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Letter B Preschool Unit

August 5, 2017August 11, 2018 nourishedchildren 3 Comments

I’m so thankful I get to spend time with my children for their preschool years. First, I share our curriculum choices and why we use them. Keep reading to find out how we explored the Letter A. Finally, at the bottom, we list our favorite supplies for the preschool years.

PRESCHOOL CURRICULUM

SUPPORTS AMPLE NATURE TIME

The Peaceful Preschool – The schedule is amazing because it sets aside one day per week for field trips
Exploring Nature with Children – This works well for my family because it is centered around being outdoors
The Abundant Gardener – We are learning more about gardening together so this will naturally provide chances to visit gardens, plant stores, and be outside on our land

THE PEACEFUL PRESCHOOL

We currently follow the Peaceful Preschool curriculum by Jennifer Pepito and we love it! The content is full of rich literature, therefore it is a perfect fit for my book-loving family. We read through many rich, classic stories. We also complete playful projects to go with the literature theme or letter. Download Unit A for free to try it out with your littles in order to see if you like it.

The community she has created is such a beautiful resource and I’m grateful to be a part of it. Jennifer has included a wonderful preschool e-book which helps you prepare to guide your child in early learning. We have found her curriculum perfect for our homeschool preschool. The curriculum is comprised of Read Aloud, Phonics, Counting Skills, Fine Motor Skills, Large Motor Skills, Practical Life Skills, and Art Skills. Also, here is how we enjoyed the letter C unit.

LETTER B REVIEW

The letter B unit was fun! First, we read through Blueberries for Sal. I love this story because it is so beautiful. My children bring this to me over and over to read aloud. They especially love to hear me read the “kerplink, kerplunk” sounds in the story. We also created letter B glitter glue letters. The Peaceful Preschool recommends glitter glue in order to create the finishing touches on sensory, alphabet flashcards. We have used them with all of the letters so far. It is really one of my children’s favorite parts.

B IS FOR BLUEBERRY

We counted a variety of berries and also sorted them (and of course ate them along the way).

Did you know blueberries are a wonderful superfood? According to an article on healthline.com, “blueberries are among the most nutrient dense berries.” They contain a level of antioxidants which may help reduce cancer risk. My children love blueberries and as a result, we usually have berries around to eat and enjoy!

sorting and counting berries — then, we sorted and counted berries

ACTIVITIES

My children created process art with a watercolor of the ocean and we also read the Runaway Bunny. I loved this story as a child! We made letter B bunny art with cotton balls.

HOMEMADE PALEO CARROT CAKE CUPCAKES

Then, we made homemade paleo carrot cake cupcakes. You can find the recipe here. For the frosting, I tried a new mascarpone whipped frosting and it was light and perfect. My children helped gather the ingredients, wash and peel the carrots, stir the ingredients, and lick the bowl when we were finished!

FIELD TRIPS

The Peaceful Preschool recommends a field trip day each week. Since our boys are at home for preschool, we have the luxury of taking many trips! We visited Blue Butterfly Farms and learned about farm animals and gardening and we also took a beautiful hike with friends from a Wild and Free group.

We picked fresh strawberries at Sweet Berry Farms. Since we had so many berries, we came home and made homemade strawberry jam.

We smelled bluebonnets at Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center. We visit it often because it is one of my favorite places.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

Simplylearningkids offers free extension activities for the curriculum. We made symmetry butterfly art from simplylearningkids which turned out more beautiful than I expected. The boys painted on one side. Next, we folded the paper in half. Then, we opened it to discover a beautiful butterfly.

ADDITIONAL BOOKS

Finally, I read the Biggest Bear, Be Blest and The Three Bears to my children because these are beautiful stories. The Biggest Bear is a loving story about a boy and his bear and it was great to find another beautiful bear book to add. Be Blest is a great resource because it goes through the seasons and has beautiful illustrations. The Three Bears is a wonderful and classic children’s story and it is a great delight to include it again. In the Jesus Storybook Bible, we read the creation story. We try to read a chapter most mornings from this beautiful book. I LOVE this Bible version because the illustrations hold my kiddos attention.

