Theme: A is for Apple
Story: Sesame Street "A" book; Ten Apples up on Top
Movement: Jump up high to reach "apples"
MONDAY
Project Art: Handprint Apple
Process Art: Apple stamp on letter A
Math & Science: Sort big and small rocks
Language Development: Sign - Letter A
TUESDAY
Project Art: Puzzle art - Apple Tree
Process Art: Apple Stamping
Math & Science: Play Dough
Language Development: Sing - 2 Little Apples
WEDNESDAY
Project Art: Glue seeds to apple
Process Art: Paint apple w/ scented paint (cinnamon)
Math & Science: Count apple seeds
Language Development: Sign - Apple
THURSDAY
Project Art: Glue apples into baskets
Process Art: Bake Cookies
Math & Science: Matching green, yellow, red apples
Language Development: Sing -
FRIDAY
Project Art: Alligator letter A
Process Art: Use stickers to spell names
Math & Science: Find and label parts of an apple
Language Development: Sign - Eat
Friday, April 24, 2015
Sunday, April 12, 2015
April Showers
Theme: April Showers Story: Itsy Bitsy Spider Movement: Walking in Rain Boots
After looking at the weather report for the week, I knew I chose the right theme. We woke up to rain, we had breakfast and lunch and a nap with the sound of rain. During breakfast, we sang every rain song I knew, which was about three, which continued throughout the day. I realized there aren't many happy rain songs, so by the end of the day we were singing our own. A caught on to the sign for rain very quickly, I love to see her proud little face light up!
For art, I drew an umbrella and wrote "It's raining, it's pouring..." before A got a hold of the project. She was excited to see the umbrella, and I was impressed she remembered it's name!
I mixed blue and teal paint with a little bit of glitter glue, and showed A how to tip the eraser side of a pencil in the paint and stamp to make little circles like rain drops. She loved the noise it made when she hit the table. Soon enough, she started dipping her index finger in the paint and using that instead, saying "dot, dot, dot"
Coincidentally, I found a rain stick at Good Will just last week, so it was still new and exciting for A. It's a bit long for her little arms, but she likes tipping it over and listening to the rain sounds. If you dont have your own rain stick, you can easily make one with a paper towel roll and some rice or cheerios.
Admittedly, I had never made cloud dough. It seemed easy enough, and I've heard wonderful things. The recipe is 1 part baby oil to 8 parts flour. I used a tablespoon of each to try it out, and it didn't quite work out, so I just added little squirts of baby oil until it felt right. A smelled it, squeezed it, and only one attempt at eating it (which was quickly regretted because of the taste!). This is something we will definitely do again soon!
Before the day began (after A went to sleep last night), I drew and cut out an umbrella shape from white paper. I cut a handle from brown and glued only that to a piece of dark blue paper. For art, I gave A some crayons and let her color the top of the umbrella. When she was finished, I glued it to the paper and she helped me use liquid school glue to make big dots. Immediately after the glue dots were in place, I taped the paper to the window and A and I watched as the glue dots became "rain"!
We blew lots of bubbles outside, but I also took a few minutes to blow some especially big ones, which we counted and popped. A loved it so much, we took the bubbles inside during bath time and did it again, she even started counting them on her own (kind of. One... Two... Fourteen...).
Because of our crazy week, we did end up painting the suns on Tuesday, which meant adding clouds on Thursday! A was given a little handful of cotton balls and a pile of glue, and encouraged to stick her cotton balls to the glue. This one got messy, as more cotton ended up sticking to her hands than the paper, but the end result is adorable, and she had lots of fun.
Combining Math/Science with art, A was given some yellow and a bit of red paint to mix with a paintbrush. Once the paint was mixed, She used it to do a little free painting. Had the week panned out as planned, it would have been used to finger paint suns, but that's not how life works, especially with children. While finger painting, I 'borrowed' a hand and made the hand print suns.
The baby sign for sun was hard for A to do, so she's taken to signing the last part of it, which is light, and works out well. She's incorporated it into the finger play for Mr Sun all on her own! Anybody with kids knows how mind-blowing it is to watch them piece things together, and that was definitely one of those moments for me!
