The Grinch Day!

Hello Everybody! Because one of our Christmas stories is The Grinch Who Stole Christmas I decided to make a mini-unit day out of it.  

Book:
The Grinch Who Stole Christmas

Song: the Grinch music video and song
  http://youtu.be/ZgP0aUKlmNw

Craft: a Mr. Grinch head

Follow link to Tippytoe Crafts/Christmas

FREE Home Depot Workshops!

This is an old picture but I thought I'd post it to show how focused the boys get when working with tools and how much they enjoy building-plus I love the picture!

 Hello! On the first Saturday of every month Home Depot hosts FREE kids workshops to learn how to build things. It should be happening at all locations from 9am to noon. This Saturday its building a Football Goal Post- a great way to kick off football season. Just go to the link and put in your zip code to find the nearest location-and it would probably be a good idea to give them a call to make sure its happening. 

Happy Building!!!

~Stole this pic from the website~

10 Great Non-conventional Summer Activites for you kids!

10 Great Things to do with your kids during the summer!

10. Rock Climbing.

• This could be either somewhat expensive or cheap depending on where you live. Some recs have a rock wall while other places offer a class and belay certification then free climbing time. Let your kids bring along a friend for a group class. Kids love this!

9. Fly fishing.

•  Yes even little girls might like to go fishing. A lot of outdoor stores offer an angler education class. In most states kids do not need a fishing license for catch and release but adults do, Kmart/Wal-mart sell a one-day license for both and have great, cheap gear.

8. Rafting.

• Make a day out of it. If you have little ones maybe wait a few years with this activity. Rivers are rated at levels of danger so pick an easier level river and hold-on to your britches. Use the internet to search White Water Rafting Tours.

7. Horseback riding.

• There's always some country right outside your city where pony rides are offered. Not every child grows up on a farm or around horses. This might be a great opportunity to let your kids experience large animals!

6. Home-Depot build workshops.

• Home Depot's are everywhere. You may not know it but on Saturday mornings they have short workshops where kids can actually use real equipment to build. The Link!

5.   Plan a meal.

• Let your child pick out a recipe(s) for dinner. Make the shopping list, go to the grocery, and let them cook the meal with you. This is a great way to show what goes into meal planning and if they do most of the work they're likely to eat it, and it gives them a great sense of accomplishment. (ps. let them help dad grill too)

4. Load up on LEGOS

• On the first Tuesday of every month during the summer kids can construct and take home "mini build" Lego projects. Building commences at 5p.m. and is limited to the first 300 children. Visit stores.lego.com to find store listings and info.

3. Do some good, Donate.

• Almost every person I know have toys laying around that their kids no longer play with or enjoy, clothes/shoes your kids have outgrown, old books you no longer read, or just things you don't need. Take a week and tackle 1 room per day and start collecting. There are donate boxes and/or Goodwill centers locations in almost every city. Kids can gain a new understanding about blessing people who have less.

2. Barnstorm

• Pottery Barn offers kids' activities all summer, including a Tuesday morning book club. Regular attendance earns a gift. Go to Potterybarnkids.com/events for information. The Link!

 1. Culture Club

• Target sponsors many free or super cheap concerts, museum events, and cultural happenings all summer. Find events in 32 cities at Target.com (at the bottom of the page under "about Target" click on "company information," then "community outreach," then "arts+culture.") Then go to the city closest to you! The link!

 Some of these things might be out of the ordinary for you and your family, however I believe that as a parent if you're willing to show your kids that you are willing to go out there, try new things, even if its not your cup of tea then your kids are likely to try new things as well, even if its a little scary.

Grace to You, 

Jenna

Fire Safety Week!

You're probably wondering why I waited so long to start our fire safety unit. Our city has a special event called 'Meet the Trucks.' In a nutshell our local park brings in all the vehicles included in safety including fire trucks, police cars, sheriff department cars, and even a S.W.A.T. car AND a Lake Erie Police patrol boat for kids to come and see, even walk through.

The lines were very long but well worth the wait. The boys were able to walk through the lake boat and fire truck, and ring the bell. It was a great way to spark their interest about safety, the purpose of those vehicles and the occupations that go along with them.

On Mondaty, we started with a cute Little Critter book: Going to the Firehouse

This is a kindergarten level book that Jr. can now read through on his own.

Then we practiced what the book teaches to do if you are on fire: Stop, Drop, and Roll

Stop

Drop

and Roll

Then the boys started activities, a few for each day from  Fireman Learning Printables
For Kindergarten Jr. worked through a series of activities including:

Handwriting, a dice safety game, Ff sorting, beginning letter sound, greater than/less than practice, measuring.

 Word hunt, letter hunt practice, dice race, find the picture that is different, and match the word to the pictures.

Number order, coloring page, and alphabet maze, and how many drops of rain does it take to put out the fire?



The Little Engineer worked through a Preschool Lapbook also from Homeschool Creations.

Front: A 16 piece puzzle for him to glue on.

Coloring fire hydrants, learning fire vocab words, writing my name, practicing completing patterns, and count the dots on the Dalmation.

Back: match the picture to its shadow activity

My Little Engineer working through his lapbook. If you're wondering what a lapbook is click here.

Lastly, what would learning be without books? We looked through these at the end of the day, some are picture books and the others are non-fiction, so a good balance to help the boys see many aspects of fire, firemen, and safety.

At the end of the week we had a fake fire drill where we went over the evacuation plan and told them where we meet outside. I did not set off our alarms but instead used a sound effect video from YouTube. The kids didn't really take it too serious so we'll need to do this drill over and over again until they are older and understand it better. Overall it was a fun week and I'm very excited to move into our police safety unit.

Grace to You, Jenna