math! One thing we've noticed about Inara is that she asks questions because she 'wants to test the answer' a thought process the program pushes during reading time and science exploration.<br />
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Inara plays most days for 15 to 20 minutes, however, there are other days like just recently on a long airplane ride that she played for several hours. AND SHE LOVES IT! She is learning to read at an alarming rate. She has already started reading the pre-reader books such as The Cat Sat on The Mat and is working her way up to Level 1 reader books quite quickly. In addition to reading she is now counting to 50 by herself, and is interested in other subjects such as astronomy and how bugs live. So far it's bee a joy, and days that are harder for her to sit down and work on it we do it together.<br />
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We have also found a few books and games that have really helped to reinforce the learning she's doing online and gives us a great opportunity to talk about her school.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM8pf9AZlK_QkrnymXy0fXz4gpl9eqR582iZJm3fdGnEGtZGjILDtc1v0cFUzxZhFV0G0V5jnEjgy6knTu_ffwfG0VCi49IqsgZv__miFVDTe0wBm-KtWMJshbYa1K3z08cfZG6AIt_0g/s1600/waterford.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM8pf9AZlK_QkrnymXy0fXz4gpl9eqR582iZJm3fdGnEGtZGjILDtc1v0cFUzxZhFV0G0V5jnEjgy6knTu_ffwfG0VCi49IqsgZv__miFVDTe0wBm-KtWMJshbYa1K3z08cfZG6AIt_0g/s1600/waterford.tiff" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.waterford.org/products/early-learning/">Find out more about Upstart by Waterford here...</a></b></div>
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Our list of additional learning <span style="background-color: yellow;">resources</span> we're using (these items are not recommended specifically by Waterford, they are just products we have found helpful).<br />
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1. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1584767251/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1584767251&linkCode=as2&tag=youllfapissc-20&linkId=S5RL7ZOHOKL7I26X">Word Play: Sight Words (Now I'm Reading!: Pre-Reader)</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1584767251" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
2. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000G3LR9Y/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000G3LR9Y&linkCode=as2&tag=youllfapissc-20&linkId=B3W75WUKVJYOMFPS">Learning Resources Snap Cubes</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000G3LR9Y" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
3. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008K953CI/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B008K953CI&linkCode=as2&tag=youllfapissc-20&linkId=STZZKD52YEQ3QGI6">Spot It! Alphabet</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B008K953CI" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
4. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008RU8GC4/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B008RU8GC4&linkCode=as2&tag=youllfapissc-20&linkId=7OBN24LYZY4SYXDQ">Zingo! Sight Words,</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B008RU8GC4" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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5. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L0OAD48/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00L0OAD48&linkCode=as2&tag=youllfapissc-20&linkId=MVXZT6RU5CPIJMSR">The Toddler's Busy Book For Beginners: The Best Inexpensive Creative Learning Games & Activities For Your Toddler (Toddler Games, Toddler Activities, Education ... Toddler Book, Preschool, Kindergarten,)</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00L0OAD48" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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These supplies make it easy to continue learning as the program uses concepts, words, and math ideas that can be duplicated with the above items. Waterford also suggests reading to your child everyday, reading outloud especially when trying to learn can help children understand the concepts and reasons for learning to read.Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-85176382645263209572014-08-31T23:16:00.000-07:002014-08-31T23:16:04.792-07:00Our Small Space Solution Desk <span id="goog_681884804"></span><span id="goog_681884805"></span>With both girls starting in 'school' this month we decided to re-organize our classroom/office to accomodate.<br />
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Inara our youngest is starting in the Upstart Program for pre-school and Evie is starting in Kindergarten though the K-12 school Utah Virtual Academy online.<br />
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Here is our desk solution: </div>
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We had side by side closets in the office which had previously housed craft supplies...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1LrNxvZrHX-q3c3s4aUvI5dsbxu8ONU3Od8NQB3kfajUG-gZn5mQN7GM2NJhHfYRf-yusn9sze89Iq5HAsPh1Ep-7ENJZGidJsXwsShtwRe2ZUlJtEXsYuKsrsuq0Tn6RoW0jEAQgPDM/s1600/desk+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1LrNxvZrHX-q3c3s4aUvI5dsbxu8ONU3Od8NQB3kfajUG-gZn5mQN7GM2NJhHfYRf-yusn9sze89Iq5HAsPh1Ep-7ENJZGidJsXwsShtwRe2ZUlJtEXsYuKsrsuq0Tn6RoW0jEAQgPDM/s1600/desk+3.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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This is Evie's desk during the 'construction process.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWmZwUjnGyIRjF3FvC4mR0xnzBC2Zw7SoWc-CMxfB3iN5qTGID8j-Tn4A4STUYaaKVz_lIzvHgq2ZohoYFhzmxNrK8LlKNnlFhPs89-SPeoqNlan0Q0aZqgCvCb1quyfnQXXgtG9s1x0c/s1600/desk+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWmZwUjnGyIRjF3FvC4mR0xnzBC2Zw7SoWc-CMxfB3iN5qTGID8j-Tn4A4STUYaaKVz_lIzvHgq2ZohoYFhzmxNrK8LlKNnlFhPs89-SPeoqNlan0Q0aZqgCvCb1quyfnQXXgtG9s1x0c/s1600/desk+1.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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Both closets transformed into desk solutions. </div>
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Inara refused to leave her new laptop and desk for several hours. </div>
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Did you have to create some creative spaces for your home education experiance? Please feel free to share in the comments!Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-44715150343956974112014-07-21T15:38:00.001-07:002014-07-21T15:38:22.030-07:00Free Book From Sun MaidGet a completely free book from Sun Maid for Children who are learning to read! All you have to do is go <a href="http://www.sunmaidoffer.com/">HERE</a> and claim your free book!<br />
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Don't Forget to check out the free printables while you are there, my toddlers are coloring them right now! I can't imagin this offer will stay open very long so I'd hurry and grab the freebie while it's availible.Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-59220338115497226922013-04-07T10:34:00.002-07:002013-04-07T10:34:23.201-07:00Finding Fun - 26 Days and A to Z ResourcesBeing a parent is stressful. Okay maybe not for you but for me it is! Dont' get me wrong I love my kids and I love every second we get to spend together. I was looking at my daughter this morning thinking "I don't have much longer left with you do I?" Not that I'm dying she's just getting big way to fast! One of the most important things you can do to teach your kids, is teach them to find fun! Life is way to short, and way to stressful to not find the fun in it! Not only is fun important it can actually save your life, make you smarter, help you loose weight, help you sleep, make your children healthier, help keep your house clean and more... don't believe me?<br />
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Having fun is the key to laughter, and according to <a href="http://www.helpguide.org/life/humor_laughter_health.htm">Health Guide</a> laughing can increase your lifespan. <a href="http://www.gumtree.com/p/community/fitness-divas--increase-your-health-confidence-and-have-fun-only-6-guildford/109036040">Fitness Diva's</a> says that having fun will increase self confidence and subsequently grades, raises at work, and job oppertunities. And, <a href="http://blog.sagehrms.com/2011/02/fun-at-work/">Sage HMRS</a> says that having fun at work will increase a person's willingness to help, share, and even creativity! So how important it is to have fun with your kids? VERY! Create a bond of understanding, opens up the communication lines for the future, and give them a jump start in life!<br />
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Here are 5 awesome sites and articles that helped me really look at what was important with my kids, I had to share:<br />
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1.<a href="http://zenhabits.net/100-ways-to-have-fun-with-your-kids-for/"> 100 Ways to have fun with kids</a> is an amazing site giving you 100 free or very cheap ways to have fun with your kids. This is also a great site to use for 'daddy/daugher, daddy/son, mommy/daughter, mommy/son date nights;<br />
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2. <a href="http://thedailyworld.com/sections/newswire/northwest/legislators-answer-call-arms-fun-education.html">Legislation calling for more fun in education</a>! Great article about why it's important to have fun while learning. Think about it this way, if you associate learning with missery how well will you obsorb the information?<br />
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3. <a href="http://brightdays.wordpress.com/2007/08/30/why-is-having-fun-so-important/">Why Having Fun is Important</a> another blogger answers the same question! Why is it so important to have fun...<br />
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3. And, if you want to be really moved watch Mr. Rodgers talk to congress about getting funding for the Mr.Rodger's show! <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXEuEUQIP3Q">This youtube video may make you cry.</a> <br />
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4. <a href="http://www.funology.com/">Funology</a> is a website dedicated to little things you can do to have fun! I personally find that I love their magic tricks!<br />
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5. <a href="http://havefunteaching.com/">Have Fun Teaching</a> shows some great ways to practice counting, math, reading etc. while having fun! </div>
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<script charset="utf-8" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=ss_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822/US/youllfapissc-20/8001/b2cc1858-5ff4-4f8a-b4f1-16796b431ee5" type="text/javascript"> </script> <noscript><a HREF="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=ss_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fyoullfapissc-20%2F8001%2Fb2cc1858-5ff4-4f8a-b4f1-16796b431ee5&Operation=NoScript">Amazon.com Widgets</A></noscript>Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-13900021152463774612013-04-05T12:08:00.001-07:002013-04-05T12:08:30.133-07:00Eco Friendly Toddlers - 26 Days and A to Z ResourcesToddlers (in general) go through hundreds of paper towels, unravel rolls of toilet paper, use up laundry soap like it's going out of style, and bring in more dirt than they protect. However, teaching toddlers about the enviroment and how to help out can be fun! Recycling those paper towel and toilet paper tubes, planting trees and flowers, making nature jars, and 'releasing bugs' back into the wild are all great ways to get little minds thinking about big world problems. Here's a list of eco friendly toddler activities to start with:<br />
