Week 3 - The Very Hungry Caterpillar

It seems wrong to only be on week 3, but there was a week of vacation and a week of being sick that kind of sidetracked our schooling.  To be completely honest, I'm pretty upset with myself that already I lost the habit of journaling every night, and that I went into the week without an organized plan of attack.

I did my best to wing it, telling myself that we are really just only starting and that I am learning how to best approach this as we go.  Well... lesson learned: Be Organized! Be Prepared! Be One Step Ahead!

So this week we did some activities centered around The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle.  With more time spent preparing we could have done so much more.  It's no wonder this book is such a favorite.  In a few beautiful pages it offers a science lesson (the metamorphosis of caterpillar to butterfly), counting practice (counting along as he eats his way through the week), color identification (describing the color of each fruit), and reading/language development (the repetition of "he was still hungry" is a great way to get kids to fall into the rhythm of the story, join in and "read" along).

Egg Carton Caterpillars

Lacing Activity

I color copied the pages from the book that had all of the foods lined up.  I cut out each picture, laminated them, cut them again, and hole-punched through each piece.  

Once of the best parts of this book is the holes through all the foods as you turn the pages, so this activity was a fun way to "eat through" the foods along with the caterpillar while working on some fine motor skills.

Big Boy went back to this activity several times during the week.  Lacing like this can be a source of extreme frustration for him (he HATES to fail), but encouraging him to stick with it and celebrating his success is just so wonderful.  I almost cried last night seeing him look so proud of himself for getting it (this of course AFTER he threw down the pieces, stormed away, and came back to try again...all on his own). And he cracked up every time he got a piece on and I cheered for him in an obnoxiously loud way.  

Feeding Time

We fed Little Man's caterpillar toy.  Big Boy got a kick out of this very simple, off-the-top-my-head, game. Everything was named and repeated as it was being fed to the caterpillar.  I asked him to feed the caterpillar "something green," or "something cold," etc.  I thought it was a great way to sneak learning into the afternoon, and get him to work on his speech. 

Caterpillar Counter

Big Boy is just not ready to count with me.  He resists it so hard.  But I figure I can just keep on bombarding him with numbers (same kind of goes for the alphabet) and eventually he will decide when he is ready to count along.  As far as he is concerned this was just a fun collage activity.  

I would like to point out that I didn't correct him when he glued eyes onto the caterpillar (huge progress for me!).  He did the antennae and feet all by himself too, using the book cover for a reference.

Moving on to next week I know that I need to get back into gear and plan, plan, plan!  I plan on being a very busy bee this weekend to get myself on track for our (home) school year.

And to mark the school year, I took pictures of Big Boy looking so grown and handsome.  Seeing friends post pictures of their little ones off to preschool reminded me that just because we are staying home, we can still share in some of the good ol' back to school traditions that mark this time of year- in this case: the picture outside the house marking the first morning off to school.

As We Go - Apple Picking

The other night I was struck with the realization that summer's days are numbered.  As we sat down to dinner, the kitchen was darker than it had been (because it was rainy), and that made me think of the coming darkness of winter.  That makes me sad.

BUT... we still have fall to make that transition easier.  And I love fall!  Crisp, cool weather.  Trips to the orchard.  Pumpkin pie!!!

Somehow we missed all the berry picking that the summer months offer.  So we got started early with our fall picking (apples and peaches from Lyman Orchards).

Last year Big Boy had his first apple picking experience.  He was one and a half and I wasn't sure how well he would do.  He LOVED it.  It was so much fun to watch him go nuts... he knew exactly what he was there to do with absolutely zero instruction.  This year he had a blast again.

Little Man thought it was great too!  We put him close to some low branches with fruit he could reach from his stroller and his face lit up immediately.

What is it about picking that is so much fun to these little tykes?  I can't say for sure, but it's wonderful.

Spending the day at the orchard is a wonderful way to enjoy the outdoors, and an opportunity to explore new textures (smooth apple, fuzzy peach), sights (sunlight peeking through the trees and casting shadows, rows of trees, the contrast of the red fruit in the green tree), and smells (fresh, sweet fruit hanging in the trees...and some not so fresh, squashed fruit that has fallen from the trees) you don't experience everyday.

Not to mention, there was certain two year old who was very proud to eat apple crisp made from apples he picked from the tree all by himself!

As We Go - Beach Vacation

It's been a while since I posted.  Here's why: 

VACATION!!!

We spent a week at the Jersey Shore... and then another week recovering from the colds we brought back from dear ol' Dirty Jersey.  

In between fist pumps at Seaside we did some crafting and some learning on the go.

Paper Plate Smiley Sun - 

paper plate, markers, construction paper, glue

I am so proud of the daddy for letting Big Boy do his own thing.  I have a bad habit of correcting his crafts.  Sure all the triangle sun rays were glued in one spot in the center of the sun by the time he was finished... but this is a toddler project after all.

Wildlife Observation - 

At the beach we found and compared footprints made by people, gulls, and sandpipers.  We also watched crabs and clams burry themselves back under the sand every time the waves uncovered them.  We made sure to address why it's such a good idea for the small crabs and clams to hide under the sand... so they don't get eaten!

Paper Plate Fishy - 

paper plate, paint, glue, seashell (fin)

Rock and Shell Painting-

rocks and shells from the beach, card stock, paint

I just love how Big Boy's painting came out.  This one is going in a frame.  It was a fun craft to explore textures and colors... a great use for our beach treasures!

