Scarlett's First Day of Preschool

Scarlett started going to The Learning Ladybugs preschool twice a week.  My friend who lives down the road is the teacher and she does a great job!  Penelope went to the same one two years ago and we all loved it.  I really can't say enough great things about it, except that it is everything I wanted in a preschool for my kids.

Scarlett was excited to go to preschool but not so much that she ever brought it up without us asking her about it.  When the time came she was all smiles and just went right in.  I'm sure it helped that we've been there several times before and all but one of the other five kids are in her sunbeam class.

I haven't really spent much time at all at home with Scarlett teaching her letters and things so hopefully preschool will get her ready for kindergarten next year.

Here she is in her Class of 2029 shirt.  I love how it goes past her knees.

When we walked Penelope to school on the first day all the kids insisted on wearing their backpacks.  After we walked Penelope we walked right back home and hoped in the car to take Scarlett to preschool.  That will be our normal twice a week routine until Penelope gets more comfertable and we start driving her in the mornings.

Class of 2028 2029 Shirt Tutorial

When Tucker started kindergarten I made him a large Class of 2025 shirt and I have him wear it every year on the first day to take pictures.  After three years I can already see a big difference in how much he has grown.  Now that Penelope's first day of kindergarten is coming up I wanted to make her a Class of 2028 shirt to wear every year and grow into.  And while I was at it I went ahead and made Scarlett a Class of 2029 shirt to wear on her first day of preschool.

First day of school pictures are a big deal.  I remember being a kid and my mom always took them in front of the same rock outside our house.  Now I love taking them of my kids.  For a different first day of school picture idea, try these first day of school shirts!

When I made Tucker's I spray painted the shirt, you can find that tutorial here.

This year I hand painted them on.  It is a cleaner look and I think I prefer it better.

Materials Needed:

Large Shirt (joanns $3)

Freezer Paper

Fabric or even Craft Paint

1) The first thing I did was open up photoshop and make the text look how I wanted.  Lucky for you if you like mine all you have to do is click on it and print it on freezer paper or and zoom in or out on your computer until it is the size you want.

2) I didn't even print it out.  You can print on the freezer paper, but I don't have a printer and the computer makes a great lightbox.  I just zoomed in until it was the size I wanted and then turned up the brightness on my computer and taped my freezer paper up to the screen.  I then traced it.  Make sure to trace on the dull side.  I went with the outside lines, but you can do either you like.

3) The next step is to use an exacto knife and cut out the letters.  This is the most time consuming step.  Make sure to save your middle pieces.  I did it on top of a cardboard box.

4) Now lay the paper shiny side down onto your shirt and iron it on.  Here is where you need the middle pieces.

5)  Now for the fun part.  Paint your letters.  I used fabric paint because I had it.  But I've used craft paint before and it works fine too.

6) Once it is dry peal off the freezer paper and you are done!

I'm going to redo these creative first day of school pictures on the actual first day of school, but I wanted to get this tutorial out for everyone who is starting now.

Story Time

I've been getting back into the routine of taking the kids to story time at the library.  We took a break for a little while because their gymnastics class was at the same time, but now that they are back in dance we can do both.  Penelope has really started to read so I've been having a hard time keeping up with finding books on her level.  She can read at a beginner level and I want to keep giving her books she likes.  I'm hoping that she will keep it up instead of just getting bored an quitting.

Leon doesn't listen to the stories much.  But all the kids get excited when they turn on the music and get the shakers out.

I usually look up books online and put them on hold so I can just grab them and be done..  Looking through the shelves is a nightmare with Leon pulling all the books down.  The kids usually convince me to let them choose one book themselves.  Babymouse is a favorite of theirs.  Most of the time I never even read their books to them but they occupy themselves looking at the pictures.

Taking the kids to the library is one thing the kids and I like to do together during the day.  I miss taking Tucker now that he is in school.

