Happy 4th of July!!!

Happy Independence Day!! Today was great. We were able to go to a 4th of July parade, the first ever attended by my kids and the the first since I was a kid. It was a little disappointing, but the kids had a great time getting all the candy. It seemed like it was a parade of cars (with only a little flag waving) as opposed the the heavily decorated and more animated 4th of July parades of my childhood.

Once we got home, I was lucky enough to have our babysitter over for a couple of hours. This gave me plenty of time to set up our work stations and get some supplies together. It also gave me a little time to myself! After Anthony was down for a nap, the babysitter left and we started on some craft projects. The kids made stars, banners, and puzzles.

I also re-re ad some books to the kids and included these new titles: America Is..., The Story of America's Birthday, and Me on the Map. The last book was a great way to let the
kids have a deeper understanding of what America is and where they stand on it. We located ourselves on a U.S. map and then located the U.S. on a world map.
It was fun to decorate our school room and decide where to hang things up. The kids were excited to see their artwork adorn the walls. They are definitely more aware of the meaning of the holiday now and I feel like I have accomplished something positive. I think for next year, I'll expand the celebration for a whole week in order to accomplish some more projects. I'm thinking along the lines of creating a lapbook.

At the end of the day, we made a cake and celebrated with some fireworks out in the driveway.So now our school room is now officially decked out in American attire. We really got into the 4th of July spirit and it will be fun to have it all up for the rest of the month!

Check out the pictures of the kids and their triptych below. These were made yesterday. We decided to fold them into a triangle and hang them from the ceiling. I was amazed at how wonderfully they colored the images! Dh didn't believe they did it all by themselves. To accomplish the results, however, I did have to sit next to them the whole time and tell them what colors to choose. It was time well spent!!