Letter D

 Letter D!

Letter D Memory Verse

Depart from evil, and do good. Psalm 34:14

 (I put this inside the file folder)  Download them all here. 

We used the D that we already had printed from our A-Z Collage Sheets,
which we drew our DOTS on.  

I got these wooden blocks from hobby lobby, and had him place them on the letter shape.  

Just another way to have fun while learning how to shape the letter D!

After doing this all week, I had him do it the last day with out the paper underneath.

Dinosaur Magnetic Page.
Find the instant download link here.
We used our homemade pompom magnets for these.

Alphabet Sorting.  Download the printable file here.


Dinosaur letter match

Only print the letters once and use the same letters for each time you do this activity.  

Laminate to ensure durability.  

A-Z Collage Sheets.

I did both the capital and lowercase file.  

Plus printed the whole alphabet 2 up on a page to conserve. 

We drew DOTS on the letter D!

Dinosaur Color Puzzles:  

I printed these a little smaller and then cut them each a little differently.  

Match the dinosaur colors together!  Print and laminate.

Dinosaur Size Sort

Print and laminate. :)

Letter D Puzzle.  Download it here. 

(I used the A-Z large floor mats as puzzles) 

This way it doesn't have the lines already in the file and you can cut it however you want.  I wanted to do at least 8 pieces.  I might change it up to more or different shapes or something for a later puzzle...we will see!

  Dinosaur counting cards

Use these in 3 different ways.  First you can just put them in numerical order.  Then I have larger clothes pins that I have written numbers on, so they use those to match the number.  And then I bought some smaller clothes pins and that one he puts that many pins on the number card.  

We also lined them up this way and counted by 2's!

See all these examples in picture form in the Number Order Games Post.

 

Dinosaur Counting. 

I Printed this 2 up on a page to make it smaller.  

Still a managable size for little hands.  And saves you on ink, and lamination! :)

Dinosaur Coloring Page

Bean Bag Toss.  

Capital letter file.  Lowercase letter file.

Have fun aiming for the letter D! 

(I didn't take a new picture so pretend the bean bag landed on the letter D!)

Letter D poke it page!  

(you're right, I didn't take a new picture so pretend it's the letter D!)

I made this file myself because I wanted all the letters in one file.

Download my A-Z poke it letter file here.  

Take a thumb tack and poke the letter D.    

Make sure to do this while on the carpeted floor. :)

Letter hunt worksheets.   

I put this in a sheet protector so he could do this over again throughout the week.

A-Z Handwriting worksheets.  

I put them in a sheet protector so he can use the same sheet every day of the week!

 Read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom every day.  

And at the end of the week put the letter D on your coconut tree!  

I used the A-Z Collage Sheets.

I put them 4 up on a page so the letter would be small enough for 

them all to fit on our little coconut tree. 

I made my own circle the letter files.

Download my A-Z Circle the letter file.

You can print them full page or 2 up.  

We used pencil on this and did it as a one time use.

Thanks to Confessions of a Homeschooler for most of these great printables and other ideas.

 

Food Craft - Orange Sun

 A simple little snack craft!

 

Number Order Games

Different ways to use the number cards that are in the preschool printable letter's of the week.  Or any number cards you have! ;)

You can put them in order like this and count by 2's.

Just put them in Numerical order.

Using small clothes pins put the correct amount of pins on the card to match the number.

Write the numbers on a large clothes pin and match the correct number on the clothes pin with the correct number on the card.

And a new thing we added is using only the numbers 1-6 of any of these files as a game.  Roll a die and put the numbers 1-6 in order as you roll them.  Once you have 1-6 lined up the game is over!  My preschooler loves playing any game that involve rolling a die!

 

Wiggly Person Craft

I had this idea to put a skeleton together and use brads to make all the parts move....then I decided a more simple idea would suffice.  So we drew basic shapes for body, legs, hands, feet, face, and cut them all out separately, then we use some of my brad surplus from my scrapbook supplies, to put our funny wiggly people together.  Check it out!

Before we put them together.....

After we connected them with brads.  Have fun with your own "Wiggly Person"! :)

 

Homemade Focaccia Bread

I decided to try out making my own focaccia bread to go with with Chicken Salad Sandwiches.
It was pretty good.