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1. Eco Friendly Kids<br />
This site has a huge list of activites to do with toddlers and older children. Some of their ideas make me giddy! Some of them are a bit above toddler age but they coudl easily be 'scaled down'. <a href="http://www.ecofriendlykids.co.uk/ActivitiesCategory.html">Check out all the activities here</a>.<br />
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2. Eco Kids<br />
Another awesome site with dozens of activities, discussion topics and more! <a href="http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/games_activities/index.cfm">Check out the site</a> and all the fun ways to get involved in recycling, re-using, understanding, and thinking about the planet!<br />
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4. Discovery Kids<br />
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Did you know that the Animal Planet and Discovery channel have teamed up to launch the Discovery Kids network and website? Hundreds of articles, projects, videos, topics and more! Learn about topics such as allergies, acid rain, and more. Then learn what you can do to help! <a href="http://kids.discovery.com/">Go here and check it out</a>, my kids also love some of the games that teach fun earth science facts!</div>
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<script charset="utf-8" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=ss_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822/US/youllfapissc-20/8001/684f3358-b32a-40a0-b541-06204ef54dfb" type="text/javascript"> </script> <noscript><a HREF="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=ss_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fyoullfapissc-20%2F8001%2F684f3358-b32a-40a0-b541-06204ef54dfb&Operation=NoScript">Amazon.com Widgets</A></noscript>Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-51915784550348950782013-04-04T14:43:00.002-07:002013-04-04T14:44:31.058-07:00Drama as A School Subject & Not A Temper Tantrum - 26 Days and A to Z Resources Drama at our house use to mean someone was on the floor throwing a tempter tantrum. But, with a little re-direction drama with toddlers can be a lot of fun! Check out these resources and pasts posts about things we're using to have a dramatically good time!<br />
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1. Playing Dress Ups<br />
Playing dressups can be a great way to practice colors, emotions, and pretend play! You can also practice dressing for the 'ocassion'. Have the kids dress for a fancy ball, to go to work as a plumber, pretend they are a rock star and more. It's a lot of fun, can get out some much needed emotional release and teach a huge variety of concepts. I usually have my kids name the colors, textures, and styles they are wearing during dress up play. Example: green fluffy pants, orange stretchy suspenders, purple lacy dress! Have fun! Here's a <a href="http://apirateschool.blogspot.com/2011/03/play-dress-up.html">previous post on dress ups as well</a>, watch for more posts coming soon as this is one of our favorite games.<br />
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2. Puppet Shows<br />
Puppet shows are a great way to re-play stories you are reading, act out problems you are having, or create imagination stations! Here are three great sites for getting you started playing puppets!<br />
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<a href="http://www.thetoddlergames.com/puppet-play/">The Toddler Games Webpage </a></div>
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<a href="http://www.whattoexpect.com/playroom/playtime-tips/fun-with-puppet-play.aspx">What To Expect</a></div>
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<a href="http://fit.webmd.com/jr/mood/article/puppet-show-activity">Fit Sandord</a></div>
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<script charset="utf-8" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=ss_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822/US/youllfapissc-20/8001/50a1a897-c0fe-4c27-b1a1-5685f04e6ed6" type="text/javascript"> </script> <noscript><a HREF="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=ss_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fyoullfapissc-20%2F8001%2F50a1a897-c0fe-4c27-b1a1-5685f04e6ed6&Operation=NoScript">Amazon.com Widgets</A></noscript>
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3. Drawing Emotions<br />
Last year's D for the A to Z challenge was all about getting emtions out through drawing. <a href="http://apirateschool.blogspot.com/2012/04/drawing-for-life-to-z-challenge.html">Check out the post here</a>!<br />
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I hope you have fun and a little drama in your house today!</div>
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Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-16157544357782832612013-04-03T13:20:00.001-07:002013-04-03T13:20:14.590-07:00Cooking With Kids Resources - 26 Days and A to Z Resources Cooking with kids can be stressful sometimes, eggs (shell and all) going right into the brownie mix, and when you're done the floor is so sticky you're not sure it will ever be the same color. If you don't believe me go read Five Little Monkeys Bake Momma A Birthday Cake it sums up cooking time at my house... only this mom is trying to do damage control. However, for all the stress, and thrown away attempts at delicacies (or just chocolate that was much needed to recover from cooking), it is actually a huge learning tool! Kids learn fractions from cooking 1/4 of a cup is a great way to introduce fractions! Counting out ingredients such as eggs is also in introduction to 'read world' or 'word problem' math!<br />
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Here are 5 great resources for cooking with kids!<br />
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1. Cooking With Kids<br />
This site has tons of printable to go along with the cooking projects and my favorite part is their recipes by theme! Choose holidays' or specific events in your life to go along with beautiful and easy recipes! <a href="http://www.childrensrecipes.com/childrens_recipes_index.htm">Go here to browse this site</a>!<br />
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2. Food Network Channel<br />
Did you know the Food Network not only has shows and recipes just for kids but they have an entire slot on their site dedicated to getting kids into cooking? From short videos on clean up and safety to great game ideas, books, demonstrations and of course recipes!<a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/cooking-with-kids/package/index.html"> Go here to get started with fantastic site</a>!<br />
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3. Martha Stewart<br />
Martha does everything right? And, cooking with children is no exception! Her featured recipe during the holidays was home-made hot chocolate! It's to die for and so the kids and I had a lot of fun making it! We made it in larger batches for nights around the fire place and story time but I liked mine more than 'luke warm' and so I would put it in my k-cup maker (I have a reusable k-cup to put your own grinds in) and it was still absolutely perfect! <a href="http://www.marthastewart.com/275624/easy-recipes-kids-can-help-make">Check out this recipe and many other's here</a>.<br />
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<script charset="utf-8" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=ss_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822/US/youllfapissc-20/8001/1d097b23-3cfa-4741-8335-751c8ca7b261" type="text/javascript"> </script> <noscript><a HREF="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=ss_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fyoullfapissc-20%2F8001%2F1d097b23-3cfa-4741-8335-751c8ca7b261&Operation=NoScript">Amazon.com Widgets</A></noscript><br />
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4. PBS Parents<br />
From cooking and safety to nutrition and recipes that center around getting your full 'plate' in for the day! Fruit and veggi based meals with little or no meat! My kids love some of these and some of the 'healthy deserts' are the best! <a href="http://www.pbs.org/parents/food-and-fitness/eat-smart/cooking-with-kids/">Go here to check it all out!</a> And make sure to look into the <a href="http://www.pbs.org/parents/food-and-fitness/eat-smart/dinnertime-diversions/">Dinnertime Diversions</a> section! It really helped us stay on track and think about why we cook at eat together.<br />
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5. TLC<br />
Okay I wouldn't have ever looked here but it was recommended to me by a friend via Pinterest. They have the cutest recipes and ideas ever... just don't expect them to turn out looking like this if you are cooking with toddlers! Know you're going into the project with little hands helping and be okay with your ballerina slipper twinkies ending up looking like something you stepped on in the back yard (only maybe with pink and sprinkles). <a href="http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/cooking-with-kids-recipes-channel.htm">Go here to check it out... </a><br />
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Tomorrow's topic begins with D! I would totally give you a spoiler but I'm sitting here debating over about three different ideas. Maybe I"ll do them all? See you tomorrow!Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-47063764348046142892013-04-03T12:24:00.003-07:002013-04-03T12:24:45.198-07:00Free E-Books or Online Books Part 2 - 26 Days and A to Z Resources <span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the A to Z blog challenge this year I have decided to showcase 26 subjects and great resources for each of these subject. One of my most popular posts ever has been the <a href="http://apirateschool.blogspot.com/2011/01/free-e-books-or-online-books.html">Free E-Books or Online Books</a> in which I outlined over 3,000 free online books! So here is a part 2 with another 3,000 and new book companies, web-pages and resources! I hope you enjoy! Did you know that online there is over 2.5 MILLION FREE TITLES to be downloaded? Don't have an e-reader? No problem use free apps such as Kindle, and Nook to transform your phone, PC, MAC or tablet into an instant e-reader with out every purchasing one! </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Kindle App</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Download </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&docId=1000493771&linkCode=ur2&tag=youllfapissc-20" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank">Free Kindle App By Amazon</a><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=ur2&o=1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> through this link. You can put the app on your PC, Mac, Tablet, Phone, iPad and more! This app transforms the computer device you already have into an instant Kindle! Now you have the power to use thousands of free Kindle books! Here's a list of 10 free books to get you started but don't stop there, there is currently over <b>2500 TITLES</b> free books on Amazon to be downloaded! </span></span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=free%20children%27s%20books&linkCode=ur2&rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Afree%20children%27s%20books&tag=youllfapissc-20&url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text" target="_blank">Free Children's Books</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=ur2&o=1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> & <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&keywords=free%20kindle%20books&linkCode=ur2&qid=1365008857&rh=n%3A133140011%2Cn%3A154606011%2Cn%3A157325011%2Cn%3A158125011%2Ck%3Afree%20kindle%20books&rnid=133141011&tag=youllfapissc-20" target="_blank">Education and Reference </a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=ur2&o=1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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1. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004SUP1XO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004SUP1XO&linkCode=as2&tag=youllfapissc-20">The Ugly Duckling (Illustrated)</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004SUP1XO" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
2. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007K81D60/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B007K81D60&linkCode=as2&tag=youllfapissc-20">Lily Lemon Blossom Welcome to Lily's Room</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B007K81D60" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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3. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007IPMCC4/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B007IPMCC4&linkCode=as2&tag=youllfapissc-20">Orangey the Goldfish (Book 1)</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B007IPMCC4" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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4. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HD5TV6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004HD5TV6&linkCode=as2&tag=youllfapissc-20">Cougar Cub Tales: I'm Just Like You</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004HD5TV6" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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5. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005HAY8EM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B005HAY8EM&linkCode=as2&tag=youllfapissc-20">A New Pet in the Family</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B005HAY8EM" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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6. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HD5TV6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004HD5TV6&linkCode=as2&tag=youllfapissc-20">Cougar Cub Tales: I'm Just Like You</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004HD5TV6" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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7. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004ZM8O3O/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004ZM8O3O&linkCode=as2&tag=youllfapissc-20">The Clever Detective: Story 1 (A Fairy Tale Romance)</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004ZM8O3O" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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8. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007X6KII8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B007X6KII8&linkCode=as2&tag=youllfapissc-20">Wiggle Wiggle Boooooom!</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B007X6KII8" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (free for prime members or members of Amazon Mom .99 cents otherwise)<br />
9. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0074V5UIA/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0074V5UIA&linkCode=as2&tag=youllfapissc-20">Snotty Crocky: A Slimy Rhyming Children's Picture Book</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0074V5UIA" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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10. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008YYLYVS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B008YYLYVS&linkCode=as2&tag=youllfapissc-20">Tongue Twisters for Kids</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B008YYLYVS" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">2. Nook App </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Barns and Noble developed a kindle like reader called the Nook and just like Kindle you can download the app to transform devices you already have into a free version of the Nook. Go here to choose your app and then enjoy thousands of free Nook Books! </span></span> <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/free-kids-books?keyword=free+kids+books&store=ebook">Free children's books</a>.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">1. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/elephants-child-rudyard-kipling/1100017413?ean=2940000920596">The Elephant's Child</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">2. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-sunflower-that-roared-michelle-de-villiers/1023503380?ean=2940011065675">The Summer Flower That Roared </a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">3. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/little-learners-sing-along-parragon-books-ltd/1114919463?ean=9781472328342">Little Learner's Sing Along</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">4. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/short-bedtime-stories-tom-greenwood/1022594856?ean=2940000899878">Short Bedtime Stories</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">5. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/when-cows-fly-tom-watson/1029569572?ean=9781609844981">When Cows Fly </a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">6. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/quack-a-doodle-baa-michelle-de-villiers/1021375512?ean=2940000838020">Quack A-Doodle-Baa</a> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">7. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/matthew-james-animal-trainer-michelle-de-villiers/1100543365?ean=2940000837344">Animal Trainer</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">8. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/julio-bunny-goes-to-the-library-nicoletta-costa/1114955479?ean=9781619890626">Julio Bunny Goes To The Library </a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">9. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/meet-digger-mole-alan-scouse/1030704482?ean=2940011254857">Meet Digger Mole</a></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">10. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fergus-at-the-race-j-w-noble/1113893553?ean=9781625170040">Fergus The Race</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">3. Many Books Online </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Browse thousands of online books in this library and read them instantly from your computer! <a href="http://manybooks.net/">Go here to see the site and all their books</a>. You can even read and write book reviews! </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">4. Project Gutenberg </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Project Gutenberg is a collection of over 42,000 online e-books ready to read or download. These books were originally published by bona fide publishers. Books were proofed by volunteers so you may run into some spelling or grammar errors although many titles are well known. There is no registration or fees to use the site so </span><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">go here and enjoy</a><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">! Also to make it easier here is a direct link to the <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Category:Children%27s_Bookshelf">children's book shelf</a>. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">5. Open Library Online</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Just like Wiki you can write articles, contribute, add your own books, etc. You must sign up for an account although it's free, there is currently over 1,000,000 publications on the site to be checked out. Only so many people can check them out at a time so you might need to add some to your waiting list. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">6. American Libraries </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">The American Libraries has launched a full site with millions of titles and works of art. They even have an entire <a href="http://archive.org/details/iacl">children's library online</a>! Read books right on your computer no need to check them out! </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">7. Barns & Noble Story Circle </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Currently Barns & Noble has just over a dozen stories loaded into this online story time circle but they are working on loading more according to blogger sources. These stories are read along with professional story tellers or the book's author reading the story out-loud. This service is very much like the Disney Digital Books discussed in party 1 of </span><a href="http://apirateschool.blogspot.com/2011/01/free-e-books-or-online-books.html" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Free E-Books post</a><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/online-storytime-books-toys/379003588">Go here and enjoy the Barns & Noble Story time Circle</a> and be sure to check back for new stories (I know at least one has been loaded since last month.)</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">8. Google Play Books </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Google Play is the new Android Market and they have hundreds of books you can download to your phone or tablet, but did you know you can go right to play.google.com to use the market from your PC or Mac? Read books, listen to music and even play some apps all for free? Go here and see some of the children's books availible online. Many of htese are duplicates from Amazon but there are some </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">I hope everyone enjoy's the new list! See you tomorrow for C is for Cooking resources Did you know cooking is educational, fun, and good parent child bonding time? </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-17651600983788765342013-04-03T09:52:00.003-07:002013-04-03T09:52:58.695-07:00A is for Algebra - 26 Days and A to Z of Resources For the A to Z blog challenge this year I have decided to showcase 26 subjects and great resources for each of these subject. Now algebra may seem above most toddler's heads, but it's really not! Here are 5 great resources for teaching algebra concepts and pre-algebra to preschoolers!<br />
