Words....

We love words around here, they just seem to make everything better when you get over the lazy words and search for ones with deeper meaning. Not just Good but Marvelous! Not just Great but Stupendous! One year, I got all 3 of my children a dictionary from the TARGET Dollar Spot, I wanted them to be portable for the kids and a pack of highlighters. Each and every time they ask me what a word means or how to spell something, I send them to their dictionaries. When they look up the word, they must also learn how to spell it correctly, once we have gotten that far they highlight the word. I want them to use these dictionaries daily and then eventually take them off to college; colorful and marked up, full of all the words they know and can spell. This is my gift to them, the gift of knowledge...the gift of words...

Words...

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Science Fun for Little Ones

Those of you that have been following me for quite awhile, know that my children LOVE Science! They enjoy learning, experimenting and having fun. My oldest was the first to ask for a Science Lab and husband and I had a BLAST putting it together for her! We have shared that one with you HERE. After many projects and fun times together, my middle son asked for a Lab of his own and it was time to start thinking of what we could do for him. His room is smaller and he has other interests as well that he wanted to keep in the room, so we had to downscale his lab but we knew it could be done! Here are the makings of LAB2. 

We started with storage for the larger molds and bottles of water, vinegar etc along with storage for his rags to keep the station clean. This simple crate was from a charity shop and nestled perfectly under a side table we purchased at IKEA. Now that we had the base and storage, it was time for the fun stuff!

A simple white board allows him to document his experiments and findings and the hooks hold tape for labeling, goggles for safety and tubing with funnels for anything he may come up with.

An inexpensive shelf holds his Science basics that allow all of his projects to come to life. A quick search of your laundry room and kitchen will stock even the most basic of labs.

A microscope and Science Starter Kit from Toys R Us helped give him some actual Science things to use and then we added the Periodic Table from our local teacher store. It was so simple to pull together and it has offered so much fun and excitement daily for our children! When I go to tidy up rooms in the morning, I always find a new experiment that they have started!

There is always so much more to add but for now they love it, we love it and there are things being created in both LAB1 & LAB2 every day!

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Thinking about school...

I came across this quote the other day and it hit so close to home. My children go to a private school, and we have been sending children there for 3 years now. We fell in love with the school at the beginning and continued to love what they were doing. They have an excellent curriculum and a dedicated teaching staff, which is what has always bound us to them. Recently though, our feelings have  been changing and I keep wondering to myself; if I am so upset with a school THAT I AM PAYING THROUGH THE NOSE FOR, then why do I continue to do it?

I don't doubt the excellent academic available at this school but this year they have felt the need to begin accepting children that ARE NOT ready for a school environment. On top of doing this, they have also allowed them in class with Kindergarten and First Grade (combined class) with one teacher and no assistant. These children are as young as 3 and NOT called Preschoolers, from the official standpoint of the school, they DO NOT have a preschool. This is a GREAT opportunity for children with the WILL and DESIRE to learn, children that WANT to learn and are able to sit still. Instead the classroom is full of children that get up out of their seats throughout the day, some even leaving the classroom!!! There are children that cry all day, to the point of screaming, where it disrupts the rest of the class and then there are the children that are not even potty trained. Are you catching my drift here? 

My frustration is NOT geared towards these children AT ALL, they are just not ready for school. These children are too young to be in such a structured environment and should in fact be in a play filled preschool. This teacher has been pitched too much with all these different levels of learning and it's causing the children to fall behind from where they were. My youngest is in the class right now and is a full quarter behind of where my older 2 were when they were in the same class. This is the first year that there have been so many unruly children in the same room as them and it's a new teacher. When my children come home and tell me about their day and how unhappy they are, I wonder why I continue to pay for something that I am not happy with. That sounds so ridiculous and yet I don't know what to do?! What do you think?

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Welcome Back!

It's time to get back into the swing of things over at Casa Sottile! We are in full Fall swing and I can't wait to share it all with you! We are making our own potpurri, candles and painting pumpkins. We are decorating the outdoors, drinking hot apple cider and raking leaves.

With the cooler weather, the foods get more comforting! Homemade Chicken Noodle soup is always a favorite, especially when those sniffles start. 

Tea in the morning always sets my day just right! My newest obsession is Teavana, a HEAVEN for tea lovers! I like to sit in the morning with my mug and just think about the entire day I have before me. I go over my e-mails, read the paper and look over our schedule.

Take a minute to work on some fun sheets with your little one, they love the time we spend with them! Our children see how busy we are day in and day out, when we take a minute to play with them, they feel SO SPECIAL!

Rainy Day Counting Activity!

As the rain pelted down last week, we were stuck inside most of the afternoon (well, after we played outdoors for a bit!). My children always love the art box and one of their favorite activities is cutting. Since it was just my little guy and I at home, I quickly came up with a fun and super easy game to play. 

