Pretzel Number Mats Printable

I finally got around to downloading the pics from my camera. Posting our pretzel making activity is long over due. It was so much fun. I hope you take advantage of my printable and use it. Of course this is an activity you could do without the printable, or you might decide to make shapes instead. Regardless, a lesson on cooking and on math in one day is priceless. I haven't been able to take too many pictures of "school" recently because it is a distraction for Ada. That may sound like an excuse to be a bad blogger, and it sort of is, but when you hear "take a picture" after a 5 year old has done the most basic of tasks, you'd want to remove that intrusion and distraction from your learning space pronto.

I've read that some kids aren't being taught handwriting in school. I didn't really worry that it was a real threat until I watched a little girl a few weeks ago make her letters and it was all wrong. I don't know if I'm making Ada neurotic yet, but I watch almost every letter she makes, and she hears me in the background "start your letter at the top". I know that making her letters incorrectly wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but since I homeschool, I don't have to rely on someone else to tell me her strengths and weaknesses. One of those weaknesses is numbers, when I had the opportunity to make them fun, I jumped on it, and she loved it!

First print off the cards:

Pretzel Cards 1
Pretzel Cards 2
Pretzel Cards 3

Then make some pretzel dough:


PRETZEL RECIPE
1 pkg dry yeast
4 c flour
1 ½ c warm water
1 tsp salt
1 egg
coarse salt
 
Mix all the dry ingredients, except the coarse salt, in a bowl . Add the water and mix thoroughly . Separate the dough into balls in order to form numbers. In a small bowl beat the egg with a fork; then add a little water.  Brush numbers with egg and sprinkle with salt . Bake at 350ºF until golden brown .

Ready, Set, DOUGH!

Roll It!

Willa was happy to join in on this math activity!

Mama's and Willa's numbers ready to cook!

I over-salted the first batch, but they were still yummy.

Well, that's it!  If you decide to make your own pretzels, I hope you'll come tell us about it.

Pretzel Number Mats

We're making pretzel dough tomorrow in school. The idea isn't mine, it's from Calvert.  I was supposed to do it on index cards, but why when I have Publisher?  If you happen to use them, I hope you'll come back here and tell me about it.

First print off the cards(I'm going to laminate them):

Pretzel Cards 1
Pretzel Cards 2
Pretzel Cards 3

Then make some pretzel dough:


PRETZEL RECIPE
1 pkg dry yeast
4 c flour
1 ½ c warm water
1 tsp salt
1 egg
coarse salt
 
Mix all the dry ingredients, except the coarse salt, in a bowl . Add the water and mix thoroughly . Separate the dough into balls in order to form numbers. In a small bowl beat the egg with a fork; then add a little water.  Brush numbers with egg and sprinkle with salt . Bake at 350ºF until golden brown .

I remember now

Why I stopped blogging!  Uploading and editing pictures is a pain in the patooey.  Jason's parents paid us a surprise visit last week, so as homeschoolers can do, we took the week off and enjoyed their visit.  We started back this week, but had a week full of appointments.  Ada was evaluated by a speech pathologist, and her speech is not as bad as I thought.  She has a small lisp that she will begin once a week oral motor therapy.  We've also finally had Micah's 18 month check-up and Ada's 5 year check up.  Each time I go to such an appointment, I want to run back to Virginia.  I miss our pediatrician that much!  The one we went to today will do, but she is no Dr. Amory.  Don't get me wrong, I miss my Dr too.  Maybe because they were in the same building!

We're getting ready to start American Heritage Girls next week.  I've been going to weekly meetings for a month.  I'm excited, but a little anxious,  because I've yet to see the handbook for my level. We started soccer on Monday.  Consequently, we've decided to stop doing gymnastics for now.  We've started one more activity about which I am really excited.  Ada and I will be going to Common Ground Montgomery on Friday afternoons to volunteer with the inner city youth there.  Our first visit was today, and I have to tell you that I am humbled by the work going on there.  I pray for the day that I'd be make a similar sacrifice; willing to move my family into such an area as this in order to shine the light of Christ. I complain about our neighborhood when our car is egged, our truck is keyed, things are taken from our front porch, but there is no comparison between where we live, and where this ministry is located.  Ada had a wonderful time and wants to go back every day.   That's a quick and dirty of our two weeks.

