Tot School - April 20 - 24, 2009

Lindsay is currently 3 1/2 years old

Tot School last week was a little sparse in the picture department. My foot has been really bothering me lately, and I'm having trouble walking. What's wrong, you wonder? In an act of infinite gracefulness, I stepped on a piece of broken glass last year sometime. Evidently, the surgical skills of my husband and I are lacking a bit, because I am in excrutiating pain when I walk. The only plus is that by the afternoon, it's so numb that it doesn't hurt as bad and I can actually get things done. I've never gone to the doctor about it because, well - I don't have to explain that to other moms, I guess. I just tend to put my own problems on the back burner until the whole kitchen burns down. :) Anyway...I've now realized that by ignoring it, I may have done myself more harm than good. So....I'm having surgery this Thursday to correct the damage I've caused to my foot and will be on crutches for 3 weeks. No biggie...but I've never walked on crutches before so this will definitely be a challenge. Ya'll pray...I'm not scared, but Gary is. He's never had a surgery and worries himself sick when I have to.

ANYWAY...Tot School. Right. We had a busy week, even if most of our time was spent just talking to each other. We talked about Earth Day and the importance of recycling. We looked at pictures of the earth and I showed her where we lived on a world map. We made promises to do better when we throw things away and we will really try to get things to the recycling bin instead of the trash can. We had lots of little talks about our planet and how we need to take care of it. We touched on climate differences a little, but it was kind of over her head, so we moved on.

Here's something I did get pictures of: Our "Fuzzy Weed-Stamped Flower Garden"!! One afternoon, we were sitting outside playing in the grass. Lindsay brought me this weed that I'm sure everyone has in their own yards, right?? She called it a "Fuzzy Weed". After I finished sneezing, I collected several more from her and grabbed some paint. Here's what we ended up with!

First - Grab a "fuzzy-weed" like this from your yard (or if you're the super-mom-type who would die if she found a weed in her yard, go steal one from your neighbor!)

Second, choose your paint colors - we used yellow, orange, green, purple, light blue, red, and pink. I used the Crayola Washable paints, and they worked like a charm when it came to clean-up time.

Next, dip your "fuzzy-weed" into the paint and stamp it on your paper (I used 11 x 13 poster board), to make a flower. Play around with it...the more paint you put on your "fuzzy-weed," the fuller the petals on your flowers. I loved the effect I got when I used a very small amount of red paint...it almost looked like a hibiscus flower!

Finally, use the stem of your "fuzzy-weed" to make the flower stems and leaves for your garden!

Clean up was really easy - I tend to stay away from painting because I detest cleaning paint brushes!! But this proved to be very easy!!

For those of you who noticed my hypocrytical use of styrofoam plates while teaching Lindsay about Earth Day...I know! I know!!! I'm really sorry!!! I bought a huge supply of them a few months ago - before our new promise was made. :) I am trying to change, I swear!!!

To join in the weekly fun, or simply read other Tot Reports from other moms, visit Carisa's blog: 1+1+1=1.

Tot School - March 30 - April 3, 2009

Wow! We had one of the best weeks ever! The weather was beautiful almost every day last week!! So beautiful, in fact, that I couldn't bear to keep the kids inside all day. So nearly every day last week, we went outside for most of the day. Most of Lindsay's tot school was done inside in the mornings, while it was still a little too chilly outside.

Theme: WEATHER!!

We just kept it simple this week. Rather than simply teaching her about the weather, I wanted Lindsay to really experience our theme up close and personal! This theme is one of my favorites because I LOVE sunshine!! Without it, I would surely go insane.

Prior to last week, I had made a bunch of weather cards using an April Lesson Plan I bought online. On Monday, she and Addison helped me make a box to display them. Each day, Lindsay got up from the breakfast table and ran over to the front door to peak out the side-lights to see what the weather would be. I would ask her to choose the correct weather card from the box to show me what the weather was. Then we would place a matching weather card on our calendar.

