B is for…Bugle.  After reading Serendipity’s Flower Fairy story, Joseph and William colored pictures of the Bugle fairy.  Joseph also did some copywork from the poem that is in the Flower Fairy book (which he did while listening to the Flower Fairy CD).  Next week I plan to add some science study to this by looking up the actual wildflower. 

B is for…Saint Bernadette.  We read about Saint Bernadette in our Alphabet of Catholic Saints.  Joseph did some copywork and both boys colored a picture of Saint Bernadette.  We also used the picture from the book to practice the letter B formation.  While coloring, we listened to and prayed the Joyful Mysteries using this CD.  We read about St. Brendan in Letters from Heaven.  This was the perfect opportunity to learn about The Beatitudes and a perfect time to listen to David Haas sing Blest Are They (over and over and over)…I’m still singing it to myself.  B is also for the Tower of Babel, which we covered with a felt story.

B is for…the letter B.  We practiced letter formation using the Cuisenaire Rods Alphabet Book, Do A Dot, Salt Dough letters, and Pin Punch letters.  Our pin punches finally arrived this week and Joseph and William enjoyed learning to use them (William with lots of help from me; Joseph did beautifully all on his own). 

B is for…balls of all kind…big balls, little balls, bouncing balls and Birdie balls.

B is for… .  I found these great coloring pages and we’re including one each week along with a virtue story.  This week the theme was Blessings, which we talked about here and in God’s Alphabet. 

B is for…boats. We studied Thomas Eakins’ painting The Champion Single Sculls.  Joseph did a narration and both boys then copied the painting.

 

B is for…Bolivia, Belarus, Brazil and many more…We used blank outline maps again, a globe and our wall maps to locate states and countries that begin with the letter of the week. 

B is for…bread and blueberry pie.  We made four loaves of our favorite bread this week.  It just so happened to be Fr. “B”ill’s “b”irthday, as well, so we delivered a loaf of fresh bread to him.  While Grandma Cindy was in town, we baked a fresh blueberry pie (with some cranberries to fill it up). 

B is for…stringing beads, sorting buttons, and stacking blocks…and since we built with blocks, it was exciting to see some real building happening.

B is for…balancing with Ben.  Here are Joseph and William walking along the edge of the playground, balancing very carefully with their friends Ben, Gabe, and Walker. 

B is for…butterflies (and ball…yes, the ball went with us) at the Botanical Gardens.

B is for…the beach. 

B is for…brother…little brother Andrew, that is.  Andrew is proving to be a very attentive little brother, watching everything Joseph and William do…even school.

B is for…Belle, Joseph’s favorite friend.  We saw her at the end of A week (so technically the beginning of B week), but Joseph kept reminding me all during B week that B is for Belle and asking if we could please go see her…B week ran out before we got together, but here are some pictures from their last playdate (along with William, Andrew and Joe, of course!)

In our book baskets this week (I’m choosing one book from each basket to have Joseph do a narration and illustration of):

History (Benjamin Franklin): A Picture Book of Benjamin Franklin; How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightening; Rookie Biography

Science (birds): The Bird Alphabet Book; Make Way for Ducklings; Baby Birds and What They Eat; Owl Babies; Song of the Swallows; The Days of the Blackbird.  We also used Reading Rainbow’s DVD: Birds of a Feather

Favorite B Books:  Brown Bear, Brown Bear; Baby Farm Animals; The Bee Tree; The Big Green Pocketbook; Bearymore; Babushka’s Doll; Bad Case of Stripes; Because I Love You; Ballot Box Battle; Before the Stars were Made; The Brave Cowboy; Beatrice’s Goat; The Biggest Bed in the World; Big Red Barn; Bedtime for Frances; Birthday for Frances