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1. <a href="http://www.instructorweb.com/resources/prealgebra.asp">Instructor Web</a> -<br />
Get a variety of pre-algebra and algebra lesson plans and work sheets for free! Follow along with what they say is the biggest step in learning algebra... colors!<br />
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2. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1425805345/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1425805345&linkCode=as2&tag=youllfapissc-20">Guided Math: A Framework for Mathematics Instruction</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1425805345" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> -<br />
One of my favorite books that can teach you how kids understand math as well as easy ways to introduce complex ideas! Sharing a cookie is fractions... so why not make math fun and understandable to children!<br />
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3. <a href="http://www.schoolsparks.com/kindergarten-worksheets">School Sparks</a> -<br />
With hundreds of work sheets labeled and ready to print off for free you can choose to print or buy their complete book with over 300 work pages!<br />
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4. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004617DEU/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004617DEU&linkCode=as2&tag=youllfapissc-20">ThinkFun Math Dice Jr. Game</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004617DEU" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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This game helped both my 3 year old and 4 year old get into addition! Adding numbers wasn't anything they grasped very well 3+4 wasn't an idea they understood. But seeing the dots on the dice and getting to add, subtract and multiply something they could count and feel... worked like a charm! I would highly recommend dice games (don't let your little ones eat the dice). They are inexpensive (less than $10.00 on Amazon) and can be used all the way to about 6th grade (with division, long addition etc.)<br />
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5. <a href="http://www.nickjr.com/team-umizoomi/">Team Umizoomi </a><br />
Team Umizoomi is a Nick Jr. television show which teaches kids, patterns, shapes, counting, numbers, direction, map use and more! What a great introduction to math when mom's busy! Check out their page here for work sheets, games, and project ideas to continue along after each episode!<br />
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Come back tomorrow for resources and information on my second post of over 3,000 free books and e-books for kids! Part one of this post was published last year... <a href="http://apirateschool.blogspot.com/2011/01/free-e-books-or-online-books.html">see it here</a>.<br />
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<br />Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-64587980402083004022012-12-27T15:19:00.002-08:002012-12-27T15:19:32.001-08:00Monster Rocks <div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Here's a fun Halloween activity! </b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Create Your Own Monster Rocks </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkBFNPV46HCGDfHEXrZaESi7tT_7MW6ZaZ8HvWSQ53o3fA5t4JEYUJX6i4fV8GNT5-mrl4XJpPL2Jdlb1vN-KhVRQQvjoExoiXra3-qXCysfo49lE8wUNVudC1BPOtQh-gdQHx6-jn6F0/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkBFNPV46HCGDfHEXrZaESi7tT_7MW6ZaZ8HvWSQ53o3fA5t4JEYUJX6i4fV8GNT5-mrl4XJpPL2Jdlb1vN-KhVRQQvjoExoiXra3-qXCysfo49lE8wUNVudC1BPOtQh-gdQHx6-jn6F0/s320/photo.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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This activity is fairly easy although you'll need to do it in several steps to allow for the paint and mod podge to dry. So plan several small sessions to complete these rocks, or pre-paint the rocks and have the kids help you decorate them!<br />
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<b>What You'll Need: </b><br />
- Mod Podge Glue<br />
- 3/4" to 2" Rocks Tumbled Smooth<br />
- Several Colors of Craft Paint<br />
- Google Eye's<br />
- Paint Brushes<br />
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<b>Time To Complete This Activity: </b><br />
- From start to finish it took me 48 hours to allow layers of the glue and Mod Podge to dry.<br />
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<b>Difficulty: </b><br />
- 2 of 5 Stars for time it takes to dry.<br />
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<b>H</b>ere is how to create these adorable monster rocks, I hope you have fun, and make sure to use them for math counters during the Halloween season! </h4>
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<b>Step 1: Painting</b><br />
Take each tumbled stone you wish to turn into a monster rock and paint it with your choice of colors. With the stones I had, it took about 3 layers of paint. With the craft paint it dried within about 30 minutes. So total time to paint was about 1.5 hours. You'll want to wait several hours before moving on from this point to make sure the paint is completely dry.<br />
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<b>Step 2: Seal It </b><br />
After the paint is dry, seal it with the Mod Podge glue by painting the rock complete with it. You'll want to wait 5 to 24 hours for the Mod Podge to dry before trying to draw over the top of it or you will end up pushing it off the stone along with the paint underneath it.<br />
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<b>Step 3: Draw Your Face</b><br />
Dray the faces on the rock using a permanent marker. Be as creative as you'd like! Even my 2 year old had fun doing this! You can use different color markers, and experiment.<br />
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<b>Step 4: Glue On Googly Eye's </b><br />
Glue on the googly eye's to complete the faces! The eyes can come off if you do not glue them on correctly and this can be a choking hazard. So be sure to glue them on using something like Hot Stuff which is designed for rock (nothing water soluble that could dissolve in a little ones mouth).<br />
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<b>Step 5: Re-Seal </b><br />
Re-seal the entire stone to keep the marker on, I even painted over the googly eye's so that I knew they were protected as well. I let this dry overnight to make sure nothing was coming off and then I tested the eye's by pushing on them to make sure they were on the rocks securely. Once I was satisfied the eye's weren't going anywhere I created math games to go along with the rocks! In addition we're using them for Halloween decor. To see our Monster Rocks Math Games Go Here.Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-54718389895961356542012-12-27T15:07:00.000-08:002012-12-27T15:07:00.978-08:00I Had A Dream - Themed Lesson Plan (Martin Luther King Jr)This entire lesson is about having a dream, and being able to explore what that means, and how it can change the world. Learning about Martin Luther King day which is actually about Martin Luther King Jr. This is commonly confused and should be kept very specific if you choose to actually talk about Martin Luther King Jr. during this week's pre-school/kindergarten exploration. Because of the age f my children I chose not to focus on the tragedy that African American's experienced that lead up to the famous speeches or acts during Martin Luther King Jr.'s time. I instead chose to focus on the inspiration that Martin Luther King Jr. left behind. The "I had a dream" speech and how a dream can change the world. We will re-visit Martin Luther King Jr. annually and will get into more of the graphic side of this sotry as they get older.<br />
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
<b>This Week's Spelling Words: </b><br />
- I<br />
- She<br />
- You<br />
- Me<br />
- At<br />
- Mat<br />
- Pat<br />
- Sat<br />
- We<br />
- My<br />
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<b>This Week's Color Focus: </b><br />
- Cool vs. Warm colors <br />
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<b>This Week's Math Focus: </b><br />
- Counting 1-50<br />
- Adding number combinations with the sum of 20 or less.<br />
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<b>This Week's Helpful Sites: </b><br />
- http://www.teachingheart.net/happymlkbooks.html</div>
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- http://www.teachpreschool.org/2011/01/learning-about-martin-luther-king-jr-in-preschool/</div>
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- http://www.2013calendarwithholidays.org/2013-holiday-list</div>
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- http://www.pbs.org/empires/martinluther/who_said.html</div>
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<b>This Week's Vocabulary Words:</b> </div>
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- Unjust - unfair, mean, unkind </div>
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- Just - fair, polite, kind</div>
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- Fair - nice, polite, kind</div>
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- Unfair - mean, poorly treated, unkind</div>
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- Treatment - how you act towards someone (I used the example of Rudolph and the other reindeer) </span></span><br />
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- Laws = rules set by the government or society and enforced by officers of the law</div>
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- Support = to assist or help</div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-size: medium;">Monday - </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span></b><b>Reading -</b> practice flash cards of this week's words.</div>
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Read the children's books for at least 20 minutes. Note whenever children (or a creature) are treated or act justly (fairly) or unjustly (unfairly). If a character acts unjustly to another pause reading to ask what they could do differently.</div>
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Read over this week's vocabulary words, and discuss their meanings (definitions). </div>
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<b>Math -</b> practice counting from 1 to 50 (counting either out loud or using objects).</div>
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Practice addition with out objects to count. There are many good websites that provide free addition, subtraction and other math pages. However here are a few of my favorite: </div>
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- http://www.math-drills.com/addition.shtml</div>
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- http://www.schoolsparks.com/kindergarten-worksheets/category/addition-worksheets</div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
- http://www.ixl.com/math/kindergarten (you can complete 5 practice activities each day for free or subscribe fr $9.95 month) </div>
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- http://www.tlsbooks.com/mathadditionworksheets.htm</div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Pick one or a few practice pages to work on today. Don't worry about how far you get nearly as much as you emphasize the importance of understanding, if you child isn't ready to move on go back to using objects they can count. </span></span><br />
