Letter T - T is for Train (Transportation)

Daily Learning Notebook:

 - Jackson: Confessions of a Homeschooler

 - Alex: 1+1+1=1

LDS Scripture Verse: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart." - Proverbs 3:5

Reading List:

1. My "t" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
2. Trains by Lee Sullivan Hill
3. Catch Me, Catch Me!: A Thomas the Tank Engine Story by Rev. W. Awdry
4. Freight Train by Donald Crews
5. Thomas the Really Useful Engine by Rev. W. Awdry

DAY 1

The boys loved working on their notebooks, again.  Jack's grip is still a fist most of the time, but I was really proud at how well he wrote that number thirteen!

And Alex just loves coloring in his notebook.

Our letter sound box included a foam letter T, a turtle card, a tiger, Thomas the train, a triceratops, a tyrannosaurus rex, a teaspoon, toilet paper, a toothbrush, our sign-language t card, Telly, and tweezers.

To continue with the theme introduction, we read through our library books.  While reading the Thomas book, the boys realized they had some of the characters.  They pulled them out and had fun matching toys to pictures on each page.

 

The Trains book had lots of prompts for counting, as in this picture where it asks you to count how many windows are on this train.

Freight Train is a beautiful book.  Alex loved naming all the colors of the train cars.  What I loved about these books was how we were able to practice matching, counting, and color recognition without any other activities!

We ended the day by painting train pictures.  I am amazed at their improved attention span for coloring.

That little hand on the hip kills me.

DAY 2

The boys asked to "play with the money," so we dumped out our coin jar and put the coins back in the little slot on the lid.  Always a favorite.  Great for fine motor skills.

Then we decided to play with our Mega Bloks.  Their great-grandmother gave them a train addition to their set at Christmas, so we built a few trains to play with.

We practiced gluing our train shapes onto construction paper using white school glue.

Then we used dot markers.  Jack did a letter hunt worksheet, and Alex did a do-a-dot letter worksheet.

We practiced letter formation using our foam letter and alphabet playdough mat.  The playdough mat usually gets traced with fingers first, followed by a dry-erase marker.

We also did a vocabulary-search page together. I usually use magnets with this worksheet, but I had a 12-pack of transportation erasers and decided to use that, instead.  I would say "Where is the...bus?" and the boys would place an eraser over that picture.

We ended the day with our transportation puzzles.  Alex worked on a Melissa & Doug chunky puzzle, and Jackson did a train puzzle.

DAY 3

We started off the day with a quick game of Candyland, because...reasons.  These boys just love Candyland.

Once they saw inside my special activity box, they decided to pull out a few more activities.  Jackson found a pack of small foam letters and numbers and laid them out in order.  Alex played a matching game with our Sesame Street memory cards.

Alex also discovered our old build-a-monster felt set.  He had fun with that.

 Side note: As time consuming as some of these older activities were to make, we now have them to play with whenever they are wanted/needed.  I love homemade games!

We decided to do some scissor skills practice. Jackson use the tools/toolbox page from here, and Alex used a used page ripped out of a coloring book.

Jackson also completed his handwriting worksheet.

Then we pulled out our wooden trains for some measuring practice. I saw this idea on Royal Baloo. I set down our ruler and we measured each train to see how long it was.  Then we sorted them into small/medium/large groups.  They loved this!

Did  you notice the bandaid on Alex's face? He got five stitches last night.  :/

Jackson decided to start measuring other things we had around the room.

We finished this letter by reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and putting our letter t on the coconut tree.

*I saw lots of other activities for trains on this website, but it's taken us so long to complete even these three days that I decided to move on.  I always love to have extra activity ideas, even if we don't use them.*

Reusable Bulk Bags

I have been reading through the book Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnson.  It has given me so much information regarding how to cut back and live a more simplified life and reduce my negative impact on the environment. We have all heard the idea of "recycle, reduce, reuse," and growing up in the San Francisco bay area ingrained the need in me to be nice to the environment.  Remember those t-shirt companies that did fundraisers at the school and sold shirts with the earth and animals and stuff on them?  I'm pretty sure I bought new shirts every time.  I was also known to wear a shirt with a giant buffalo on it for colorguard practice in high school. Yeah...