The week ended as crazily as it began, but somehow everything got done - eventually - that needed to. Most importantly, A was happy and learned a little something along the way. I cannot stress enough how important it is to go with the flow when working with young children. Maybe a long nap will interfere with your art project plans, but that paper can be set aside for a day where that same kid is refusing a nap. There is no "one size fits all" project, lesson plan, or schedule for kids. When you're teaching your child, or children, or class, look for progress rather than end results. Everybody learns in their own time, in their own ways.
When A was informed we'd be making rainbows, her face lit up. We talked about how the rain we talked about Monday, from the clouds we talked about Tuesday, came together with the sun we talked about Wednesday, to make a beautiful rainbow. My favorite rainbow song is this one by KidsTV123 . This song is a great pace for working on baby sign language as well.
I knew I wanted the rainbows to have skinny lines, and I'm so sick of paint brushes, so we used q-tips to make the lines for the rainbow. It also worked well because the q-tips dont hold much paint, which means more lines and less blobs. We have some cousins in town, and A's 3-year old cousin made the rainbow you see here. I considered adding a sun and a cloud to the pages, but decided against it. Maybe I didn't want to stifle creativity, maybe I was just worn out from the week...
MONDAY
Project Art: Polka Dot Rain Stamping
Process Art: Wet Chalk on paper
Math & Science: Rain Stick
Language Development: Baby Sign - Rain
For art, I drew an umbrella and wrote "It's raining, it's pouring..." before A got a hold of the project. She was excited to see the umbrella, and I was impressed she remembered it's name!I mixed blue and teal paint with a little bit of glitter glue, and showed A how to tip the eraser side of a pencil in the paint and stamp to make little circles like rain drops. She loved the noise it made when she hit the table. Soon enough, she started dipping her index finger in the paint and using that instead, saying "dot, dot, dot"
Homeschooling Pro Tip: Turn the paper so that the area you want to most paint on, is facing the child. I had A's paper upside down so that her rain drops would be mostly in the sky, above the umbrella.
Later in the day, I showed A how to dip chalk into a bowl of water and color with it on black construction paper. This kid loves chalk, so Im not surprised she took to it, but I think she would have rather been outside in the sunshine!
Coincidentally, I found a rain stick at Good Will just last week, so it was still new and exciting for A. It's a bit long for her little arms, but she likes tipping it over and listening to the rain sounds. If you dont have your own rain stick, you can easily make one with a paper towel roll and some rice or cheerios.
TUESDAY
Project Art: Cotton Ball Cloud
Process Art: Color with different shades of blue
Math & Science: Cloud Dough
Language Development: Sing - Rain, Rain, Go Away
In the morning, I took every shade of blue out of the 64 pack of crayons and put them in a bowl for A. She colored her little squiggles and circles on white paper, as I rambled about shades and she feigned interest. She was surprised to see so many different blues, though, so I know she got the point.
I decided to save time (and art supplies), to combine the finger painting sun from Thursday and the cotton ball cloud from Tuesday. To begin, I drew a sun on a piece of plain white paper (my favorite for coloring and painting!) and wrote A's name inside. She got some yellow paint and a paint brush, and we sang "Mr. Sun" as she painted.
Homeschooling Pro Tip: Make up a name song, and sing it often! You know that farmer who had a dog, and Bingo was his name-o? Well, use that as a guide and make up a name spelling your child's name! For 5-letter names, use the Bingo tune ("I know a boy who's loved so much, and ___ is his name-o!") , for 6-letter names, try Mickey Mouse. I once had a 2 year old with a 10-letter name, and she learned to spell it in less than two weeks!
Admittedly, I had never made cloud dough. It seemed easy enough, and I've heard wonderful things. The recipe is 1 part baby oil to 8 parts flour. I used a tablespoon of each to try it out, and it didn't quite work out, so I just added little squirts of baby oil until it felt right. A smelled it, squeezed it, and only one attempt at eating it (which was quickly regretted because of the taste!). This is something we will definitely do again soon!
WEDNESDAY
Project Art: Umbrella with glue rain drops
Process Art: Color umbrella shape
Math & Science: Blow bubbles, count as we pop them
Language Development: Sing - Mr Sun
Before the day began (after A went to sleep last night), I drew and cut out an umbrella shape from white paper. I cut a handle from brown and glued only that to a piece of dark blue paper. For art, I gave A some crayons and let her color the top of the umbrella. When she was finished, I glued it to the paper and she helped me use liquid school glue to make big dots. Immediately after the glue dots were in place, I taped the paper to the window and A and I watched as the glue dots became "rain"!We blew lots of bubbles outside, but I also took a few minutes to blow some especially big ones, which we counted and popped. A loved it so much, we took the bubbles inside during bath time and did it again, she even started counting them on her own (kind of. One... Two... Fourteen...).
