Thursday, April 25, 2013

New Calendar


Xander has really started taking an interest in the days of the week and concepts like "tomorrow,"  "yesterday," "last night," etc.  I decided to take advantage of this curiosity and bought him a magnetic calendar.  I am so happy I found one I like!  First of all, I wanted it to be magnetic so that I could store all the pieces right on there while still looking streamlined (I'm admittedly a little OCD, clutter is VERY distracting to me).  Some of the more traditional school calendar stations have too many pockets and things hanging off them.  Also, storing everything right on the calendar itself keeps me from having to find a place to put the extra months and seasons.    This calendar doesn't have the traditional grid, which is fine with me because I know he is not ready for that kind of abstract representation.  It also allows the calendar to be smaller, so it fits perfectly on the side of my bookcase next to his desk.  


Xander was super excited when I showed it to him.  We went through all of the categories together and I helped him select the correct magnet and place it in the correct spot.  He liked it so much we actually had to do it a couple of times that first day.  I'm hoping he continues to like it and that we can make it a (semi) regular part of our day.

Monday, April 22, 2013

N for Nightingale




We are currently working on our Mommy & Me ABC units.  This week was letter N and nightingales!  Unless otherwise specified, all of the printables are from my Mommy & Me ABC Printables, which are free as we complete them (for a detailed list of all the materials in the printables, check out this post).

 This was his desk setup.  I just added a magnetic calendar (post coming), but am very happy with it.  His white board had some alphabet magnets, and his fridge phonics set.  The shelf had a bunch of Ns, a toy nightingale, and some N books.

Letter N Alphabet Sensory Bin


 

 Nightingale Puzzles

Bird alphabet puzzles.

Putting together the bird from his pattern block puzzles.  Not sure why he chose to do it there, reaching over his phone.

Tracing

Letter Clipping

Nightingale Number Cards
I had him match some number tiles to the card with the corresponding number of nightingales.  He did a pretty good job, but was upset there wasn't one with seven.  Next time I guess I need to print all the cards!

Shape Nests
Xander really liked the shape matching activity this week.  He thought the nests were fun, maybe because we've been talking about birds we see outside.  The picture to the bottom right is him jumping up and down yelling "HOORAY" for matching them all correctly.
Birdseed Ornaments
I found a recipe for some birdseed ornaments on Pinterest (link here), and knew we had to make some! Xander had a blast!  We put one on the deck and have enjoyed watching the birds eat it.  We got the prettiest cardinal the other day, but it flew away before I could get the camera out.  With a little note and in a cute box the ornaments also made a nice little appreciation gift for our day care provider.  We will definitely be doing these again!

Egg Nest Breakfast
As a warp up to our Nightingale week I made some eggs in potato nests (adapted from here).
 
Other Tot School Activities
For added vocabulary I had out his Baby Sealife Toob and the matching 3 part cards I made (you can find the post with the printable here).  He can read them all, but sometimes struggles with the sea lion and the humpback whale.
 
One day he wanted to match them in his pocket chart.
Rediscovering his shape sorter.


For more ideas, check out my Nightingale/Bird Theme Pinterest Board!



Tot School

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Baby Sealife Vocabulary Cards


I recently made some 3 Part Cards to go with our Baby Sealife Toob and thought I would share!  Xander absolutely loves playing matching games with these types of cards, but he likes it even better when he has the toy to go with!  You can download the cards here.  You can download the corresponding Little Reader lesson here!





Monday, April 15, 2013

M for Monkey




 Xander is 28 Months

We are currently working on our Mommy & Me ABC units.  This week was letter M and monkeys! I actually had a lot of trouble putting this set together.  I had trouble finding images of monkeys that were true monkeys and not apes.  That is why most of the pictures are of a marmoset, which is not the "stereotypical" monkey.    Unless otherwise specified, all of the printables are from my Mommy & Me ABC Printables, which are free as we complete them (for a detailed list of all the materials in the printables, check out this post).

 His white board had some alphabet magnets, and his fridge phonics set.  The shelf had a bunch of Ms, some monkeys, and some monkey books.
Stretching to reach the fridge phonics!

Balancing monkeys on his peg letter m.
Letter M Alphabet Sensory Bin
Making Monkey Chains
Play Dough
Magnet Dot Page
I gave Xander two colors of pom poms so that he could put one color on the big Ms and the other on the little Ms.  He did a pretty good job distinguishing the two.
 Monkey Puzzles
We have been using our A-Z mini puzzles for a while, but this was the first week Xander did one completely by him self.  Then, of course, he did it again and again and again...

Shape Jungles
This activity is hit or miss with Xander.  I think it is too easy.  I had a bunch of mini jungles with the name of a shape and then some monkey cut outs with shapes for him to match.
Letter Clipping

Coloring

Monkeys in the tub
Monkey Snacks
Chocolate covered bananas seemed like the perfect treat to go with our monkey week!  They were a HUGE hit.
Making an M out of Hexie-Snaps
Monkey Size Sorting
Tracing
I picked up a package of Expo washable dry erase markers, and I really like them.  Very bright colors, but vibrant.  I think I may like them better than the Crayola ones, but I'm not positive yet.
Other Tot School Activities
 Working on some alphabet puzzles.
Playing with his number train.


Tot School

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