Weekly Wrap-Up

Robbie is 2.5 years old.

BIBLE
We're changing what we're doing (since what we're doing isn't actually getting done). I'm still planning, but I hope it will be very fun for him.

PRE-READING
- Get Ready for the Code: Several Kk pages
- more short vowel word practice

PRE-WRITING
- Homemade Tracing Lessons

PRE-ARITHMETIC
- Saxon Math K Lessons 29 - 30
- Numeral Recognition activities (gearing up for lesson 31 in Saxon). We actually only did 1-4.. we'll try for the rest over the weekend and next week.

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Tot-School

RockerTot is currently 32 months old.





He worked on numeral recognition.


He really liked our homemade "carrot" (easter eggs) Montessori Sound Boxes.


He practiced writing and drawing in a tray of salt.


We enjoyed playing this homemade game to help reinforce the numeral recognition activities. We used two of his little army men as playing pieces.





RockerTot made chocolate-covered bananas... yum!







RockerTot enjoyed a warm day in our yard and at the park with his big brother and his cousins.











He was a pirate..


...he found the Easter puzzle I was saving for next month ...


...he made a Play-Doh snake for me...


...he created a reading cave out of the box from his new car seat...


... he played "Bird's-Eye Bull's Eye" on Wii Fit Plus...


... he was full of energy (more than usual) this week.




RockerDad fried catfish and made homemade tartar sauce on Thursday evening (and even washed the dishes!). This is my favorite photo this week because I got a break. (RockerTot's fillet is broken because he couldn't eat an entire fillet.)


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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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Pre-Writing - Salt Tray

**I do NOT recommend allowing your tot to use any of these items unsupervised.**

I had not presented this activity to RockerTot in quite a few months, (and he was being particularly difficult on this particular day) so I thought I'd bring it out to give him something "new" to focus on for a bit.

I was quite surprised that he decided to draw letters.. I didn't suggest that. I just thought that the sensory input from the grainy salt coupled with the fun of drawing and erasing (shaking) the tray would occupy him while I prepared his lunch.

He had so much fun with this. I think we'll have to bring it out once a week or so.

Here are pics of his fun:











** I've seen these trays on so many sites that I cannot accurately give credit for this one, but I thank everyone who posted about these types of trays. Salt could be painful if your child has any cuts on his/her fingers. Some other alternatives could be flour, rice, corn starch, shaving cream... the possibilities seem endless.

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Current Read-Alouds

...a few of the selections we enjoyed this week...

Selections from:



... over and over and over again ...

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RockerTot in the Kitchen: Dipping Bananas

RockerTot and his cousins, J (8 yrs) and Big E (5 yrs) enjoyed making chocolate covered bananas together. We wish that RockerBoy had been able to help, too! Special thanks goes out to my mother-in-law for bringing the chocolate and the bananas!

We cut the bananas in half and placed the sticks in them before freezing them. This chocolate solidified very, very quickly. We had to work fast.

Mamoo (my mom) helped the boys dip their bananas. (I think she was afraid they would make a mess.)

First, RockerTot ...


... then J ...


... then Big E ...


Here is the tray of covered bananas.


RockerTot enjoyed his frozen treat ...


... so did Big E ...


(J is a pretty picky eater who admitted to liking both chocolate and bananas, but didn't want to eat them together, hence, no snacking shot of him.)

The chocolate was a pre-packaged kind that can be found near the bananas in the supermarket, but it was good. Next time, I believe we'll roll them in some toppings before they harden. YUM!

Click to see what others are doing with their Kids in the Kitchen.

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Numeral Recognition: 1 & 2

**I do NOT recommend allowing your tot to use any of these items unsupervised.**

RockerTot can count by ones to 30 (at least), by tens to 100, is working on fives, count down from ten, can count objects, can count up and down from any number that he knows.... most of this he's picked up with very little help or intervention from me. However, he doesn't actually know his numbers. This wouldn't be an issue, but he gets frustrated trying to name them and not knowing. I have not figured out how to get him to recognize the numerals 0-10 (well, he recognizes a few... sometimes).

I'm enlisting him in letter boot camp (lol, I'm kidding, of course). I'm trying to engage his motor skills, vision, language and hearing in some numeral recognition activities over the next week or two in the hopes of gaining some ground in this area.

Since he's already been exposed to numbers, I'll be covering them two at a time. We may move on daily, or every other day. I'll just see how it goes.

Here is a shot of the materials we used for this activity:



Click here to download the pdf file of the items used in this post.

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RockerTot colored his number cutout, I tried to use the name for the number he was coloring several times in conversation as well as trying to get him to do the same.



... and in case you think his coloring is all neat like the photo above, here is his number one:



I cut out his number one and he glued it onto the corresponding sheet. He played with colored tiles while I cut out his number two. (He came up with making a number one with the tiles.. not me.) Again, I kept repeating the names of the numbers throughout our conversation, and I drew the names out of him several times as well (simply through conversation).



Here he is applying glue to his number two. He loves to glue things.



He traced the numbers with his finger as he said the name.



He used the tracing pages I made for him. (These were not for writing practice, although they could be. These pages were to involve his hands and eyes both in making the connection between the shape and the number name.) I used a marker to put a green dot where he should begin and a red dot where he should stop (these dots are not in the files, sorry).





We will also be using our homemade sandpaper numbers, puzzles, magnets and various other activities, but I wanted to share these files and how we used them in case they could help someone else.

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