Call me Crazy

 

It seems that we're doing Calvert PreK at half pace, but Willa does so many of Ada's activities with her.  Additionally, many of the activities she does are reinforced with what Ada has done or will do- left and right for example.  Willa is becoming increasingly interested in doing school, and honestly, I'm scared that I won't have anything prepared for her, but that is the nice thing about Calvert! It doesn't take a huge amount of preparation.   I'm getting better at this, just a little.  

Today I deactivated my Facebook account.  I found myself checking FB "really quick" before school in the morning.  It's become a waste of my time.  We chose homeschooling, even before we moved to Alabama, because I felt led to homeschool.  Looking back, I now see God's hand.  He knew we'd be here, and I needed 5 years to get prepared.  After much prayer, the thought to wean myself off of FB crossed my mind.  Preposterous.  People no longer blog.  We need FB, for what?  Keeping tabs with 568 people?  I don't think so.  People will be forced to email, text, call, and check my sporadic blog posting to keep tabs on us. I've put too much on my plate and something had to go.  Now if I only had the will power to see it through.  I'd rather be quilting anyway.

Here are a few pictures of our Willa Bean:  

Working on her alphabet

Left and Right Calvert PreK

Working on "top/middle/bottom" with Ada.

Kai Lan is over , Fairy is on, gingerbread man is under the rainbow.

We <3 topsy turvy.  Little Red Riding Hood -Calvert PreK.                  

Willa worked with red and yellow in preK

Willa on the balance beam.

With her 3 year old friends and Miss Roxanne.

Just in case you haven't heard enough whining from me, I feel like I'm neglecting the baby.  I try to wear him out in the morning so that he will nap in the late morning so I can get what Ada and I need to get done.  Shoo Wee.  I need more hands.  I will admit, I have some jealousy thinking of the life I could have.  If I chose the modern traditional route, Ada would be in K, Willa in preschool in the mornings a few days a week, and just for good measure, I could put Micah in a Moms Morning Out program.  The only conclusion is that mothers who choose to homeschool are crazy.  That, or they don't enjoy personal time. Then I remember that my kids are getting their Mama 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (a rough estimate;) )  During gymnastics I listen to Moms who think that in order for their children to have a quality education, and an advantage, that they must be sent to the "best" schools.  Best schools are the most expensive, or those that are seemingly the most exclusive.  I listen to people fret about applications to sought after schools and I'm glad I'm crazy. I'm crazy for this little boy and his sisters:

Micah works on a puzzle in a rare moment he has alone with his mama.

Such a smart boy.

Calvert Kindergarten Week 2

If things continue to go well, I might just get the false impression that this homeschooling thing will be a breeze.  We're settling into a routine now (read the baby has cooperated and slept quietly during the early afternoon). I've decided to drop Leading Little Ones to God for right now, and pick it up once we're done with My ABC Bible Verses. I don't know why I was doing them concurrently.  I'm a paid member of Raising Rockstars Preschool, and Carissa uses the verses in her printables.  I have to admit that the paid membership was a bit different than I expected, due to my own confusion- not her misrepresentation.  The printable bundles she offers for sale now is more what I thought the membership entailed. I still don't think the $10 fee was a bad investment.  It doesn't expire and I have two more children with which to do it.  I still haven't used many of the powerpoint shows available in the members only section, but I am using the letter presentations in alphabetical order each morning for some additional technology instruction, more exposure to sight words, and to get Ada to sit still for more than one minute so that I can braid her hair.  Calvert presents letters alphabetically, RRPS does it from easiest to hardest, so each powerpoint presentation stands to be different in the review portion.

All three children had a dental appointment on Monday.  Everyone got a clean report with no cavities.  I decided to just skip school that day and makeup the missed lesson on Saturday (don't you love homeschooling).  However, just as we prepared to sit down and get down to work the in-laws surprised us by arriving a full day ahead of schedule on the unplanned trip we'd only learned about the evening before.  Week two wasn't finished until this morning.

Math:


We worked on several positional words:

over,under, on (although technically, there is no "over" in this picture, only posing)

Willa is under the rainbow, MLP is on the rainbow.

top, middle, bottom

This is our most favorite toy.  This is a more complicated version of top, middle, bottom.