Anyway, in her book Bea Johnson lists her five most important R's for cutting down on waste.  Here they are:

1. Refuse: Stop accepting stuff you do not need, such as single-use plastics, freebies from parties/conferences/business/etc..., junk mail, and products with excessive packaging.
2. Reduce: Declutter! Donate or sell excess stuff in your home.  And stop buying stuff you don't need!  Shop less but shop with a purpose.
3. Reuse: Try to use more reusables instead of single-use products.  Be creative with what you have in your home.  Don't be scared of second-hand things.  Extend the life of things you do own - this also ties in with being a smart buyer.  Look for good-quality, long-lasting things for your home and avoid cheap materials and manufacturing.
4. Recycle: Know what can be recycled and what cannot.  Buy recycled goods and purchase things that you know can be recycled, in turn.  I recently discovered that our local waste management company has some great practices that I can participate in, such as a reuse shed to drop off and pick up leftover paint/household cleaners/etc... and additional recycling for materials that cannot be thrown in a curbside recycling bin (such as glass).
5. Rot: This means composting food waste and other biodegradable goods.  I had no idea how much household waste can actually be composted! I have definitely gone down the internet rabbit hole a time or two reading about different composting options while we are still living in an apartment.

It's a great book, and although I don't think I will ever be at the level of zero waste that her family is, I have more knowledge and ideas of how I can contribute to a zero-waste society.  One idea that I loved is the idea of reusable bulk bags.  I've become a big fan of shopping in bulk bins, but I hate how many little plastic bags are used in the process.  Bea Johnson suggests making small bags for this purpose and how to do this at the store, but there was no tutorial.  Thankfully, I found this tutorial online and it gave me a better idea of how to make them.  My bags actually had fewer steps, so I'll show you what I did.

First, I gathered my supplies, using only things I had at home:
1. An old, fitted crib sheet
2. Some cording
3. A small amount of thick plastic (I used the bag our bed sheets came in, but a plastic shower curtain works, too)
4. Sewing supplies (white thread, pins, a safety pin, scissors)

I had a moment of genius and decided to use the elastic casing around the edge of the sheet as the casing for my draw string, so that knocked out a big part of the sewing!  I cut the sheet down at the corners, pulled out the elastic, and then cut 6 lengths of various sizes.  Nothing was measured. I just eyeballed what the bags would look like when done and compared it to a plastic bulk bag I had. After they were cut out, I folded them in half and put the "right" sides together (so the nice part of the casing stitching is on the INSIDE). The casing is already sewn on top, and folding it in half cuts out another side stitch. So...you only have to sew 2 sides.  Seriously.

I took some pins and lined up those two rough edges to sew.  If you don't sew much, it's a good idea to place the pins facing out.  That way, you can sew right over the top of it and remove them all at the end.  You don't have to pull the pins out as you go. I cut out a small rectangle of that thick plastic, then inserted it between the two pieces of fabric and pinned it there.  This will be the little plastic tag you use to write the bin number on.

The pinned bag.  We're really roughing it with this tutorial, but I think anyone can do this.

Another shot of the plastic piece pinned between the fabrics.

Starting at the edge by the already-sewn casing, place your fabric and set up your machine.  It doesn't really matter how far into the fabric you sew, just as long as you go in a (somewhat) straight line. With my first bag I used a zigzag stitch, but then I switched to a straight stitch on the rest of them.  Just because.  I just figured if I put bulk sugar or something in there I wouldn't want it getting in the creases of the zigzag stitch. Is that a thing? I don't know.

Sew straight down that side, turn, and sew across the bottom, making sure to reverse stitch at the beginning and end to make sure it is closed up.

Yep.

I like to take scissors and trim off some of the excess fabric around the stitch. It looks a little more cleaned up.

Flip that bag inside out!  The bag is sewed, the casing is already done, and there is that plastic on the right side to write the bin number on!

