Izzie, Mac and Me: August 2011

Sunday, August 28, 2011

The ABC Bunny

We are using Before Five In A Row (BFIAR) this year. I'm so excited! I love reading good quality books to the girls and I love incorporating learning activities with each book. I'm even more excited that a few of my favorite blogs are also using BFIAR this year!

The first book we rowed was The ABC Bunny.

They are listening to The ABC Bunny song, while following along with the book.

Hello? Hello? I hear you singing, but I cannot see you! Silly little girl!
I know I've mentioned this before, but this little gadget is the best thing, ever!

Here is an alphabet activity that goes with the book, but there is one little mistake on the handout.

I'm so thankful that Homeschool Creations has created printables to go with the BFIAR books! The following activities are from The ABC Bunny printables!

Pre-writing skills.
I'm loving the new Crayola dry-erase crayons! They work great with the page protectors!

Tracing the alphabet and words from the book.

Izzie really enjoyed the alphabet mazes.

Classifying insects and non-insects.

Placed same colored stars on back, so Izzie can self correct herself.

Matching numbers to number words.

Rolling a dice and adding hail pieces to the bunny page...

Izzie was excited to cover the entire page!
She predicted that she was going to use 100 counters!

Matching the three-part cards.

Clipping clothespins to the correct beginning sound letter.

Showing Daddy her rhyming skills!

Putting the capital letter leaves in alphabetical order.

When she completed, I handed her the lowercase letter leaves to match up with the capital letters. This was her response...

"Ah, Mom! "

If you are rowing this year, here are a few blogs that you must check out!

Homeschool Creations

Delightful Learning

The Adventures of Bear

Sandbox Scholars

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Journal Writing

I really like the idea of using Draw Write Now, but I'm not sure if Izzie is ready for it. She loves to draw, at least 10 pictures a day, but she's a perfectionist! She gets very upset when she makes a mistake while she's drawing (her own picture). I'm concern that the Draw Write Now books would put too much pressure on her. If she couldn't draw something just like the book, she would be very disappointed with herself and I don't want that to discourage her from drawing. So, for now, she'll get the same concept, just with a twist!

I stumbled upon this fantastic notepad at the Homeschooling Conference that I attended. It's the same concept as the Read Write Now workbook, but with a more colorful approach.

I also like that each page is separate. When I looked at the Read Write Now workbook, I did not like how the drawing of one story was on the back of the copywork of another drawing....does that make sense? Izzie loves to tear out her completed pages and display them on the refrigerator. She would have been very disappointed with the Read Write Now workbook.

This notepad uses a blue line to indicate the sky, a red dash line for the fence, and a green line to represent the ground. Too cute!

Here's Izzie first journal entry. Since, her unit was Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, she drew a coconut tree and wrote her alphabet! She prefers to write in capital letters, which may be a hard habit to break.

I have purchased the Draw Write Now Book 1, which Izzie will start using, when she's ready.
I also found this Crayola Draw and Write book at Target on the dollar aisle!