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<b style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Color Lesson: </b><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Learn about what colors are cool, what colors are warm and what the difference is. Here are a few websites you can read abut this infrmation: </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://blog.arizonawholesalesupply.com/2010/06/understanding-color-warm-vs-cool-colors/</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://interiordec.about.com/od/color/a/Warm-Colors-And-Cool-Colors.htm</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://www.ckcolorado.org/units/Kindergarten/k_colorstalk.PDF</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://lessonplansource.com/warm-and-cool-colors/</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://www.anksimage.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/color_chart_warm_cool.gif</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">After learning about the colors let's try coloring using warm and cool colors: </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://www.eiu.edu/adulted/ArtConference_ColorScheme.pdf</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://www.4shared.com/document/XUUO93o6/color_wheel_activities.html</span></span><br />
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<b style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">I Had A Dream Activity: </b><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Use the following chart t introduce Martin Luther King Jr. Please keep in mind that Cinderella and all the art used is a trademark and copy right by Disney. This graph can only be used for personal and educational purposes.</span></span><br />
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(<a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B87cBOA_7L3oUlB2bUNzZk11UTA">Download This Chart Here</a>) </div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">The following lesson (discussion) can go along with the above graph. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Ask the child(ren) if they have a dream. Talk about how their dream could possibly shape the rest of their lives, or change the lives of the people around them. For example if their dream is the 'join the circus' what things might they need to do to prepare to make that dream come true? Do any of the items on their 'to prepare for list' involve support of others? IE: gymnastics lessons that parents might need to help pay for, which means that their parents may need to have a good job, a vehicle to transport them etc. Dreams take support of some kind to come true. So discussing your dreams is a great way to get them on track. Sometimes your dreams come with risks, embarrassment,etc. </span></span><br />
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<b style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;">Tuesday - </span></b><br />
<br />
<b style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Reading -</b><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"> practice flash cards of this week's words.</span><br />
<br />
<div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
Read the children's books for at least 20 minutes. Note whenever children (or a creature) are treated or act justly (fairly) or unjustly (unfairly). If a character acts unjustly to another pause reading to ask what they could do differently.</div>
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Read over this week's vocabulary words, and then use each one in a proper sentence. </span></span><br />
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
<b>Math -</b> practice counting from 1 to 50 (counting either out loud or using objects).</div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
Practice addition with out objects to count. There are many good websites that provide free addition, subtraction and other math pages. However here are a few of my favorite: </div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
- http://www.math-drills.com/addition.shtml</div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
- http://www.schoolsparks.com/kindergarten-worksheets/category/addition-worksheets</div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
- http://www.ixl.com/math/kindergarten (you can complete 5 practice activities each day for free or subscribe fr $9.95 month) </div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
- http://www.tlsbooks.com/mathadditionworksheets.htm</div>
</div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Pick one or a few practice pages to work on today. Don't worry about how far you get nearly as much as you emphasize the importance of understanding, if you child isn't ready to move on go back to using objects they can count. </span></span><br />
<br />
<b style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Color Lesson: </b><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Learn about what colors are cool, what colors are warm and what the difference is. Here are a few websites you can read abut this infrmation: </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://blog.arizonawholesalesupply.com/2010/06/understanding-color-warm-vs-cool-colors/</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://interiordec.about.com/od/color/a/Warm-Colors-And-Cool-Colors.htm</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://www.ckcolorado.org/units/Kindergarten/k_colorstalk.PDF</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://lessonplansource.com/warm-and-cool-colors/</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://www.anksimage.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/color_chart_warm_cool.gif</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">After learning about the colors try going around the house and pointing (or photographing with a phone, leappad, or digital camera) items that are cool or warm colors. IE: toys, accent walls, dishes etc. Make your own collage with warm colors, and a collage with cool colors (if photographing your own home is not an option try looking through magazines). </span></span><br />
<br />
<b style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">I Had A Dream Activity: </b><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Now that children have had an introduction to the idea of having dreams/goals, have each child write down 3 to 10 dreams on 'dream clouds' (construction paper cut out to look like clouds), you can even add cotton balls around the edges of the cloud cut-outs. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">After all the dream clouds are filled out (depending on your child's attention span) use push pins, magnets, or tape and hang them up. Ours are hanging on poster board that says "Dreams are a wonderful thing but they take support to become a reality" You may want to limit some dreams or goals t things that can happen fairly soon as to illustrate the idea to children. </span></span></div>
</div>
<br style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;"><b>Wednesday - </b></span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;" />
<br />
<b style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Reading -</b><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"> practice flash cards of this week's words.</span><br />
<br />
<div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
Read the children's books for at least 20 minutes. Note whenever children (or a creature) are treated or act justly (fairly) or unjustly (unfairly). If a character acts unjustly to another pause reading to ask what they could do differently.</div>
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Read over this week's vocabulary words, and practice writing each one with your child so they can see how they are written. </span></span><br />
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
<b>Math -</b> practice counting from 1 to 50 (counting either out loud or using objects).</div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
Practice addition with out objects to count. There are many good websites that provide free addition, subtraction and other math pages. However here are a few of my favorite: </div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
- http://www.math-drills.com/addition.shtml</div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
- http://www.schoolsparks.com/kindergarten-worksheets/category/addition-worksheets</div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
- http://www.ixl.com/math/kindergarten (you can complete 5 practice activities each day for free or subscribe fr $9.95 month) </div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
- http://www.tlsbooks.com/mathadditionworksheets.htm</div>
</div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Pick one or a few practice pages to work on today. Don't worry about how far you get nearly as much as you emphasize the importance of understanding, if you child isn't ready to move on go back to using objects they can count. </span></span><br />
<br />
<b style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Color Lesson: </b><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Learn about what colors are cool, what colors are warm and what the difference is. Here are a few websites you can read abut this infrmation: </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://blog.arizonawholesalesupply.com/2010/06/understanding-color-warm-vs-cool-colors/</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://interiordec.about.com/od/color/a/Warm-Colors-And-Cool-Colors.htm</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://www.ckcolorado.org/units/Kindergarten/k_colorstalk.PDF</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://lessonplansource.com/warm-and-cool-colors/</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://www.anksimage.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/color_chart_warm_cool.gif</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Try playing dress-ups! This can be done with boys and girls. Go through the child's wardrobe trying on clothing. Write down or photograph each outfit and which pieces are warm or cool colors. If you prefer you can do this with a doll that has several outfits or sticker dolls. </span></span><br />
<br />
<b style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">I Had A Dream Activity: </b><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Read the Martin Luther King Jr. timeline by children, to your children. This is a great illustration of he was. <a href="http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/taverna/98/1.htm">You can find this timeline here</a>. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<b style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 20px;">Thursday - </b><br />
<br />
<b style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Reading -</b><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"> practice flash cards of this week's words.</span><br />
<br />
<div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
