Jellybean Math with Printables- Jellybean Counting Cards

Thanks to Erica from confessions of a homeschooling mom, I've learned how to share my printables with you. Hopefully this will work. This week's activity with printables is jellybean math. (Starburst jellybeans are on sale for $1.67 a bag at Publix and there is a $1/ 2 coupon found in March 7th Red Plum Coupon Booklet. I found this deal from Jenny at southernsavers.)

Here is a link to the printable. It's nothing to get overly excited about. I am sure you could easily make this yourself, but why waste the time if it is already made. If you do print it out and post the activity please link back to me, thanks.

The activity is simple. Little Sweets was given jellybeans and a counting card. I showed her where to put the jellybeans on the card. Then we counted them and I showed her the number on the card. Afterwards, she got to eat the jellybeans. I was surprised at how quickly she got this activity. This was one of her first counting activities. I think she did very well.

Yay!! Can I eat them now?

Here is a picture of the printable. It has a patterning activity and a number card activiy. I cut the worsheet apart to make it easier for Little Sweets. It made it easier for her to focus on one thing at a time.

Gigi’s Hugest Announcement DVD Review

Sheila Walsh’s Gigi God’s Little Princess: Gigi’s Hugest Announcement DVD Review

I recently received the DVD Gigi’ Hugest Announcement in the mail courtesy of BookSneeze.com.

This DVD includes two fully animated Gigi stories, The Royal Tea Party and The Pink Ballerina. Both stories are adorable and have great messages.

In the Royal Tea Party Gigi is trying to think of an elaborate way to share a special message with her best friend, Frances. She thinks of many different ways to share the message with her friend. She finally decides to throw a tea party for Frances. During this story Gigi learns not to give up, even when things don’t turn out like we want them too. The story also teaches the message that all children are important to God.

In The Pink Ballerina Gigi and her friend Frances decide to take ballet classes so that they can dance for God. Gigi thinks that she will be an amazing dancer and will not have to stay in the beginners’ class for long. Gigi soon finds out that being a ballerina is not as easy as she thought it would be and she becomes very upset that she can not dance perfectly for God. During this story Gigi learns that she does not have to dance perfectly for God to love her. She also learns that God is proud of us when we show love to others.

This was such an adorable DVD. My daughter and I loved watching it. I especially loved the messages behind each story. I think this is a great DVD for young girls. I really think that girls will be able to relate to Gigi’s character, as most girls want to be princesses. I also really liked the fact the author used Bible verses in her story.


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. For more information about this program please go here.

The Homeschool Hop # 6

The Theme for this week's blog hop is 10 Random Questions

1. What time is it right now? 8:55 P.M.

2. What are you wearing? T-Shirt and Jeans

3. What is your mood? I am feeling tired

4. What is one thing your children learned today? Little sweets learned that when you run after birds they fly away. She also learned the word flying, which she repeated over and over again as she ran after the birds in the park.

5. What did you (or are having) for dinner? chicken roll-ups and snap peas

6. What's one book you are currently reading? The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel

7. What behaviour (in people) is the most common but also the rudest? Pulling out right in front of me and not even acknowledging I'm on the road.

8. What can you see out of your nearest window right now? I can't see anything the blinds are closed.

9. What are you currently praying for? I am praying for the health of my nephew. He was born on Saturday. He was born prematurely (born 10 weeks early.)

10. What is your favourite hot beverage? Hot Chocolate

Danny the Dragon DVD Review and Interview with Tina Turbin

Danny the Dragon DVD Review

A Great Story Supporting a Great Cause

Did you know that eighty-five percent of deaf high school graduates read at only a third or fourth grade level? Here is another startling fact: ninety-three percent of deaf children are born to normal hearing families and of those families only ten percent ever learn to effectively communicate with their child. These were two facts that Tina Turbin shared at the beginning of her DVD Danny the Dragon “Meets Jimmy.” Tina Turbin, the author of Danny the Dragon “Meets Jimmy,” is passionate about literacy and providing a good, quality education for the deaf.
This is why she was inspired to make the DVD Danny the Dragon “Meets Jimmy.” On this DVD the book Danny the Dragon “Meets Jimmy” is told with full color images and interpreted in sign language by Carol Downings, the associate director of Blossom Monetessori School for the Deaf. Tina is donating half the profits of this DVD to increase awareness and support of literacy and education for Blossom Montessori School for the Deaf, and half the profits to other causes which support literacy and education for the welfare of all children. The Blossom Montessori School for the Deaf is only one of two Montessori Schools for the deaf in the country.

I thought this DVD was fun and entertaining, especially for young children. Little Sweets really enjoyed watching the DVD. The story was creative and the illustrations were bright and colorful. I was especially impressed with the sign language interpretation on the DVD. I love Tina’s idea to include sign language interpretation on a DVD. I hope that more authors will explore this concept and develop more DVD’s with sign language interpretation for the deaf.

Little Sweets and I have enjoyed the Danny the Dragon book, CD, and DVD. We can't wait to read more books in this series. Tina Turbin is an excellent author and her story of Danny the Dragon truly captures the imaginations of young children.



