Giveaway Winner

Hello :),

Hope you had a wonderful weekend.

 

Our giveaway ended last Friday, and today I would like to announce the winner, which is:

Sherry Matheson

Thanks Sherry for entering the competition. I am emailing your material today :). 

Thanks!!!
Fabiana 

What makes you happy

Hello :)))!!!!

Today was a great day :)!!! We studied in the morning, and in the afternoon we went for a bike riding at the Japanese Garden, which is a small beautiful garden. We had a great time exploring the garden and chatting. I selected two pictures to show you the place: the first one is my big baby and I, sharing a moment of love :), and the second one is an image of a bird that was also appreciating the view :).

I love this little Batman boy very much!!!!!!

I also would like to share with you what my son wrote today. In order to help my son improve his writing skills, I usually ask him to write a journal of his day or a theme that is interesting to him. I also tend to query subjects wit regards to his routine and the people around him. Today he wrote about the things that makes him happy. The image below shows his answer.

It was the sweetest answer!!!! I was very proud of him for valuing his family and friends, as well as simple things, which are normally the most memorable. I feel very happy and blessed that God gave me such a beautiful child, who is mature enough to understand what makes you happy is to be around those whom love you the most and also doing simple things, like riding a bike :).

My giveaway ends tomorrow. To have a chance to win a wonderful prize enter the rafflecopter below please. One lucky winner will win a package with 126 pages about Insect and Spiders. Good luck!!!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I hope you felt inspired today :). Thanks.

Fabiana

Subtraction with Regrouping

Hello :), hope you had a great day!

This week my son has been working on subtraction with regrouping.  We are doing up to 3 digit number subtraction. I found a free poster on TPT that explains through a poem what are the steps to take when to decide whether or not to regroup. This poster is very helpful and helped my son to understand the context.

I put together a few subtraction sentences for him to practice.

He also resolved  word problems that I downloaded on TPT, which focused on subtraction with regrouping.

It was a very productive day. These exercises helped my son to improve his understanding in this subject, which made him very confident to even teach me how to resolve the sentences :).


I extended my giveaway until the end of the week, which is August 2nd. To have a chance to win a wonderful prize enter the rafflecopter below please. One lucky winner will win a package with 126 pages about Insect and Spiders. Good luck!!!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks!!!!

Fabiana

Giveaway

Hello everyone!!!!

I would like to remind you of our giveaway which ends on July 31st. To have a chance to win a wonderful prize enter the rafflecopter below please. One lucky winner will win a package with 126 pages about Insect and Spiders. Good luck!!!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thank you :)!
Fabiana 

Chocolate Ganache Cupcake

Tomorrow my little baby is 1 month old :))!!! Awwww, isn't he adorable :))))!!!!!!

To celebrate my son's birthday, big brother and I made chocolate cupcakes today. This is my favorite desert from my wonderful friend Marc Sievers. He is an amazing cook and a fantastic person, always positive and smiley. His food is superb, which I highly recommend you to try. His book "Entertaining with Love" is available at Amazon. You may also check his website for daily updates.

The cupcake recipe that we made today is on his website and book, and its called Rich Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes. 
This recipe is super easy to make and it tastes delicious :). Thanks Marc for this recipe :)))!!!

INGREDIENTS

Batter

Butter – ¼ pound, unsalted, room temperature

Sugar – 1 cup

Salt – ¼ teaspoon

Flour – 1 cup all-purpose flour

Eggs – 4 extra-large, room temperature

Vanilla – 1 tablespoon, pure extract

Cocoa Powder – ¼ cup, unsweetened powder

Chocolate Syrup – 16 ounces

Ganache

Heavy Cream – ½ cup

Chocolate Chips – 8 ounces, semisweet

DIRECTIONS

Batter

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and line a muffin pan (large cups) with paper liners.

Next, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy using an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  Add the eggs carefully—1 at a time—and combine thoroughly.  Then, pour in the vanilla and the chocolate syrup and mix well.

For the best results sift together your flour and unsweetened cocoa powder.  Then, gently add the dry mixture to your mixing bowl and mix until just combined (do not over-mix or your cupcakes will be unpleasantly dense).

Next, scoop the batter equally into the muffin cups and bake for 30 minutes, or until just set in the middle.  Do not over-bake the cupcakes.  Let them cool thoroughly in the muffin tin.