Read the children's books for at least 20 minutes. Note whenever children (or a creature) are treated or act justly (fairly) or unjustly (unfairly). If a character acts unjustly to another pause reading to ask what they could do differently.</div>
<br />
Write each vocabulary word for this week three times, alone with the definition or synonym. <br />
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
<b>Math -</b> practice counting from 1 to 50 (counting either out loud or using objects).</div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
Practice addition with out objects to count. There are many good websites that provide free addition, subtraction and other math pages. However here are a few of my favorite: </div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
- http://www.math-drills.com/addition.shtml</div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
- http://www.schoolsparks.com/kindergarten-worksheets/category/addition-worksheets</div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
- http://www.ixl.com/math/kindergarten (you can complete 5 practice activities each day for free or subscribe fr $9.95 month) </div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
- http://www.tlsbooks.com/mathadditionworksheets.htm</div>
</div>
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Pick one or a few practice pages to work on today. Don't worry about how far you get nearly as much as you emphasize the importance of understanding, if you child isn't ready to move on go back to using objects they can count. </span></span><br />
<br />
<b style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Color Lesson: </b><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Learn about what colors are cool, what colors are warm and what the difference is. Here are a few websites you can read abut this infrmation: </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://blog.arizonawholesalesupply.com/2010/06/understanding-color-warm-vs-cool-colors/</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://interiordec.about.com/od/color/a/Warm-Colors-And-Cool-Colors.htm</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://www.ckcolorado.org/units/Kindergarten/k_colorstalk.PDF</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://lessonplansource.com/warm-and-cool-colors/</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- http://www.anksimage.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/color_chart_warm_cool.gif</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Go to the hardware store or your local department store that sales paint, and pick out swatches. Then come home and write on each swatch "warm" or "cool" put them in piles. This is great handwriting practice, word recognition, and color practice. You can take them on your next nature walk and see what items you can find outdoors that match the colors! write the item with the matching color below the warm or cool. </span></span><br />
<br />
<b style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">I Had A Dream Activity: </b><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Read about Martin Luther King Jr. We chose to start the short chapter book "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0448447231/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=youllfapissc-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0448447231">Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.?</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=youllfapissc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0448447231" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
" which you can find on Amazon for about $5.00. There are other great children's books about Martin Luther King Jr. so pick your favorite! </span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #e69138; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;">Friday - </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #e69138; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"></span>
<b style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Reading -</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"> practice flash cards of this week's words.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Read the children's books for at least 20 minutes. Note whenever children (or a creature) find, discover, or illustrate something about themselves (Piggy & Elephant Books are great for this).</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Read the vocabulary words one last time, this time have the kids say a time in their lives when they feel each one is applicable to me. IE: it was unjust of my sister to take my toy without asking. You may have to help them but that's okay! </span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;" />
<b style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Math -</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"> practice counting from 1 to 50 (counting either out loud or using objects).</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Add Cheerios in the following combinations. Don't worry about writing them down just yet, just put them in piles and then count how many total Cheerios there are between the two piles.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">0+1= 1</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">5+4= 9</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">6+1= 7</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">0+0= 0</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">3+7= 10</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;" />
<b style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Color Lesson: </b><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Take your color swatches from yesterday and ask the child what they think about when you hold up each swatch. Does the color invoke a cool or warm thought? Does blue remind them of the sky, the ocean, or a truck? Write their answers on the back (Remember there's no wrong or right answer this just helps little ones think about the meanings and significance of colors.) </span></span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;" />
<b style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">I Had A Dream Activity</b><b style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">: </b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Continue reading your Martin Luther King Jr. story. If your story was short you can start the movie Cinderella today. Have the kids think about Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream vs. Cinderella's dream. How did they both find help in making their dreams come true? </span><br />
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: #a64d79; font-size: medium;">Weekend Quiet Time Activities - </span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">Watch Cinderella talk about the similarities between a story your children maybe familiar with and that of Martin Luther King Jr. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- What was Cinderella's Dream? </span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- What was Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream? </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- How did they each find help? </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- Was it easy to make their dreams come true? </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;">- What was each person trying to overcome? </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"><b><u>I hope you enjoyed this week's lessons on dreams, adversity, justice, and self exploration. Please take a moment to "like" my <a href="http://www.facebook.com/PirateSchool">Facebook page HERE</a>, and come back often to find more lessons, more dreams, and more activities. </u></b></span></span></div>
Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-91360958607623403182012-12-26T21:49:00.000-08:002012-12-27T15:07:15.170-08:00Self Awareness Lesson - Themed Lesson Plan <b>Learning self awareness is one of the major focuses for any pre-school age child. The more you understand about yourself the easier it becomes to cope with things outside your control. For example if a child understand what is an acceptable form of stress relief (IE how to acceptably throw a royal temper tantrum) they have a easier time coping even outside stress relief. For us we allow our children t g t their room to mope, scream into a pillow, or self sooth with a teddy. If they go to their room before having their temper tantrum they are allowed to re-join the family whenever they feel they are ready. If they have t be sent t their room or sent to the time out chair then they have to wait a minimum f 3 minutes and someone will come get them when they can re-join the family. This set rule allows my children to understand when they are having a hard time and may need to excuse themselves to their own room before they unleash emotions that may land them in time out. </b><br />
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<b>Other forms of self awareness is when they are hungry, tired, and how their own bodies work. Letting a child explore hunger and food options can eliminate a lot of tantrums due to simple hunger (hey I become a bear when I'm overly hungry too). Same goes with feeling comfortable going to bed. </b><br />
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<b>This Week's Spelling Words: </b><br />
- I<br />
- Me<br />
- We<br />
- You<br />
- Us<br />
- She<br />
- Him<br />
- Her<br />
- My<br />
- Family<br />
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<b>This Week's Color Focus: </b><br />
- What are primary colors?<br />
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<b>This Week's Math Focus: </b><br />
- Counting 1-50<br />
- Adding number combinations with the sum of 10 or less.<br />
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<b>This Week's Helpful Sites: </b><br />
- http://www.preschoolexpress.com/toddler_station07/self-awareness-sep07.shtml<br />
- http://www.livestrong.com/article/512350-activities-for-preschool-age-children-about-self-awareness/<br />
- http://www.preschoolrainbow.org/family-theme.htm<br />
- http://www.teachersparadise.com/c/kindergarten-critical-thinking-selfawareness-p-3296.html<br />
- http://www.usd253.org/respect/KindergartenSELPage.htm<br />
- http://www.a-z-worksheets.com/support-files/kindergarten_spelling_words_worksheets_list.pdf<br />
- http://www.quickcraftonline.com/_7<br />
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;">Monday - </span></b><br />
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<b>Reading -</b> practice flash cards of this week's words.<br />
Read the children's books for at least 20 minutes. Note whenever children (or a creature) find, discover, or illustrate something about themselves (Piggy & Elephant Books are great for this).<br />
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<b>Math -</b> practice counting from 1 to 50 (counting either out loud or using objects).<br />
Add Cheerios in the following combinations. Don't worry about writing them down just yet, just put them in piles and then count how many total Cheerios there are between the two piles.<br />
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1+3= 4<br />
2+5= 7<br />
3+1= 4<br />
5+2= 7<br />
5+5= 10<br />
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<b>Color Lesson: </b><br />
