I am excited to post this for you before it’s actually November so that you can add any of these things if you’d like for your own Morning Basket. Putting our basket together each month is one of my favorite things to do. I love gathering everything and thinking about how much fun we’ll have together each morning learning and playing.
I filled this basket a ton this month because we are now staying home more and more the more pregnant I am. We are going to spend our early mornings at home with Morning Basket, get ready, and then bring school out to the park each day. Our weather here is finally cooling down and my favorite thing to do is to bring a blanket to the park and do school while they can play at the same time. I’ll have Lilly Belle do a few things, and then go play, do a few things, and then go play. It helps us both so much and we get a lot more done. It also helps because Lucy can run around and she isn’t frustrated with us doing school.
I am going to be prepping snacks ahead of time for the month as well in a special basket in our pantry. That way, the night before I can pack our diaper bag and school bag and we’ll be set to go for hours at the playground every day. It’s going to be a really fun month together!
I will also do be doing a post sharing everything Lilly Belle and Lucy will be learning this month, I have a full month planned for the girls. Lilly Belle is going to be learning a lot of history this month and Lucy is going to do another unit from our My First School curriculum that you can find in our shop. I also have quite a few read aloud books I want us to get through together this month. Lilly Belle took October off from a few of her dance classes, but she’ll be jumping back in with a full 8 classes a week this month. So, the more playground time in the morning and early afternoon, the better.
November Morning Basket
As always, we do our main 3 that we do every single morning: Bible, poetry and fairy tale.
Bible: We are continuing with the Jesus Storybook Bible this month. The girls love it and we are now on our 3rd time reading through it together. I have also prepped some of the activities from The Little’s and Me Story Alive Bible Study that the girls and I will do together this month in the mornings.
Poetry: We are going to be working on some of the poems that Lilly Belle has to memorize for her school Thanksgiving lunch and performance. All of my students will be learning these poems during class and at home with their families and then the week before Thanksgiving we will be having a class Thanksgiving celebration with all the parents and siblings. It’s going to include a performance and pot luck. We are not learning all of these poems, as some of them we are cutting out, but there are 3 in here she will work on.
Thanksgiving Poems, Chants and Performance
Fairy Tale: Fairy tale use to always mean an actual fairy tale, but it has evolved into just favorite stories I read to them. I chose Lucy’s recent favorite since it is her birthday month. She loves the Little Golden Book Mommy Stories. The book, Baby Dear, was my favorite book when I was a little girl and now it is her favorite too. The girls have my doll and my actual book from when I was little but then I found this copy that includes 3 of those stories and Lucy has been loving it! She asks for me to read them to her all the time. For Christmas the girls already have asked that they get baby dolls and baby doll furniture and accessories. Perfect before their baby brother is born in March!
Read Aloud: I am going to be reading Dear America The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple Journey to a New World to the girls this month. Lucy most likely will be running around us while I read, but Lilly Belle will sit at the table and work on her cursive or finish her breakfast. I loved this book when I was little and it’s perfect for November.
Science for Both: The Berenstain Bears Big Book of Science and Nature was one of the things I bought the girls at the FPEA Homeschool Convention in May specifically for Morning Basket, and we haven’t read through it at all yet. Both of the girls love The Berenstain Bears and this book is packed full of information. We’ll be outside a lot more now that the weather is changing so this is great timing to get it out!
Lilly Belle’s Basket Goodies
Sight Words: We are working through each of the Let’s Play School Sight Word Packs each month. Lilly Belle loves the games and it has been helping her a ton to learn her sight words. We add the cards to her door when she learns them and it’s fun to see how many she learns each month. Since all the games are seasonal or holiday themed, I have them going down her door and we can see when she learned the words: apples, halloween and this month with some turkeys and thanksgiving games! She is now working through the Dolch Primer words and probably knows close the 3/4 of them now because of these packs!
Phonics Bingo: We play these Let’s Play School Bingo games every morning to reinforce phonics skills she is working on. I add a new set to the shop each month just like the sight words. It has helped with her reading a ton and she loves to play bingo!
Handwriting: Lilly Belle loves to practice cursive. I haven’t officially taught it to her yet, but she likes to work in cursive tracing books. I got this little book at the FPEA Homeschool Convention in May and it will be great for her to work in while I am reading to her. You can find the same on at Miller Pads and Paper (one of my favorite homeschool stores to go to each year at the homeschool convention!)
Language Arts/Math: Lilly Belle loves the No Prep Packs from The Moffatt Girls. I have the November Kindergarten No Prep Pack all set to go in a binder for her and she will work on these pages while I am playing with Lucy and doing Lucy’s morning activities with her and also while we work on Lucy’s speech. Most of these pages Lilly Belle can now look at and do independently. I have all the supplies in the basket that she needs to complete these pages and she learns a ton from them.
Readers: I am going to have Lilly Belle read these to us each morning. She will pick one every day. Right now we are working on her confidence and fluency as she reads, so having just three to work on will help her a lot with some new words and things she is working on. This month I have Ladybug Girl Do You Like These Boots?, Little Bear, and Bake, Mice, Bake! included for her.
Lucy’s Basket Goodies
Alphabet Art: I am going to help Lucy to decorate an alphabet letter or two each morning. I love the alphabet curriculum from Bitty Beginnings. We will use it with Lucy while she is two. Once she is three and talking more we will be using the alphabet curriculum from Moffatt Girls as well. She will do these alongside the Let’s Play School curriculums. Once she has them all decorated, I am going to make a banner out of all the letters to put in her room. Or maybe add them to a large board. I haven’t decided yet. She’ll get to use paint, markers or crayons to color, do a dot markers, stickers or Kwix Stix.
Fine Motor: I have covered her oatmeal container we use for fine motor (it has holes drilled in the top) in brown construction paper and I used one of the turkeys from our Sight Words Pack. She will stick tons of popsicle sticks in the holes as “feathers” to keep her busy while I am reading the bible, poetry and fairy tale to the girls. Just something to keep her hands busy and she loves to play with this! She has used it for over a year now and it’s one of her favorite toys.
Book: I will be reading the Usborne Very First Book of Things to Spot with her. She loves these books and they have been really great for her with speech!
That does it for November. I’m really excited for this month’s basket!