Spooning Rice

So one activity that Angel Girl enjoys is spooning rice (I am sure there is a real term for it but that is what I call it). For me I have tupperware container that has 3 compartments and then I let her fill and empty the compartments of rice. It can entertain her for 10 to 15 minutes which in AE terms is a LONG time.

December Week 1 Focuses

• New Books: Christmas
• Reading Activity: Identify Favorite Picture - while reading
• Writing: Dear Santa Letter
• Vocabulary: over/under
• Math: Spatial Reasoning - play hide and seek
• Counting: Verbally to 3 (jump)
• Art: Playdoh
• Music: Dance Party Fast/Slow
• Science: Filling and Emptying Water
• Physical: Finger Plays – Eensy Weensy Spider

Schedule

So I changed up my schedule to work a little better for all of us. All times are very tentative but allow for lots of free play time on short activities or lots of time for when she is really interested. This is only pms because of work during the mornings.

Monday: 12:00 – 12:45 Play time
• 12:45 – 1:00 Story time
• 1:00 – 3:00 Nap time
• 3:00 – 3:30 Reading Lesson
• 3:300 – 5:30 DACC
• 5:30 – 6:30 Dinner Daddy
• 6:30 Bedtime

Tuesday: 12:00 - 12:45 Play time
• 12:45 – 1:00 Story time
• 1:00 – 3:00 Nap time
• 3:00 – 3:30 Writing Lesson
• 3:30 – 4:00 Snack Time
• 4:00 - 4:30 Math Lesson 1
• 4:30 – 5:00 Play time
• 5:00 – 5:30 TV time
• 5:30 – 6:30 Dinner Daddy
• 6:30 Bedtime

Wednesday 12:00 – 12:45 Play time
• 12:45 – 1:00 Story time
• 1:00 – 3:00 Nap time
• 3:00 – 3:30 Art Project
• 3:30 – 4:00 Snack time
• 4:00 - 4:30 Social Studies/Science Activity
• 4:30 – 5:00 Play time
• 5:00 – 5:30 TV time
• 5:30 – 6:30 Dinner Daddy
• 6:30 Bedtime

Thursday 12:00 – 12:45 Play time
• 12:45 – 1:00 Story time
• 1:00 – 3:00 Nap time
• 3:00 – 3:30 Math Lesson 2
• 3:30 – 4:00 Snack time
• 4:00 – 4:30 Music Activity
• 4:30 – 5:00 Play time
• 5:00 – 5:30 TV time
• 5:30 – 6:30 Dinner Daddy
• 6:30 Bedtime

Friday 12:00 – 12:45 Play time
• 12:45 – 1:00 Story time
• 1:00 – 3:00 Nap time
• 3:00 - 3:30 Gross Motor Activity
• 3:30 – 4:00 Snack time
• 4:00 – 4:30 Vocabulary Lesson
• 4:30 – 5:00 Play time
• 5:00 – 5:30 TV time
• 5:30 – 6:30 Dinner Daddy
• 6:30 Bedtime

Our Activity

Our activity today was based on the concept of sorting. All of the toys were in one big pile in the corner of the room. Typically I would be fighting with the boy trying to keep them from dumping out the toys I just put away. Today I decided to have them help me. I got out two of the toy baskets and put a few cars in one and a few animals in the other. I then handed them either a car or an animal and asked them if it was a car or animal and had them put it in the right basket. They got it right most of the time but they were still having trouble. I thought maybe it was because there were too many concepts. So, after we finished putting the cars and animals away (Thing 2 even put the car basket back on the shelf!) I decided to try using only one concept. So, I put a few pieces from the boys Train into a basket and started picking up a toy saying "Is this a choo choo train?" and then saying "Yes!" if it was and "no" if it wasn't. Thing 1 really picked up on this. He would pick up a toy and say in a high pitched voice mimicking mine "Id dis a choo choo tain?" then say 'no ' and shake his head if it wasn't and if it was he would get excited and say "DES!". It was so cute and really got us working together to clean up while making it a learning activity for all of us :)

Week 3 November 09

So here are this week's goals...of course because of life we probably will not get to them...but that is ok because I am sure we will revisit many of these items through out the next year anyway.

• Language – story book turning pages l to r
• Music – Dance Party (focusing on movement that matches the music)
• Number Sense – add 1 take 1 away (with toys)
• Science – what happens when I drop something
• Physical Education – Kicking a ball

Playdoh

So yesterday Angel Girl and I made play doh. We used this recipe:
3cups four
1/3 cup salt
2tbsp oil (veg)
1cup water
7 drops food coloring.

mix dry ingredients with oil. add food coloring to water and mix together. add water to flour/salt/oil mixture slowly~about 1/4 cup at a time and mix together with a spoon. once you've added all the water, knead the dough with your hands.

It worked out pretty well...Angel Girl loved being able to help me make it and then play with it. It was even sticky enough to play with to day. Now I just need more playdoh toys.

November Week 2

Monday - we will be focusing on writing. I plan to have Angel Girl tell me a story and I will help her "write" it down and she can draw a picture. The purpose of this activity is to start teaching her about writing.

Tuesday - we will be playing with play doh. The purpose of this is to introduce play doh to Angel Girl because sadly we haven't really played with it a lot.

Wednesday - we will be playing Hide and Seek with toys. The purpose is object permance which I am sure Angel Girl knows but I still think it will be fun.

Thursday - we will be reading about Thanksgiving.

Friday - we will watch signing time #4 because it has a section about feelings. We will then practice the signs for the feelings. This is an area that Angel Girl needs more help in expressing her expression (which I know is totally common at this age but I would like to try and help).

Cause and Effect

So for science today we went to the local museum. Where we threw pennies on the gravity hole to see how the fall and spin. We rode in a dinosaur car to discover that when we turned the wheel the movie changed. We also learned about sharing and turn taking. It was a great science day activity :)

Dance Party

So today for our arts activity we had a dance party. The focus was noticing moods in music. For this activity I just turned Itunes and had is shuffle the music. Then we started dancing. It was interesting to watch Angel Girl try to copy my moves and how I moved. When I picked up baby boy she picked up her baby doll to dance with. The first time we had a dance party was hard because I worried about looking funny but really my kids don't care how I look they just love to groove to the beat. Its also a great rainy day activity!

November Mommy School Focuses

November

Language
Reading - Book Orientation - the main part of this is having her hold the books and turn the pages when we have reading time, this introduces basic concepts about print
Writing - Write a Story - for this Angel Girl will have a pencil and will get to "write" a story, this introduces the idea that what I say I can write

Arts
Music – musical moods - this is done in a dance party, this is to introduce creative dancing and expression of emotions through movement
Art – Play Doh - this is to introduce more textures into our art exploration

Math
Number Sense - Adding 1+ 1 = 2 - this will just be using real objects to add to 1, this introduces beginning concepts of number sense that adding means more
Geometry – Object Permance - Hide and go seek with objects, this is something I think Angel Girl understands but I think it will be fun to play

Science/Social Studies
Science – Cause and Effect - mostly exploring what happens if we do something, haven't really thought of good things for this yet
Social Studies - Thanksgiving - reading about, getting dinner ready, preparing for the holiday

Physical Education
Physical - Kicking/Rolling - this is with a ball and working on controlling where the ball ends up
Social/Emotional - Emotions - giving Angel Girl words and signs to express her emotions more effectively

Now its your turn! Post what activities you will be doing in mommy school, you can use my focuses or make up your own.