Ganache & Assembly

Heat the heavy cream and chocolate chips in a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm.  Stir occasionally.  In this step you are melting and heating the mixture, not cooking it as it will burn.

Finally, once the cupcakes have cooled, dip the tops of the cupcakes into the ganache and enjoy!  The ganache will remain soft and creamy and will not set hard.

Do not refrigerate.

Let me know what you think of the recipe please :))). Enjoy!!!!

I also would like to remind you of our giveaway which ends on July 31st. To have a chance to win a wonderful prize enter the rafflecopter below please. One lucky winner will win a package with 126 pages about Insect and Spiders. Good luck!!!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have a wonderful weekend!! Thanks!!!

Fabiana

Granola Bar

Hello :))),

Today I would like to share a delicious granola bar recipe that my son made. This recipe was very easy for him to make. He did it all by himself, I was around only to monitor him and dealing with the oven. I love this recipe because I can add any ingredient and it will always taste great.

Ingredients:
2 cups old fashioned oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flaxseed
1 can sweetened condensed milk
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cranraisins
1/2 cup sliced almond
2/4 tsp salt
1 egg beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan, then cover it with a parchment sheet and grease the paper.
 

In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, flaxseed cinnamon, flour, cranraisins and salt. Make a hole in the center, and pour in the condensed milk, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix well using your hands. Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.

 

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm. Do not allow the bars to cool completely before cutting, or they will be too hard to cut.

Granola bars are a healthy snack that my son loves to make and eat :))). Let me know what you think about this recipe when you try with your kids please :)). Enjoy!!!!

Thanks!!
Fabiana

Insects and Spiders Giveaway

Hello everyone :))))!!! Hope you are well.

It is time for another giveaway :))!!!!

I am promoting another giveaway to thank all my followers for their support and love. I am giving away the latest product I designed, which focuses on insects and spiders.  One lucky winner will win the package which contains 126 pages with plenty of informational worksheets and activities.

This pack is included with the following:

Science:
Insects and Spiders Poster
Insects and Spiders Vocabulary Cards
Insects and Spiders Booklet
Cloze Activity
True or False
Fact or Opinion
Labeling Body Parts
Comparing Insects and Spiders
Life Cycle of a Ladybug
Life Cycle of a Butterfly
Life Cycle of a Spider
Bug Hunt Observation and Writing
Creative Writing

Literacy:
Word Search
Antonyms
Synonyms
Syllables
ABC Order
Making words
Unscramble Sentences
Compound Words
Contractions
Rhyming
Blend Words
Punctuation

Math:
Addition
Subtraction
Counting Money
Playing Shopping
Patterns
Story Problems
Telling the Time
Riddles
Fact Family
Ordering Numbers
Less and More
Tens and Ones

All you need to do is to follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter below to enter the competition. The competition starts today at midnight and end on June 31st at midnight.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks and good luck!!!!!

Fabiana
 

Insects and Spider Unit

 Hello :)))), hope you had a great day today.

I designed a new product called INSECTS AND SPIDERS UNIT: SCIENCE, MATH AND LITERACY, which is available to purchase at my TPT store. This is a complete unit which contain exercises related to science, math and literacy subjects. The aim of this unit is to provide plenty of activities and informational worksheets for the students to understand, and master the whole concept about insects and spiders. It has 126 pages  with answer key for the exercises.

The pack has the following topics:

 
Science:                       
Insects and Spiders Poster 
Insects and Spiders Vocabulary Cards  
Insects and Spiders Booklet
Cloze Activity
True or False
Fact or Opinion
Labeling Body Parts
Comparing Insects and Spiders
Life Cycle of a Ladybug
Life Cycle of a Butterfly 
Life Cycle of a Spider
Bug Hunt Observation and Writing
Creative Writing

Literacy:
Word Search
Antonyms
Synonyms
Syllables
ABC Order
Making words
Unscramble Sentences
Compound Words
Contractions
Rhyming
Blend Words
Punctuation

Math:
Addition
Subtraction
Counting Money
Playing Shopping
Patterns
Story Problems
Telling the Time
Riddles
Fact Family
Ordering Numbers
Less and More
Tens and Ones

 To purchase your copy please visit my TPT store to access the product.

Thanks for stopping by :))). Have a great week.