Interview with Tina Turbin- Author of Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy

I not only got the opportunity to review the Danny the Dragon “Meets Jimmy” book, CD and DVD, but I also got the opportunity to talk with Tina Turbin. Tina is a charming woman to talk with. Upon talking with her I learned that she is passionate about many things including family, children, education, literacy, raising awareness about celiac disease, and raising awareness about providing a good quality education for the deaf.

Tina is a writer, artist, and mother of three. She recently wrote the book Danny the Dragon “Meets Jimmy” and audio book Dreams which I had the opportunity to review. Tina wrote her first book at age sixteen and has always considered herself a writer. She draws her ideas for her children’s books from her life experiences. Tina is currently working on three books: a children's cookbook, an autobiography, and another Danny the Dragon story.

Besides writing, Tina also enjoys painting, drawing, and exercising. She also loves being a mother. She has three adult children that are in the entertainment industry.

Tina is also very involved with raising awareness about Celiac Disease and the profits from the audio book Dreams go to benefit the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University. Tina hopes to help raise awareness about the disease with the general public as well as with doctors. Tina is also involved with raising support for the Blossom Montessori School for the Deaf. She enjoys visiting schools and hospitals. She became more involved with this school after visiting the school and reading to the students. Half of the proceeds from her DVD go to support the Blossom Montessori School for the Deaf.


Tina is a humanitarian, radio spokes-woman as well as an award winning children’s author. She helps people in the allergy, celiac, autistic, and gluten-free “world” and works hard to make these topics more known. To learn more about Tina Turbin please visit her sites.

http://www.dannythedragon.com/

http://www.tinaturbin.com/

http://glutenfreehelp.info/


I am grateful that Tina Turbin gave me the opportunity to interview her and provided me copies of her book, CD, and DVD to review.

Tot School Week 3

This week I decided to do things differently. I don't have a theme, but instead have divided activities up by subject area.


Science Activity: We are still learning about animals. Little Sweets loved going to the pond that is near our house. She got to see ducks and turtles. She enjoyed quacking at the ducks. She also saw lots of people walking dogs. She barked at most of the dogs and meowed at a chihuhua.

Math Activity:Sorting fruit loops by color

Language Arts Activities: We are working on the alphabet. We listened to the song The Alphabet Train by Dr. Jean and Little Sweets worked on her alphabet puzzle.

Art Activities: Talked about colors as we made fruit loop necklaces. We also made colored salt jars. (We made the noodle necklace a few weeks ago.)

Field Trip: We went to Edventure the Children's Museum in Columbia

I thought this was the cutest exhibit, a mini grocery store for kids. Little Sweets knew exactly what to do since she likes to go to shopping with mommy. When she was finished shopping she had to put everything back. She knew exactly where everything went. She's just like her daddy very organized and puts everything back in its place.

Fun Frugal Find Friday-salt 2 for $1

Homemade Colored Salt Jars

I like to browse couponing sites to see if I can find something on sale that I can use for a fun activity. This week I found salt on sale 2 for $1.00 at walgreens from southern savers. I decided to use the salt to make rainbow salt jars. The activity went along with a book we read, "Dora's Color Adventure." The jars were simple to make. I used food coloring to color the salt. We talked about the different colors then daddy helped Little Sweets pour the colored salt into the baby food jar. Salt is also an important ingredient for making homemade play dough. For a recipe for homemade playdough go here.

Bible Story and Activity Week 2

This week we continued to read about Noah' Ark. We finished the story and learned that God put a rainbow in the sky as a sign of His promise to never again flood the earth. Little Sweets is too little to make a rainbow. Instead we talked about the colors in the rainbow and I helped her make a colorful collage using fruit loops.

Wordless Wednesday

Our Trip to the Children's Museum for $1 admission!!!

Today we got the opportunity to visit Edventure, the children's museum in Columbia. Admission was $1.00 per person. This is a great deal considering it is regularly $9.50 per person. Every second Tuesday of the month is family night and you can get in from 5-8 for $1.00 per person. If you live in the Columbia area I definitely recommend going. It was a little crowded, but Little Sweets still had an awesome time. It was fun and educational! I've found that most museums offer family nights with cheaper rates. If you have a museum in your area, I would check the website to see if they offer family fun nights. Well I couldn't go without documenting the trip so here are some fun pics from our trip.

Daddy and Little Sweets Playing the xylophone

Dressing Up

What a fun operation game

What's in there?

There's a monkey in the jungle

Taking a ride in a canoe

Look at those teeth

Blog Hop Week 5

Our world wide classroom is hosting a blog hop. This week's theme is what is your educational style?

As a former teacher I was constantly learning and reading about different philosophies of education and different methods of teaching. Over the years I've learned that there is no perfect method. One idea may work with one child, but may have no effect on another. I've also learned that different methods work better for different age groups. That is why I try to incorporate different methods in my activities with Little Sweets. I do lean more towards a montessori philosophy because I have found that these types of activities are most engaging and meaningful to Little Sweets. As Little Sweets gets older I hope to incoporate more of a Reggio Emilia approach and do more project based learning activities.

What about you? What is your style?