Green Olives & Ham

Letter of the week: O is for Olivia the Piglet

We have done O a number of times, but it is such an easy letter to work with, so we're doing it again.  This time, O is for Olivia the Pig.

I cut out all the pieces for this Olivia, and my daughter glued them on the "O".  We also added the red ribbon to the ears because now Olivia is dressed for the Oscars this evening.  Adding the red ribbon is great though because it helps children with their hand/eye coordination.  My daughter did put the ribbons through the holes and I tied them.




Olivia:  Beautiful, isn't she?

My daughter is really on an Olivia kick, and not so much the Nick Jr. show (even though she has watched it), but we have borrowed so many Olivia books from the Library, and my daughter loves to read them over and over again.

I like Olivia the Piglet.  I certainly don't love her, but I do like that she has big dreams and an even bigger imagination.  And it may just be my daughter's 3.5ness (well, she's almost 3.5), but her imagination is in full bloom right now.  So as much as I think Olivia the Piglet is a little bit sassy and a little bit self-centered and sometimes even not so nice, she does have some positive aspects (not to mention, she is just adorable). 

- Michelle

Letter of the week: T is for time

With New Year's coming up, I thought it would be a perfect time to do T is for ... time.  Not to mention, my daughter's curiousity about time.  She's been going through a "What time is it" stage for awhile, and she loved this project.

As you can see, it can be somewhat confusing because my daughter kept saying T is for clock, but we went with the project anyway because it just seems appropriate this week to talk about T for time.

We used a paper plate as the clock and had a picture of an actual clock in front of us so that my daughter could see that the numbers on a clock are somewhat different than counting.  She helped me add the number stickers, which we got from Melissa & Doug Sticker Collection - Alphabet & Numbers.  We added the capital T and the small T, which we printed on the computer.  The minute and hour hands I copied from the Big Book of Patterns, Grades K-6 (from The MAILBOX Magazine people).

For more letter T activities, please see my article:  Letter of the week:  Letter T activities.

- Michelle

Letter of the week: H is for Holly

This week we're working on the letter H, and in sticking with our Christmas theme this month, we decided on H is for Holly.

I printed out a large letter H on the computer.  I then used the template at DLTK to make the Holly.  We used red pom poms for the berries.  My daughter glued the holly and berries to the letter H.  We then decided after to paint the letter H green.

I wasn't going to put a face on this Holly, but my daughter insisted on the face (again template from DLTK). 

 
While working on this project, we talked about Holly as a Christmas decoration, and although I don't have a great deal of knowledge about Holly plants, I do know that the berries are poisonous.  So we also discussed that these are called "berries", but these aren't the berries that we know and love to eat (or I love to eat).

For additional Letter H activities, please see:  Letter of the week:  Letter H activities.

Happy Holly ... days!

Michelle

Letter of the week: J is for jingle ... bells

Oh, jingle bells, what fun it is to plan letter activities based on the holiday.  We put the lyrics to Jingle Bells in the letter J, printed and cut it out, attached a bell, and it's J is for Jingle ... Bells (or bell, since we only used one).

I gave this J to my daughter to color after I printed and cut it out.  She had much more fun finding and pointing out the letter J's in the lyrics then she did coloring it.  She then helped me by punching holes, and attaching the bell and the ribbon through the J.

As far as the bell, you can most likely buy these at a craft store.  We took one off of a Santa decoration that we had.  It was hanging off of his hat, and I thought he would still look cool without the bell.  So we used it for our project.

And Oh, what fun we had with this letter J project (the most fun part was running around singing Jingle Bells).

For more letter J activities, please see:  Letter of the week:  Letter J activities.

- Michelle

Letter of the week: S is for snow

Okay, I really didn't want to do this.  I mean we have had such beautiful weather.  There really is no sign of snow, but it is almost December, so I guess I need to be realistic because I'm sure we'll see snow before March.

We started doing S is for snow, but it turned into S is for snow, sky, and sun.

I printed and cut the letter S.  My daughter put glue all over the S and started filling it in with cotton balls.  She also wanted to add some glitter on top, but we didn't have any glitter. 

My daughter had snow (I mean so) much fun at this point putting her little people in the cotton balls, and yelling for help because they were stuck in the snow.

My daughter then glued the S to a blue piece of cardstock, but I guess you could also use gray if it's a dark sky right before a snow storm.  But as you can see we made this a sunny snowy day.  At this point, I really want to break out in song:  It's a sunny snowy day, it's a perfect sunny snowy day.  I guess you're confused.  That's a Backyardigan's song, but it actually goes "It's a sunny day, it's a perfect sunny day".  And of course, you can't tell the tune of the song in print.

So moving on.  Here are a couple books that are snow much fun:

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats:

I first discovered this book when my daughter was probably about a year old.  She and I were babysiting for a little girl who was six months old.  I read this quite often and both girls really enjoyed it each time.  I of course, as I often do, ran out and bought it for our house, and we still read it quite often.

It's a tale about a little boy named Peter who awakens to find that snow had fallen during the night.  Peter has so much fun playing in the snow, and he even puts a snow ball in his pocket and brings it home only to find it disappeared later that day.  What a fun book that helps children appreciate the snow and the outdoors.

Toot & Puddle:  Let it Snow by Holly Hobbie




This is a book that we just recently borrowed from the library.  My daughter loves Toot & Puddle, even though we've never seen the show, we have read many of these books because I really enjoy Holly Hobbie.  It's a story about friendship, and how Toot & Puddle are looking for the perfect Christmas gift to buy for each other.  They are well aware that the perfect Christmas gift is something homemade and "not just a whatsit anyone could buy in a store". 

I suppose the first snowfall is pretty exciting, but I'm just not a snow person.  When it does snow, I'm going to try and be neutral, so that my daughter can make her own decision about snow.  The way she loves the outdoors, I"m thinking she'll love the snow, as well.

For more letter "S" activities, please see:  Letter of the week:  Letter S activities.

- Michelle