Homeschooling Pro Tip: Count everything as often as you can. We put on one shirt and two socks in the morning. Two shoes to play with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 pieces of chalk. Include it in asking for help, "Can you bring me those four blocks to put away?" and count as your child picks up each one.
We still sing our made up rain song, so I thought I'd share. There's a song by Laurie Berkner (gosh I love her!) called Moon, Moon, Moon. It's A's favorite song, and we sing it at least ten times per day. It goes like this:
I switched it up, and now we also sing:
Moon, Moon, Moon
Shining Bright
Moon, Moon, Moon
My night light
Moon, Moon, Moon,
I can see,
Moon, Moon, Moon,
You're taking care of me.
Rain, Rain, Rain,
Falling down
Rain, Rain, Rain,
Splashing on the ground,
Rain, Rain, Rain,
I can see,
Rain, Rain, Rain,
You're taking care of me
A is at the age where she loves singing the last word of each line, which is both adorable, and a great first step to talking about rhyming.
THURSDAY
Project Art: Hand-print Sun
Process Art: Finger paint Sun
Math & Science: Mix red and yellow paint to make Orange
Language Development: Baby Sign - Sun
Because of our crazy week, we did end up painting the suns on Tuesday, which meant adding clouds on Thursday! A was given a little handful of cotton balls and a pile of glue, and encouraged to stick her cotton balls to the glue. This one got messy, as more cotton ended up sticking to her hands than the paper, but the end result is adorable, and she had lots of fun.
Combining Math/Science with art, A was given some yellow and a bit of red paint to mix with a paintbrush. Once the paint was mixed, She used it to do a little free painting. Had the week panned out as planned, it would have been used to finger paint suns, but that's not how life works, especially with children. While finger painting, I 'borrowed' a hand and made the hand print suns.
The baby sign for sun was hard for A to do, so she's taken to signing the last part of it, which is light, and works out well. She's incorporated it into the finger play for Mr Sun all on her own! Anybody with kids knows how mind-blowing it is to watch them piece things together, and that was definitely one of those moments for me!
Homeschooling Pro Tip: Use sign language for kids of all ages! It helps with language development and self-expression, is very easy to learn, and decreases stress, anxiety, and frustration which can lead to unwanted behavior such as biting, hitting, and screaming. A started signing at 4 months old ("milk" which we used for bottle) and used it to ask for a bottle before she felt the need to cry! Now at 1.5, she is talking in 3-5 word sentences. My favorite baby sign language book is 'Sign Language for Babies and Toddlers' by Christopher Brown. Get it here.
Apologies for the lack of pictures for today, but there were too many messy hands involved for me to grab my phone to snap any decent shots!
FRIDAY
Project Art: Paint with Q-Tips: Rainbow
Process Art: Tape crayons together to color
Math & Science: Discuss colors
Language Development: Baby Sign - Rainbow
When A was informed we'd be making rainbows, her face lit up. We talked about how the rain we talked about Monday, from the clouds we talked about Tuesday, came together with the sun we talked about Wednesday, to make a beautiful rainbow. My favorite rainbow song is this one by KidsTV123 . This song is a great pace for working on baby sign language as well.
I knew I wanted the rainbows to have skinny lines, and I'm so sick of paint brushes, so we used q-tips to make the lines for the rainbow. It also worked well because the q-tips dont hold much paint, which means more lines and less blobs. We have some cousins in town, and A's 3-year old cousin made the rainbow you see here. I considered adding a sun and a cloud to the pages, but decided against it. Maybe I didn't want to stifle creativity, maybe I was just worn out from the week...
Homeschooling Pro Tip:
Do what works for you and your kid, set your own pace, find your own rhythm.
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Easter
Theme: Easter
Story: Peter Rabbit
Movement: Hop like a Bunny
I dont know who was more excited to remember the "Cute Chick" t-shirt that fit with our theme today, but I'd say it was a good way to get in the mood to learn about chickens, and was fun for her to point out and "peep!"
