A Hop, Skip, and a HOLY MOLY! Where Has the Time Gone!

So I have had a bit of difficulty maintaining my weekly posting goal as of late.  I am adjusting to a few changes around the house...AND we hit birthday season where all but 2 of our 6 family members celebrate withing a period of 5 weeks!!  It's a bit nutty in and of itself, but let's go ahead and throw Easter on top of it and that's a whirlwind of activity that has led me to put my blogging to the side for a bit.  I must admit, mama's T-I-R-E-D!  But enough whining!  On with the important stuff :)

We have been busy having fun in our little classroom preparing for Easter.  We began by sequencing the story from Palm Sunday to Easter through pictures.  (We are a Christian Preschool, so we are allowed to actually teach our kiddos about God!)  I combined this sequencing activity with a review of our ordinal numbers and general number writing.

We also took some time to decorate our hallway making beautiful cross "stained glass" windows!  The kiddos had a lot of fun doing this quick and easy activity.  It turns out that tissue paper is a great exercise of those fine motor muscles!!

We die cut crosses into a folded 8.5X11 regular piece of construction paper.  We folded it in half (like a hamburger).  

Then we cut 2 rectangles of contact paper per student.  This just has to be large enough to cover the cross cut out.  

We pre cut squares of multi colored tissue paper so that they were ready to go for the kiddos!!  We taped the contact paper down so that the sticky side was up and let the kids cover the sticky side with a beautiful layer of colored tissue paper!  After the first piece of contact paper was covered (at least where the cross would show--a few spaces doesn't hurt anything!), we took the 2nd piece and sealed the tissue paper in.  Then the kids glued their piece of "glass" on the inside of the folded cross die cut.  They turned out beautiful!  But, before we hung them up, I could not pass up the opportunity for  a teachable science moment!  We used a flash light to talk about solid vs. translucent materials.  I of course had to relate it back to our previous discussion and exploration of shadows.  We discussed how the black paper was a solid and the tissue paper would be transluscent--or allows the light to pass through.  They had fun making their crosses glow :)  We "discovered" how the glow changed depending on the light that we chose to shine behind it.  We observed how the colors changed with the different lights as well.  We LOVE science!!

Moving on, we did some more very "eggscellent" science!  What better way to keep with the theme of Easter than to study the ever prominent symbol, the egg.  We did some "eggsperiments" with our eggs and learned a lot.

We conducted this super simple "eggsperiment" over 2 days.  You take a raw egg and place in vinegar.  We used an air tight jar so that we did not have to smell our "eggsperiment".  By the end of the 1st day the egg had already grown in size and begun to float.  I have done this experiment for years and have always let it sit in the vinegar until the shell is completely gone!  It's very cool to watch the vinegar eat away all the calcium carbonate out of the shell.  However, this year, when brushing up on the science behind the coolness, I found that I could let the shell get soft for a day or two and then let the egg sit out and the shell would pull the calcium carbonate from the liquid in the egg to reform the shell!  Well, I was super excited to try this...but we got a little rough when feeling the softened shell and had scrambled egg before I could get a chance to do this.  Note to self:  next year, 2 eggs in the vinegar!

Afterwards, we had a little more fun with our egg themed week.  We  did some creative writing.  If you could have anything come out of your Easter egg, what would it be?

"Inside my egg I have a dog!" (but mommy would not be happy)

"Inside my egg I have Ironman Patriot!" (gotta love this kid!  Everything this year has all led back to Ironman!!)

"Inside my egg I have an octopus eating a snickers!" (yep, this one's ready for kinder!!)

I LOVE these kids!  They make me smile each and every day!  How blessed I am to be a part of their early formative years.  

And that was the "eggsciting" News, Views & Stews of my week!

I'm back with another Sunday Funday....on a Monday

Linking up with Molly at Lucky to be in First and Deirdre at A Burst of First for Sunday Funday, where we fight the Sunday Blues by sharing some of the fun we had over the weekend! ( and catching up from Friday as well by Linking back up with Doodle Bugs Teaching  for Five 4 Friday!)

Wow! Is time flying by or what?!  I can't believe another Friday got by me without a post (slippin' on my commitment to blog weekly! shame! shame!)  But, I will try to redeem myself by giving you an update of all the fun that I have been having around here.

First, the count down is ON!  Open House is THIS week and the kiddos and teachers alike are SO ready!  Check out the cute hallway that our awesome aid put together!  (love her!!)

For those of you who have been following, these are the little astronauts that we made with the kiddos sweet little faces on them!  So cute!

We had the opportunity to make our own planets this week.  We took the extra large coffee filters and used washable markers to decorate however they wanted.  I put wax paper sheets under each to contain the ink.  Then we used spray bottles to spray with water.  The kiddos were directed to tilt their planets in various directions to create the desired effect of marker ink on their planet.  

