Name Snowmen

This was a simple but fun handwriting/art project we did in January to practice the girls' names. This was mostly for Little Miss Middle who is really close to mastering her name. But all the girls had fun doing this one and it was a fun addition to the schoolroom during the dreary and LONG winter.

Arctic Animals Playscape

Playscape for the Littles
In the midst of all the crazy, I TRY to set up some kind of sensory table or work for our littlest one to give her something to do during lessons. I admit I fail at this most of the time but this was one of the more successful attempts lately, so I thought I'd share it.
Arctic/Antarctic Animals Unit
We have been immersed in all things Polar lately probably b/c it looks pretty Polar outside our windows. So I dug around for all of the Toob animals that our girls have received as gifts over the years, remembering that there were quite a few that could go along with our theme. We have a great little table that is low to the ground whose original purpose was probably some kind of Montessori doll cradle but for us--it's the sensory table.
Setting the Stage
The Toob animals combined with some blocks of "ice" and a little "igloo" shelter (complete with chintzy fabric chosen by 2 very fashionable older sisters) and our Polar playscape was complete. Now if only I could get this silly little one interested in playing at this DURING school lessons, all would be perfect. But at least it does entertain her and the bigger girls have played with this a surprising amount as well, Win-Win.

Toob animals can be found here:

Valentine Counting Chains

 I Can Count to 100!
My girls are very motivated to learn to count to 100 independently. So far our oldest girl can *most of the time* do it and Little Miss Middle fights hard to keep up. So when I saw this project on Pinterest it seemed like something they would love to do.
Tweaked a Bit
I don't know why I always change things I see on Pinterest--maybe it's my rebellious side :) --but I never do things just as I find them. The original idea for this was to use stamps and stamp ten hearts or whatever on each link of the chain, ending up with 100 stamps from 10 links. Well I decided to make the girls draw hearts instead. They are getting close to being able to draw a "good" heart but not quite. So I figured drawing 100 of them should prove to refine this skill. And fortunately I think it did.
Tweaking Even More
Because they did enjoy this and it made a cute decoration for the month of February, We stick with what works around                                                                         here.I think we will try it again for March.

Probably some kind of rainbow to go along with St. Patrick's Day. I will post pics if we actually get around to it :)