We talked about the rain...

And she made a raindrop (that I had outlined for her) out of blue thumbprints and "swirlies"...

We talked about clouds...She did a worksheet (on desk above) which had to do with counting clouds and being able to circle the correct number that corresponded to the number of clouds in a given row.

This is something I felt particularly proud of...I handed her a coloring page with a cloud on it, and asked her what color she thought clouds were. My 3 year old little Einstein told me that clouds could be pink, purple, blue, orange and white...rainbow clouds. I laughed and said, "oh how cute," and dismissed it. Later on that evening, while (still) playing in the yard, she pointed to the sky and said, "Look Mommy! Rainbow Clouds!" It was a beautiful sunset and all the clouds were, in fact, "rainbow" colored!

I taught her a song about clouds in which she got to use her cloud stick. It included an appropriate amount of wiggling and giggling! :)

We did some color sorting...nothing to do with "weather" persay, but she REALLY likes to sort M&M's!!

We talked about the wind, and made a beautiful windsock!

On it, she colored herself and Mommy playing in the flowers.

She decided to hang it in the big Elm tree in the front yard. I thought it looked very pretty there!

And we spent a LOT of time discussing the aerodynamics of a Dora the Explorer tricycle! (LOL...just kidding!!)

For more Tot Reports from other moms, visit Carisa's blog at 1+1+1=1. Y'all have a great week!!

Tot School - March 23-27, 2009

If you read my post, New Preschool Curriculum for Lindsay, you already know that I bought a new Preschool Curriculum for Lindsay. I bought it from Mary Robinson at http://www.preschoolplanner.com/. So far I really like it. Some of the ideas listed below are my own, some are Mary’s. As I previously posted, I do not feel comfortable sharing the details of her ideas – even if I’ve tweaked them a little. So if you have questions, please refer to Mary’s website or her blog at Preschool Planner 101. I like it because it focuses on weekly themes, which works for us. And since I bought the ebook, I receive periodic emails from her with even more ideas. I just recently found her blog, and noted there were a lot of free items, so you might want to check that out first.

My teenage step-daughter, Tracy was on Spring Break this week and she came down on Tuedsay to spend the week with us. So we didn’t get a whole lot done because we like to spend as much time with her as we can because we just don't get to see her as much as we'd like. She's a busy, busy teenager living with her mom about 200 miles away. :( So, I'm sure you'll understand why Tot School was a little sparse this week. But here’s a little bit of what we did earlier in the week and this weekend.

Theme: Teddy Bears

We didn’t focus on a particular letter, shape, or color this past week. Lindsay has already mastered all of her shapes and colors, and I wanted to focus more on the alphabet as a whole as opposed to one specific letter this week.

Book Focus: Goldilocks and the Three Bears

We did a Teddy Bear Show and Tell. Lindsay brought several of her favorite bears to “Floor Time.” We charted them and afterwards arranged the bears on the floor according to size. As an afterthought, I also tried to show her how to arrange them in alphabetical order by their names. I didn't think ahead or I would have charted them in alphabetical order to help her visually, but there's always next time I guess! I knew that skill was going to be difficult for her – she’s 3 and doesn’t have the entire alphabet down yet. She still skips the letter N and still can recognize a few of them when I present them out of order.
We also did a Teddy Bear Parade…we walked all over the house and let the bears wave to the parade-goers (the non-teddy-bear-stuffed-animals, dolls). She wanted to throw candy, but mommy had to veto that one!

We took to the internet and researched different types of bears and where they live in the world. I found this website very helpful. http://kids.poisson.org.uk/bears/types.htm. It listed the 8 different types of bears, photos of them in their environments, and a map of where they live. We talked about what different bears eat, and noted how some bears like cold weather and other bears like hot weather. I asked her to tell me what kind of weather each one of her stuffed bears liked. I was glad to see that she had a very diverse group of bears!