After creating our planets, of course we had to name them! Creative juices were flowing and we had planets of all kinds from "Planet Coconut" to "Planet Ironman".  After naming them we made maps utilizing our letter of the week "X" for "x marks the spot".  We practiced our oral language skills, space vocabulary and positional words by describing their space maps to partners during circle chat.  It was a fun and meaningful activity that got the kiddos talking up a storm and using their imaginations!

Then we took some time to read a fun story with lots of rhyme, rhythym, and hilarity!  The kiddos enjoyed doing some cloze activities during the reading by filling in the rhyming word.  They are getting much better at this as the year progresses!!  After reading Don't Take Your Snake for a Stroll, we created snakes of our own design.  We talked briefly about snakes and why they might be different colors, etc.  But this was more of a fun activity.  Then we took our snakes on a "stroll" to look once again for the signs of Spring.  This ties back into our study of seasons and the revisiting this concept as our climate begins to once again change according to season.  As I walked with my kiddos I continued to question what signs their "snake" was observing.  They got a kick out of this and were readily responding with the observations of their snake. While this adds an element of fun and silliness to the activity of a nature walk, it also adds a degree of safety to voice any and all observations.  When your snake makes an observation that isn't quite what we were looking for, it's ok....That silly snake got mixed up!  I was so impressed with the things that my kiddos took notice of.  Of course the obvious things like flowers and green leaves were noted, but we also noticed different birds were back, the wind had picked up, and bees were returning!  What terrific observations!  I believe that encouraging our kiddos to be more observant about their environment fosters learning and curiosity.

That's the fun we had last week along with daily rehearsals for our singing performance for Open House this week!!  My weekend was just as full with a double Birthday celebration for my oldest, who is now double digits (does NOT seem possible!) and my youngest who is turning 5!!!  We had a delightful afternoon of creating masterpieces and fellowship with friends at the Art House of Mckinney.

We enjoyed cake...2 different kinds for 2 very different gals.  Now my 10 year old wanted a cookie cake that she decorated ALL on Her OWN!!  (you go girl!)  And my 5 year old wanted the enfamous Elsa from Frozen.  NO Laughing please!!  I gave it my best shot :)

What a great week with an even better weekend!!  And that's the 

News, Views & Stews of my week!  I hope your's was fabulous as well!!

Happy Sunday Funday!

Linking up with Molly at Lucky to be in First and Deirdre at A Burst of First for Sunday Funday, where we fight the Sunday Blues by sharing some of the fun we had over the weekend!

My Sunday has been pretty relaxing.

So I took a bit of a break from blogging last week and skipped my Five for Friday posting....but since it was Spring Break, I thought that I should give myself a bit of a break!  How the week flew by and I am so sad to have to say goodbye!!  I would say that I spent the week relaxing and having fun, but that would not be entirely true.  Last week my dear mother in "love" (law is SO not the case in this situation!) hurt her hip and has needed a little TLC to get back on her feet, so to speak.  Luckily for us and her, we had plenty of time to give her and get her nursed back to at least walking (slow as it may be....but still!  We are walking!)  on her own.

Aging is a difficult thing.  I am learning that it never gets any easier to ask for help.  Sometimes in life, you must be carried through by those who love you...in the figurative sense and yes, sometimes in the literal sense as well.  We made sure to have some fun though too!  It was just a very different week than I had envisioned but, I wouldn't change it for the world!  How blessed we are to have Grandma in our lives!!

Sunday Funday; Happy Early St. Paddy's Day!!

Linking up with Molly at Lucky to be in First and Deirdre at A Burst of First for Sunday Funday, where we fight the Sunday Blues by sharing some of the fun we had over the weekend!

My Sunday has been so very relaxing!  Church this morning and lounging by the fire with good books

My daughter's pick

My Pick

My middle daughter's Pick  (she was reading to my youngest!)  

 and good company this afternoon!  We're such book lovers!!  What is better on a cold and rainy day.  But wait, Hmmm, what's missing?? Lesson Plans!!!  Happy Spring Break to me!  Yep, that's right, as envious as I was last week of all those lucky peeps last week who did not have to go to school, now I get to sit back and relax for the week!!  Good things come to those who wait, right!?  After the crazy playoff week for my girl's basketball team...to which they made the final playoff game! we needed a breather because they were TIRED.  And when they get tired, they get whiny and CRANKY and that makes for an even crankier mommy!  So proud of how hard they worked in each of their games!  One of my girlies even made her very first basket! It was a great ending for a great season!  And that's my Funday!  Hoping you enjoyed yours!  Until next time, I'm reminding you to...

Funday Sunday; March 9

Linking up with Molly at Lucky to be in First and Deirdre at A Burst of First for Sunday Funday, where we fight the Sunday Blues by sharing some of the fun we had over the weekend!

Today is my dear friend's birthday and I had my ladies sing to him in a video!! It made him smile and made my day!  Happy Birthday friend! Hope it was terrific.

