Give My Monster a Hand

I don't really understand why creating something cute or writing math problems on a set of pre-cut hands makes lessons more enjoyable for both the Prince and I, but you can bet your bottom dollar that I will keep on doin' it til' it stops workin'. When the Prince is happy with lessons, and not rebelling, then you know what that means for this mommy/teacher: more time on Pinterest, more for time drinking coffee, more time day-dreamin about a Disney Cruise more time to plan additional fun and educational lessons.



He made this cute and free printable monster, Thanks, Johanna. I assume Ms. Monster is frowning, cause her hair is on fire. I could be wrong. The Prince then wrote the following two sentences about his monster: "My monster is very cute. She has twenty babies each week." Personally, I don't know how cute having twenty babies a week is, but that could just be me.

Today, he also reviewed division. Again, not sure why it works, but it does. Eighteen division problems receives zero complaints on cut-out paper hands. However, I guarantee if I wrote the same number of problems on a piece of paper I would here "Seriously, I have to do ALL of them???!!" Ha, mommy/teacher trickery in full force.

Happy Hump Day y'all. Friday is approaching fast and guess what?!! That's date night! I plan to have a glass of wine. Watch out, the party animal is coming out. One. Whole. Glass. Of .  Delicious. Red. Wine.

 

 

Whatcha' been up to???

Let me know what's been going on in your neck of the woods! I would love to know. Here's a few things going on in ours:


I painted ANOTHER chair..I had a bit of green spray paint left and some of my new favorite blue left, so I painted my mommy/teacher chair. I only had enough green for on section and I'm on the hunt for a new cute cushion...but for now I am happy that it matches and it's much cuter (sorry, again I was to impulsive to remember to take a before picture.)



I saw the cutest idea on the Miss Kindergarten blog and I had the supplies...so VIOLA I made these "silent" dice. They are also very light so that mean less chance of them flying across the room when the Prince takes his turn :/...We used them this morning to play the math game Even Steven/Odd Todd and they worked liked a charm. We will be using them for family board game night too!



Also Miss Kindergarten loves to add ribbon, so she inspired me to "pretty-fy" the trash cans for our classroom and the hubby's office. Not sure how much the hubby appreciated it! HA!




The picture is the Prince frosting his carrot cake with his homemade creamchesse coconut frosting! This week, we made three desserts...YES!! 3...HOLY YUMMINESS...but also HOLY SELF-CONTROL so I don't gain 20lbs in one week! Good thing I had a couple of helpers in eating them. Here is the link to the  FRESH STRAWBERRY PIE I made!! First, let me give you permission for making this and eating it by telling you that it is only sweetened with honey and the crust is made with almond flour which is SUPER low in carbs...now run off and bake..and invite me over. **I used apgar powder instead of gelatin**

We love "craftivities" that are lesson related.  Yesterday, for our writing block the Prince made these gorgeous "I'm special because.." sunflower. His pedals read:
I have a turtle.
I have 2 dogs.
I am fast.
I am tan.
I am 4ft. 1 in.
This FREE cratifivity was provided by Mrs. Lemons!




Today, for our math block we had a game scheduled (mentioned above) but I saw this OH.SO.CUTE mathematician on Step into Second Grade and thought it was too cute to pass up and what a great reminder to our Prince that he is already a mathematician!! What kid doesn't like to use a big word when referring to himself?! Since we already had something planned that the Prince was looking forward to I just added this too our math block and for the sake of time I wrote all the answers that he brainstormed and then he created his lil' mathematician...HOW CUTE IS HE??!! Step Into Second Grade has an entire packet that you can purchase, it is adorable and looks like so much fun, go check it out.



Happy Friday Everyone!! Oh..this weekend I'm making vegan chocolate chip cookies and a pumpkin crumb cake...this sweet tooth needs to leave or I'll have start doing double daily workouts.

I love to eat.

Do you?

**Comments make me smile***

 

 

 

The Prince's Writing Workshop

I take so many pictures and want to blog them all and then life gets in the way and I don't post half the stuff I want to. I started creating the Prince a writing center a while back. He has been slow in his desire to write, so I haven't stressed him, or myself. With his new center he has gained momentum and interest. Let's hope we kindle his desire for writing just enough for it to burn forever.