Addison helped Lindsay with a Puppet Show of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Goldilocks is a brunette in our house…lol. I was blown away with the thought and imagination that they put into this puppet show. They’re selling tickets for the “afternoon matinee” later on today. I wonder if they’ll give me a discount!

Pay no attention to the little grimey fingerprints on the TV behind them!

I ALWAYS forget those during clean-up!!

Music: We learned a new song called Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear by Jack Hartmann (this is in Mary's Ebook - I know this isn't a top secret song, because I used to do this with my preschoolers years ago, so I'm sharing it). I think it can be adapted to fit almost any theme. :)

Lyrics:
Teddy bear, teddy bear - turn around,
Teddy bear, teddy bear - touch the ground
Teddy bear, teddy bear - shake your hips,
Teddy bear, teddy bear - blow a kiss

Teddy bear, teddy bear - jump up high,
Teddy bear, teddy bear - see me smile
Teddy bear, teddy bear - give a hug,
Teddy bear, teddy bear - lots of love

Oh la, la, la, la, la love my teddy bear

This has nothing to do with Tot School, but I also took the kids outside yesterday morning (it was freezing) to get some pictures of them all together! Here are a couple of my favorites!

Tracy and Lindsay at a little park in Downtown Texarkana, AR.

All four of my kiddos!!

Lindsay, Tracy, Trey and Addison

For more Tot Reports from other moms, visit Carisa's blog at 1+1+1=1!

Tot School - Spring Break!!

Last week, Tot School was fairly non-existent due to our Spring Break. Since Addison still attends public school, we follow her schedule to make it easier on everyone. Trey and Lindsay enjoy being off when Addison is off, and honestly...so do I. So you'll notice there's no theme, letter of the week, etc.

She did have some free dress-up time, which she normally doesn't have access to unless it's for dramatic play during Tot-School time. (I started having to keep the dress up materials put up when she started trying to go overboard with the glam...she spilled a good amount of red fingernail polish in my bedroom floor - did I mention I have white carpet? She's sooo sneaky!!) So she decided she wanted to be a Barbie Superhero...note the Barbie doll in the hand-fashioned "holster" on her back. Yes, those are panties on her head...I swear I don't know where she comes up with this stuff!!

While we were on Spring Break, Gary had to go to the Best Buy in Shreveport, LA to manage their store while their managers were all out of town at some event. SO...he was gone from Tuesday until Saturday. The kids were really missing their daddy, so we drove down to visit on Thursday morning. It's only an hour and a half from our house, so it was a very do-able trip. The kids had a great time spending the night with Dad in his hotel, and Gary was glad that he got to have some company.

Since he was working the closing shift, we got to spend the morning with him and most of the afternoon. Then he went to work and we went to play!! We went to the Boardwalk down on the river, where there are lots and lots of shops. The city has completely revitalized the downtown area and it is so kid-friendly down there during the daytime hours! The streets have been permanently blocked off, and the only transportation is a trolley system that runs the length of the boardwalk. There is a carosel, lots of restaurants, and tons of shops! Think of walking around your favorite downtown area - with a scenic view of the river, and NO TRAFFIC!! It was awesome!

I took the kids to the Build-a-Bear Workshop, where they each got new outfits for their existing bears. Lindsay also had a bear already, but Addie had picked it out for her on a previous trip, so it was Lindsay's first experience at Build-a-Bear and I just couldn't tell her no when she asked for the pink monkey with hearts on it's hands, feet, and tummy.

We had a bit of trouble with temper tantrums in the workshop, so I decided that a learning opportunity existed there and we did a mini-lesson on feelings when we got home. Here she is showing her happy face, and her angry face (too funny!!) It was all I could do not to laugh at that one!!

So that was our week off from Tot School...if you're interested in what other (non-slacker) moms did for Tot School this week, visit Carisa's blog: 1+1+1=1.

