C is for Cookie

This week Wes and I read Mmm, Cookies! He thought this book was hilarious and asked me to read it over and over again. If you aren't familiar with Robert Munsch, you have to check out some of his books. Kids think that they are so funny. Here are my children's Munsch favorites.

Mmm, Cookies!
A boy tricks his family with play dough cookies.

Stephanie's Ponytail (Annikins)
A little girl tries to be original by wearing unique hairstyles.


Alligator Baby
Kristen's parents just can't seem to do anything right. First they have their baby at the zoo, not in a hospital. Then, they accidentally bring home an baby alligator instead!

Here are some of the activities we did to go along with Mmm, Cookies:

1. A Cookie Jar Game - I printed the cookie jar blackline and chocolate chip cookie printables. Then I made a set of number flash cards. Wes would pull a card, identify the number, and place that amount of cookies in the cookie jar.



When Wes was finished with the game he chose a final flash card, identified the number on it, and glued that amount of cookies onto the cookie jar.


2. Play Dough Cookies - Wes made a big, huge play dough cookie and tricked his sisters with it!


3. Letter "C" Collage -Wes cut pictures of cookies out of grocery store circulars and glued them to the large "C".

Printables for C is for Cookie

*The entire Mmm, Cookies unit is part of Bo's Curriculum for December (Year 1). The download can be purchased here.

For more What My Child is Reading visit Mouse Grows Mouse Learns.
For more Learning Through Love visit My Family My Forever.

Thanks Giving

Each month my Mother-in-Law writes a seasonal poem or story for my children. They love receiving these and we keep each one in a special binder. The latest story is about Thanksgiving. My children absolutely loved it, so I thought I would share it with you. Feel free to change the names in the story and use it with your kiddos.

A Thanks Giving Story

Thanksgiving’s in a few weeks; the last leaves begin to fall,
It’s getting colder; there may be snow upon the wall.
That leads down the driveway and ends at the sidewalk.
Inside it’s cozy, and Mom is in the kitchen looking at menus for the feast.
“I want pumpkin pie,” says Sam, the dessert fan.
“Well, I want macaroni and cheese!” from Gracen, the cheese eater.
“And I want pizza!” cries Weslyn, who isn’t sure what Thanksgiving is, but knows he loves pizza with pepperoni and cheese.
“We must ask Dad, turkey or ham,” muses Mom, paging through Betty Crocker.
“Turkey! Ham!” shout the three rascals, dancing up and down and banging their hands on the counter tops.
“Mashed potatoes! Butter beans! Sweet potatoes!
"Yeah!”
“There’s more to Thanksgiving than lots of food,” reminds Mom.
“Thanks Giving. That’s what we need to remember. We should be glad that we have so much to be grateful for.”
“Let’s make a Thanks Giving list of what we are happy about.”
“Well,” says Dad, coming through the front door, “I’m just happy to be home.”
“You can help with the list.” Mom hands out paper and pencils.
“Give me a min. to rest, then I will.” Dad sits down in his favorite chair.
“Guess what? When I look around, I see something to be glad for—Darla!” says Sam.
“I’m glad for my birthday presents,” smiles Gracie.
“And I’m glad for pizza!” yells Wes.

What else will the three rascals put on their lists?

Here are the children's responses:

Samantha

Gracen

Gracen is thankful for flowers and art.

Wes

This is the book we read to go along with this activity:

Thanksgiving Is for Giving Thanks
Sure, Thanksgiving is about pilgrims and history-and turkey, of course!-but most importantly, it's a holiday all about everything that we are thankful for. Cheerful, colorful illustrations accompany the simple text in this celebration of family, friends, and the holiday that brings them all together.

Wes watched an episode of Sid the Science Kid about pulleys. Later that afternoon, we found him doing this...

You can't tell in the picture, but he tied an empty milk jug to the end of a rope, pretended to make a pulley, and hoisted it up to the top bunk. Too cute!

Sam taught Darla to "Shake".

For more What My Child is Reading visit Mouse Grows Mouse Learns.
For more Learning Through Love visit My Family My Forever.

Halloween Fun

This week Wes and I did some fun Halloween activities.

1. We made scented dough ornaments in Halloween shapes. We painted them, put seasonal ribbons on them, and gave them to our friends and family.



2. We did this fun alphabet game. Wes had to match the letters (visual discrimination).


3. We played this Halloween grid game from Teach Mama. For counters I used glass pebbles that I found in the craft section at the Dollar Tree. Wes loved this and we have played several times.

4. Here are the books we have been reading. We planned to do the following activities to go with them. However, this incident sidetracked us, so we didn't finish them all.

Room on the Broom

Activities and Printables:

A little booklet from The Itty-Bitty Bookworm to go with the book
A Cut and Paste Witch (Made out of Shapes)


W is for Witch Trace and Color

Go Away, Big Green Monster!

Activities and Printables:
Happy Monsters from 1+1+1=1
Big Green Monster Cupcakes - Printable Recipe

Sam is currently reading Clementine.

Clementine is having not so good a week.
- On Monday she's sent to the principal's office for cutting off Margaret's hair.
- Tuesday, Margaret's mother is mad at her.
- Wednesday, she's sent to the principal. . . again.
- Thursday, Margaret stops speaking to her.
- Friday starts with yucky eggs and gets worse.
- And by Saturday, even her mother is mad at her.
Okay, fine. Clementine is having a Disastrous week.

Gracen is having fun with Go, Dog. Go! (Beginner Books).

Whether by foot, boat, car, or unicycle, P. D. Eastman's lovable dogs demonstrate the many ways one can travel. The new text emphasizes the concept element of the original while maintaining its rhythm and charm.

For more What My Child is Reading visit Mouse Grows Mouse Learns.
For more Learning Through Love visit My Family My Forever.

P is for Pumpkin

On Sunday we are planning to go the pumpkin patch. Therefore, I decided that Wes and I would do some pumpkin and Letter "P" activities this week. Here are some of the things we did:

Potato Prints

The girls joined in for this, as well.

Gracen made an AB pattern.

Sam made a flower.

Wes made his potato prints on a large letter "P" We let it dry.
Then I cut it out and Wes put pumpkin stickers on it.
I know ~ they are really Jack-o-Lantern stickers,
I did not have any uncarved pumpkins.

We read Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden.
This is a beautiful non-fiction book about the development of a pumpkin seed into a plant, pumpkin, jack-o'-lantern, and, completing the circle, back to seed again.

After reading the story, Wes did this pumpkin puzzle.
He had to count pumpkin seeds on pieces of the puzzle
and match those pieces to the pieces with corresponding numbers.

For additional pumpkin printables, visit this page on my wiki and look under "P".

For additional Learning Through Love posts, visit My Family My Forever.