What are the three primary colors? Red, Blue, Yellow.<br />
All other colors (except for black which is the void of all color despite common misconception that it is a mix of all colors; which is actually white) are made up of these colors. (<a href="http://www.sensationalcolor.com/color-messages-meanings/color-meaning-symbolism-psychology/all-about-the-color-black.html">Read more about black and white here</a>).<br />
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Demonstrate the many colors using a color wheel, while finger painting. Use only the three primary colors for finger painting. (<a href="http://www.ehow.com/how_5709605_teach-preschool-students-primary-colors.html">Read more about this project here</a>).<br />
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<b>Self Awareness Activity: </b><br />
When taking a bath allow children to wash themselves (using a rag, sponge, luffa, etc.) name each body part they wash. Or if they are capable ask them to name the body parts.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Tuesday - </span></b><br />
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<b>Reading -</b> practice flash cards of this week's words.<br />
Read the children's books for at least 20 minutes. Note whenever children (or a creature) find, discover, or illustrate something about themselves (Piggy & Elephant Books are great for this).<br />
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<b>Math -</b> practice counting from 1 to 50 (counting either out loud or using objects).<br />
Add Cheerios in the following combinations. Don't worry about writing them down just yet, just put them in piles and then count how many total Cheerios there are between the two piles.<br />
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1+6= 7<br />
1+1= 2<br />
6+1= 7<br />
2+2= 4<br />
3+3= 6<br />
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<b>Color Lesson: </b><br />
Use markers to create your own color chart. Since we're learning about adding this should be fun! <a href="http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oGdVhk1dtQslEAbltXNyoA?p=teaching%20kids%20about%20primary%20colors&fr2=sb-top&fr=yfp-t-701">View this color chart</a> using smiley faces then get to work on your own. Make as many or as few color additions as you think your child can handle.<br />
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<b>Self Awareness Activity: </b><br />
Learn The Three Little Bugs song as translated and published by Jean Warren on the webpage Toddler Station (<a href="http://www.preschoolexpress.com/toddler_station07/self-awareness-sep07.shtml">found near the bottom of the page here</a>).<br />
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;"><b>Wednesday - </b></span><br />
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<b>Reading -</b> practice flash cards of this week's words.<br />
Read the children's books for at least 20 minutes. Note whenever children (or a creature) find, discover, or illustrate something about themselves (Piggy & Elephant Books are great for this).<br />
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<b>Math -</b> practice counting from 1 to 50 (counting either out loud or using objects).<br />
Add Cheerios in the following combinations. Don't worry about writing them down just yet, just put them in piles and then count how many total Cheerios there are between the two piles.<br />
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2+6= 8<br />
4+4= 8<br />
6+2= 8<br />
3+5= 8<br />
1+7= 8<br />
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<b>Color Lesson: </b><br />
What color do you get work sheet <a href="http://kidsactivities.about.com/od/MusicArt/ss/Fine-Motor-Activity-Color-Mixing-With-Eye-Dropper_6.htm">found here</a>. Or make your own worksheets for this activity.<br />
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<b>Self Awareness Activity: </b><br />
Sketch around your toddler's hand, then sketch around as many other people's hands as you can find! Write each person's name inside their hand. IE: Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Jake, Aunt Linda, Great Aunt Carla, Sister Inara, etc. Then help your toddler sort them in as many ways as you can think of (color they were sketched in, smallest to largest, any differences, left hand vs. right hand, etc.<br />
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-size: large;"><b>Thursday - </b></span><br />
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<b>Reading -</b> practice flash cards of this week's words.<br />
Read the children's books for at least 20 minutes. Note whenever children (or a creature) find, discover, or illustrate something about themselves (Piggy & Elephant Books are great for this).<br />
<br />
<b>Math -</b> practice counting from 1 to 50 (counting either out loud or using objects).<br />
Add Cheerios in the following combinations. Don't worry about writing them down just yet, just put them in piles and then count how many total Cheerios there are between the two piles.<br />
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1+4= 5<br />
1+3= 4<br />
1+2= 3<br />
1+5= 6<br />
1+7= 8<br />
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<b>Color Lesson: </b><br />
Draw a rainbow (or help your child draw one) and then point out the colors that are primary. On every non-primary color write in what colors are mixed to make that color. As in purple is red+blue=purple. If your child doesn't know what colors are mixed to make one or more of the colors help them mix colors together.<br />
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<b>Self Awareness Activity: </b><br />
Draw a self portrait. Have your child draw a picture of themselves. They can draw one, or many pictures. If they are enjoying this activity have them draw a picture of themselves in their room, of themselves at their grandparent's house, a picture of themselves playing with their favorite toy, etc.<br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">Friday - </span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<b>Reading -</b> practice flash cards of this week's words.<br />
Read the children's books for at least 20 minutes. Note whenever children (or a creature) find, discover, or illustrate something about themselves (Piggy & Elephant Books are great for this).<br />
<br />
<b>Math -</b> practice counting from 1 to 50 (counting either out loud or using objects).<br />
Add Cheerios in the following combinations. Don't worry about writing them down just yet, just put them in piles and then count how many total Cheerios there are between the two piles.<br />
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0+1= 1<br />
5+4= 9<br />
6+1= 7<br />
0+0= 0<br />
3+7= 10<br />
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<b>Color Lesson: </b><br />
Rainbow primary coloring activity page <a href="http://www.first-school.ws/t/apcolorarc.htm">which is found here</a>, is a great way to end this introduction to primary colors.<br />
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<b>Self Awareness Activity: </b><br />
Create an "About Me" book with your child and have them think about some of the things that are important to them, what they like and where they live.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #a64d79; font-size: large;">Weekend Quiet Time Activities - </span></b><br />
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Additional activities you can do include purchasing an inexpensive pack of Play Dough and allowing children to mix the primary colors to make other colors.<br />
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Also try doing the same thing with glasses of water and food coloring (primary colors only).<br />
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<i><a href="http://www.facebook.com/PirateSchool?bookmark_t=page">Hope you enjoyed this lesson please take a second to "like" my Facebook page. </a></i></div>
Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-4952583789709609472012-10-07T22:48:00.001-07:002012-10-07T22:48:22.853-07:00101 Fall & Winter Activities To Do With Toddlers <div style="text-align: center;">
<b>As promised here is the list of... </b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; font-weight: bold;">101 fall and winter activities to do with toddlers! </span></div>
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Feel free to print it off if you would like a copy simple <a href="mailto:piratezeta@gmail.com">e-mail me here</a> and I will send you one! I hope you enjoy the list! I am so glad to be posting blogs of what we've been doing. </div>
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For a copy of this list that is printable please <a href="mailto:piratezeta@gmail.com">e-mail me her</a>e. </div>
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Unfortunately Google Docs is not uploading this list correctly so for now I will send it out to anyone who wants it via e-mail until this error can be corrected. </div>
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Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-56793375159703183642012-07-12T13:55:00.001-07:002012-07-12T13:55:41.958-07:00Free Alphabet Tales Book $29.95 Value!<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Free Alphabet Tales PDF Book Worth $29.95</span></b></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is a super cute book that will help teach any toddler or child their ABCs! This is such an amazing deal, go to the <a href="http://www.currclick.com/product/30738/Alphabet-Tales?it=1" style="color: #1426ae;">website here</a>, add this book to your cart then continue checking out til you get to the payment page. Do not enter any payment info and use cou<span style="background-color: white;">pon code "<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">moneysaving" then click submit. You'll get an order confirmation with the book ready to download! (<i>PS I JUST did this it worked</i>). </span></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.currclick.com/product/30738/Alphabet-Tales?it=1" style="color: #1426ae;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTb-jhz17aOh0NGVvlmJgU8ysFTO1W6PWpQp5EwRvXi2-1CobAHMd-TmVD8OCEHbSx0YHqAZOLdHgmztdC_7JJUGMqgQWUScf-f9jhv_QdjO4_I0_JdxEnsxA1S_l_nMxOpKrW3jxvGDkg/s200/Alphabet+Tales.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="200" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hope you enjoyed this tip! Leave me a comment to let me know if you'd like to see more "deals" on school and learning equipment, books, etc. </span></div>Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-40387465162829868692012-05-02T14:09:00.000-07:002012-05-02T14:09:50.715-07:00I hope everyone enjoyed the A to Z challenge. Now to catch up on putting all the new lesson plans on! Sorry it has taken me so long my children and I have been doing the lesson plans but I got behind on putting them up and making new worksheets. My goal this weekend is to get all the new worksheets and lesson plans live! So stick with me and be sure to come back on Monday morning (or all weekend) for lesson plans H, I, K, L, N, and O. Wow that's a lot to catch up on!<br />
