March is a month full of promise! Between the daffodils popping up and daylight savings time arriving, little hints of Spring are popping up everywhere. We are ready to welcome the new season with open arms! I know this might sound surprising by somehow March snuck up on me. I’ve been preparing our new preschool theme and life last week was super fun but super full! I didn’t have the basket quite together for yesterday (the first Monday of March.) However just because we missed the first day doesn’t mean we can just pick up later.
One of the sweet things about March this year is that we’ll anticipate Easter throughout the whole month. I wanted to do something meaningful and intentional this month as we anticipate it. Sally Lloyd Jones (author of The Jesus Storybook Bible) created a beautiful FREE printable resource connected with the Jesus Storybook Bible. I plan to use it as our guide for reading. Her printable includes a template to make removable links leading up to Easter. Instead of using links like she suggests I came up with a little different idea. I cut out several lengths of rainbow colored paper- enough so there is one for everyday leading up to Easter. I wrote the name of a person we know or people like our mailman, neighbors, etc on each link. Each day we’ll pull down a link and pray for that person. My goal is for us to write a small note to encourage them as well but we’ll see how that goes. 🙂 I like the idea of including prayer together with my littles and teaming up for small intentional acts of love. I can’t think of a better way to await Easter!
Something we have enjoyed for almost two years now is our hymn of the month from Happy Hymnody! This month we are singing, Fairest Lord Jesus. It’s a beautiful, old hymn and I love the words being sewn into the hearts of my littles!
This is also one of the times in the day I use to share a whole family read aloud. We read Little Pilgrim’s Progress and finished up a couple American Girl books last month. (My little girls are currently glued to all things AG) We also read a big handful of picture books. We’re looking to add a whole lot more this month! Our first read aloud this month is the classic story, The Courage of Sarah Noble.
Poetry and sing-song rhymes are not only great tools for early readers but they’re also so much fun! Add a few popsicle stick puppets and you’re sure to have a fan favorite! This is something so much fun to get up, move, and play interactively and cooperatively.
Last but not least, I tossed in my all new (no yet released) Springtime handwriting cards. These are wonderful for my littles who like to keep their hands busy as I read. Your little can have fun tracing letters, using the review pages, or simply coloring. How about you, do you have busy littles who like to keep moving? I like to count this as my big girl’s writing activity on fun Fridays too!
We typically do our morning basket together time at the breakfast table but occasionally we’ll gather on the couch together. As always my our basket is pretty minimal but it helps me so much to keep it minimal. I’ll add in a few extra things for St. Patrick’s Day and the arrival of Spring but for the most part these are the bones of our basket time.
Do you use a morning basket together with your littles? I’d love to hear what you’re including this month!
Carla Snipes
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