Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! preschool galore!

Well, its that time. At 3 years old, we start watching each child to show signs of being ready to learn their letter sounds and begin some easy reading at their pace. Nothing too major, and we always go at their speed. Well, last week Kimmy started spending more time listening to her big sisters' phonics lessons, and has learned how to say the alphabet. That is the sign we look for, so I started thinking about her lessons in this area. I always pick a theme for the child who is learning her letters, and this particular child's theme is based on her favorite book of all time, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. So what is a homeschooling mom to do with THIS theme? Well, allow me to share some pictures and tell the tale..............................

I started by telling little miss Kimberly that she is going to be starting her own school lessons next week, and THIS was her response to it.


Yep I think she's happy. So next I got our supplies for the project out..........................

Its hard to see, but that green paper does have some drawing on it. I drew a leaf outline on several sheets of green and cut them out.


This is where the theme is centered at, before I put it up. Yes, that is a part of my huge fireplace that we are looking at right there, and unfortunately it is painted brick (what a wate of such beautiful brickwork, but we had to paint over it because it was originally LEAD BASED paint)

And this is the result, a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree! I just need to add a few coconuts to it and we'll add a letter to the top of the tree as we learn its name and sound. Notice the beyond thrilled 3 year old there standing where she's not allowed to stand normally LOL

Now, for how I'm going to do this. I am a FIRM follower of Sonlight language arts K for teaching reading. There are great activities and we learn one letter a week, following a specific order that will enable the child to start reading after learning just a few letters in week 9. I also intend to add in activities from the Brightly Beaming site for each letter from the preparatory program. And NEW for us this time around, I am going to be doing the alphabet lap-n-tote from Homeschool Share to give us a record of all the letters we've done as we learn about them.

Every Monday, I will try to remember to post that week's letter and what my activities for the week will be. We will explore a variety of different things each week, and just have fun with it all. I only spend typically around 20 minutes or so a couple times a day at the most on lessons with preschoolers formally, doing worksheets and crafts. So this will be sprinkled through the days and we'll prepare foods starting with that letter, read stories that go with the letter (using daily and weekly themes like fish and firefighters and flowers for letter F week)

Now, doesn't that just sound like a barrel of fun and games? Preschoolers are my favorite students so far, I always look forward to lessons with my preschool children.