Fun Book Binder

Everyone has a stash of coloring books, maze books and other "fun" activity books for their kinders... Presents from Grandma, road trip left overs, costco specials,  etc....
I pick many up from yard sales and thrift shops because they are so inexpensive.


Then, what happens? Well in our house, out of sight out of mind. =) Even though my kinders love coloring, they are on the art shelf waiting to be colored and used... someday because one of us forgets they are there.


What about those printables online you want the kinders to do, but don't want to have random pages laying around... or you want to print but keep forgeting? That was ME!


So, I decided to make each kinder a FUN BOOK.

I took an empty notebook binder and a 3 hole punch and began taking each activity book apart by the binding and putting the pages into the binder.

          I labled the books on the sides, and then printed a personalized cover for the front of the binder.

Now, if I need to the kids to occupy themselves for a little bit.. All I have to say is "Go get your FUN book!"  When we leave the house and I know we have a Dr. apt or something that will require quiet patient kinders, all we have to do is grab our FUN book to go!

The kinders look forward to it, and they can choose anything they want to do in it. It's their choice. Sometimes I put it in the workboxes, and they love that too!

I made each kinder a Crayon roll to go with it... So easy to just grab it and Go! And their isn't a large mess on the dining room table, or in the van.

I also made the kinders reusable fabric covered notebooks. These are the mead compostition notebooks you can pick up for really cheap during the back to school sales.
I am learning to sew and have been enjoying making simple things for them. There are many tutorials online to make some fun notebooks for your kinders!

                                      One for JT. With a bag to carry his treasures around in. =)

                                                                Pen holders on some...

For the first week of school I gave each kinder their own notebooks and some new pen and pencils to keep in their workbox drawer. They were so excited! This cost hardly anything, and they can keep it for a very ...long...time!

Tutorials

http://mypatchwork.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/notebook-cover-tutorial/

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/12/11/diy-fabric-notepad-cover/

Now, go make your FUN Book!

Five in a Row is F.U.N!!!

Hi there!

I thought I would take a minute, and share with you my schedule and planner for FIAR, this year.  I have several friends doing FIAR this year, and  Julia over at Bible Lessons for preschoolers  and Little lessons for life, also was asking about FIAR and 1st grade.

(psst, all non homeschooling viewers; aka papa, gramma, daddy may not be interested in this one tiny bit, I will warn you there are NO cute pictures of your children in this post only boring sheets of paper!. you may abort if necessary.. OR you can read on and see how much work I am putting into these yahoos!)

 One of my concerns was is FIAR enough? It just seems SO EASY... =) Read a story, the SAME story five days in a row and basically disect it? hmmm.... I know that on the message boards so many families are using and with no worries.. but I just had to make sure myself that I was going to be covering what needs to be covered for 1st grade & up  .... with the help the book Home learning year by year by Rupp, And more reading here and there, FIAR really is ENOUGH! =)  Praise God!

Last year, I totally winged it, didn't have a plan, just picked the books that I was in the mood for, did the lessons lightly, and kept a mental note etc.... it was fun, after all it was only kindergarten... =) right? then the "grade school" talk, and expectations of my soon to be 1st grader made me panic!!! 

 and...now that I am more comfortable using FIAR, and have learned alot this past year, I decided  a nifty planner would be my new friend. =) .......that being said, I decided to use their Curriculum to it's Fullest this year, as well as other FIAR ideas, extra books etc.. whatever FIAR helps I could get my hands on!

(p.s.- NOT being paid for any of this, this is all my own! i just wanted to share!)

for starters, We have enjoyed using this so far with our lessons. while this is not our entire bible study, this is a great addition to each book we read... And the lessons are great for ALL ages.

This is alot of fun! I know I could look up ideas, get the recipes somehwere, on what to cook etc.. but it is really nice to have it all in one spot, and easily refer to.  Saves me time.  And with the digital version, I can print just what I need.

                                                 

I decided to use the FIAR planner along with bits and pieces from other planners this year.

I am going to show you how I planned out my year. Their is a suggested way to do the books in the back of each volume,  but I decided to use all the books I have within all 3 Volumes, before buying more books, and also work them around the holiday's/season etc... (yes, I will be skipping around volume to volume)

After writing it all down on paper, and tweaking it, it was ready to print.  (only took me a few weeks!)

                                          

Then I made a Check off list

                                           

Then for each book this year, I printed out 3 FIAR pages from their planner this year (those were the only things used out of the their digital planner...)

1. The Weekly lessons plans calander ( all blank for me to fill in as needed)

2. Other subjects or lessons to cover with the Title

3. Go along books/field trip info/etc... for each Title. 

I was able to start planning by just flipping to the write section in my "spare"time (ha ha) to plan a bit ahead or as an idea struck me, or if I saw something online I could just jot it down in the right spot.