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<br />Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-59069857938167509502012-04-30T12:35:00.001-07:002012-04-30T12:35:23.807-07:00Zoo Days - New Learning IdeasMake Zoo Days super special, and super educational! Hope you enjoy the last post in our A to Z challenge!<br />
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<b>Study One Animal At A Time</b><br />
We spent an entire week learning about Monkey's and then went to the zoo just to see the Monkey's! Although we walked around for awhile afterwards it was clear our intent was to see the one animal we'd been learning about. We took pictures, acted like monkey's did monkey homework etc. After we left the monkey stand we ate banana's on a bench and talked about all the monkey facts we had learned. You can even make flip books about each animal! <a href="http://www.fisher-price.com/us/fun/games/abczoo/default.asp">Here is Fisher Price's ABC Game for Babies and Toddlers</a> that outline animals starting with A to Z. You could spend half a year just learning about animals... oh yeah and the alphabet!<br />
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<i>MIX IT UP:</i> Have older kids? Have them write detailed reports on specific animals and make a trip to a large zoo that features those animals!<br />
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<br />Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-58314836546111340642012-04-28T12:33:00.000-07:002012-04-28T12:33:06.775-07:00YouTube For Teaching (A To Z Challenge)One of the best free teaching tools I have found is YouTube! I can find videos on most anything to go along with what we are learning about! From Signing Time songs, to nursery rhymes, and even finding suggested songs that I didn't know the tune too!<br />
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I have found videos on the process food goes through to end up on your plate, videos on specific animals, letters, songs, astronomy for kids, sign language help, and more. So here's a great project, try making play lists to go along with your learning activities or themes and then watching them on the iPod, Computer, Phone, or TV to supplement other learning!<br />
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Have older kids? No problem there are the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=presidental+debates&oq=presidental+debates&aq=f&aqi=g-s10&aql=&gs_l=youtube-psuggest.3..0i10l10.2538.4958.0.5103.19.18.0.2.2.1.250.2008.6j4j5.15.0.">presidential debates</a> on YouTube, news articles, and documentaries! Here's a great place to get information for reports, find inspiration, and learn new prescriptive! Everything from anti bullying and hot news topics, to information about past presidents, wars, and celebrities.<br />
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Happy YouTube surfing and don't forget to come back for the very last letter of the alphabet. Our Z article will be up on Monday!Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-41130581236778216632012-04-27T08:00:00.000-07:002012-04-27T16:32:25.651-07:00Xiphias Gladius (A to Z Challenge)<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Did you know the Xiphias gladius is just the species name for the swordfish? Children are amazing they can obsorb anything! So why not teach them a little science lingo now! Teaching children the scientific names for common things can put them leaps and bounds ahead in hard science classes later...also learning a few common words in Latin is amazing! Classes such as biology, chemistry, math, and geology all use scientific terms and Latin roots! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here's a fun list of scientific names you can use in teaching now! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b>Common Words: </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Terra - Earth</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tempus - Time</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Homo - Human</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Derma - Skin </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Endo - Within </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Exo - Outside</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Iso - Equal </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Micro - Small</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mono - Equal </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Multi - Many </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Trans - Across </span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b>Numbers:</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">Semi - Half</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">Uni - One</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">Bi - Two</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">Tri - Three</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">Tetra - Four</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">Penta - Five</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">Hexa- Six</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">Hepta- Seven</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">Octo - Eight</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">Ennea - Nine</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">Deca - Ten</span></span>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I hope you enjoyed this post! Please take a moment to like Pirate School on Facebook, 1+ this post, and/or leave a comment! Thank you for your support! </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-75925864787088843952012-04-26T20:44:00.003-07:002012-04-27T16:18:43.594-07:00Weather Activities (A to Z Challenge)Weather is an extremely complicated and yet so simple! Teaching toddlers about weather is fun... and crafty! Here's 5 of our favorite weather projects!<br />
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<b>1. Keep A Weather Log</b><br />
Make a chart with different weather patterns on it in columns. Snow, Sun, Windy, Rain, Cloudy, etc. Then use stickers or a marker to mark each day on the chart. This is a great exercise to continue learning about weather.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjswJmsd8UeltIE30moiQiw0-4itm10s-j9PaIsSCC_JTa1rNObxyhk6Ph-ysfUbFa2IMW1pD04LmhwheqcDLHWj7Ul9TU-xHN5AhYuLNsvmFgfkmWeFgHrLikLNkBE4v0vx03sF9IXZWc/s1600/weather+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjswJmsd8UeltIE30moiQiw0-4itm10s-j9PaIsSCC_JTa1rNObxyhk6Ph-ysfUbFa2IMW1pD04LmhwheqcDLHWj7Ul9TU-xHN5AhYuLNsvmFgfkmWeFgHrLikLNkBE4v0vx03sF9IXZWc/s320/weather+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>2. Make Snowflakes</b><br />
These are easy to do. Simply take a piece of paper and fold it in half so that it forms a triangle. Then fold it in half again and again. For toddlers to be able to cut the paper don't fold it too small. after it is folded take a pair of scissors and cut little shapes out of the sides of the paper. When you unfold the paper it looks just like a snowflake! This exercise is a great opening to talk about how each snowflake is unique.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBUXAbmqAWlm-YQDiqBRV3AhNOvIjh-GJc6LEKAIhbwRbJ7_4Qa8WOy8cykPWvntA0JwhksowEhbNW6Vosz1eLIXxU1W5eyEILb4QRrO8fcBqX1OOR3XUf_gWbGjrJIAUL-TRscEibH7c/s1600/weather+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBUXAbmqAWlm-YQDiqBRV3AhNOvIjh-GJc6LEKAIhbwRbJ7_4Qa8WOy8cykPWvntA0JwhksowEhbNW6Vosz1eLIXxU1W5eyEILb4QRrO8fcBqX1OOR3XUf_gWbGjrJIAUL-TRscEibH7c/s320/weather+3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>3. Measuring Rain</b><br />
All you need for this is a mason jar or a vile! We took a sharpie and marked tick lines on it. Then we guessed how many tick marks it would rain! After each rain we go collect our jar and count the tick marks. You can use this activity as a great opening exercise to the water cycle! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghaIJMhwU_8vJ3DR6WlTyrZubaQxlV3LusiIbTUf8_6gfO_bP2bPpd9Yt-XR2oO_4wDukbi4s3IA_tRqf7aa12a8dYZoUvBdy7dSLbLXerSNr8ZbsGAYJiSQeQXFIdSkGRhXlPTKkNeCM/s1600/weather+7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghaIJMhwU_8vJ3DR6WlTyrZubaQxlV3LusiIbTUf8_6gfO_bP2bPpd9Yt-XR2oO_4wDukbi4s3IA_tRqf7aa12a8dYZoUvBdy7dSLbLXerSNr8ZbsGAYJiSQeQXFIdSkGRhXlPTKkNeCM/s320/weather+7.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<b>4. Wind Race</b><br />
This is such an awesome indoor weather activity! You'll need 1 straw for each child and 1 feather for each child (the feathers will need to be the same size). Use tape to make a start line and a finish line on the floor, then have the kids race! What they'll do is lay their feather on the start line and use the straw to blow it across the floor to the finish line! Use this activity as an opener for a great conversation on how wind-power works.<br />
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<b>5. Cloud Weather Window</b><br />
This is an idea I found on Nature Watch's website. They have the template so <a href="http://www.nature-watch.com/weather-window-cloud-identification-and-weather-prediction-activity-kit-p-44.html?cPath=142_143">go here to print it off</a> and make your own cloud weather window! You'll need some stiff paper and a Popsicle stick but these little windows teach kids about various weather types! Do you remember the sailor's sayings about weather? "Pink at night, sailor's delight" the barometric pressure that causes pink in the sky is a great indication as to the next day's weather. "Pin in the morning sailor's take warning". You'll find this pink hue in the clouds or sunset. Have fun identifying clouds!<br />
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<i>Want more? <a href="http://www.redtedart.com/2011/06/01/weather-get-crafty-weather-themed-crafts-and-tutorials/">Check out Red Ted Art's Blog for 40 weather crafts</a>! </i></div>
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<b>Hope you enjoyed this post, please take a moment to like Pirate School on Facebook, 1+ this post, and leave a comment! Thank you for all the support. </b></div>Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535071257295301951.post-19442965802663167592012-04-25T08:04:00.001-07:002012-04-25T08:04:26.211-07:00Validate Your Work (A To Z Challenge)Don't let the days when it's just NOT happening get you down....<br />
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Not all days are going to go well... but then again not all days go well in public school, private school, or anything else. So be sure to give yourself some slack every once in a great while. On the other hand be sure to make sure you see progress. It's easy to miss progress when you're there everyday. So once a month make a progress chart, and let the kids do their homework completely on their own! Don't give instructions and don't help them out. Just let them do it, and grade their homework (yep even when they are tiny). Be sure to praise everything they did correctly! You'll be able to see what they need help on, and they'll be able to showcase what they've learned!<br />
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We hope our A to Z challenge blogs have helped you become and stay inspired! With just a few days left be sure to come back from some craft projects ideas tomorrow in our Wild Animal Post!Adrienne McElwainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782329121445286165noreply@blogger.com0