My weekend went by in the blink of an eye and was spent on the basketball court. We had our final regular season game and it was super exciting!!

Here are my cuties!! Check out there numbers that they happened to get!  In age order the youngest and the oldest make the middle number:)

I also had the priviledge of listening to my middle girlie play in her percussion group at church this morning.  How I love seeing my girls involved in church.

And that was my Funday Sunday!  Wishing you all a Sunday that was just as fun!

                                                       

Sunday Funday; Fabulous Weekend Adventure

Linking up with Molly at Lucky to be in First and Deirdre at A Burst of First for Sunday Funday, where we fight the Sunday Blues by sharing some of the fun we had over the weekend!

My weekend began with attending a training on Friday!  It was inspiring and ended before it was over due to being called to pick up my baby girl (not so baby anymore) who had a fever!  Ugh.  So I left early, but not before getting credit and that all important certificate, Thank Goodness!  We had a really great presenter after our lunch break (which is always a tough spot to fill because attention has left the building) and she made me want to learn more about the program called Boys Town.  If you haven't heard of it, take some time to check it out.  It helps teach our kiddos of today the skills that we take for granted.  It explicitly teaches things like how to follow directions.  The example was so simple it instantly made me want to take the training.  It is especially great for working with those kiddos who LOVE to push the boundaries and make you want to pull all your hair out.

Example:  Today we are going to practice the skill of following directions.
Create a chart with cute pics/illustrations/ or photographs for each step.  
1.  Look the person in the eye
2.  Say OK
3.  And do it right away!

Let's Practice!  And she went through modeling each step with a helper and celebrating when someone followed the exact procedure.  Simple and brilliant all at the same time!  This woman was such a wealth of knowledge and had a beautiful heart for our students who are often overlooked and have the most difficulties not only in school but in life.  She is part of a beautiful program in our district called HOPE, that focuses on catching the kiddos young and giving them the social skills to survive not only in general education classes but out in the real world as well.  Enough school chat and onto more fun!

It was a beautiful day, despite the unexplained fever...and there were no other symptoms, so despite wishing I could spend the weekend caring for her, she had to be cared for on the road, because we had a trip to Houston scheduled that could not be rescheduled.  It's crazy what the third child has to live through compared to the first...but I promise I did everything I could to make sure she was well cared for...(I really think it's all allergy related because she felt fine as long as I control her temp).  

My eldest little lady was to be a surprise guest at her bestie's birthday bash!  They were heart broken when we moved, so us mamas worked it out so that they could be together for this special occassion!  The party was a "glam"ping party and it was a blast!  They by no means roughed it even a little bit.  The princesses set up a tent inside and had a ball doing make-overs, having over-the-top treats and dancing like crazy.  I'm not sure they slept much...but who needs sleep when you haven't seen your bestie in 6 mos!  So precious are friends...It really warms my heart to see my girls truly forming real and deep friendships with others that stand the test of time and distance!

Anywho, on to other adventures.  Speaking of friends that stand the test of time, while my daughter was living it up with her "bestie", I got to spend some long overdue time with dear friends of my own!  I put my other 2 tagalongs to bed and we had a slumber party of our own, talking, laughing, and just catching up on all that has happened since we last visited.  It is so good to share in the seasons of your friends lives.  I am so blessed to have such amazing people in my life.

I also got to catch up with our family back home and attend my niece's track meet!  It was great to see them and sneak into their busy weekend schedules for some hugs and love before they were off to their next event.

Then after a relaxing afternoon of lunch with family and friend we packed it all up and headed back home. It was a fast and furious trip (our stay was not even 24 hours).  On our trek back we finally did something we have said we were going to do since we moved to Texas!  We finally stopped and visited the Sam Houston statue!

 And that was my fun! (in case you were worried, my gut was right and my little one's fever was nothing to worry about...love that mother's intuition!)  Hoping you had a terrific weekend as well!  Link up with Molly at Lucky to be in First and Deirdre at A Burst of First for Sunday Funday and share your adventures to brighten our day!!

                                                       

Sunday Funday...a little late but who's counting?

Linking up with Molly at Lucky to be in First and Deirdre at A Burst of First for my first Sunday Funday post on well...Monday! 

So this is just a fun posting to tell about something FUN to drive away the dreaded Sunday afternoon reality check.  You know, when the weight of the week and all you must do comes falling down upon your shoulders again!

This weekend I did it again!  I rearranged furniture in my girl's rooms.  I have mentioned this in a post before that I have a rearranging addiction!  I love to change things up every once in a while.  This time I had a good reason.  We are expecting a housefull for Easter and I wanted to be sure that we would be able to house everyone.  So....what better way than to rearrange!  My family has gotten so accustomed to things always being tweaked that they don't even blink an eye when a room is completely different!  So, that was my weekend, among basketball games, spring cleaning (it was absolutely gorgeous this weekend!!) and yes...putting off the lesson plans until the last possible moment.  What fun did you manage to squeeze in?