Tot School - March 9 - 13, 2009

I know I haven't posted about Tot School in a couple of weeks. We've all been sick for the past few weeks. We also took a trip to the ER with Lindsay for some super-glue action on a cut above her eyebrow. So we took a couple of weeks off from formal Tot School. We did do a few things here and there, but I didn't take pictures because it was difficult for me to even get off the couch. We were all coughing, had fever, and lots of head and chest congestion. We still have the cough, but at least we're feeling better!!

This week's theme was St. Patrick's Day...we're on Spring Break next week, so we went ahead and covered St. Pat's Day this week.

Letter: P

Color: Green

Shape: Clover

Book Club Story: Clever Tom and the Leprechaun by Linda Shute

Art:

We made handprint rainbows by tracing Lindsay's hands and cutting them out in the colors of the rainbow. We glued the handprints together in an arched shape and put the rainbow next to a pot of gold that we drew out.

Cognitive Skills:

3 Leaf / 4 Leaf Game

I gave Lindsay a worksheet that I made with several 3 leaf and 4 leaf clovers on it. I asked her to count the number of 3 leaf clovers and the number of 4 leaf clovers. Then we counted how many we had all together.

This really didn't have a lot to do with St. Patrick's Day, but I got out the Connect 4 Game and we made AB patterns using the game pieces. We noted how the patterns formed both horizontally and vertically.

Floor Time

We talked about where the idea of St. Patrick's Day and luck orginated from. We also talked about what St. Patrick did that made him so historical, how we celebrate St. Patrick's Day, and what country St. Patrick's Day is associated with.

Dramatic Play

We made a "Leprechaun Village" consisting of sheets, blankets, chairs, etc. We dressed in green and pretended to be leprechauns. We talked in Irish accents and talked about the problems with being tiny and green. We also played a little game of "Find the Pot O' Gold!" I hid a box of crumpled up yellow paper, and she was supposed to hunt for it. As you can see by the look on her face, she was NOT impressed with her treasure.

For other Tot Reports from other moms, visit Carisa's blog at 1+1+1=1. She's got lots of great ideas for moms of tots, and another new blog as well called Totally Tots, which is truly a blessing for moms of little ones!! Check it out!!! Have a great week!

Tot School - February 16 - 20

Last week for Tot School, I chose to focus Lindsay's activities around the book, If You Give a Moose a Muffin. She really loves this book, so I thought it would be fun to use it as our theme for the week.

Letter: M

Shape: Square

Color: Red

The majority of our week was spent reading (and re-reading) the book. With Lindsay, if you read it once, you have to read it over and over again. This is fine with me because it helps her with word recognition.

We had a "book club meeting" with Trey and lots of stuffed animals. Lindsay and I made muffins and hot chocolate. We even used our real tea cups and saucers. I made a Moose teaching aid using the template on this site. They also have all kinds of other crafts and activities on that site using this theme. Another site I found helpful was Danielle's Place. We played the Muffin Match Math Game, Follow the Tracks Mystery Game.

Our new weekly book club meeting!

We also researched different facts about the moose and it's habitat and talked about how the moose is the largest member of the deer family. We don't have any moose in this area, but we do have lots of deer around our neighborhood. We took a drive up the road to see if we could spot any...they were hiding that day, though.

We had a really great week using this theme...I'm sure we'll use more literature based themes in the future. We enjoyed the book club so much that we have added it to our weekly schedule. I bring refreshments, Trey gets to practice his reading skills by reading the book to us out loud, and Lindsay gets to bring guests and set up the "tea party" - esque atmosphere. We all have a great time and learn a little in the process.

Trey and Lindsay having a book club picnic outside.

For more Tot School Reports from other moms, visit Carisa at 1+1+1=1.

Tot School - February 9 - 13, 2009

Letter: V

Shape: Heart

Color: Pink

Pre-Science: We used a stethescope to listen to our hearts before and after exercising to show/discuss why our hearts beat faster when we're exercising. We talked about why it's important to exercise in order to keep our hearts healthy.

