School Letter T

Mustang is 4 1/2 years, Charger is 28 months, & Mini Cooper is 7 months

This week went so smoothly! I was able to plan it out ahead of time and it felt so organized.

We had our Raising Rock Stars {Bible} lesson and introduced our letter of the week, T. I also introduced our T sound box.

Reading



We read Tiger Tales by Ronne Randall, a very cute book that we found at the thrift for 10 cents. Then we got out our plastic minature bugs and animals and retold the story. They loved doing this!



Choo Choo the Runaway Engine by Virginia Lee Burton, one of my favorite authors. Before we read this book, we went to Little Fingers Play and sang The Train Song. Warning: The Train Song is VERY catchy. I found myself singing it while doing dishes, and cleaning this week. Luckily, it's also very cute and the kids loved it. After we read the book, we put together an alphabet train from Childcareland.com. I had intended to have Mustang match begining sounds with the train, but it was all I could do to keep our new crawler, Mini Cooper, from attacking the train while we built it!






We read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault. Then made a T Tree, an idea I found on Counting Coconuts. I say we, but really it was just Charger, Mustang wanted NOTHING to do with this project.





Math

T is for Tractor so I pulled out our tractor coverall game. I was playing, too, so no action pictures, but Charger is doing much better with this. We played one on one team against Mustang. He rolled the die, I helped him count the number of spots, and he covered the tractors with very little help.




Mustang finally played the St Patty's day shamrock match I made. I cut out shamrocks from my scrap book paper stash and cut apart cards I found on Our Worldwide Classroom. They were intended for a clip game, but I changed them to fit our needs. I had Mustang match the cards and then clip them together on a clothesline. She found this work very hard, but was so very pleased when she finally got the hang of clipping on the clothesline.

Practical Life

So yes, this is a Montessori Category, and No there isnt anything 'Montessori' about this weeks Practical Life activity. That said, I really believe that computer usage is very important in every day life, so I feel it should be in this section.

Together, we played on Starfall, and then I let Mustang have computer time for 1 hour 2 seperate times throughout the week. She chose to play Starfall.com and Nickjr.com.

Sensorial



Color Tablets, or er Color Toothpaste tubes? I have been learning more about the Montessori methods {not just ideals} on My Montessori Journey, and came to understand the point of the color tablets. My understanding is that there are 2 tablets in each color. One set is set around the room and the other is kept with the teacher and child. The teacher asks the child to name a color and then asks them to find the matching tablet in the room. The first 3 colors are Red, Yellow, and Blue. Well, I do not own any color tablets {though I have read a few tutorials to make them and have added them to my long list of to makes}, but I do own these 3 tooth paste tubes. So, Charger and I played the color tablet game using the tubes. I found that when I ask him what color something is, he automatically answers 'Red.' I was able to get him to answer blue a few times, but he quickly reverted to red. He can easily match the colors, though. We will practice this again.



Charger placed green gems on this T is for Turtle magnet page I found from Confessions of a Homeschooler. She has lots of fun Turtle resources.



Charger and Mustang took turns playing with our Colors book. Its a cool magnetic game that Mustang got from Grandma a year or two ago. This was easy for Mustang, but she feels the need to play with all of Charger's games in addition to her own. He did pretty well with it. He could match the objects, but not the words.

Geography

We added South Dakota to our map, and put together our Melissa Doug floor puzzle again. Sorry no pictures! I made a little South Dakota {Great Grandma & Grandpa's state} book of the state, flag, bird, and flower. I found the book on Homeschoolshare.com.

Educational Toys



My Little Pony Memory-Mustang played with this everyday this week. I did pull out 10 pairs instead of a full game. We played together and she won every time-I didnt have to let her win either! She decided to 'pose' for this picture.




Race Driver Set from Priddy Books-Charger loves this book. He saw me pull it out of the cabinet on Sunday and asked every day for it. My only frustration is that he STILL puts things in his mouth sometimes and I found him putting the cars in his mouth one day and the next, I found him pulling the paper off one of the pieces. Is it normal to have a child who knows most of his letters and numbers and still puts toys in their mouth?!? It really makes choosing games a bit challenging.




T is for Twister, so we pulled out our game again. It didnt last very long this time. It quickly became a parachute, so it didnt stay out too long.



We used our spring cookie cutters with our Aqua Doodle. The cookie cutters really make the Aqua Doodle a lot more fun! We do have small issue with this, the kids have figured out that you can suck the water out of the end of the 'brushes'. Oy!

TINY TOT SCHOOL




I couldnt believe how excited Mini Cooper got when I pulled out our Little People Noahs Ark. She had a great time playing with them, and as you can see she has mastered sitting. She is army crawling everywhere and even did a little 'real' crawling this week. She is growing up too fast!!

We hope you enjoyed reading about our fun week. If you would like to see what others did this week, check out Tot School at 1+1+1=1 and Prechool Corner at Homeschool Creations.