Focaccia Bread

2 1/4 tsp yeast
1 1/4 cup warm water
2 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
1 Tbsp Olive oil

Dissolve yeast in warm water.  Combine the flour, salt and seasoning in a mixer.  Add the water/yeast mixture.  Knead the dough until it is round and soft, yet a little bit sticky.  Coat a bowl with the olive oil.  Put the dough in the bowl and roll around to coat all sides with the oil.  Seal with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place until dough doubles in size.  Stretch to a semi flat, round size and bake at 450 for 30 minutes.  The recipe I had said to bake it longer but by the time it had been about 30 minutes I checked on it and it was starting to get too done that it was going to be hard instead of a soft bread.  So I'd recommend 30 minutes checking the bread to make sure your oven cooks the same.

*If you don't want to wait around so long for it to raise, a quicker way to help bread raise, no matter if it's fresh, frozen or what you're doing with it....place it in a container, cover with saran wrap, turn the oven on to 170....as soon as it beeps that it's pre-heated, turn the oven OFF....then put the pan/bowl/whatever of bread in the oven.  The slightly warm oven will help the bread raise faster. :)

My mom taught me this trick when she does this with the frozen bread dough to make rolls or pepperoni pockets or something. )

 Enjoy!


 

Sensory #2 Beans

I updated my beans bin.  We bough a bunch more beans, got a bigger tote to keep them in and a few more things to play with in there.  Like an ice tray, stuffed animal, small people, spoons, cups, bowls, a baggie and of course a jar and lid.  We even hid a teeny little coin in there.  It's a little smaller than the beans so sometimes we take out the other stuff and just dig to find the little coin. 


Letter Activity--
We also take out the stuff flatten or smooth out the beans and use the handle of the spoon to draw letters in the beans and have the others guess which letter we drew.

 

Randomness v29

1.
Monkey- "Girls are cute and boys are awesome."
Me- How come girls can't be awesome too?
Monkey-They can be I guess, it's just that they say girls are cute and boys are awesome.
Me- Hmmm, Do you mean, boys are handsome?
Monkey- :)

2.
Monkey- What kind of battery do you use in the house?
TJ- Where in the house?
Monkey- For the whole house.
TJ- Uh, the house runs on electricity, not a battery.

3.
Bear- I wish I could go to the funeral
TJ- What are you talking about?  Do you even know what a funeral is?
Monkey- I do.  It's where they play lots of instruments.
(hahahaha....we happened to be going to the orchestra)

4.
Bear-(after pushing his face against the window turns to another 3 year old and says)
"My nose is made of cartilage so that's why it didn't break off when I just did that."

5.
3yr old foster kid to Monkey- Where are YOU sleeping tonight?
Monkey- Downstairs, right underneath you.
3yr old-(after getting up and looking under the bed says) "Where?!"
Monkey- No, downstairs!  Not under the bed! :)

6.
While fostering twin 2 year olds for a few days.....they were putting everything in their mouth.  They were playing by the frig and putting some of the magnets in their mouth.  So TJ goes over there to move the magnets up higher.  Some of the magnets are small little circles.  He thought one of them grabbed one of those small ones to put in their mouth.  His reaction.... "NO, NO, Spit it out! Let me see! AHHH, STEPHANIE!"
I walk over there and help scope it out.  He didn't even have anything in his mouth. :)
Me-"TJ lesson number 1....Don't panic like that."


 

Lo Mein Noodles

Lo Mein Noodles

2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 or 1 cup peas or peapods
1/2 cup sliced or chopped carrots
1/2 tsp ginger
*cooked noodles
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 Tbsp sesame oil

Cook the noodles, drain and set aside. (Make sure they don't get to well done.  You don't want them to be mushy.)  In your wok (or large pan) heat the olive oil, and add the peas and carrots.  Once heated through add the ginger and stir in.  Add the cooked noodles and soy sauce.  Mix thoroughly and add the sesame oil last.  Toss to coat evenly.  Serve!

*I used organic whole wheat noodles.  And I used about 2 quarter size hand grabs of noodles.  They tasted great!
*I thought something extra sounded good to go with our Crockpot Beef & Broccoli.  And we have rice too much, so I decided to search for a noodles recipe that would be a simple way to make those delicious Lo Mein noodles like they have at the Chinese food places.


 

CrockPot Beef & Broccoli

Crockpot Beef & Broccoli

We also had homemade Lo Mein Noodles to go with this.  Click the link to see that recipe.