The weather was gorgeous, we went outside straight away after breakfast. I used chalk to draw shapes on the sidewalk and had some rocks we collected last week at the beach that looked like the various shapes (except star - how sad, A's favorite!!). The trick to teaching is to keep it fun. I didn't quiz her on the shapes, I pointed them out and we worked together as a team to match the rocks with the chalk drawings. This was also a great time to work on directional skills - "Here is a circle rock! Let's find the circle. Hmmm, OH! It's *behind* you!" The idea is to boost confidence and a love for learning: there's plenty of time to get it exactly right!
I love pinterest! I usually hop on there when I'm thinking of projects and tweak them to better fit, but this one looked pretty good as it was. Execution... not so much. A's chick looks like it exploded. I ended up putting a dollop of paint in the middle of her page and trying to convince her to squish it with the fork... then I showed her... and that's the only way her chick came to life. Generally, I don't mess with her art projects, but this one needed it, therefore I would recommend this project for ages 3+. For anyone under age 3, finger painting worked out so much better.
Here is the difference with the fork-painted chick on the left and finger painted chicks on the right
Trying to get creative for lunch, I used the peel of a mandarin orange to decorate the actual orange to look like a baby chick. Using kitchen scissors, I cut out feet, a beak, and some little tufts of hair. Half a raisin per eye. It turned out pretty cute, or so I thought, but A took one look and SCREAMED! I guess appreciation depends on the kid. For me, it was an easy and quick way to make lunch a little less mundane. For kids over 3, it might be fun to give them the pieces and have them assemble their own chicken. Summer vacation/Spring breakers over age 5 should be able to cut out the parts on their own: ONLY YOU know if your kid is ready to handle kitchen scissors!
The scary chick...
I cut out the rabbit, helped A rip apart the cotton balls, and covered the rabbit shape with a glue stick. I cut out A's face in a circle shape and glued it down before we got started, and together we put cotton balls on to the rabbit. She worked on the body, I framed the face and ears. Once that was complete, I mixed pink and white paint and let A watch as the pink got lighter; she was impressed. I painted her little feet as she squirmed and giggled and asked for more. She liked looking at her footprints and back at her feet. Once they were dry, I cut around her footprints and glued them to the rabbit. Not many pics of the process because it was very hands-on for both of us!
I wont pretend I wasn't tired from Thursday. A spent an hour or so coloring with crayons, and watching nursery rhyme videos on YouTube. Have I mentioned how much I love YouTube?! I know many parents are against "screen time" but I say if the technology exists, use it. I wouldn't let the TV babysit, but I do incorporate it into our day.
I cut out an oval shape, and two rabbit ears from copy paper, and added some tissue paper (unused from yesterday's artistic failure) to the middle of the ears and as a nose (for reference). I showed A how the pieces went together to make a rabbit, then handed them to her. She placed each piece on the paper and I glued them. Next, I handed her a blue marker and asked "Can you give the rabbit two eyes?" We counted one and two eyes, and I traded her the blue for a red marker, asking if she could give the rabbit a mouth. I would be lying if I said I wasn't completely impressed with the result!
Story: Peter Rabbit
Movement: Hop like a Bunny
MONDAY
Project Art: Fork painting baby chick
Process Art: Finger paint Yellow
Math & Science: Shape matching game
Language Development: Make "peep" sounds like a baby chicken
I dont know who was more excited to remember the "Cute Chick" t-shirt that fit with our theme today, but I'd say it was a good way to get in the mood to learn about chickens, and was fun for her to point out and "peep!"
The weather was gorgeous, we went outside straight away after breakfast. I used chalk to draw shapes on the sidewalk and had some rocks we collected last week at the beach that looked like the various shapes (except star - how sad, A's favorite!!). The trick to teaching is to keep it fun. I didn't quiz her on the shapes, I pointed them out and we worked together as a team to match the rocks with the chalk drawings. This was also a great time to work on directional skills - "Here is a circle rock! Let's find the circle. Hmmm, OH! It's *behind* you!" The idea is to boost confidence and a love for learning: there's plenty of time to get it exactly right!
Here was our PINspiration for the fork painting baby chick.