I took my cord, eyeballed the size I would need, and used a safety pin to guide one end through the casing. After it was threaded through, I took off the safety pin, double-knotted each end, and burned the ends to stop them from fraying.

 And that is it, my friends. Reusable bulk bags made from stuff I had around the house.

My six bags of various sizes.

My reusable bulk bags next to the plastic bags I used to use.

And then came the moment of truth.  I took my bags into the store today, along with an erasable crayon and a laundry marker.  I headed straight to customer service and asked if I could get my bags pre-weighed so that cashiers could deduct the bag weight from the stuff I was trying to buy.  I'm pretty sure I'm the first to ever ask that question at that particular store, so after some thinking and chatting with a manager the poor worker took me to a cashier stand and weighed each bag for me.  I wrote the weight straight onto each bag, next to the plastic tags, with my laundry marker.  When checking out, I had to explain to the cashier what I wanted.  She was a good sport, and after fumbling around for a minute she got the system down by typing in the bin number first, weighing the bag, and then manually typing in the weight minus the weight of the bag.

I did it! I'm so happy it worked out!  Here are the different types of bags I take grocery shopping: Be Earthwise grocery bags and produce bags (both machine washable, as well), and my new bulk bags.  See the weight written on the bag and the bin number on the tag?  I even used one of my bigger bulk bags to grab a fresh loaf of sourdough bread.

Definitely a successful venture.

Letter S - S is for Superhero

Daily Notebook:
 - Jackson: Confessions of a Homeschooler
 - Alex: 1+1+1=1

LDS Scripture Verse: "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows."  -Isaiah 53:4

The weather has been absolutely beautiful!  The boys and I have been enjoying the great weather by playing outside as much as possible (as little boys should).

Alex counting garden boxes at some apartments nearby.

Exploring a little stream on the first day of Spring.

Making leaf boats to send down stream.

Because of this, I was finding it harder and harder to get 5 days of school in.  Granted, each "day" of school only lasted about an hour long, but I really want to encourage outdoor play (and independent play, when it happens).  I was all stressed out because of the lack of five days, and then I realized...that's the great thing about homeschooling.  I make the schedule based on what I think is best for Jack and Alex.  SO...I decided to start planning only three days worth of school each week.  This way, I will be sure to find the time on three separate days, and I wont feel so tied down to indoor school time when we can be outside enjoying nature. With that being said, here is what we accomplished during Letter S week...

THEME INTRODUCTION

I have been eyeing these superhero mask patterns for months now.  In fact, I even printed them off to make as stocking stuffers this past Christmas.  I planned on making them out of felt and I knew it would be easy once I started, but I just struggled to get started.  On Monday I found some sheets of heavy-duty foam left over from an old project and I realized that maybe I could use those foam sheets instead of felt to make quick masks.  Not much later, I was finished! I used hot glue to attach elastic on the backs (cutting each piece to 13" instead of 14", as suggested) as well as the extra pieces for Captain America and Iron Man.  And I just used a black Sharpie and a compass to draw the lines on Spiderman.  It was so easy!

Captain America, Spiderman, and Iron Man

I used these masks to introduce the Superhero theme for school this week.  The boys LOVE these masks...even Jackson who hates costumes and masks.  These just bumped up our superhero play to an even cooler level.

DAY 1

Our scavenger box included a foam letter S, our sign-language card, a saw, a screwdriver, Spiderman, swiss cheese, a spoon, a snake card, a strawberry card, socks, a toy soldier, castile soap, a toy sausage, and a picture of Sully from Monsters, Inc. We like to go through all the objects together, as well as do a quick demonstration on how to write the letter using the foam letter from the basket.

We read My "s" Sound Box to learn more "s" sounds.  And then we read Superhero ABC to introduce the theme for the week (again).  This was a super cute book, but they use superheros invented for the book and not any familiar ones (fyi).  It was hilarious to see what the author came up with for each letter.

Coloring time!  I found some superhero coloring pages here and we used markers to color them in.  I am very happy that the boys have longer attention spans for coloring than when we first started doing school together.

