Word Wall Book

Happy Thursday everyone!!!!!!!!

One of the things that brings joy to my heart is to hear my son's laugh, and when he gives me a huge smile, which for me is one of his most beautiful features. Like me, my son loves surprises, it can be a card, a toy, a piece of paper written I love you, a hug or kiss, or even a delicious meal cooked with love and prepared in a funny way. Today I was feeling inspired to surprise him with a fun, as well as healthy meal. When he saw it, he just gave me a massive smile, hugged me and said "thank you mama, I love it"!!!! Totally priceless :)))))).

About two months ago we moved to a new apartment and I was having problems to find a space to put our word wall. Since nothing was sorted, I decided to make a word wall book using a 3 ring binder. 

For each letter of the alphabet there is a poster showing a neat way to write the upper and lower case letters,  as well as the name of an animal that begins with the letter. Next, comes the sight words of that letter. The sight words I used in our book are from my own design. I have this material available at my TPT store, it includes 244 frequent words.

I also included a vowel and consonant poster in the beginning of the book to help my son to recognize them.  The vowel and consonant poster is also available at my TPT store. I used note stick to direct where the words are on the book to make it easier for my son to find.

I found this book to be better than sticking the words on the wall. I assume that many parents that homeschool their children, may sometimes, lack space and boards/walls to use as a display for their resources.  I am one of these parents, hence I had the idea to transform our word wall into a book. Nevertheless, I am very delighted with the result of the book. It is much easier and organized for my son to find the words when he needs them. As for me it is easy to add new words to the book wall.

I  also would like to emphasize that I believe is very important to have a word wall, no matter if it is illustrated on a wall or binder. My son consults it all the time to look up words when he is writing. Besides that, I may also say it is the first step to learning how to use a dictionary. Additionally, it improves spelling, reading and recognition of the words.

Thanks for stopping by :))))!!!

Fabiana

Sugar Cookies

Hello everyone :)))!!!! Hope you are all fine.

The last few weeks have been quite tiring and difficult for me as I approach the end of my pregnancy. If you were once pregnant you may understand my sentiments :))): sleepless nights, body aches, the baby is heavy, and so on. However, one knows all the sacrifices made will soon be rewarded with a precious little person I love more than I can think of now. My due date is on Sunday the 23rd, and I can't wait to hold my baby. I pray he comes on time :)))).  Please pray for me :)). Thank you!!!!!

Meanwhile, I am developing a new material and my son is doing the exercises to test it, as well as revising previously studied subjects. My new product will soon be available on TPT, I will keep you updated :). He is also spending a lot of time cooking with me in the kitchen :)))).

Yesterday we started making sugar cookies, which was finished today because we left it chilling overnight.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanila extract
5 cups all-purpose flower
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until creamy and light. Beat in the eggs one at time, and add vanilla. Stir the flour, baking powder and salt, make sure to add it in parts. Cover and chill the dough for at least one hour or overnight. I prefer to chill it overnight as the consistency of the dough and the results are better. It makes the cookie softer.

As the chilling time is over, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Roll the dough on a floured surface 1/4 to 1/2  inch thick. Cut into shapes that you like using a cookie cutter. Place the cookies 1 inch apart on a baking tray covered with parchment sheet.

Our mixer broke last weekend, which was a pity :(, but I worked well for this recipe as my son got his hands really on the work.

Bake the cookies for about 5 to 8 minutes, or until the bottom starts to brown. The image below shows the cookies uncooked on the left, and cooked on the right. The cookies are super delicious and soft, it is quite tasty to eat it without icing too :))).

To make the icing you will need:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons milk
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
food coloring

Directions:
In a small bowl, stir together the confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If the icing is too thick, add more corn syrup. Divide it into separate bowls, and add food coloring to each desired intensity.

My son preferred to dip the cookies in the icing, and also adding sprinkles on top. The boy shape cookies he decorated using a squeeze bottle.

The following image demonstrates the result of my son's sugar cookie decoration. It looks great, and tastes amazing with the icing. Because we put almond extract in the icing, it has that cherry unique and delicious taste.

I highly recommend you make these cookies, it is easy to make and a perfect baking recipe to make with your kids. They will love it, and you two will have a lot of fun. I would be very glad to hear from you when you try this recipe :))).

Thanks for reading my blog :))). Take care!!!

Fabiana

Spiders

Hello :))), hope you had a good day!!!

This week my son is studying about spiders. We have two books that we are studying and learning all about these creatures, as well as the difference between them and insects. Both books are great resources to introduce bugs and spiders to your children. It is full of great illustrations, very colorful and the language is appropriate for their age, which makes reading easier.

My son also has done many exercises about life cycle of the spider, body parts, crosswords, writing and many others to help him comprehend the way spider lives, eats, hunts, molting and so on. All these exercises were printed from Kidzone.

 Furthermore, he did other tasks focusing on comparing insects and spiders. These exercises were great to make him understand the difference between these two species, and also studied them individually.

I wanted my son to make a spider, so when my son were talking about what type of spider he would make, he decided to create an argiope spider. The picture below illustrates the real spider.

 The following image is my son's creation of the argiope spider. It looks pretty good!!!!! He used a plastic ball, two wiggly eyes, chenille pipe and string to make the web.

Have a wonderful evening. Thanks for reading my blog :)!!!

Fabiana

Winner

Good morning everyone :))),

Its a beautiful sunny day in Chicago, and I am glad to announce the winner of our last giveaway is:

Name: Mari Takeshi

 IP Addr: ::ffff:206.83.238.94

Congratulations Mari, I will email your package shortly. Thanks Mari and all the other visitors for entering the competition. I also would like to thank all the teachers and bloggers that participated in all the series of my giveaway, thanks girls :))!!!!

Have a wonderful weekend!!!!!! Thanks!!

Fabiana