Aa week (just to catch you up)

Monday - Wanted to make this really short and sweet for the first day. We listened to the white 'Hooked on Phonics' cd, singing the alphabet and saying the names of letters on the cards. We finished the lesson by gluing craft stick together to make the letter A.
This is how I felt about it.
It seemed too short and the kids wanted more. But I didn't want to find the limit. They asked for scissors and crayons and made a nice mess. (Nice messes are considered learning and growing experiences that mom is willing to clean up.) Also, we started right after getting the 8yo to school and it worked out nicely.

Tuesday - Preschool had a late start due to a messy room which was my own fault. I unpacked all the kids books, finally, but left all the boxes out and about. (That was worth it. All the kids noticed their old books and started reading with out any prompting from me.) Today we sang the ABCs and used the white cards and cd like yesterday. We drew the capital letter A on the chalk board. (Daddy says dry erase markers are no longer welcome in our home.) Then I wrote the word America on the board. 5yo noticed that some of it's letters were also in his name. So we wrote their names on the board and found lots of letters that were in the 2yo's name as well. Next, we got out a USA puzzle and talked about us living in the United States of America. I pointed out which states we had lived in. Then we counted the states. They tried, but started to loose interest in the forties. I let 5yo play with the puzzle while I fetched a flag. I told them that we couldn't let the flag touch the ground. "Why?" "To respect the flag." Then I counted the stars while they watched the screen saver on the computer. I told them that there were 50 states and 50 stars. We ended with the Bernstein Bears' The A Book. I want to read to them every day. Read about three books and they were ready for lunch. Good day considering we got a late start.
Things to remember- 1. Clean the room the night before. 2. 5yo thinks that it's 2yo's preschool. Break it to him gently. 3. Lost 5yo with flash cards until I pointed out which ones he new, which brought him back in. 4. I should think about purchasing 'Handwriting without tears' at least the Mat Man part of it. 5yo couldn't draw straight lines for his A when he started from the top. He despaired and then tried again starting from the bottom. He made slightly curved lines but proud of himself.

Daily Schedule
Alphabet
Letter of week
Word of the day
and Daily Emphasis (M- My God, T- My Country, W- My Body, Th- My Family, F- My World)
(including colors, shapes and counting)
Story Time

PS. I've divided up the alphabet in seemingly strange combinations but started with A.
Aa Hh Ee Ff Ii
Bb Dd Pp Qq
Cc Gg Oo Qq
Kk Ll Mm Nn Tt
Jj Uu Rr Ss
Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz
Yes Q is on there twice. The Capital Q fits with CG and O because their round and their left sides are all the same. The lower case q fits with bdpq because they're all the same shape, just inverted and spun. And I've put the letters in these groups for review purposes. i.e. JURS are all curvy, VWXYZ's lower case all match the Upper case in looks.

Wednesday- Very late start. Not everyone ate breakfast before taking 8yo to school. Started with the ABC song again. I believe there should be something consistant to let everyone know that preschool is starting. But we had some resistance to learning the lower case letters with the flash cards. 2yo didn't want to draw the lower case a, but she is only 2 1/2. I should have got out the playdough.
Next, we talked about our bodies and exercise. I wrote Aerobics on the chalkboard. That meant nothing to them. We jumped, stood on one foot, tried jumping jacks, marched, touched the floor, ran in place. Completely forgot about checking our heart-rate and pulse, but now I'm glad I did. We'll do Hh next week to cover that. Told them it was story time but 2yo wouldn't pick one out.
Didn't feel quite complete so I turned on Sesamestreet.org and clicked on video- by subject- Health and Safety- Zoeys Dance Class. They have a playlist so you can watch a few related videos but then it will stop itself at the end of the playlist. Great feature to prevent us from watching it all day. We got up and danced with the vegetable and fruit dances. They included freezing- why didn't I think of that? Should definitely dance on D week. For some reason I was reminded of an activity I read about in a game book (wish I could remember the name of it.) You string crepe paper all over the room as if they were lazor beams and you were a burglar or secret-agent. At the end of the room is a cd player playing great spy-does-cool-moves music, which they have to turn off if they make it without pulling anything off. The book suggests wrapping the crepe paper around tables and chairs instead of using tape. We'll see. Maybe that will be on S week.
For now I need to forcus on making a simple family tree for tomorrow with the kids pictures. And I want to teach them the difference between an Alligator and a Crocodile. 2yo said, "crocogator" yesterday. It was adorable. Oh, should have counted with the exercises.

Thursday- Finally got out the playdough. 5yo asked if it was for 2yo's preschool. "It's your preschool too." Started with the ABCs and went through capitol and lower case flash cards. When I announced we were going to make the little a with the playdough, 5yo freaked out. " I can't do that. I don't know how. I'll never learn how. That will never make ne learn." "OK, you can just play with the playdough." I was really suprized that worked. I made a snake with mine and then shaped it into an 'a.' 5yo thought that was ok. He decided to make a letter E and he did a great job. So tomottow, I'm going to make some cookie dough and place mats with the letters from my first letter grouping. I could do preztels and licorice but then I'd have to go to the store.
The kids played while I cut out a construction paper family tree and put our family pictures on it. I sang the chorus of "Family Tree" by Tom Chapin which the kids know and they sang along with me. Tried to teach them the primary version of "Family Tree" but it's unfamiliar as of yet. I've neant to sing more in preschool. Found some family themed videos on Sesamesteet.org

Friday- real quick. Alligators have wider schnozzes. Crocodiles have smaller, wrinklier ones. Sang the "Three Little Monkeys" song. Printed out a letter a writing practice page from learningpage.com (love that website) but everyone refused to try. Then when 8yo got home we went to the Aerospace Museum. Awesome. Kids were mad that the new kids discovery section was closed but they had a great time anyway.