I love pinterest! I usually hop on there when I'm thinking of projects and tweak them to better fit, but this one looked pretty good as it was. Execution... not so much. A's chick looks like it exploded. I ended up putting a dollop of paint in the middle of her page and trying to convince her to squish it with the fork... then I showed her... and that's the only way her chick came to life. Generally, I don't mess with her art projects, but this one needed it, therefore I would recommend this project for ages 3+. For anyone under age 3, finger painting worked out so much better.
HOMESCHOOLING PRO TIP: Mix a little bit of baby wash or hand soap in with your finger paint to make clean up easier, especially with darker colors and pink/purple.
Here is the difference with the fork-painted chick on the left and finger painted chicks on the rightTrying to get creative for lunch, I used the peel of a mandarin orange to decorate the actual orange to look like a baby chick. Using kitchen scissors, I cut out feet, a beak, and some little tufts of hair. Half a raisin per eye. It turned out pretty cute, or so I thought, but A took one look and SCREAMED! I guess appreciation depends on the kid. For me, it was an easy and quick way to make lunch a little less mundane. For kids over 3, it might be fun to give them the pieces and have them assemble their own chicken. Summer vacation/Spring breakers over age 5 should be able to cut out the parts on their own: ONLY YOU know if your kid is ready to handle kitchen scissors!
The scary chick...
TUESDAY
Project Art: Trace hand, fold to make Little Bunny Foo Foo
Process Art: Paint with Water (outside)
Theme Food: Greek yogurt covered berries
Math & Science: Feel feathers and cotton balls
Language Development: Sing Little Bunny Foofoo
A slept in, and asked to have breakfast outside - proof she's mine. I happily obliged. Halfway through breakfast, we got rained on. Luckily we were inside before it started hailing, but it really put a damper on our plans for the day! That is why lesson plans are tentative. That's why all plans are tentative when it comes to having a toddler.
We watched the rain and hail for quite a while and sang "It's Raining, It's Pouring", a re-worded version where it's Mimi (Grandma) who is sleeping, and instead gets a kiss because A gets upset that the guy "bumps his head". She's a sensitive kid, what can I say? We sang Little Bunny Foo Foo, which also has head-bopping in it, and she laughed about that.
If you're unfamiliar with the song, here's a similar version of the one I sing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6xKM-H2awE Bigger kids may like to pick what Bunny Foo Foo might be turned into and choose whether or not he bopped the mice or kissed them at the end. For my sensitive little A, we ended it with Bunny Foo Foo scooping up the field mouse and kissing it on the head. "Down came the good fairy and she said, 'Little bunny foo foo, I'm so glad to see you, scooping up the field mouse and kissing it on the head!"
For art, I traced A's chubby little hand on white paper, outlined with black marker, and cut it out. She was mildly inconvenienced, still trying to write with her other hand. I folded down two of the fingers and the thumb to make the same hand-shape as the bunny in the Bunny Foo Foo song. THEN I realized I forgot to restock the googly eyes, so we'll be heading to the dollar store soon! Not much for A to do in this project, but I'll be damned if it's not adorable anyhow.
We watched the rain and hail for quite a while and sang "It's Raining, It's Pouring", a re-worded version where it's Mimi (Grandma) who is sleeping, and instead gets a kiss because A gets upset that the guy "bumps his head". She's a sensitive kid, what can I say? We sang Little Bunny Foo Foo, which also has head-bopping in it, and she laughed about that.
If you're unfamiliar with the song, here's a similar version of the one I sing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6xKM-H2awE Bigger kids may like to pick what Bunny Foo Foo might be turned into and choose whether or not he bopped the mice or kissed them at the end. For my sensitive little A, we ended it with Bunny Foo Foo scooping up the field mouse and kissing it on the head. "Down came the good fairy and she said, 'Little bunny foo foo, I'm so glad to see you, scooping up the field mouse and kissing it on the head!"