Math Lesson? 

Physics?

All the rides and games from the boardwalk were awesome new experiences, and maybe on some deep subconscious level they paved the way for future mathematical thought processes!

Reading - 

Before leaving for our trip I hit up the library and found a bunch of beach themed books.  I think we touched each one at least once.  But sitting still was very hard.

1.    Sea, Sand, Me; Patricia Hubbell

2.    At the Beach; Anne and Harlow Rockwell

3.    At the Beach; Dana Rau

4.    If You See a Whale; Powell

5.    Bats at the Beach; Brian Lies

6.    Beach Feet; Kiyomi Konagaya

7.    Biscuit’s Day at the Beach; Alyssa Capucilli

Dinosaur Week Recap

Well...so ends dinosaur week.  We had fun making different dinosaur crafts and going on our field trip to the natural history museum to see fossils and dino skeletons.

I can't say whether or not Big Boy was quite as interested in all of the different activities I had planned for this week of home learning as he was last week.  He was willing to do most things, but his attention span was a bit shorter.  On the other hand- he is now fully potty trained and was going pretty often! So maybe he was just distracted this week.

Here is what this week looked like:

Monday - The boys were introduced to their sensory bins.  Little Man has a hard time enjoying his time in the basement with us in the mornings; by the time we finish breakfast, get cleaned, up and get ourselves together to head down, he is ready for a nap.  So I don't know that he cares to much for these sensory bins.  He knows I am using them to keep him occupied and out of my arms.  Later in the week, though, he did spend some good time with during one of Big Boy's now rare afternoon naps. 

 Big Boy on the other hand, was rather fond of his bin.  On the first day with it he insisted I do the dinosaur excavating, so I did.  Modeling is very important.  Sometimes it's annoying because I don't put activities together for me to do, but I have to remind myself he is watching so he can do it later.  I let him watch dig videos on youtube for a while and he was actually pretty focused... not on the archeologists, but on the excavators used at the dig sites (the boy is in love with big trucks).

Big Boy made a dinosaur collage (once again courtesy of my Cricut).

We went to the library.  The boys had me going a little crazy.  We need to work on volume control in the library.  Scratch that.  In general.  I don't know how much more of the shrieking I can take!

The counting worksheet didn't go over well.  Big Boy hates to count.  I asked him to count with me and he hit me.  I took away some cars.  He got mad and wanted nothing to do with me.... until I sat down at the table with a dinosaur puzzle and sang "We are the dinosaurs marching, marching.  We are the dinosaurs, we make the Earth flat!" I marched the pieces around the table and into their correct spot.  Then he came running... and smiling.  And all was right with the world. 

Later that night the daddy got him to count a little bit, using food as a motivator, but hey...you do what works sometimes.  He also showed daddy how to use brushes to excavate dinosaur bones (remember the modeling....there ya go).

Tuesday - 

The very first thing we did was to check our baby dinosaur egg (Big Boy was so excited to find in the sensory bin the day before)!

The egg is cracked!  Very exciting stuff.

There were dinosaur bones that needed discovering... more sensory bin play!  This time the cutie pie was much more independent and used his brush to clean off the bones as he unearthed them.

We read How do Dinosaurs say Happy Birthday, by Jane Yolen, and made a paper birthday cake.  I swear he smiled the entire time!

We had our field trip.  Their was a lot of gasping and pointing.

Wednesday - 

We went to gymboree to start our day.

We game home to check on "Egg Baby" who was making his way out of his shell.  Of course a certain boy had to hatch as well.

Big Boy had no interest in reading with me.

He had very little interest in our big/small worksheet.  He did draw a circle when I asked him to circle a small dinosaur  (which I modeled for him and did some hand over hand circles first).  This was impressive since he usually only draws back and forth strokes.

He had just enough patience to do our "Dd" is for dinosaur craft.  Barely enough.  When he decided he was done he took off like a shot to his train table at the other side of the room.

While I did have his attention for this project, though, he did well repeating the "d" sound over and over.  So it was a good speech development activity to boot.  Also, the night before I had discovered a new way to get him to make different consonant sounds... our own twist on the telephone game.  I would make a sound ( "p, p, p" or "k, k, k") in his ear and tell him "Now go tell Daddy!" And he did.

Thursday - 

 Big Boy went to his School Skills class at Gymboree.  He impressed his teacher by working independently on his crafts (tissue paper art and a watercolor painting).

We read "How do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon"  and used a doctor kit to perform check ups on his sick dinosaur toys.

Big Boy painted with stencils, different style brushes... and eventually his fingers!

Friday - 

Big Boy has discovered dress up.  He used to hate it.  He wanted to like it, but he hated it.  Now he likes it.  Super cute.

We made dinosaur fossils.  So much fun!

Big Boy made canvas art.  I used my Cricut to cut a large dinosaur shape on card stock, taped it onto a canvas, let him have at it with paints, then removed the paper shape.  A reverse silhouette.  He thought that was hilarious.

We played a few rounds of Discovery Toy's "Roll and Play" game.  One of the action cards was to trace your hand.  He thought that was pretty great.

We did quite a bit, huh?  No wonder I am no where near prepared for our trip to the shore.  We leave tomorrow.... well, today... I'm up way too late.