alphabet letter splash–keeping cool with the abc’s
Who says playing with the letters of the alphabet can’t be a fun and exciting outdoor activity? Who thinks that all letter-learning involves a pen and paper? Who knows a kid who doesn’t love using a...
View Articlemeeting new teachers: hello, teacher notes!
Today we spent a few minutes doing one of our favorite back-to-school activities–one that gives my kiddos a chance to say a little ‘hello’ to their teachers even before they meet them at the Open...
View Articlewindow writing: spelling word and letter practice
Who knew that window writing would be so much fun? Maddy has been window-writing for the last few weeks to study her spelling words, and Cora has jumped on board the window-writing train to do some...
View Articlenew for us friday: LeapFrog Story Time Pad (& giveaway!)
This New For Us Friday, I’m totally excited about a new product from LeapFrog designed especially with younger kiddos in mind. And I’m not at all surprised that though I originally handed it to Cora,...
View Articlefamily names: reading and writing the ones we love
Homework time is still a really important part of our day, especially now that Owen’s in Kindergarten and Maddy’s second grade work is picking up. And I really try my best to find something fun and...
View Articlemagazine activities: creative, crafty, sneaky-learning fun
We are huge magazine fans over here. We love finding them in the mailbox, reading them, playing detective with them, crafting with them, and learning with them. When they arrive in the day’s mail,...
View Articlefamily playing cards: take ‘em, make ‘em, then play!
A few years ago, I burned the midnight oil way too close to the finish line, in an attempt to create Family Playing Cards for Maddy, Owen, and Cora. And though I made the work harder than it needed to...
View Articlebest of teach mama countdown: #9 — building words, names
This post, which rolls in at #9, continues to surprise me with the amount of hits it gets. Maybe it’s the title: word building, name building (and crossing the line). Maybe people find it...
View Articlebest of teach mama countdown: #2 — spelling words
Yay! We’re getting down to the wire with this teach mama top 10 all-time best countdown! This post is one that I have shared probably more than times than any other post I’ve written. It seems that...
View Articlelearning to spell contractions: sneaky games and play
We were so thankful for the gorgeous three-day weekend to slowly get us back on track and to allow us to (kind of) regain control over the mess that had become of our home. After being away last...
View Articlemaking writing fun with a mini-me collage
Today, after lunch and before we went back to the pool for the afternoon, I hit the craft room with Maddy, Owen, and Cora to do something I always loved doing as a kid. We took their Everyday Name...
View Articlefun ways to learn spelling words
Not only did we lose Maddy’s very first homework packet over here in the chaos of the first few weeks of school; we also only spent only a fraction of the time we should have on her first spelling...
View Articletrace, copy, recall–learn those spelling words!
Maddy has been so proud of her spelling and word-learning progress over the last few weeks (and so are we!). She really is borderline excited when I print out a new list of Spelling Word Cards for...
View Articlewordfeud, words with friends and word-building with kids
My game-guy Owen has recently fallen hard for a game I’m currently all wrapped up in–Wordfeud. It’s the same deal (I think) as Words With Friends, and it’s an app for my phone. About a dozen times a...
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