Names are Important~

Today our friend Nicole from 314 Productions was here filming our family

and wanting us just going about our daily life (school).

I decided to use a book we've read before~

Such a sweet book and lots of new comments from the kids this time. :)

We talked about God finding them all the way in China and allowing US to be their family.

We got their China books out and told their stories including the specialness of their name~

{Great activity for bitty girls to name letters in everyone's names}

 I wrote their name on art paper and they were to trace over and over with crayon.

Next we watercolored over the crayon filling the page creating beautiful crayon resist art for our wall~

 Nicole was able to film our everyday life as well interview every person in our family~

And yes, it was a warm sunny afternoon so the kids grabbed suits and jumped in!

Now we're enjoying tons and tons of rain. :)

A final farewell to summer and hello to October!!!

Spelling Center~

Today I introduced the Spelling Center.

Names for 3 little littles... Take out the name card and build the word on the magnetic board~

 For two big littles... Sight and Spelling Words~

 The girls switched cards and called out words for each other.

Very fun for them!

Great fun for all!

Name Loving~

Today I walked into the school room to find all the Kevin Henkes books we own lined up on the piano.

SJ had found them all and informed us we would be reading them all this week... I guess we are having an author study!

Fine with me so we took one more day to read Chrysanthemum one more time... kids just can't get enough of it~

 I just happened to find this name activity last night and decided to put my own spin on it.

I wrote each letter of their name on a paper plate and they dot painted them all.

I also gave them a baggie with just enough clothespins to hang their name on the clothesline. 

Definitely a very fun activity and one they will love doing all week long!

 

Most Important Word and Writing~

The most important word to a young child is his/her name.

Today I read Chrysanthemum and discussed the reason for their name and how special it was.

I had the letters in their name written all over a paper and we counted each name comparing length to Chrysanthemum.

I think it made my kids feel super special since they all have pretty long names too~

Next they had a strip with name either printed to match or for the big girls just blank cards and they had to put in order from memory.

PC, WP, and EC matched just their first name.

EK had to put her first, middle, and last name in order.

SJ did her first and last.

ALL were very proud of their finished product.

A very powerful tool for teaching reading is making connections with letters and sounds to a child's name.

Ex. ShayleeJoy starts like shark so what would shark begin with?

When sounded out words for writing, it is helpful to give kids clues like ddd dog starts like ddd dad.

Most Important Word... a name!

Speaking of writing~

I am trying to highlight a portion of our day as I have time. 

So far I have shared our Bible time and today we decided to do that together  in the family room while we waited for our breakfast to bake.

Loved using that time more wisely and helped to shorten the time we spent in the school room. :)

Back to Writing~

 I am using First Language Lessons Level 2 and Writing with Ease Level 2 with EK and she is doing so well. It is a perfect way to introduce great writing without the pressure to think of something to write and is short to the point. Copy work and dictation being the main components right now~

While I am working with EK, I have been sending SJ off to draw anything her heart desires anywhere her heart desires and she has loved writing more this year than last. 

About the time I finish with EK, she comes back to tell me all about her drawing and we decided on words. I have taken the pressure off of her of sounding out every single word.  We are taking a copywork approach right now (I write whatever she tells me) and occasionally leave out a word for her to sound. Definitely makes it less intimidating. 

A good day for writing!!!

In case you wonder what I do with the three little littles with writing... they each have a journal that I have out for them each day with their name written in pencil and they trace then write if they can~

{Taken a couple of weeks ago}

Sometimes they ask if they can draw a picture in the journal and of course I let them then take dictation of what they say. Teaching that whatever they can say I can write for them. One day they will be doing all the writing themselves!