Preschool

With Penelope not actually going to preschool this year I've been working hard on trying to teach her at home.  We do a lot of Chalk Preschool which is a free online preschool.  I love how it does the days of the week and the weather and calendar.  Although the other curriculum has gotten a bit repetitive for us, so we usually just do it once a week.  Plus Scarlett and Leon like it too.

 We also work on these little workbooks, but I'm not sure how effective they are.  I also try to do little activities with her, like taking her to yoga with me or having her learn to cook a little bit.

I guess my biggest problem is keeping her busy and knowing what and how to teach her.  She will be one of the oldest in her class when she starts kindergarten so she already knows way more then Tucker did when he started.  I feel like I'm always trying to balance play, chores and school time.  She is ready to start school now, but I kind of like her being home.  It is going to be so strange once she starts school.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know four people I'm especially thankful for!

We made these at home on Tuesday.  Leon refused to wear his.  Next time I'll know not to even make him one, because I pretty much did the whole thing for him.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Preschool Graduation

Penelope graduated from preschool last week and they had the cutest little ceremony.

At the beginning all the kids were supposed to spell their name for the group.  This was funny to me because Penelope could spell her name decently without looking at a paper before she started preschool.  But doing it in front of a group is a whole other thing.  She ends up whispering it to her teacher.  Check it out.

Then they sang a few song.  Almost all of which Penelope refused to sing but she did do the hand motions.  I think it is cute how shy she was.  Even before they started all the kids were running around being crazy kids except for Penelope.  She just sat in her seat with her hands in her lap like a little lady while waiting to start.  She did sing the last song but I messed up the video and didn't record it. :(

Next the teacher showed an adorable video with pictures through the year.  Scarlett did very good sitting still the whole time and watching.  Tucker got a little restless and wiggly.

The teacher played commencement music while the kids walked around.  It was so cute!

Then they got to walk up to the teacher one at a time and shake hands and get a certificate.  Penelope was really excited and happy when it was her turn.

I know that a lot of people think these graduations are silly and rewarding kids for doing only what they were expected to do.  But it was the first one I'd ever been to and I thought it was great.  Penelope had a good year and really enjoyed preschool.  It was the perfect way to celebrate what they did!  I know she will miss preschool a lot, but I am looking forward to keeping her home with me a bit longer each day.

Farm Field Trip

Wednesday was Penelope's last day of preschool. I am both happy and sad about it.  My schedule will be much easier without it, but I know she enjoys it and will miss it.  Tonight is her graduation so we are both excited about that.  On their last day they went on a mini field trip to a farm.  Penelope was very excited and insisted on wearing boots with her socks pulled up.

The farm was actually a neighbor so the class walked over.  It was cute how they used the buddy system.

All the kids loved it.  Penelope was very timid and hung back a lot but I could tell she liked it.  I'm not sure if she does that all the time or just when I'm there.

The miniature horse was so cute.  All the animals except the chickens were scared of the kids.  So they went as far away as they could as the kids tried to throw food to them.

There were lots of chickens.  Bob wants to get chickens so whenever I see them I am extra interested.  I'm not so sure I want chickens.  But I did like how they let the chickens roam around free on the land.  And the eggs would be nice.  We each got to take home an egg. We ate ours for lunch because we really needed to go grocery shopping and didn't have much else to eat.

Here is the class, plus Scarlett getting ready to go back.

Now they are showing their eggs.  It was hard to get them to look with the chickens walking around.  I think Teacher Shawnda was trying to hide behind the kids so you can't tell but she is going to have a baby in just a couple of weeks.

It was a fun little trip I'm glad Scarlett, Leon, and I decided to tag along.

Bug Museum

During the month of April Penelope's preschool has been learning about bugs.  What better way to round it out then with a field trip to the bug museum.  They each got a little bingo sheet and each square had a picture of a bug in it.  When they found that bug they got to mark it off.  It was a lot of fun and Scarlett got to tag along too.

 Some of them were pretty creepy.  Like the giant spiders.  Imagine finding that thing in your closet.

 The museum also has a little reptile room that we enjoyed.

It is hard to get a decent picture of preschool kids, but this one is pretty fun.  Here is Penelope's entire class.