F is for Fall!

I am ridiculously far behind in blogging about our school work and activities.  To be honest, we haven’t been the greatest about keeping on our schedule either.  My only excuse is laziness- ha ha.  I have not been feeling well for several weeks – fighting with an ear infection and daily headaches.  We have been doing a lot of activities and outings related to Fall and they have loved it!

Week 4: Letter D as in duck, dog (Finishing up September and the farm theme)

Letter Based Craft: I found some ducks online that the kids colored.  I made my own set of ducks and they helped me to attach the ducks to popsicle sticks.  They chased each other around yelling “Quack” with the ducks. :)

Reading/Phonics: We did several different letter D worksheets and worked on tracing the letter D.  We continue to trace the letters several times a week, but this is not the kids favorite part at all.  They do like the workbook where we circle pictures that begin with the letter and cross out the other pictures.  The kids love to read and we continue to read all the books in the house daily. 

Math: We inherited some “counting pigs” and I decided to use them this week.  I made some “pens” for the pigs by laying out popsicle sticks in the shape of a square.  We practiced counting the pigs in and out of the pen.  They really likes this one and have asked to play it since.  

Outing: We fed the ducks at the boardwalk this week on a day daddy came home from work early.  I don’t trust them at the boardwalk when I am by myself - there are too many opportunities for them to fall in the water.  They love feeding the ducks and we took our own bags of bread.  They call for them to get closer and laugh repeatedly as they watch the ducks eat.   

Science: We didn’t do a specific science related activity this week – honestly it is hard to find science experiments that are toddler appropriate and something I feel like they would enjoy.  We did do some sequence puzzles and talked about the importance of putting steps in order. 

Music: We used the ducks we made earlier in the week to sing “5 Little Ducks.”  They love this song and it is one that they frequently ask us to sing for them.  We numbered the ducks and practiced counting them in order as well.  

In October, we switched to a Fall/Halloween theme for the month.

Week 5: Letter E as in leaves, web, eyes

Letter Based Craft: This was one of my favorite ones to do.  I drew a web on a white sheet of paper with a white crayon.  I gave the kids some watercolor paints with a tiny amount of water for rinsing and let them paint over the web.  They loved seeing the web show up on the paper, or “transform,” in the words of Landon.  When the web had dried they added sticker spiders to the web.  

Reading/Phonics: We did several different letter E worksheets and worked on tracing the letter E.  We did some worksheets to review letters A-D as well.  We have been reading books about Fall and Halloween that we picked up at the library. 

Math: Our math activity was combined with our music activity this week. 

Outing: We attended story time at the library this week.   They really enjoy the time at story time and I love being able to watch them sing and dance.  This week’s theme at story time involved the 5 senses and they enjoyed the songs and stories. 

Science: The kids have been showing an increased interest in cutting and using scissors lately, so I found some different worksheets they could practice with this week.  They are getting better about holding the scissors properly and were able to cut the straight lines between the web and the spider on the worksheet. 

Music: I found a song on Pinterest called “5 Fall Leaves” – a counting song about leaves falling to the ground.  I colored and cut out some leaves for them to use during the song.  They would take turns holding and dropping the leaves as we sang the song and counted down.  We sang the song at least 10 times that day.  

We also did an activity with play-doh this week and made monsters.  This one was pretty simple to set up - I just had some googly eyes and pipe cleaners on hand and we used them to create the monsters.  They had fun designing their own monsters and adding arms and legs.

Week 6: letter F as in fall

Letter Based Craft: Tissue Paper Tree - I traced their hands on brown paper and then we glued the “tree” to a sheet of white paper.  I had precut a bunch of square shapes out of various colors of tissue paper – red, yellow, brown.  They then used a glue stick to glue the squares over the paper and the tree to make it look like a tree with leaves falling down – sort of. Ha ha.

Reading/Phonics: We continue to do letter worksheets each week.  Sometimes they are more interested than others in the worksheet.  They seemed to like writing the letter F as it was very similar to the letter E last week.  We are still reading books about fall and leaves that we picked up from the library.

Math: We sang “5 Little Pumpkins” with some felt pumpkins that I had made.  The kids practiced putting the pumpkins up in order and taking them down as we were singing the song. 

Outing:  We attended story time at the library again.  This week the theme was colors and shoes.  It was a great review of the colors for them and I loved that they were able to answer all of the questions correctly. The teacher even gave them all stickers to apply to their shoes and they had a parade around the room to show them off!