For art, I traced A's chubby little hand on white paper, outlined with black marker, and cut it out. She was mildly inconvenienced, still trying to write with her other hand. I folded down two of the fingers and the thumb to make the same hand-shape as the bunny in the Bunny Foo Foo song. THEN I realized I forgot to restock the googly eyes, so we'll be heading to the dollar store soon! Not much for A to do in this project, but I'll be damned if it's not adorable anyhow.
 |
| Bunny FooFoo, sans eyes |
| HOMESCHOOLING PRO TIP: If you're tracing your child's hand on construction paper and they refuse to sit still, wet their hand and make a hand print instead. The paper will get darker where the hand is, and you can trace around without having to worry about wiggling! Once the water dries, you can't tell a difference. |
 |
| My little lefty |
Water painting has been rescheduled due to rain, hail, and a possible tornado in the area, so we've switched it with Friday's plan to color with crayons- always a favorite here anyway. We use this time to work on cooperation and manners, as well as color recognition. Usually all at once - "Can I please use the red crayon?" means A has to listen, acknowledge, and then find the red crayon. Always followed up with a "Thank you!". I have been blessed with a kid who loves to be at the table, and will spend up to an hour or more coloring almost daily. Today she worked on taking the crayons out of the box and putting them back in - fine motor skills! We searched for shades of the same color - matching/sorting! We drew circles and lines - gross motor skills!
A loves all things soft and fuzzy, so the sensory activity was a hit. She giggles while being tickled with feathers, and rubbing the cotton balls on her cheeks and neck. She laughs when she does it to me, too!
WEDNESDAY
Project Art: Potato stamp easter eggs
Process Art: Tissue paper eggs
Math & Science: compare Big and Small with stuffed animals
Language Development: Baby Sign- Chicken
No potatoes, but we made do with what we had and agreed that next week will be better. Mother Nature seems to be having mood swings, so we spent the morning outside again before the rain hit, coloring in new shape drawings (Monday's had been washed away), drawing pictures, and picking out letters of the alphabet on the sidewalk.
Since there wasn't a potato in the house, we used an onion for stamping - hey, it's an oval! It worked! A picked out pink, purple, and orange paint. I mixed with white to make them more pastel-colored, and she had fun stamping. A potato may have worked better to make the ovals more pronounced, A's doesn't look much like Easter eggs, but she enjoyed it, and learned to stamp, so we're taking it as a win. I'm going to cut it into an egg shaped once it's dry to fit the theme.
Homeschooling Pro Tip: Stick a fork in an apple or potato (or onion!) when using it for stamping. It adds a handle that eases use for tiny hands.
We seem lucky enough to have a lot of big and small stuffed animals, which I picked out while A was napping and put in a pile to sort once we was awake. We matched them up first by animal, and then talked about which was big and which was small.
We used this time to work on animal noises (anybody know what an ostrich says?) and sing Elmo's World ten times.
The rain finally showed up tonight and we spent a lot of time on the porch; A has always loved the rain! We sang rain songs, did a rain dance, and A called for thunder whenever it was quiet too long. No matter what we have planned for the day, improvising to include environmental changes or special surprises is always the most fun, and nobody learns better than when it's fun! Tissue paper eggs can wait.
We used this time to work on animal noises (anybody know what an ostrich says?) and sing Elmo's World ten times.
The rain finally showed up tonight and we spent a lot of time on the porch; A has always loved the rain! We sang rain songs, did a rain dance, and A called for thunder whenever it was quiet too long. No matter what we have planned for the day, improvising to include environmental changes or special surprises is always the most fun, and nobody learns better than when it's fun! Tissue paper eggs can wait.
THURSDAY
Project Art: Cottonball Rabbit
Process Art: Color with Chalk (outside)
Math & Science: Counting Cotton balls
Language Development: Baby sign- Rabbit
Special Event: Visit the Easter Bunny!
A was up late last night, early this morning, and decided against a nap since she wasn't allowed a pacifier (transitioning away from the binky). We did manage to get some pictures developed for her cotton ball rabbit, which we pulled apart (fine motor skills!) and glued on to a pre-cut rabbit shape. I dont have a printer, so I just hold a piece of paper up to my computer screen and trace around it, adjusting what I dont like to fit what I'm looking for -- DO NOT USE A SHARPIE. Lesson learned the hard way, though I know I knew better, and now the black dots on my computer screen are a daily reminder. Oops.