In the beginning of the Planner I have included these Resources free online, that others  have put together....i did put them in sheet protectors for easy page turning...

                                         

FIAR supplimental Booklist all 4 volumes

                                                   
                                                                    Master Geography list

                                                                     Galloping the Globe List

                                                          
                                                      FIAR Books by season , theme, geogrpahy

                                                 Matching Pre-school units with Elementary units

                                              
                                                                                  BFIAR chart

                                                   

Field Trip list by title

                                                     

Land of make believe map for books such as "harold and the purple crayon"

Map activities for Land of Make Believe Map

                           

In the back of each Teacher Volume are the Story discs, KT and I colored them, and then laminated them.

                        I store these right by our World Calander with the putty. easy on, easy off!

                 It then stays on our calander for the length of our study.. and we refer to it often.

                                                
                                      I did puirchase the FIAR timeline as well.. looking forward to it!

I did purchase the digital Fall season book to see how we like it. So far so good.

I made each child their own Nature book by season to go along. I am making them some Nature bags, out of their daddy's old Cargos...

This is where the bin for our lapbook and notebook stuff. Filed by Book Title...

A very useful book holder, especailly for our art lessons, when we need to see the book, and also for display.

Each kinder has thier own FIAR binder this year to store all their papers, projects, and lapbooks in. So far it's working great, and the love it!

And finally, I love to have a display going during the week of what we are studying. It's fun to set up on sunday nights, and see the kids check it out on monday mornings, they love it, and always visit the learning center often... it's a huge hit! It can be something as simple as just the book, and a some go along books, to a table full of the story theme... in this photo for Madaline, it was an Eiffel tower, the doll, flowers, go along books, Eiffel tower puzzle, printed map of France and a colored picture of Madaline. Lots of fun!

Our weekly FIAR schedule goes a bit like this: + every day is math and phonics/writing etc

1. Monday- social studies, geography, charachter building

2. Tuesday - Language arts

3. Wednesday - lapbooking and ART

4. Thursday- cooking, applied math,

5.- Friday- week wrap up, Science

I also have a copy of the FIAR christmas book list by the Lambert Family too!

Some other things I have in my planner are:

• 
  
  Unit study planner pages from http://www.homeschoolmom.com/
• 
  
  FIAR vocabulary list ( I keep a running list from each title we row, I made it myself)
• 
  
  holiday ideas
• 
  
  our Read aloud list
• 
  
  Our full curriculum plan for both kinders
• 
  
  character section, in here I copied pages from the creative correction book, and some other things that encourage me in this area. it's great to flip to in a hurry!
• 
  
  List of books I have and need to buy

Some other great reads over at the Five in a row site that are very helpful are:

Helpful thoughts for beginners

First Things First: Suggestions for Working with Preschoolers

Enjoying the Journey

Another set of pages I have in my planner are from http://www.steadymom.com/

she is awesome! I just finished her book Steady Days,

she has some great FREE pages for your planner

So along with math and Phonics/reading/writing I feel like I am prepared for the new year ahead!

by the way, in case you are wondering for 1st grade, Home learning year by year's 1st grade scope and sequence does have American history, but none of this year's FIAR books have that, so in November we are going to do a unit study, and with other books we have... cover it that way...  But everything else is covered!

Now that I am getting myself somewhat more organized, the kids are next! This week mama is setting up our new Chore System!

                                                        

I finished our new reading area, more on that in a bit!

If you have any questions, or would like me to email you my forms,  I would love to. just send me a note. I hope this helps, and encourages you, Blessings,

School Room Re-org

This week is the Not back to school blog hop week # 2 School rooms!!

I can't wait to see what everyone has going this year!!  There are always so many wonderful ideas, and inspiration!

So I am linking up with some school room photos of my own...

This is our school room LAST YEAR, the kids were 5 and 3.  The sun never shines on this side of the house. It looks dark doesn't it? =(

LAST YEAR Other side of room

So, I painted a wall, and added some more color and a  New school desk... regular size... (kids were getting to small fo the other table)

I purchased this awesome desk for 50 euros... second hand.. I love the circle at the end. this is great for all of us to work together.. It's the perfect size for this room. I have litterally used every inch of space in this room possible, and still not make it to overwhelming! =)

All I have to do is turn around and i can be with the kids to help them... i love it!

Our workboxes... and My workboxes. Mine were a splurge. I went to Ikea a few weeks ago, and it was in the clearance section fro 20 euros! I knew I would find a place for it... It looks a bit cramped. but it works.