Science:  No specific science activity for this week.  We just practiced our cutting again and holding the scissors correctly while cutting in straight lines. 

Music:  We made corn shakers and had a parade in the basement.  To make a corn shaker, we just used an empty water bottle and some popping corn.  We used funnels to add the corn into the water bottle and they loved the sound it made when they shook the bottle.  

Week 7: letter G as in ghost

Letter Based Craft: Ghosts. I drew a ghost shape with a white crayon on a black piece of cardstock.  The kids then covered the ghost with cotton balls.  Landon is not a big fan of the feeling of cotton (apparently) and he much preferred to use the glue and have me add the cotton.  

 Reading/Phonics: We did several worksheets throughout the week relating to the letter G.  The kids struggled more with writing the letter G than they have with other letters recently.  They did do well with recognizing the difference between the capital G and the lowercase g. 

Math: I found the outline of a tree online and added numbers to the outline.  The kids then added fall colored pompoms to the tree by adding dots (or piles of glue in Riley’s case) to the numbers and sticking on the pompoms.  Landon received assistance from his toy car for this one as the car drove the pompom over to the paper. 

Outing: We didn’t have any specific outings this week, just some walks around the neighborhood. 

Science: Expanding Ghost – I found this experiment on Pinterest.  I added some vinegar to an empty water bottle and put some baking soda in a white balloon and attached the balloon to the top of the water bottle.  (I found ghost balloons at Dollar Tree!) When the balloon was turned upside down, the baking soda poured into the vinegar and the balloon expanded.  The kids loved watching this one happen and I had to do it several times. 

Music:  We sang “The Creepy Crawly Spider” which is just an adaptation of the “Itsy Bitsy Spider” that I found on YouTube.  The kids liked this version so much that I would find Riley singing it to herself.  We tried to race spiders across the table by blowing through a plastic straw and using the air to push the spider across the table.   We weren’t very successful with this type of racing and instead we just raced the spiders down a box. 

 Week 8: letter H as in Halloween

Letter Based Craft: Riley’s favorite medium is paint.  We used a bunch of different Halloween stamps dipped in paint and stuck them to the paper.  Riley seemed to enjoy this activity more than Landon – enough that she asked to do a second sheet of stamping.  We also made pumpkin crafts from a kit… I thought they would just want to make a few and we ended up making all 30.  I used it as an opportunity for them to follow directions and they did really well. 

Reading/Phonics:  We did our letter worksheets throughout the week and practiced writing the letter H.  They loved circling pictures of words that begin with the letter H and crossing off other words.  They are showing a lot of improvement in recognizing letters in general and making the sounds.  They now have a LeapFrog magnet system that tells them the sounds the letter makes when they insert it on the bus.  They will typically play with that a few times a day and repeat the sounds of the letter out loud as well. 

Math: Landon and I did a worksheet that asked him to color the leaves specific colors.  I was able to guide him regarding what colors to use and he enjoyed the worksheet and counting the leaves as well.  Riley had no interest in this worksheet, but she did do a worksheet that involved tracing the numbers from 1-12.  

Outing: There were a ton of outings this week! We attended the Haunted Greenhouse at Holy Angels and they liked seeing all the Halloween decorations and going on a golf cart ride.  On Friday night we went to a Trunk or Treat and they enjoyed playing with all the other children and being able to pass out candy.  We also watched It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown several times – they really like Charlie Brown movies and I don’t mind watching them either. :)

 Science: We went through a walk in the neighborhood collecting leaves- they completely filled their wagon with leaves.  We talked about the color of them and the sizes of the leaves.  We also carved pumpkins this week and they learned what the insides of the pumpkin felt like.  Landon was not a fan and Riley loved to play in the “gunk.”  They helped me decide on shapes and design the face of the pumpkin and where very excited to see the finished product. 

Music: We listened to Halloween music on Pandora throughout the week and we also found some cute songs on YouTube.  Riley was amusing to watch as she attempted to dance like a skeleton. 

For the month of November we are going to talk about Community Helpers and Thanksgiving. 

Bring on the holidays!