I cut out the rabbit, helped A rip apart the cotton balls, and covered the rabbit shape with a glue stick. I cut out A's face in a circle shape and glued it down before we got started, and together we put cotton balls on to the rabbit. She worked on the body, I framed the face and ears. Once that was complete, I mixed pink and white paint and let A watch as the pink got lighter; she was impressed. I painted her little feet as she squirmed and giggled and asked for more. She liked looking at her footprints and back at her feet. Once they were dry, I cut around her footprints and glued them to the rabbit. Not many pics of the process because it was very hands-on for both of us!
It rained, again, so water painting and chalk were both forgone and instead A worked on the tissue paper egg we missed the other day. I cut out an egg shape, some squares from tissue paper, and covered the paper egg in glue. She methodically placed a few squares of tissue paper, then a handful. I complimented her egg, which resulted in her saying, "No egg. My oval!" and ripping all the tissue paper off. No pictures, and some chanting: "It's about the process, it's about the process".
The Easter bunny at Outdoor World is my favorite. The line was long, A needed a diaper change after about ten minutes in line. Luckily, Grammie was with us and we made it back just as it was our turn. A was so excited!! She sat nicely for a picture (unlike our experience with Santa), and tried to sneak back in to see EB after our turn was over. The day was an adventure, A was exhausted by the time we returned home (an hour after bedtime!) and zonked out without the beloved binky. *phew*
The Easter bunny at Outdoor World is my favorite. The line was long, A needed a diaper change after about ten minutes in line. Luckily, Grammie was with us and we made it back just as it was our turn. A was so excited!! She sat nicely for a picture (unlike our experience with Santa), and tried to sneak back in to see EB after our turn was over. The day was an adventure, A was exhausted by the time we returned home (an hour after bedtime!) and zonked out without the beloved binky. *phew*
FRIDAY
Project Art: Construction Paper puzzle art: Rabbit
Process Art: Color with crayons
Math & Science: Animal Sounds
Language Development: Sing Here Comes Peter Cottontail
I wont pretend I wasn't tired from Thursday. A spent an hour or so coloring with crayons, and watching nursery rhyme videos on YouTube. Have I mentioned how much I love YouTube?! I know many parents are against "screen time" but I say if the technology exists, use it. I wouldn't let the TV babysit, but I do incorporate it into our day.I cut out an oval shape, and two rabbit ears from copy paper, and added some tissue paper (unused from yesterday's artistic failure) to the middle of the ears and as a nose (for reference). I showed A how the pieces went together to make a rabbit, then handed them to her. She placed each piece on the paper and I glued them. Next, I handed her a blue marker and asked "Can you give the rabbit two eyes?" We counted one and two eyes, and I traded her the blue for a red marker, asking if she could give the rabbit a mouth. I would be lying if I said I wasn't completely impressed with the result!
A was completely unaffected by Peter Cottontail, so we sang Little Bunny FooFoo a hundred more times, and she laughs each time. Overall, a good week!
Homeschooling Adventures
I am offering a look into my homeschooling adventures, as they unfold. I will post a tentative lesson plan for the week. On each weekday, I will update the post with detailed descriptions of how each activity was carried out, and what changes I would make.
I have been teaching since Fall of 2004, working with preschool-aged children in an educational atmosphere. I have had the pleasure of working with children of all ages, infant through PreK, and a few unforgiving months of experience with an after-school program. Luckily, I found my niche working with toddlers, which seems to surprise many people, as toddlers tend to be the most demanding and ever-changing age group. What can I say, I love a challenge!
I have my CDA with focus on infant and toddler development, and all the training 10 years in the field could offer. I've been lucky enough to study under wonderful teachers and directors who pushed me to become the teacher, care giver, parent, and ultimately person I am today.
I'm hoping this blog can help others who would like to educate their children before Kindergarten, or other preschool teachers looking for inspiration.
I have been teaching since Fall of 2004, working with preschool-aged children in an educational atmosphere. I have had the pleasure of working with children of all ages, infant through PreK, and a few unforgiving months of experience with an after-school program. Luckily, I found my niche working with toddlers, which seems to surprise many people, as toddlers tend to be the most demanding and ever-changing age group. What can I say, I love a challenge!
I have my CDA with focus on infant and toddler development, and all the training 10 years in the field could offer. I've been lucky enough to study under wonderful teachers and directors who pushed me to become the teacher, care giver, parent, and ultimately person I am today.
I'm hoping this blog can help others who would like to educate their children before Kindergarten, or other preschool teachers looking for inspiration.
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