Aa is for Alpha-bingo

On the back cover of your doodle notebook is an Alpha-bingo game!

I hope you have written one alphabet letter in each square

 because the game has begun!

During this summer I will try to post a picture on Instagram

that begins with each letter of the alphabet. When you see a

 new picture, look for the letter it begins with on your alpha-bingo

board. If, or after, you have done something in your doodle

book that also begins with that letter, you may cross it off.

For example, after you see an  Instagram from me

that begins with the letter "A". . . and after you have

made an alphabet college . . .

or cut out and glued alphabet letters from a magazine in your book

or done anything else that begins with the letter "A",

then you may cross off the letter "A".

When you get five crossed-off letters in a row,

you win a treat from me!

Happy alpha-bingoing!

Love, Grandma

Find a Christmas A

You may admire my brand new nativity set as you

 sing "Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head;
The stars in the heavens looked down where he lay,
The little Lord Jesus, _ _ _ _ _ _ on the hay."

Seasons singing!
Love, Grandma 

Reading A's

There are an a assortment of books you can read to earn a

letter "A" car  on your amazing summer reading race track:

Alphabet or "Alphabite!" books

books about America, animals or art

Alamanacs(which are books full of facts about everything

from aerospace, animals and astronomy to the zodiac) and

Atlases (which are books of maps of anywhere and

everywhere all around the world)

And there are an array of "A" characters like:

Amber Brown . . . Amelia Bedelia . . .

Anastasia Krupnik . . . Arthur the Aardvark and

"Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day"

 

My favorite "A" book is "Anne of Green Gables"

by L.M. Montgomery--a book I'm sure your

mothers would rather read than you.

Oh well, I'm sure you'll find something just as awesome

to read during the amazing summer reading race!

Love, Grandma

Halloween Aa

Aa is for Captain America with his
sidekick, Fireman Eddy and . . .
 

Aa is for Captain America Nash!

Don't be afraid to have lots of fun trick-or-treating tonight!
Happy Halloween!!!
Love, Grandma

 

Aa Word-of-the-Day

Make a masterpiece today with colored pencils,
crayons, stickers, paint or play dough.
For inspiration read an art book like"

"Art & Max" by David Wiesner

"The Art Lesson" by Tomie de Paola

or "A Day with No Crayons" by Elizabeth Rusch
or "The Dot" by Peter Reynolds

That should be good for one "bonus" scoop
don't you think?

Happy Yummy Summer Reading!
Love, Grandma

Disneyland Aa

At Disneyland you might see Aladdin . . . Alice in Wonderland

and a little mermaid named A _ _ _ _!

Merry 16 days before Christmas

I spy with my little eye
an itty bitty bit of Christmas
that starts with the letter A

A _ _ _ _ _

Hint: Listen or sing this song!

Aa is for Apple

It's Autumntime!
Day Five

September 26 is
Johnny Appleseed's birthday
John Chapman, better known as the legendary Johnny Appleseed,
traveled all over the Ohio River Valley planting appleseeds.
He was also the first frontier librarian, ripping apart copies
of books and rotating the chapters among the settlers--kind of a
one-man-one-book walking bookmobile.

Celebrate this autumn day by sitting under a tree to read a book
or eat an apple . . . or you could make apple prints  in
Chapter Aa of your Alpha-Book.

Aa is for Acorn

It's Autumntime
Day Three

Eat an acorn!

Aa is for Autumn

Today is an excellent day to sing or listen to
"It's Autumntime"
while you eagerly anticipate a week of fun fall ideas.

Happy first day of fall!
Love, Grandma

Aa is for Ahoy Mateys!

September 19 is

 International Talk Like a Pirate Day!
For some swashbuckling fun, try reading
"How I Became a Pirate"
by Melinda Long or . . .

"Roger the Jolly Pirate"
by Brett Helquist or . . .
 

"Shiver Me Letters--A Pirate ABC"by June Sobel
You'll be talking like a pirate in no time!

Yo-ho-ho!
Love, Grandma

Aa is for Animals

Big A . . . little a . . . What begins with A?

Brand new alphabet adventures.

Hip Hip Hooray!

Now that the big boys are busy back in school,

it's time for new alphabet adventures for the younger boys.

So how about going on an animal safari today.
Hunt all over your house and gather every stuffed animal you can find. Take a picture of your menagerie before deciding
if any of them need to go to the D.I. zoo.
Or hide them around the house, turn off the lights
and go hunting for them with a flashlight.
See who can find the most animals.

Happy animal adventures!
Love, Grandma



Aa is for Alphabet

September 12

You might say I am slightly obsessed with the alphabet. Everything from books to cookie cutters . . . from fabric to mugs . . . from posters to puzzles . . . from scrapbook paper, stickers and stamps . . . I love just about anything alphabetical. But what do you expect from someone who writes an Alpha-Blog?