Fall is my favorite time of year.  I love the changing of the leaves and the scent in the air.  I am also one of “those people” that loves pumpkin spice everything – coffee, cookies, muffins, beer.  I think some of my enthusiasm for the season is rubbing off on my children and it is making my heart smile.  Every day they point out to me the leaves that have changed color and the ones that are falling down.  Every time we go on a walk, they collect the leaves and excitedly tell me their color.  They were so excited for me to decorate the house for Halloween and they pointed out decorations wherever we went.  They pretty much rocked Halloween this year as well.  Landon was a man on a mission and literally ran from door to door saying “Trick or Treat” and “Thank You” and showing me his candy before he put it in his bucket.  Riley enjoyed herself as well, but in typical Riley fashion, she injured herself prior to us leaving the house and she struggled with her injury during the trick or treating – breaking down into tears on random doorsteps.  She managed to rally though – anything for candy.  

Speaking of rocking it, Landon is really getting the hang of this potty thing now.  He was able to wear underwear all day today with only one incident of telling me about 2 seconds too late that he had to potty.  He has filled an entire sheet with stickers and earned a ton of rewards.  In order to keep the momentum, he has been receiving a prize every time he goes (which is actually only about twice a day – this kid is like a camel).  Landon is fascinated by how things work.  I caught him staring at me the other day while I was eating.  He stopped me to explain that I was chewing up and down, but he had seen the “grape go back and front” too.  He has talked to me about how the garage door opens and raises “on the track.”  It is amazing to me the amount of information he absorbs and retains already.  When we practice printing letters, I catch him reciting the verbal cues I use like “down” or “across.”  We taught him that his Leapfrog Epic has a camera a few weeks ago and we have had some pretty entertaining photo sessions since.  The view of the world from a three year old level is amusing!  He loves to play with his cars and trains, but he will play with the baby dolls as well.  His choices in food have not changed much – he still would much prefer a peanut butter and jelly over anything else.  He still snacks all morning long and doesn’t eat much for dinner.  He loves his milk and “monkey drinks” (Dannon yogurt drinks), snack pouches, fruit snacks, Special K cookies, and graham crackers.  He still likes to sit in my lap and snuggle, especially in the mornings.  He likes to watch Rescue Bots, Curious George, and Paw Patrol still.  He likes to sing and dance and to have me sing songs to him – I could probably sing “5 little speckled frogs” in my sleep at this point.  He still loves to play pretend and has a huge imagination.  He will even open and shut the pretend door on his police car when he is in character. He has mastered the pouty lip when he is upset and wants me to kiss all his boo boos to make them feel better.

Riley keeps me on my toes – I have to make sure I am not about to sit or step on one of her many “animals” in the house.  When she has a “dog” or a “cat” with her she never breaks character and will keep one hand balled in a fist like she is holding a leash.  We have to convince her to let us hold on to the “animal” while she is playing so that she can use both hands to climb.  She is very busy all time and likes to help me around the house – laundry help is her favorite.  She plays with her dolls and dollhouse, but also trucks and cars.  She loves to read books and have books read to her.  Riley does not nap all the time and I have concluded that she does this so she can get some one on one mommy time.  She loves to sing and dance and giggle – her laugh is infectious.  She loves to eat and will return from the refrigerator with food about 5 times a day –  on average I have 2 half eaten apples in my refrigerator at all times.  She likes her yogurt, snack pouches, and fruit snacks.  She still loves to watch Curious George and Mickey Mouse.  She likes bandaids and having her leg wrapped.  A boo boo buddy is the cure for everything in our house.  

 We were especially busy this month with the Halloween festivities – Trunk or Treat, Haunted Greenhouse (at Holy Angels), carving pumpkins, birthday parties, fall festival, and pumpkin picking.  We have a pretty large stash of costumes at our house and it came in handy this year with all of the parties.  They did officially wear their costumes on Halloween and were a fireman and a Dalmatian.  Mommy and Daddy went away for a weekend and the kids stayed with grandma and grandpa – visiting a pumpkin patch together.  We are still doing school activities and I will post about those in a separate blog (when I can manage to find the time!)  We even went to the Cleveland County Fair where the kids rode the Ferris wheel with Daddy and Mommy kept her feet firmly planted on the ground.  I swear I will try and do better with the blog next time, but being realistic – I probably won’t.  Life is getting hectic!  (PS I apologize for the pictures being all over the place - one of these days I will also learn how to format!)

Fixing the tool bench.

Playing lemonade stand

Story time at the library