SUPPLIES

Blueberries for Sal
The Runaway Bunny
The Jesus Storybook Bible
Cotton Balls
Alphabet Tactile Letters
Unbleached Cupcake Liners
Watercolors
Glitter Glue
Watercolor Collection of Bees

Here is how we enjoyed the letter C unit. We had so much fun with letter B and can’t wait to share the next letter with you!

Letter C Preschool Unit

July 30, 2017September 1, 2017 nourishedchildren 2 Comments

PRESCHOOL CURRICULUM

SUPPORTS AMPLE NATURE TIME

The Peaceful Preschool – The schedule is amazing because it sets aside one day per week for field trips
Exploring Nature with Children – This works well for my family because it is centered around being outdoors
The Abundant Gardener – We are learning more about gardening together so this will naturally provide chances to visit gardens, plant stores, and be outside on our land

THE PEACEFUL PRESCHOOL

LETTER C REVIEW

The letter C unit was fun! There was so much to explore. We began by creating our glitter glue letters. The Peaceful Preschool recommends glitter glue in order to create the finishing touches on sensory, textured alphabet flashcards. We have used them with all of the letters so far. It is really one of my children’s favorite parts.

EXPLORING NATURE

We went outside and gathered wildflowers since our yard is full of them. This time of year, the wildflowers begin to fade, so we were lucky! We sorted the flowers, and counted them with our number cards. Finally, we filled up our letter C template with petals.

LETTER C INSPIRED FOOD

Included in the curriculum, is a homemade whipping cream recipe. It was simple and easy to make. We mixed three ingredients in a small, mason jar. When it was complete, my boys topped homemade gluten-free pancakes with it.

My boys also worked with their daddy in the kitchen. They sorted, counted, and peeled heirloom carrots. We are members of a local CSA and these carrots were from Johnson’s Backyard Garden.

BOOKS

We read through Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. This one surprised me because at first glance, I thought it was too babyish. It is a wonderful alphabet book and my children love it! They have brought this book to me countless times to read aloud. Corduroy was the next book to read. This was nostalgic for me since I also read this story as a child. To include an activity, we counted and sorted buttons.

We also began a simple button sewing craft on burlap to enhance fine motor skills. I gained the idea from the Peaceful Preschool community Facebook page and I’m so grateful to have this as a resource.

ADDITIONAL BOOK AND ACTIVITY

I also included the Carrot Seed book. We purchased it at Half Price books for a few dollars. My children, especially my youngest, love the story. We created a sensory bin for them to plant carrots. I found a similar idea on Pinterest. Dried chickpeas became the rocky soil. My older son and I made carrots out of natural scented play dough. He also added brown play dough for dirt soil and planted a chickpea seed.

In conclusion, we cut out and differentiated between Living and Non Living characters and parts from the story. I’m so thankful for the Peaceful Preschool curriculum because it provides the boys with many skills they need. Most of all, we are having fun while we are learning.

SUPPLIES

Glitter Pens
Vanilla
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Corduroy
Colorful Buttons
Burlap
Plastic Needle
The Carrot Seed
Natural Play Dough
Wooden Trays

Also, here is how we enjoyed the letter D unit. I can’t wait to share what we are learning next!

Letter E Preschool Unit

July 18, 2017September 1, 2017 nourishedchildren 4 Comments

PRESCHOOL CURRICULUM

SUPPORTS AMPLE NATURE TIME

The Peaceful Preschool – The schedule is amazing because it sets aside one day per week for field trips
Exploring Nature with Children – This works well for my family because it is centered around being outdoors
The Abundant Gardener – We are learning more about gardening together so this will naturally provide chances to visit gardens, plant stores, and be outside on our land

THE PEACEFUL PRESCHOOL

LETTER E REVIEW

We loved the letter E unit! The focus was on eggs and that is one thing we love. Eggs are a great superfood so this Mama was happy to introduce a unit focusing on them. We began by creating our glitter glue alphabet letters and read through Rechenka’s Eggs. We had fun creating bird’s nests out of natural play dough and making miniature play dough eggs for the nest. It was such a joy since I got to see my sons get creative in forming the nest and eggs.