After we cleaned up coloring, it was time for some Superhero Training!  I found our old Exercise ABC cards (starting on page 52 of the pdf download here) and we turned on a fun station on Pandora.  We took turns choosing the card and then we all participated in the exercises, including...

kicking,

jumping over pillows,

and flexing our muscles.

Little superheros in the making.

We all had a blast.

We had so much fun with our exercises, that the boys were just plain tuckered out! I had one more activity planned for the day but decided to save it for later.

Reading List:

1. My "s" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

2. Superhero ABCs by Bob McLeod

3. The Avengers: an origin story by Rich Thomas

4. Meet the Super Hero Squad! by Lucy Rosen

5. Meet the Villains of Villainville by Lucy Rosen

6. Superhero Me! by Karen Katz (for babies/toddlers)

7. 5-Minute Marvel Stories by Disney Book Group (a well-loved birthday present from last year)

DAY 2

Jack came into my room in the morning with four of our foam letters: M, A, J, and D.  He explained he had M for Mommy, A for Alex, J for Jackson, and D for Daddy. I love this boy! So cute.

In the morning I pulled out a new card game the boys had never seen - War.  Not only was it War, but the pictures were all kids dressed like superheros.  Perfect. I dealt out our cards and taught them the game, step-by-step.  It was still a little too tricky for Alex, but Jackson seemed to be into it.  

*During Alex's nap in the afternoon, Jack and I played this again.  This time, I laid out the number cards from our calendar and with each round we placed the cards on our "number line" to see which one was bigger.  Jack really started to grasp the concept of the game while using that added visual.*

After playing War, I took out a pair of cards for each number and set up a game of Memory for Jackson to work on.  Alex had already moved on to some puzzles, but Jackson LOVES memory/matching games.  And he did great!

Official school time started in the afternoon.  The boys worked on their activity trays around the kitchen table while I worked on dinner:

Tray 1: Number Clip Cards

These cards came from 1+1+1=1.  I included ten mini-clothespins for the boys to mark the correct number of objects.

Tray 2: Letter S Play Dough Mat

This mat is from Lavinia Pop's Alphabet Playdough Mat set.

Tray 3: Superhero Number Puzzle

The next three activities were found in the Superhero Pre-K Pack at Over the Big Moon.

Tray 4: Spiderman Size Sort

Tray 5: Superhero Magnet Page

DAY 3

Jackson asked if he and I could do an activity together while Alex was napping.  We decided to play with our magnetic letters and pan.  Jackson first spelled out his name and Alex's name, then I challenged him to match up all the upper- and lower-case letters. He gladly accepted the challenge, and he aced it!

After Alex awoke from his nap, we began school.  Jackson completed his letter hunt worksheet.

Tray 1: Cutting Practice

Trays 1-4 all came from the Superhero Pre-K Pack at Over the Big Moon.

Tray 2: 4-Piece Superhero Puzzles

Tray 3: Superhero/Villain Sorting

Tray 4: Hulk Coloring

Tray 5: Letter Sound Assessment 

This page was part of the Batman Preschool Pack at 1+1+1=1. In this activity I planned to work one-on-one with Jack to confirm that he knows all his letter sounds. I found these cute masks and capes for finger puppet superheros, so I cut them out and used them for the child part of the assessment.

Jackson did a fantastic job cutting to the superheros.  I can't even begin to explain how much his scissor skills have improved since we started doing school together.

Alex finally joined us when he saw the Hulk coloring activity.  Alex LOVES "Hulk Smash," so I had a second page already printed out and waiting for him.  He decided to color with markers instead of the crayons I set out.

Both boys loved those mini-puzzles.  I am happy to have those for a future busy bag.

Having recently discovered Superhero Squad on Netflix (and from our reading books for the theme), Jackson had no trouble distinguishing between superhero and villain.

And those little masks and capes...

Jackson was in love.  I would ask "where is the 'sss' sound?" and Jack would use his finger puppet superhero to point to the correct bat letter (s, in this example).  So cute! And, not surprisingly, he knew every one.  Alex definitely would have aced this assessment, as well, if he could sit still long enough to take it.  ;)

And we completed the theme by reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and putting our letter S on the coconut tree.