I printed out the umbrella page and then gave my son some scissors, a glue stick and a variety of dice to pick from. I made up this fun worksheet along with instructions, easy for you to print HERE! The general idea of the game is for the child to roll the dice and then cut out however many rain drops they rolled and paste them anywhere on the umbrella page. This is a great game for number recognition when they count the dots, identify the number and then they learn counting as the count each rain drop they create. Repetition is so very important at this age!

Of course it would not be a proper activity if it was not served with homemade cookies and milk! This gavbe us fuel to keep on going and going and going!

It's Marathon Monday....this means the countdown has officially begun as the marathon is on Sunday...THIS WEEK! OMG! I'm taking it as easy as I can and now just praying and knowing that all the training I had done this far is going to be enough to get me through!!

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Fun with Letters!

My little guy and I have been having fun with letters lately. Even though he knows his letters, recognition is always good at any level. We used pipe cleaners to make the letters of the alphabet, then took turns assembling them to make up the names of family members. He had a lot of fun with this one, and even wanted to move on to our extended family names!

When he was first starting to learn his name, I took a book ring and flashcards and popped his name onto 1 ring. I then did this for basic words like MOM, DAD and YES, NO. I keep these on a command hook (removeable) on the side of the learning nook bookshelf! They are easily accessible and always used!

I took this sheet of letters and printed it out 2 times and laminated it as well. I then cut out each letter individually and it became an instant memory game. We also use them to spell words or names and with our alphabet clothespins (lower case) to match them up.

There are so many things you can find around the house that are perfect for letter recognition! The upper case and lower case clothespins are in a bin and then I added some alphabet bulletin board pieces and another instant matching game.

Alphabet cookies are tasty and fun when paired with an alphabet place mat, it's fun to search for letters in the bowl and then match them up on the mat!

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1st Day of Pre-K

Today, my little guy (my youngest, my baby) started pre-k and my heart shattered. I was a mess through 

breakfast, while shopping and then later at Starbucks. I honed my Ninja skills when I arrived 30 minutes 

before he was let out and ducked, bobbed and weaved and peeked through the windows to see how he was 

doing. I was never spotted by him and my heart broke a little more seeing that he was doing just fine. He did 

great and had an absolute blast. When he ran out and into my arms he asked:

"Can I come again tomorrow???" I thought....do we have to????

His big brother and sister were the first to be dropped off and they were being silly all morning to keep his spirits up and nerves at bay! Little did we all know, the only one that needed her spirits lifted was Mommy!!

He fit right in and took off without a problem! They had one of his favorite books in the center of the morning carpet that he was off into book land before I had a chance to snag my 5th hug!!

Fun with Food...

Today, I broke out the Halloween Cookie cutters and picks! They dress up a snack box perfectly!

No cookie cutters? Get creative with string cheese!

Use your cutters in the smallest of places for a fun eye spy game!

Freshly baked blueberries made with fresh berries in the morning, seemed to set the tone for the entire day!

Store your carrots and celery in Ball jars with a bit of water! They will last so much longer and the kids will love grabbing them every now and then for a quick snack!

Cute containers make simple lunches more fun! (Dollar store for a 2 pack!)

Handmade Bento Straps are heading to MY SHOP soon! They pull together a lunch just perfectly and also give the kids a smile when they see which one I sent!

Save those dip packets when you eat out! They are perfect for lunches and can just be tossed!

Sometimes the simplest snacks are simply the best! 

Let your children plant and harvest their own garden and these veggies will all disappear in no-time!

Tray Tuesday!

It's time for another round of Tray Tuesday! It's time to get creative with your food and serve up the perfect portions for little tummies! Together with Mama to 4 Blessings, we are proud to present this week's line up of food! Presenting food in fun and colorful ways, keeps children entertained and ready to try anything!

Every week I like to try out new and fun tools to make the tray fun and different the previous ones. This week I only have my preschooler at home, so it was only 1 tray I had to make up as opposed to 3! I wanted to go with a theme, but little hands were helping me, so he was just pulling out what he wanted! 

This week, I used a crinkle cutter, paring knife and small scissors (to open up packages without tearing them) and a small cutting board. I like to keep all my lunch items handy on a tray in my work space, so I never have to hunt around for items when I need them! This cuts down on time by so much!

Today we served up a fun array of goodies that Roman and Mommy shared together to have the most delightful lunch! You see it on a pink tray, because we carried it outside to sit under a tree and read together as we nibbled. It was a wonderful afternoon of fun!

Tray Food Top Row: Carrots, Cucumbers and Cherry Tomatoes (Garden picked!), Celery, Cheese Sticks, Crackers and Chicken! (Can you tell I went with a C theme, until the little one asked to help!!)

Bottom Row:

Fruit Snacks, Clementines, Bananas, Apples & Raspberries (Freshly picked!) and watermelon! YUM!



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Did you create a fun lunch for Tray Tuesday?! Link up and join us! Presentation is everything when it comes to little ones, get them eating new and fun foods all while having fun! Snag a button, pop it in your post and join up!