The Peaceful Preschool recommends glitter glue in order to create the finishing touches on sensory, textured alphabet flashcards. We have used them with all of the letters so far, and it is really one of my children’s favorite parts. They added birdseed to their letter E template and we also added bird seed to our bird feeder out in the front!

E IS FOR EGG

We made hard boiled eggs together and dyed them with natural dye. My boys participated in collecting ice so we could cool down the eggs in an ice bath. They also love dipping the eggs in the natural dye we created out of blueberries, turmeric, and spinach. I typically have brown eggs on hand and they don’t work as well as white eggs in absorbing the color!

We counted and sorted a dozen wooden eggs. The boys made muffins and cookies with their pretend blender set and they used their wooden eggs in their pretend play.

Colored Egg Play. Boys helping in the kitchen.

I have created a Preschool Letter Unit for each letter on Pinterest. Pinterest provides a wealth of inspiration for extension ideas to go along with the Peaceful Preschool. We also use Simply Learning Kids to add additional learning activities. My boys took turns cutting various egg cracks and matching them back together in order to practice fine motor skills and work with patterns.

Then, we used some wooden buttons to complete an egg shape. My older son also had more scissor practice as he cut out the egg shapes and matched them together.

Finally, to wrap up the letter E unit, we used watercolors to paint the Earth. You can purchase watercolor paints at Target, however, we really enjoy these from Amazon.

SUPPLIES

Rechenka's Eggs
Glitter Glue
Natural Play Dough
Sunflower Bird Seed
Scissors
Wooden Eggs
Wood Mixer Toy Set
Wooden Buttons
Washable Tempera Paints
Watercolor Paper
Nature Anatomy Book

Please let me know if you have any questions. Finally, we hope you enjoy nourishing your children too! We can’t wait to share our next letter since we are having so much fun!

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Here is how we schedule our days.

We Love Simply Learning Kids

May 31, 2017August 19, 2017 nourishedchildren 5 Comments

SIMPLY LEARNING KIDS

We began our preschool at home using free curriculum, books and projects provided by Simply Learning Kids. I highly encourage you to check Kaitlyn out – she’s amazing! We have read and created learning opportunites on great preschool toddler books suggested by Simply Learning Kids such as: Good Night Gorilla, Little Blue Truck and Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site. The three books listed above are repeatedly requested by my youngest three-year-old. When my oldest son was two, these were on consistent rotation as well! I just love these board books – there are so many different discussions and themes to build on and play with that can spark your imagination (and your children’s) while reading these stories. The illustrations and sweet little stories stick in your mind long after you close the books.

There are consistently the same education tools used in Simplylearningkids with each of her literature units:

great books
three-part cards (a Montessori concept)
fun, hands-on activities that promote exploration of letters
simple counting activities
crafts

DOWNLOAD EACH LETTER UNIT FOR FREE. Simply click on the link and it will download to your computer in a PDF format. Then, you can choose to print off the pages you would like your child to work on. I like to coincide the Simply Learning letter units with the Peaceful Preschool curriculum we are currently using. So, after we introduce a letter with the Peaceful Preschool, we then complete the Simply Learning letter that corresponds with it.

PRESCHOOL AT HOME

This was our first introduction into preschool at home. We fit it into our schedule when we can, and I continue with my children only as far as they are interested. Above all, I maintained an attitude of no pressure. They love it! We enjoy focusing on the good books, fun and simple crafts therefore my children have so much fun. This is our first time working on becoming familiar with letters. The art projects are so much fun (even for Mama). We can help you find our list of essential preschool homeschool supplies.

Best of all, her resources are completely free! She also has an abundance of resources on Pinterest to compliment her learning units. You can follow her on Pinterest here for even more ideas on supplementing your current learning curriculum.

Kaitlyn has a visually pleasing blog and recommends some great quality products. I was one thankful Mama when I found her website since she makes teaching easy. The peace of mind that comes from simply being able to download a learning unit and immediately work on it with my children has been phenomenal. Please check simplylearningkids.com out!

Simply Learning Kids Duck Craft Letter D

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Letter B Preschool Unit

Letter C Preschool Unit

Letter E Preschool Unit

We Love Simply Learning Kids

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