Ada learned her left from right.  She knew this already because she is left handed, and knows it makes her special.  There is also a song we sing that comes from the  Handwriting Without Tears Get Set For School CD.  The Hello Song emphasizes that when saying hello we use our right hand.  Simple, yet effective.

left vs right.

I am happy to say that during our review today, Ada had mastered thick and thin.   I guess I don't need to rush to enroll her in some sort of education program due to my ineffectiveness as a teacher.

Reading:

Reading is my favorite time of the day.  Ada really likes to get involved also, and sometimes we can entice Willa to play.  We read four stories this week:  "The Little Engine that Could",  "The Tortoise and the Hare", " The Lion and the Mouse", and "The Enormous Turnip".  Ada's favorite were the latter, because her imaginary friend, Mousie, is (of course) a mouse.  She also (like her mama) enjoys a big word or two and enjoys enunciating the word "ENORMOUS".

The race.  It also included Perry the Chipmunk, her favorite buddy of the non-imaginary kind.

Handwriting/Phonemic Awareness:

We worked our ways through letters, Ff, Gg, Hh,Ii, and Jj.  I am afraid I have created a photographing monster.  She is allowed, with permission, to use my camera to take photos.  What if photography is something she could excel?  When importing the photos, I came across several interesting, including about two dozen of the roll-a-dough letters she made.  (and a few non-letter things she'd made).

That's a handwriting sheet from the RRSP program.  I have the letters in sheet protectors.

We learned several poems.  One was Little Miss Muffet.  According to our Calvert manual, a tuffet is "a small stool".  Ada quickly made use of the crate stools I'd made prior to the start of school.  Ada,  a bowl, a spoon, and an imaginary spider, and the stage is set for reenactment of Miss Muffet's frightening experience:

Eating curds and whey.

Micah has a great helper hand!

Science:

We did discuss the body in science this week.  We made butcher paper outlines of our bodies as quickly as we could, but Micah is a tough force to reckon with.  Ada's outline did get posted on the wall above her bed, just inches from the reach of a stretching on tip toes baby boy.  We had a lot of fun making our own song to the melody of "Farmer in the Dell".  We rhymed words for the body parts we named.  

My body has many parts, 

My body has many parts, 

Hi-Ho the merrio

My body has many parts.

There's a cut on my butt, 

a cut on my butt, 

Hi-Ho the merrio

There's a cut on my butt.  

Let's get Physical:

Now, you might be asking yourself  "Self, why are her kids always in leotards?"  We are budding gymnasts. Not really, but we do go to a class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The outfits you see in these photos just so happen to be our newest purchases from Kohl's.  Otherwise, the kids are wearing their PJs, or what they've chosen to wear that day.  

Stretching before class.

Mama's lesson:

The highlight of our week was playing Simon Says.  This week I am thankful for homeschooling to be able to realize that it isn't necessarily shiny curricula, well drawn workbooks, hours spent compiling lap books, or any of those other "must do" things part of today's homeschool.

We listen to mainly contemporary Christian music.  I love that there are several resources available for Christian parents in order to "hide the word" in their hearts through music. Our favorites are Seeds Family Worship.  We're also listening to Songs for Saplings when we do our phonics lesson.  The short songs make a nice break in the day.   I don't remember specifically which song Ada was singing at this particular time, but she's learned that we can praise God in song, and that our songs can be a gift to him.  When I snapped this picture I couldn't help but think of the young woman she could become, possibly singing in a praise band (but not if she has her mama's singing talent).

We're Official (!!!):

Homeschoolers!  Here are my pretty little ladies with their new school gifts.  A "Boo Boo Kitty pencil pouch for Bean.

and a "Boo Boo" Kitty backpack for Tater.

Our first day week was a little bumpy.  We've never been a family who flourishes on a schedule, although I am sure we could probably benefit from one.  The goal was to have our lessons finished by lunch time.  Crossing my fingers, I hoped the baby would nap in the morning, but he had other ideas.  My aspirations where to get both K and PreK done in one day, but at the start of day two, I knew that PreK with Willa would have to wait until we had settled in a bit.  We finished all five lessons in the K program, and just two in the PreK. It suits us.  Some days Willa wants to "do school", others she wants to play.  I'm fine with letting her choose for now.  I would be okay with Willa taking two years to do the PreK program, although technically,  I do think access to the internet program expires after 13 months with Calvert.  We do have paper copies of the lesson manuals, so it won't be an issue.

