Soccer

The girls decided to do dance and soccer this fall. We weren't real sure how soccer was going to go but it was INDOORS with AIR CONDITIONING so we decided to give it a whirl. The girls loved it. We loved it. Their coach was so patient and so fun and we actually watched something that resembled soccer. Miracle.

"No hands!" Everytime someone touched the ball with their hands, he would blow his whistle, they would raise their hands up in the air, and shout "no hands". I'm pretty sure they did that little ditty no less than 75 times.

 A little stretch....

 A little drill....

 Amd let the games begin....

I was pretty impressed with how much our girls (and every kid really) made such an effort to keep up with the ball. The last time we attempted soccer...it was chaos. So this was so fun!

 Hollis insisted on wearing her purple dress to soccer. Pick your battles, eh? It didn't seem to slow her down much.

 And then there is their favorite fan....I can not even describe in words how much these two LOVE their Daddy. Love him. They were very excited he was home to watch their first "game".

Outside Play!

Just because it is cooler doesn't mean it still isn't HOT.  Thank you, Texas. But it is a little more tolerable and when their dad goes out to do yard work....these two littles are right behind him!!!

  This is her new photo face. Of course, it makes me so happy. 

This little stinker has grown up so much. Tear, tear, Sniffle, Sniffle. 

Bike Days are Here!

Although we live in the armpit of Texas, we really have had some beautiful weather this week. Very thankful the heat has settled down a bit. We have enjoyed picnics and bike rides and park days and lots of sunshine!

Even Penny Pup has enjoyed the weather. :o)

Feature Friday

I was the Feature Friday guest on the Kinder Tribe blog last Friday. Here are the apple ideas I shared over there....


Tis the season for....apples!! Hello, I am Stacey from Giggles and Glue Sticks and I am so excited it is September! Time to bring out all of our apple math and literacy centers and have some apple fun! I am going to share with you some of the activities we do in September all centered around apples! 

  I created this pack to have a quick and easy go-to for a review of muliple early literacy skills. For this month the theme is APPLES, of course!!! For each of the 6 pocket activities, there is a little song to go with it. Some days we have time for the songs, some days, we just go down the pockets and it gives me a quick assessment of what to work on more. But the skills covered are (1) letter identification (where is the worm hiding), (2) word counting/sight words, (3) beginning/medial/ending sounds,  (4) syllables, (5) rhyming words, (6) segmenting and blending. It has worked beautifully for a fun little practice and review!

 Another great apple activity is reading about Johnny Appleseed! And we love QR Code listening centers...such a great way for students to listen to a story multiple times to improve comprehension, vocabulary, and reading fluency!

We also do lots of reading and writing fun with apples! We read poetry about the life cycle of an apple, we write and tell stories with our apple cubes, and we practice letter fluency by reading our apple strips! If you do Daily Five in your classroom, this is a great set to implement apple science into those centers.

I really LOVE math for little ones. There are so many fun, engaging, and hands on ways to teach number concepts to young children! And apple themed games are the best! 

This set has so many fun games to practice early math concepts! Great for centers, small groups, guided math groups....

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We LOVE our Roll and Race games! It is one of our favorite go to centers and it practices couting, graphing, more and less!! I had one commenter mention that she used these games for morning work! Brilliant. Such a fun way to start the day!

And last but not least....another favorite....and FREEBIE!! Our number line mysteries are a great mental math game that helps them practice counting and number order! You can get this freebie or any of the other activities mentioned by clicking on the pictures! 

I hope this has given you some apple inspiration for this new month! Happy September! 

Apple Science

September is the time for all things apples! So today we had a little science investigation and experiment! Marin is really into science experiments these days so I try to incorporate them as much as possible. First, she had to take a closer look at the apple...color, measurements, lengths, stems...

So stinkin' cute.

She looks so big here. Tear. Tear.

Then came the experiment....the erupting apple! 

Here Hollis is helping take the top off the apple and...

pouring baking soda inside.

See!

Then Marin poured in the vinegar.

The picture really doesn't do it justice.

But it popped and fizzled and bubbled a lot! The girls did it over and over again.

And it was such an easy and fun way to talk about chemical reactions!

Super Friday

We have a brand new "school" year starting and all of our fun little classes have begun! This year Marin will go to Super Friday. Super Friday is with  Homerun Ministries, a homeschool co-op group. They offer fun little classes for homeschoolers. So Marin will start the "Freshman" classes this year. She loved it!

Hollis opted out of Super Friday but we have our little school while we wait.

She was whispering as she counted so I asked her to count "loud and proud". She did. It made me laugh.

And just because they are so darn cute! These two are best of friends. Oreo Teeth.