Fabiana

Weight

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


Having a baby in the house is awesome!!!!! I love watching dad and the big brother been melted away by the little one :). My baby is a sweetheart who made us all fall in love with him the minute he was born.
My son is a wonderful brother, he is always willing to help and protect his brother. Every time the baby cries he holds his little hand to make him feel secure :) -  awwwwww!!!! This is definitely going to be a great experience for my son as he is learning to take care of a little baby, as well as being responsible, gentle and careful.

My son is also enjoying his summer break doing loads of outdoors activities with his dad,  whilst studying. This week we have been doing many interesting exercises. The following are examples of the activities he has been doing:

1. wrote the number from 1 to 120;
2. measured 10 objects in the house with inches and cm;
3. read the Bible and wrote 10 facts;
4. found an object in the house that starts with each letter of the alphabet;
5. wrote 5 words for each of the family words: ake, all, ock, ox, eat and ight;

He also studied weight. We made a scale, which we took the model from  kidsactivitiesblog.

Afterwards, we hung it on a chair and measured different types of objects to pratice: as heavy as, heavier than and lighter than. He also completed many exercises to practice weight in his Singapore Math books.

Hope you enjoyed our post. Have a terrific day!!!! Thanks!

Fabiana

Bloglovin

Hello everyone :), hope you are doing well!!!

I am switching to Bloglovin, please follow me :))).


Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Thanks.
Fabiana

Happy 4th of July

Hello everyone :))), Happy Fourth of July!!!!!!!! Hope you are enjoying your holidays!!!

 
Today we had a relaxing day at home. My husband made a delicious BBQ for us, and my son and I did a pinwheel. The instruction and template of how to make this craft is available at the kaboose website. A simple and cool craft for him to play outside, whilst enjoying the beautiful weather and the BBQ :).

Enjoy the rest of your day and the fireworks. Thanks.

Fabiana

Wonderful News

Hello everyone :)))!!!!! Hope you are all doing well.

I would like to share with you the birth of our beautiful son. He was born last Thursday weighting 8.9 lbs and 20 inches. He is perfect and healthy, and came to bring even more joy to our family. We are very happy and in love with him. 

His big brother is also very happy to have a little brother to play with and be his best mate :). 

Thanks so much to our friends and family who have been so supportive and loving with us. We appreciate it very much!!!! Thanks for all your prayers, we feel very blessed.

I will be quite busy for awhile, but big brother and I will try to keep you update as much as possible with the activities we will be doing over the summer.

Thanks for reading my blog :)))!!!

Fabiana

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
 

The Nature Museum

Today we went to The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. The Nature Museum is known for its iconic Judy Istock Butterfly Haven and providing more hands-on science instruction than any museum in Chicago.The Academy continues to excel in all aspects of the museum experience, citizen science initiatives, compelling public programming, its outdoor Nature Trails exhibition and much more.

Before going to the nature museum we visited the Lincoln Park Conservatory and Botanical garden. At the Lincoln Park Conservatory we found tropical palms and ancient ferns and many other exotic plants from all around the world. I love flowers and nature, and this place is beautiful, it took my breath away. I highly recommend you to visit. It is also very educative as all the trees have tags for the little ones to read its name and where it came from.

The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum has many exhibitions to entertain our children; one this was the Mysteries of the Marsh, which showed the animals that live in wetlands. I was really pleased to see this exhibition because a few weeks ago we studied about frogs and toads. Hence, it was important to see it as my son could relate them to the ones he studied on the books.

The butterfly haven is amazing :)!! The butterflies are beautiful and well taken care. It has close to more than 75 species of exotic butterflies and stunning bird species from the Southern hemisphere in a 2,700 square-foot greenhouse filled with pools of water, flowers, tropical trees and 1,000 butterflies, including those never-before-seen in our region.

Apart from the butterflies, we also saw cockroaches and spiders at the museum.

My son also had the opportunity to read and analyze a board which illustrated the butterfly family, as well as their life cycle. There were many butterflies on the chrysalis stage, some of them were coming out and a few were out already taking their time to feel strong enough to fly.

It was a very fun, educational and productive day, I recommend it to all parents and teachers to visit the museum. It is a great experience indeed. 

I also would like to remind you about our super giveaway which is ending on Friday at midnight. To have a chance to win the competition, enter below please.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks and good luck!!!!!

Fabiana