Friday, August 23, 2013

preschool teaching books

I have been using LeapFrog's Kindergarten Skills and Beginning Reading Skills with my four year old. She has been doing real well with them and even sounded out a word (c-a-t) and knew what it said on her own today. I was very proud of her!

I'd recommend giving these books a try, even if you don't plan to homeschool but you still have preschoolers at home with you. I use them during nap time so she and I can sit down and work on the books together. 

I'll post the links here so they can be easier to find through Amazon. I tried to find them through Toys r Us website, which is where I got them, but couldn't find them there. 

Anyways, here they are:


Hope you find them useful!

~ Fabi 

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Book Review: Te Quiero

*Note: This post contains affiliate links. All opinions are my own. This is one of our favorite books at home and I just want to share it with you. Hope you like it! 

The book Te Quiero de Scholastic  has 4 short stories with love being the common theme. My older kids ages 4 and 2 really like this book and ask me to read it all the time. There have been a couple of times when my daughter has asked me to read the entire book to her. 

It's very easy to read, full of colorful pictures, and very heart warming. It's one of those books that will have you hugging your child and receiving hugs from beginning to end. 



Image Source
The book is also available in English. It's called I love You: A Keepsake Storybook Collection by Scholastic. 





Happy Reading Time!

~ Fabi

Flour Sensory Play

They usually pretend they are cooking fun dishes for guests. Most of the dishes they make are the same ones we eat home, their favorites. Sometimes they come up with such fun combinations and we talk about how it would taste. For example, noodles with chocolate

This week, though, we used flour for sensory play inside our apartment. 

Setting up:

I put flour on two plates (one for each kid) and told them that would be their 'work station.' They enjoyed that name so much! My daughter said "now I'm at work like Papá!" 



We discussed the following questions: 
  • what color is it - qué color es?
  • how the flour feels - cómo se siente la harina?
  • what color is it - qué color es?
  • que te parece la harina? - What do you think about the flour?  {my daughter said it's powdery}
Then they poured water on the dough and began using their hands to mix it all together. 

My two year old liked playing with the flour until he noticed it was sticking to his fingers.  My four year old said she was going to cook something for us.  

Then she began kneading - amasando the dough - la masa and making dough balls for cookies.  


Then she wanted to count how many dough balls had she been able to make. 

So we counted in English and Spanish. 

I showed her how using one finger, the pointer, helps us point to one object at a time and it helps us keep track of what we're counting. 

She chose to do this several times. 


Later we got cookie cutters and a rolling pin.
(excuse the quality of this picture)

Extension Ideas:

arrange dough balls by size


What other ideas do you have?

~ Fabi

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Weekly Bible Verse

If you would like the original file to print the picture with the verse, send me an email at bilingualmami@gmail.com . I'll send you the file. 

La version en Español:



La version en Ingles:




~ Fabi