Large Motor: A Hearty Workout
This was a game that I found online at http://www.prekfun.com/%22%3Ehttp://www.prekfun.com/ (I think!) But when I went back, I found that they only keep listed the current themes and they disable the links for the older themes. So, unfortunately, I am unable to link back to the actual page where this activity can be found...so I've listed the words below.

(Tune: Do You Know the Muffin Man?")

Oh Valentine! Come dance with me!
Dance with me!
Dance with me!
Oh Valentine! Come dance with me!
We'll dance until we stop!! (Freeze)

Each time, substitute other actions like hop, skip, jump, twirl, etc. Afterwards, we placed our hands over our hearts to feel how it beats faster.

Arts/Crafts: We made lots of Valentines and Valentine decorations.

That's Addie peaking in from the outside...she's so silly!!

Pre-Math / Dramatic Play: Sorting - Playing Post Office - After we made our Valentines, Lindsay played like she was the mail carrier and "delivered" each valentine to it's appropriate "mailbox". She sorted each one into each family member's mailbox, then we counted how many each family member had.

Language: Draw/Dictate Pictures - I asked Lindsay to draw a picture about how we show people that we love them. She dictated the pictures as she drew them. One little funny here...her idea of how to show Trey that she loves him: "I let him clean my room for me."

More Pre/Math: We played Conversation Heart Tic-Tac-Toe...only without the conversation hearts because she kept eating them all.


Even More Pre-Math: we cut out lots and lots of heart shapes out of cardstock and placed them on a white bedsheet. Then on the count of three, we flipped the bedsheet up in the air and watched all the hearts float up and finally land on the floor. The one to collect the most hearts won. We discussed how we knew who had more hearts.

This was a really fun game that she continued to play all day long...when Trey and I got tired of playing, she enlisted the dog!

Fine Motor: We play with Play-Doh quite a bit. This week, she decided that she wanted to make Valentine "cookies" with her play-doh. This of course led us to making the real cookies (like we needed them with all the chocolate in the house, but what could I do??) This is her play-doh version of her "Daddy Sweetheart!"

As you can see, we had a very exciting (and busy) week in Tot School! For more Tot Reports from other mom's of toddlers, visit Carissa's Tot School blog at 1+1+1=1!

Tot School - February 2 - 6, 2009

No pictures this week...I know...I'm a total slacker! We were actually painting (all week) and my house was a complete MESS!! Being a former scrapbooker, I am severely bothered by photos where the backgrounds show my messy house. So I didn't take them. There...the truth has come out....why do I not feel "set free?" Could it be all the dust bunnies holding me prisoner? Ha!

Theme: Opposites

Letter: Y

Shape: Diamond

Color: Yellow

Pre-Math: Opposite Matching Game. For this activity, I printed out clip art pictures of different actions and their opposites onto some of my old scrapbooking cardstock and cut them out into squares. I laid out the pieces face up. I used sit/stand, tall/short, rain/shine, run/wallk, fat/thin (not my favorite one), big/little, etc. Then we matched them up! We had a lot of fun with this game. After she got the hang of the matching, we turned the cards face down and played a memory game with them.

Pre-Science: Sink/Float Sensory Table. We don't have a sensory table (so-to-speak), so I filled the kitchen sink with water and collected different items that would sink and float. We experimented with these items and guessed which items would sink or float. Then we talked about why our guesses were right or wrong. Lindsay had sooooo much fun with this! I wish I had gotten pictures of it!!

Large Motor Focus: Simon Says with Opposites. This one took a little time to master. She caught on quickly to the idea of doing the opposite action from what I suggested, but didn't catch the idea of only doing it when I said "Simon Says." Go figure.

More Large Motor Focus: Leap Frog. (Crouch/Leap). LOTS of fun!!

