First Day of Preschool -3/21/11

Our first day went great! The kids showed up with big smiles on their faces, lunch bags in hand. Mom said they were so excited to start "school."  We started the morning by reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See? by Eric Carle. We talked about the colors in the book and about the letter B and the "b" sound. I used my Handwriting Without Tears materials to show them how the letter B is formed using the wood shapes, the Roll-a-doh board, and the chalk board.

After that we did a little painting and gluing, and then had to get ready to go out for brunch with Grandma!
The great thing about homeschooling is you can always drop what you're doing for an impromptu trip to IHOP!!

 After we got home, the big kids did some school while the little played with puzzles. Jem couldn't resist helping during his break. We love puzzles at our house. They are important for learning critical thinking, patience, problem solving, working together, spatial awareness, organizing time and space, and good old stick-to-it-ness.  We have all kinds of puzzles from easy toddler board puzzles to large floor puzzles to teeny tiny ones. On this first day, I noticed Freddie jumped right in and took charge of doing the puzzle. Flossie watched. She picked up a few pieces. Put a couple together. But mostly just let her brother take control. On day two, I put the same puzzle out, and during a quiet moment, she went over and did it by herself.  :)

One of my favorite things about today was getting to see Jem in the role of an older sibling. He is always the youngest. He never gets to be the teacher, to show anyone how to do something or to take care of anyone. Today he did :)