I keep all our math manipulatives, etc in it so far, but i plan to use it to keep my weekly fill in the workbox stuff, so it's easy for me to see what i need to put  in the kids boxes during the week.

Top of the workboxes on the window sill are my teacher guides... the blue basket for completed work.

My printables for FIAR

Our ART Center

We found these on the side of the road in our village. There were two tops to buffets.

we sanded and painted... just stacked them on top of each other.

I got a ton of these tins at a yard sale this summer, and have filled them with supplies. they are all great sizes. and colorful!

Our lapbook caddy. We don't always do our lapbooks at the table, sometimes we end up in the living room. So we are always getting up to go find more tape, or glue.. this way it's an extra set and ready to tote!

I  used a spice rack turn table to store the rest of our utensils. I cut up sponges to use for our Handwriting

without tears chalkboards.

Super cute tin I picked up this summer for 50 cents! holds our paint.

The rest of the shelves hold all our drawing books,  how to art books, and supplies and all their coloring books. Everything is in reach so they can grab it when they like.

View from the other side of the school room. our dining room is to the left here...

After we got the new desk, we went to Ikea to find some chairs... we found this great chair set on clearance for 5 euros each. marked down from 20 euros.

they were a little bummed becuase we were going to buy colorful office chairs... but i had an idea!

they turned out so cute! and with paint i already had on hand! they love them!

and here is mama's chair. Also a second hand find... re-done.

(my desk it si from ikea, but i got it second hand)

a fun lamp is always my favorite when it comes to decorating.

dual monitors....yes, i have a cool computer husband, and he loves me!

I thought this was cute. it's a littel art cetner from IKEA. itwas like 3 euros

they can easily pull this out when they want to have some painting time, and it makes it a it easier.

Under my desk I store our paper in an old Candy rack from a store. It works great!

curtaiuns, and theme pattern....

My printing area, and our maps. (french map, but it's all i have right now!)

I added two clocks ..... this helps us to know what's going on with Daddy too! JT loves looking at them to see what time it is where he is... and while he is only one hour apart now, when he goes to korea, this will really come in handy!

on the otehr side of the school room is  a pine cabinet I painted yellow. This really brightens up our room. This is full of books, and hands on learning supplies..

They can just open it and play! I can also easily grab these and dump them into teh workboxes, when I am filling them boxes...

I also bought a wooden turntable from Ikea, and we painted it... this has been awesome!

the kids just spin when they need a set of colors instead of fighting over who has teh jar of markers! =)I also put the tiny chalk pieces and the handwriting without tears pencils  in as well.

I picked up a book holder for when we need to refer to our FIAR book during lapbook time or lesson time in the school room. Very handy!

Little kinder Computer area!

From the school room you can see our dining area, and how it's so connected... it's like a layered house!
we do school here alot too, and that nice long buffet you see....holds MORE school stuff!!!

I just painted the legs of the table a month ago...tying into my NEW additction of turquoise!

 

Into our living room...  to the right, We do alot of school in here as well... a quick peek!

This was a few months ago, and we have sinced moved the small tables ( they are to big for them)

I put the old school table in here, and they use it for puzzles etc..

yes, this is the worlds cutest stool! =) And a major splurge of mine too.. probalby the most expensive thing in my house! =) I bought this cutie off german ebay... for 70 euros. at the time over $100! But I love it.

I finally organized all our books on this shelf... it was getting really full,

Here is another second hand purchase. we all love. I rotate teh books out by topic... or season.

In our living room next to our couch is a learning center.. I use it primarly for our FIAR weekly study.

This summer we have used it for our Ocean Adventure box. The kdis LOVE it, and it keeps the story in our mind all week. I love to make the displays too.

This is my summer cabinet. I have had this cabinet for a few years, and I paint it by the season. Our games are stored down below.

This season i switched it out  for this one...

We moved our puzzle cabinet to the basement.. ( i ran out of wall space) but it's no problem. the way the house is layed out, it's in our washer room so not to far.

I was inspired to do my schooling area and alot of our home by our spring trip to Venice. These are photos are in Burano.. a small Island. Perhaps my favorite spot!

I loved how all the colors were so cheerful, and in the winter our Germany home needs cheerful!

our hallway upstairs houses the Art Wall

I moved all the books from our big shelf in the living room that were not "stories" down to the basement.

I am working on organzing it futher, so far i have labled each with a sticker for Science, History, Holiday, etc...

We also moved the rest of our games down here , to free up some of the clutter upstairs in the living room.

the colors have also leaked out to my patio .....

Later  I will post about our Learning centers!

but for now, thank you for visiting!