This Week...

What we ate...
Pork Tacos...yummy and made in the crock pot!
Valentine's Food...heart-shaped cranberry scones, heart-shaped pizza, red velvet cheesecake bars, berry smoothies
Baked Pasta with garlic, white sauce
Meatball sandwiches with veggie fries (roasted veggies) and milk shakes (banana smoothies)
Fried Chicken (actually baked) with creamed spinach (used later for omlettes) and baked potatoes
lots of leftovers!

What we read...
the toddler (who is really into puzzles this week)...Dora takes a ride, Beautiful Babies, How many bugs in a box, Peek-A-Pet
the 3 year old...Firefighters in the Dark, K is for Kitten, and working on his own ABC Book*
the 10 year 0ld...working on Harry Potters
the husband...In the Wild (another uplifting book about tragedy in the wilderness)
the mom...still working on Philip Pullman's series...but I will finish within the next 24 hours...please!

*I made a book with large index cards and a large ring clasp. The cover says "Adison's ABC Book". Each page has a letter in upper and lower case (obviously in alphabetical order). Each day, once or twice, we think about words (5-10) to add. We talk about the beginning sound and find the letter (and sound) it begins with. Then we write the word and draw a picture for the word.

Remember to use letter sounds as well as letter names. Just as we teach kids animal noises, we can ask them, what does a D say? This will help them sound out words when they are learning to read.

I did the same thing with my daughter but we put each letter on construction paper and put them up on the wall. We did one letter a day. Later on, we did it again with her writing the letters and words.