Reading with Robbie... Wrapping Up Week 1

Day 5:

He re-read his Unit 1 Review and his "Cat" book. He had two days (Friday and Saturday) off with no reading lessons and he is still retaining everything.


Week 1 turned out great!

Robbie likes his reading lessons. He completed Unit 1 (Lessons 1-3 and the review) in 4 days. I plan to have him re-read the previous lesson's book sometime during the next lesson (or after). I'll have to work out my review cycle.

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Tot-School

RockerTot is currently 25 months old.

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Well, it was a pretty normal week around here. We're getting back into the swing of things since RockerDad returned to work after his vacation. I've been making and finding some new things for our Tot School. Some we will use right away, some are for later. I hope you enjoy a glimpse of the fun we have together.
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We found 3 new wooden puzzles for RockerTot a few weeks ago (Dollar General, $2 ea). They still have the regular "fit the picture shape" knob puzzle pieces, but with an inset of a 6-piece picture puzzle that fits the theme of the puzzle. He really enjoys these puzzles.


My friend, Sheralyn, sent us a box full of puzzles a few weeks ago. I had put this 25 piece puzzle out of reach because it looked like it would be too difficult. He found it and dumped the pieces. I put a few in (to clean up the mess) and he got upset and told me that he would do it... and he did. I was thoroughly shocked. I feel bad for underestimating him.


He sorted erasers by color...


,,, and practiced opening and closing the container.


He transferred beans with a mini-scoop. I was very happy because it was the first time he was really careful and didn't spill any beans. I loved watching him concentrate on keeping the beans in the scoop.


He did a combination dropper transferring and color mixing tray.


He is getting better with the dropper.... and using the towel to clean up his messes.


We did our "science experiment" and watched these capsules turn into sponge animals.We put them in the water just before naptime and when he woke up, they had transformed. (I think that helped with the impatience.)


He played with his geoboard daily.


Here is one of his finished creations. He loves to name the colors and shapes and count them.


If you would like more information on the Tot-Sized Geoboard, click here.




RockerTot still loves to work with his tools. He's not really trying to "build" with the pieces yet, but he has nearly mastered the use of the hammer, screwdriver and wrench at his workbench.


He decided that his dump truck needed to be washed, so he poured his bubbles onto an anthill, made some bubbly mud and washed it. I know the photo doesn't really show the mud, but in the end, it was covered.





RockerTot collected several sticks from the yard.


I suppose he was heading off on an adventure here...


I pulled a branch down so that he could feel it and see all of the leaves more clearly.





He played cars with RockerDad. This is still the #1 activity in the house... by a landslide.


RockerDad is being attacked in one of their daily wrestling matches.


RockerTot's cousin, S came by to play. They had lots of fun in the yard.


We built some "choo choo tunnels" together and tested them out with Thomas and Percy.


RockerTot received some helpful tips from RockerBoy about how to be more effective when wrestling RockerDad.








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Tot-School

RockerTot is currently 20 months old.

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There was so much going on this week with Valentine's Day, RockerBoy and my nephews visiting and cold weather that I'm surprised we managed to do so much.
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RockerTot can feed himself very well with a fork, but a spoon is his undoing. We've been working on using a spoon with his dry cereal snacks. He's doing pretty well, so far.


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We tried to theme some of our Tot-School activites along the lines of the Letter of the Week Preparatory Curriculum this week. I don't know that we'll follow it to the letter (no pun intended), but it's a jumping off point.

Here, RockerTot is sorting some construction paper squares by color. I taped a dot of each color into the bottom of some plastic containers I had.



We checked these books out from the library (the only ones our tiny library had with cows in them). I read them to him several times this week.


RockerTot colored a picture of a cow. He is now borderline obsessed with cows.


He placed two of his raisins on the cow's eyes to show me where they were.


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We played with the felt shapes I had cut out for him.


He really had fun with the simple fill & spill bottle I made for him. (It has q-tips in it therefore he was heavily supervised. He loves to put things into his ears.)


RockerTot played with measuring cups and books at his Mamoo's house. I'm not sure what the two have in common, but they were the objects of desire.


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There were several chances early in the week to go outside and play.. I mean, to work on his gross motor skills.

He has been able to climb the ladder to the slide for some time now. He's so proud when he reaches the top. He always slides down on his tummy (with supervision).


He loves to play catch with RockerDad.

Baseball, Softball...


... even Football!!


Here is a picture of him hitting off of a "tee" made out of coffee cups. He thought it was funny when the coffee cups fell.


These photos illustrate the game he made up using a spatula and Nerf Dart Tag darts.


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RockerDad led RockerTot, his big brother (RockerBoy) and two of his cousins (J & E) on a hike. The boys loved it!!


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I'll end with another photo. Here are the four "hikers" in front of a caboose downtown. It is stationary, so they were able to climb on it and tighten/release the brakes. They all had a fun day together.

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My other Tot School Updates

See what others have been doing in their Tot Schools

Tot School Homepage

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Current Read-Alouds

Click on the cover of any book listed to read more about it.

Here are a few of the new and/or favorite read-alouds from the past week. Many of our library books were not hits (therefore, not mentioned). These books were very popular in our home.

"One Morning in Maine"
Robert McCloskey
Robbie loved this book and refused to let me return it with the other library books (which were mostly less than memorable). He had many questions about the different birds mentioned throughout the story. I have a feeling we'll have to buy this one (it's been on my list anyway).

"Llama Llama Mad at Mama"
Anna Dewdney
He enjoys the "Llama Llama" books by Dewdney so much that he couldn't wait when to read this when it came in the mail. (Robbie receives one book per month until age 5 through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.) He loved it, as I suspected he would.

"Llama Llama Red Pajama"
Anna Dewdney
This book has not lost its charm for Robbie. He comes back to it constantly at bedtime. The new "Llama Llama" book ensured that he'd want to read this book as well.

To see more lists like this from other bloggers, click the link below:

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