Arts and Crafts: Accordion Weiner Dog: I drew a picture (if you could call it that) of a weiner dog onto a piece of brown construction paper and helped Lindsay cut it out. Then we cut it in half. We then cut another long strip of brown construction paper and taped it to either side of the dog and folded it up to demonstrate a "long" weiner dog, and a "short" weiner dog. I wrote the word "short" in really skinny letters on the dog's front half. Then when it was unfolded, I wrote the word "long" in a way that took up the entire length of the dog's belly.

*This project was not my idea...I actually remembered doing this craft when I taught Pre-K years ago, but I've seen it done different ways on several websites recently as well, although I couldn't begin to recall which ones. So if you or someone you know should take credit for this cute idea, please, by all means do so in the comment section. :)

Sadly, our weiner dog didn't last long. Lindsay dragged this poor animal all over the house until he fell apart. He was taken to the weiner dog infirmary (a baby doll cradle in her play closet) and given several Dora and Sponge Bob band-aids. We're hoping for a full recovery. ;-)

Books: Slide and Seek by Chuck Murphy; Opposites by Sandra Boynton.

For more Tot Reports from other moms, click on the Tot School button above!!

Tot School - January 26 - 30

This week was a slow week for Tot School...well kind of. It was actually pretty busy for Lindsay, but I didn't take a lot of pictures because I was being a slacker...I admit it. I didn't charge the batteries in the camera, my dog ate my SD card, my husband monopolized the computer. I've got a ton of excuses, but none of them are really true. I just didn't get to the picture taking this week. :( I feel so horrible!

Theme: Food Groups / Cooking

Letter: O

Color: Orange

Shape: Circle

Since Trey was already doing Lessons on the Food Groups, I thought this would be an excellent Tot School opportunity. She learned about healthy snacks as opposed to junk food, and I showed her the different food groups. We also did a little of the following:

Fine Motor Skills: Cutting with a (child-oriented) knife: Lindsay learned how to use a kid-friendly plastic knife to help Mom cut up celery, carrots, and hard-boiled eggs. She also helped me make Mickey Mouse Pancakes one special morning. :)

Learning Center: Dramatic Play - Kitchen / Apron / Chef Hat Dress Up: Lindsay had a great time playing chef in her Kitchen Closet (our hall closet that we cleaned out for her). She and Addie got matching embroidered aprons for Christmas from their B. The chef hat was a gift to Addie from Santa Clause. But I've seen them at Bed Bath & Beyond for around $8. :)

Gross Motor: Jumping Jacks / Wii-Fit (we love this game during the winter!!)

Pre-Math: Making a "pizza" with a circle. I cut out a large circle out of cardstock and then cut out several smaller circles for the pepperoni. We then cut the pizza into 4 equal slices for each of her pizza party attendees (her baby dolls). She actually caught on faster than I thought she would. I thought the fractions would confuse her, but she was able to duplicate it perfectly.

Getting ready for some pancakes!!!!

Playing Chef Lindsay! I call this "Heaven's Kitchen"!!! Isn't that the cutest little apron??? It has her name embroidered on the front in hot pink. Thanks B!!!

Just a look at the large hall closet I cleaned out for her to play in. She loves it!

I wasn't sure what category this activity fell into. But Lindsay and Addie received these little Magnetic Creations as Christmas gifts this past year, and boy am I glad! Lindsay will sit for hours playing with these!! They come with different scenes and little magnetic figures you can rearrange. She loves to use her imagination to make different scenes.

Here's what the Magnetic Creations look like when opened up. The backgrounds are interchangeable, allowing her to choose which scene she wants to create. Lindsay likes to use all four at once and pretend it's a large "neighborhood" of folks talking back and forth to each other and going over to each other's "place" to visit and have slumber parties. :) What a sweet little imagination!

For more ideas from other Tot School moms, go to 1+1+1=1. Carissa also has a new website called Totally Tots, which is one of my favorite sites now! Go check it out!!! Have a great week everybody!!