One of the first things I wanted to show the Prince were examples of everyday things he sees me write: thank you notes, grocery lists and notes to him.

But, of course writers write much more.

I saw some super cute anchor posters on the blog First Grade Parade and recreated them the best I could. This poster reminds the Prince why we write. After he writes something we decide which category it would go under based on the anchor chart.

The beginning of our word wall. Many teachers post the words on the wall after they are taught. The Prince is an avid reader, so I posted all of the words so he could start spelling them correctly in his writings. He has become really good at not looking up when he knows the spelling of a word.

An awful picture, but I wanted you to see the word wall, I just used border from the Dollar Tree. Sorry I was too lazy to take and post another picture :) I bought all the word wall words and alphabet from TPT. I'll try to rememeber to look up the link and post it, but the creator is Erica Boher.

This little bookmark stays in his writing folder. We have a bigger version of writing rules on the wall.

Early writing rules anchor chart.

Sometimes, you just need a cute alphabet chart to reference when sounded out words.

Weeks ago, when I actually created the writing center, the Prince started writing. We made these little stable book and we did not worry about words at all. The pictures told the entire sequence story.

He progressed to labeling his pictures, to drawing pictures and then writing sentences about them and now he has recently stated he doesn't need to draw pictures for much longer.

The ice cream cones assist the Prince in remembering his blends: -ch, -th, -wh, and -sh. Below that is how I display his weekly spelling words list.

Whew! This seems like a long post...if you made it all the way through, Congrats...now go write something:)

Yummy Summer

I have created an entire writing workshop area in our homeschool. I promise to have pictures posted this week. The Prince is loving his exploration of writing. He was never had a true interest in creative writing or self spelling before, so thanks to homeschooling I was able to wait until he was ready. Recently, he has been drawing, writing and creating up a storm.


We had soccer practice this morning; Can I just say it was super super hot outside at 10am...whew! But, even in the heat I took the time to create this Oh. So. Easy crafty... in between picture taking, of course.


This crafty was inspired by A Cupcake for the Teacher ! Her pattern is wayyy better than mine :) We will pretend I was distracted by soccer.

Here is a writing crafty he completed today after soccer practice.

While writing he ran out of space and was worried. No worries, we just addded more paper!

He wrote: This summer I will go to my friends housed. I will also go party, eat cake, go to Chuck E Cheese. 

Aiden

06-04-12

Writing assignment...addressing Valentine's Day cards

The Prince has a Valentine's Day party coming up and 22 cards to hand out. He is so excited! Since he is so excited he hasn't complained once about addressing them all :)!

I wanted to show you how cute these are turning out. These are also the same free cards I shared on Facebook lst week. I'll share the link again Here. I found the box of Blow Pops for $2.97 at Walmart. I printed the cards on card stock, used my fancy scissors to cut them out and used a knife to cut the slits (wish I had a box cutter :/).

Santa Letter Writing Tools

Today we begin writing our letter to Santa! Amy Lemons from Step into Second Grade has provided free uber cute pre-writing and Santa letter writing pages. Thanks, Amy!!

Click {HERE} for prewriting activities

Click {HERE} for Santa letter templates

Free Cute Writing Prompts

I decided to take a quick mommy break, have a second cup of coffee, snuggle on the couch and catch up on my beloved blogs. While visiting I discovered some really cute writing prompts (there are over 20!, plus a grading rubric if you like) that I want to share. The Prince is really doing well with his beginning writing, so I want to continue to encourage his progress. Just click on the pictures below to download and/or print away :) Make sure you stop by What the Teacher Wants to check out the creator of these prompts.

Upcoming Lesson - Free Snoman Pack

One of the cute blogs that I follow is First Grade Blue Skies, stop by and check her out. Jennifer is offering a free Snowman Writing lesson pack to show appreciation to her followers and I wanted to pass it along.

Just click the picture to get your pack! Happy Schooling.