*1 lb thin beef (sliced)
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp sesame oil
2 cloves garlic
*1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
*1 bag thawed broccoli florets

Mix the soy sauce, white wine, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, sesame oil, garlic cloves and red pepper flakes together in a crockpot.  Cut the beef into thin strips.  Toss evenly in the sauce mixture.
Cook on low for *6-8 hours.  Different cuts of meat will need different times to tenderize.  An hour before serving, add the entire bag(or bunch) of broccoli.  Cover and cook on high for another hour or so.  Gingerly toss to coat the broccoli.

--MY TIPS--
*For the beef, I used New York Strip Steaks
*If you do not like spicy I'd suggest not using the red pepper flakes, or very little.
*I used 2 bunches of fresh broccoli instead of frozen.
*Watch this while it's cooking depending on the type and thickness of meat, it may cook faster than you think.  I realized this the wrong way. :)  So I would suggest only cooking 4-6 hours and watching it.  When you think the beef is almost done to your liking, then add the broccoli for the last hour.
*Since my beef cooked too fast in the crockpot, I had to shut it off to try and salvage the food.  So instead I decided to cook the broccoli in my wok.  I used some olive oil, and a little bit, maybe 1/2 tsp of soy sauce in the wok, an then sauteed the broccoli until cooked through.  I then added the beef to the broccoli to heat it through again, since it had been sitting off and cooling down in the crockpot for a little while.  This worked enough to make this meal edible.  I will definitely try this again, but not cook the meat so long, and make sure I'm home that day so I can keep tabs on the meat during the day.
*I would guess you could also make this a stir-fry meal, that you could make on the stovetop in a wok as well.


I hope you can enjoy this and learn from my mistakes instead of making these mistakes on your own too! :)

ENJOY!


 

Chicken Enchilada Chili

 Chicken Enchilada Chili

1 1/2 pounds chicken (3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts)
1 can enchilada sauce
2 (14.5 oz) cans tomatoes with seasoning
2 (15 oz) cans kidney beans
1 onion, diced
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin

Pour enchilada sauce and canned tomatoes into the bottom of a 6 quart slow cooker. Add beans, onion and spices. Stir to combine. Place frozen chicken on top.  Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours, or until flavors have combined. I took out the chicken 1 hour before serving to shred it or chop it up and then mix it back in with the rest of the soup.

Serve with shredded cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream, if desired.

 

Lemon Dream Cookies

Lemon Dream Cookies

 (picture taken before I sprinkled with powdered sugar)

1 cup REAL butter(no substitutes), softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 2/3 cups flour

Filling:
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp lemon zest
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp butter, melted

Powdered sugar for decoration(optional)

In a mixing bowl, cream butter, and powdered sugar.  Beat in vanilla.  Gradually add flour.  Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until easy to handle.  Roll into 1 inch balls.  Place 2 inches apart on a baking pan.  Using the end of a wooden spoon handle, make an indentation in the center of each cookie.  Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes.  Remove to wire racks to cool.  Makes 3 dozen.  When the last dozen is in the oven start preparing the filling.  Combine the sugar, corn starch, lemon zest and salt in a saucepan.  Stir in egg, lemon juice and butter until smooth.  Cook over medium heat until thickened.  Reduce the heat and stir another 2 minutes longer.  Cool.  Spoon 1/2 tsp into each cookie.  Dust with powdered sugar if desired.


 

Apple Cinnamon Pork Loin

Apple Cinnamon Pork Loin

2-3 pound pork-loin roast(ask for the leanest, most tender cut)
1 onion, sliced in wedges
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup apple juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 apples, chopped (to add later)
1 (16-ounce) bag coleslaw mix (to add later) (*optional)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Put onion wedges into the bottom of your crockpot.  Mix the thyme, kosher salt, pepper and cinnamon in a bowl.  Rub into all sides of the pork loin.  Add apple just and lemon juice to the crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-6. The longer you cook it, the more shredded and juicy the meat will become. 20-30 minutes before serving, remove meat from crockpot and let sit on a cutting board. Put chopped apples (no need to peel) and the whole bag of coleslaw(if you choose to add) into your crockpot. Shred the meat and add to the pot. (you don't have to shred the meat, you could slice it...it is just so tender it falls apart anyway, so shredding works eaier)  Then add the apple cider vinegar.   Add extra salt and pepper to taste.

I also buttered some hoagie bread, and fried them until the one side was crispy and ate the meat mixture with this bread.

I think next time I make it I will add an extra cup of apple juice so I can have some extra juice to pull out.  Then I'm going to add some butter and brown sugar, and try to add a caramely type of sauce to pour over the meat.  If you try this with coleslaw, or with the extra caramely, or even just as listed let me know what you think of it!