School Time

I have been convicted lately about being intentional with the time that I have with the girls, especially since they are at preschool two days a week. Also, Emma Catherine will be starting kindergarten before I know it. At the end of the summer I started "school time" with Emma Catherine. We do it at 1:30 when I put Bailey down for her nap. We went through pages in some preschool workbooks, worked on cutting, and counting puzzles. So far Emma Catherine has been excited about school time, but I knew if I didn't add some more variety then it wouldn't be too long and she would be bored. About the time I was wondering what I would do, someone on a blog I stalk posted about this website, no time for flashcards . It is a great website, but what I like best are the letter activities. She shows letter activities for each letter and how to make them. I wrote down a list of craft supplies that I would need and I went around town on Tuesday while the girls were at preschool to gather the supplies. I had a few of the supplies in the basement with my old teaching stuff and most of the supplies I was able to get at the Dollar Tree. I also bought a box to keep everything in one place.
Emma Catherine was so excited about the new craft box that she wanted to make a letter that day. I have to admit I was excited too, so I decided to go ahead and make an alligator for the letter A with her.
Learning her letters has been slow-going for us up to this point. She hasn't been extremely interested in learning many besides E and C. I'm sure you can guess why. I honestly think she knows more letters than she wants to admit. She can be stubborn though and a lot of times, when I ask her to identify a letter, she'll just say, "I don't know." On Wednesday, we made the letter W. Who would be believe I had leftover watermelon seeds in my teacher stuff?
One thing I like about the letters is they are easy to make and she can do most of the work besides drawing and cutting out the letter. (Maybe as she gets better at cutting, she'll be able to do this but she's not there yet.) So far she has been so proud to tell Ryan the letter we made when he gets home from work. She has been able to remember the letters we made too.

You can use this link to find examples for each letter. http://notimeforflashcards.blogspot.com/2009/05/whole-alphabet.html

Some supplies I will be using:
-markers
-construction paper
-feathers
-paint
-googly eyes
-stamps
-foam sheets
-pom pom balls
-sequins
-glitter
-seeds
-scrapbook paper