We started each morning with our calendar.  I saved this cute backdrop from the trashcan after VBS.  Our calendar came from the Target $1.  I especially loved the yesterday, today, tomorrow posters. When Micah ripped ours off the walls and rendered them unusable, I went on a mission to locate more.  FB friends were checking their local Target $1 bins.  I did finally locate two, and I bought them both! Micah has since then, ripped another off the wall, so I'm not confident it will be a long lasting learning aid in our space.

It was windy on Monday.

Additionally, we're reading through Leading Little Ones to God.  We have the Seeds Family Worship CD's, and I'd love to work them into our program.  Totally Tots has some wonderful printables that I'd love to use, but, if I'm being honest, my kids so far haven't responded that well to my printing and laminating efforts, and I'd rather save the trees (and spend my free time quilting) instead of printing and laminating.  I realize I may be breaking some supermama homeschooling rule, but I've decided to embrace my inner slacker.  It's not very Montessori, or Mason of me, to be sure.  This year I have decided less is more.  I've only been an official homeschooler a week now, yet the top of my homeschooling closet is filled with curricula I just knew I needed, and great ideas I'd seen on blogs, that I had to do with my kids if their homeschooling experience were to be the best possible experience.   Meh.  My goals are more short term.  Survive the first week.  (check).  Survive the first month (now in progress). 

FIAR

We did not get to any of our Five in a Row activities this week.  At this point, I don't think it is unreasonable to expect that we get some done.  Perhaps in time, I'll change my mind. But, my hope is that as school becomes more of a habit for us, and we get in a rhythm, that we'll make time for it.

Reading

In Calvert K we did A-E this week.  Ada struggled with the lower case "a" on day one, and I was sure that she'd never learn it.  I took advantage of the chat line offered through Calvert and asked if I shouldn't be supplementing the curriculum with, I don't know, something.  I have the Handwriting Without Tears program, should I somehow add it in?  Calvert is alphabetical, HWT starts with the easiest letter to write and progresses from there.  How would I do it?  I'm happy to report that I could detect no exasperation in the typing on the Calvert Education Counselor with whom was unfortunate to answer my plea for help. S/he was only patient and helpful.  At the end of Week 1, she's doing just fine learning to writer her letters the ABC way. 

We read several stories:  Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Three Little Pigs, and Henny Penny in K.  We also read The Little Red Hen in PreK.

The Three Bears are sad.

Topsy Turvy: Goldilocks

Math

We discussed several different topics in Math- in/out, thick/thin, near/far.  Thick and thin were harder to grasp than I ever could have participated.  It made me have an appreciation for how, as a parent educator, we can be acutely aware of the with what ones student is struggling and work to incorporate instruction into everyday activities instead of relying on a a third party to first alert us to the issue.  Since realizing that Ada had was having difficulty with thick/thin, it's been a constant subject in our house.  Would you like a thick piece of cake?  or It is hot outside, would you like a thick or thin shirt?

Willa studies "in and out".

Thick

Thin

Far

Near

Ada sorts buttons by shape and size.

As I said, we didn't get far in our PreK lessons.  By week's end, Willa was asking for school.  She worked on the color red.  She separated the red buttons from our collection, found red items in the room.  But the big hit was the Fit a Space that was part of the Calvert PreK program.

Willa identifies the red Fit a Space pieces.

Each day Ada completes 2 Calvert checkpoints, one for reading and one for math, each day.

Ada working on technology.

My goals for the next month is to get into a specific rhythm.  We have extra curricular activities to juggle, and let's not forget, a cute baby with which to play.  Gymnastics is Tuesday and Thursday after lunch, so we do well on those days.  Piano is currently on Friday's at 10:30 am, but I may reschedule those lessons until after lunch.  Our barrier right now is the nap time and melt down times of the cute baby:

We did school in our PJs!

Additionally, we'll continue to work on Calvert daily with Ada, and with Willa as she indicates an interest.  Also, we have several FIAR units planned:

Storm in the Night with a study on clouds.

Story About Ping with a study on Buoyancy

Lentil with a study on the senses, and to learn the Pledge of Allegiance

Weekly Snapshot:

Ada boogies to the "Alphabet Zoo".