Nevermind that . . . the real question is:
Can you find every letter from A to Z
on these 12 bits and pieces of my alphabet collection?

Happy 12 on the 12th!
Love, Grandma

4. Question of the day
I hope you don't mind if I tell you all about our
European cruise bit by bit during this summer . . .
 

Aa is for Atlantic Ocean

We began our trip crossing this big blue ocean called the Atlantic. How long do you think it took us to go from the beginning (in Flordia) to our first spot of land (near Portugal)?
A. Five minutes
B. Five hours
C. Five days
D. Five weeks

Aa is for Almost Over April

April is almost over
. . . so you may want to find out the answers
to all the questions I asked you during April.
Just look back at all the April posts.
It might also be your last chance to take a
walk under an umbrella during one of those April showers.

Happy April!
Love, Grandma 

Aa is for Angels

A is for angels with feathery wings

After you create and color an angel for your "Merry Christmas ABC's" book or your number notebook or your paper Christmas tree . . . you might like to check out the cute Christmas book called "Country Angel Christmas" by Tomie dePaola.

Merry first day of December!

Love, Grandma

Aa is for Abecedarian

Our word of the day for today is

abecedarian

What is it?

1. A word Grandma just made up because she couldn't think of anything better to blog about today?

2. A person learning the alphabet or anything of or relating to the alphabet?

3. A person so obsessed with the alphabet that they sew cross stitch samplers of it . . . and make posters of it . . . collect stickers, mugs and picture books of it . . . and even make up an entire crazy blog about it? (This answer could also be correct!)

Give me your best guess or a better answer than these choices and I will just have to give you the best fabulous prize ever!

Happy abecedarian day!

Love, Grandma

A is for Alpha-Bug

Welcome to our Alpha-Bug summer craft project! During your break from school, we are going to make a big long bug with body parts from A to Z. Every few days I will post new instructions for each letter of the alphabet plus an activity idea or two. You can earn one ticket for each letter of the alphabet body part you make AND a bonus surprise if you complete the entire Alpha-Bug by the end of summer! So let's get started . . .

Step One:

Find your summer sack and pull out one plain paper plate, one pipe cleaner and two googly eyes. You can use these supplies to make a head for your Alpha-Bug. I made a cute girly bug, but you can make one that is creepy or cute or crazy or anything else you want.

Step Two:

Look inside your summer sack again and find a paper plate that has an upper-case letter A on the front of it. Then find a little bag with a lower-case a inside along with a few random alphabet stickers. Cover the upper-case letter A with the alphabet stickers.

Step Three:

Now your Alpha-Bug needs a place to hang out this summer. Maybe you could hang it on the wall of your bedroom or down the wall of the hallway . . . unless your Mom says "No bugs in the house", then you might have to hang it on the walls of the garage?

Step Four:

You deserve a break after all that hard work. How about a buggy snack like Ants on a Log while you look at a buggy book like ANTics! by Cathi Hepworth.

Have an awesome Alpha-buggy day!

Love, Grandma

Aa is for Advent

Advent is a word that means "coming" or "arrival". It is the season when people begin preparing, getting ready and waiting for Christmas to come. Some people have an advent tradition of lighting a candle each of the four Sundays before Christmas and telling part of the Christmas story. Some people start their holiday preparations by getting out special dishes and decorations, playing Christmas music and reading favorite holiday books. Some people open a little flap on a cardboard calendar each day in December to count the days until Christmas. There are all kinds of ways to get ready and countdown the days until Christmas.

Do any of these ways look familiar?

Once upon a time (before 8 out of 9 of you were born)

your mommies made these cute advent calendars . . . including Shelly whose picture I could not find. (Sorry.) You will probably have it hanging up in your house soon and using it again this year. Nevertheless, I am going to turn this Alpha-Blog into a sort of Alpha-Advent Calendar this month to count the days until Christmas. So check it out each day so you know which letter of the alphabet to button onto your Christmas tree pillow. In case you can't tell, today would be a good day to button on the letter A!. By the time we make it to "Z" it should be Christmas!

Merry Advent Alphabet Adventure!

Love, Grandma

Aa is for America

Did you know you live in a great country called the United States of America . . . and this Sunday will be America's birthday! So sing Happy Birthday to the U.S.A. and look for other ways to celebrate the holiday in this cute picture book.

You could also wear red, white and blue on the Fourth of July . . . and make a fruit flag!

Have an Aaaaawsome holiday!

Love, Grandma

P.S. . . Guess what state that begins with the letter Aa I am in right now?