Last week was our first week back since a two week break for Christmas and New Year celebrations (with Josh home) so needless to say, Monday was a "give me patience Lord" kinda day. ;) It's always hard coming back from a break because it feels like the kid's feet are dragging and they seemed to forget some things over the break. So while prepping them the weekend ahead that "school is Monday! YAY!," it definitely helped Abigail while Aidan wasn't so sure he really believed it was that much better than Christmas break (no-schedule and no-work) kinda fun. ;) However, after a rocky start with our 6 year old I finally got him going in the right direction and since then he seems to fit right back in and his brain started magically working (with some help from his "magic" kind of markers) ;)
To have a GREAT ending to our week...Abigail is officially and COMPLETELY potty-trained. Meaning no more pull-ups at night time but instead BIG girl panties!! Honestly, I've known she's been okay to be in panties for a while but we wanted to use up her princess potty trainers to make it an official time. ;) So far she is doing great! YAY for my BIG girl!!! Plus, it's nice having 1 in dipes now... ;)
In order for this to be a super fun week back to school, that meant pulling out the super special sensory bins! My kids LOVE these. I mean they could sit and play with rice (popcorn, beans, straws cut up, beads) for at least 30 minutes with music. It must be soothing. :) Even if I'm sweeping rice and beans off the floor and picking them out of toes the rest of the day.
Abigail dived right into reviewing our old letters to starting a new one.
The letter M!
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| Our sound bucket with things that start with the letter M (Mickey, Minnie, Mommy, Milk, Monkeys, Microphone, Magazine, and a cow that says "MOO!) I realize I could have found more like back in the day with Aidan but this works and she loves it! :) |
These were some of our books this week that seemed to be a perfect fit for M week! (There were also more not pictured like Mimi and the Picnic, Monster Munchies, and If you Give a Moose a Muffin)
She loves stamps, so she used her M stamp to stamp the M!
Color practice. She loved this because while the color words were in the actual color she was confident she was actually reading what color Mickey's pants needed to be. ;)
Although her name is long I still like her to practice seeing it and naming letters while we practice writing together. I normally help guide her during this time. The reason being because I want to start Handwriting Without Tears with her when she's 4 and has more control over her motor skills to make sure her letters are being formed correctly. A huge thank you to Donna (Nana) for giving us that program with all the neat things with it. :)
We also worked on number recognition. She placed the correct number of monkeys on the trees. There's also a back with higher numbers not pictured. :) We then played the Barrel of Monkeys game and had lots of fun trying to link those suckers. ;)
Working on the names of shapes. She knows the common ones (circle, square, etc) but I introduced the crescent, trapezoid, etc this time. She enjoyed painting them. :)
Finding and tracing the letters that begin with Mickey, Goofy, Donald, Pluto...
When Mommy pulls out the paint it's a BIG DEAL FOLKS!!! So they loved getting to be creative and mix the primary colors to make new colors. :)
Her M letter this week!
While I know this a picture of the TV I wanted to remember (and let you know) that on Netflix they have the Leapfrog shows/movies for kids to help review letters and their sounds. She LOVES them!!! I'm not sure if it's because she actually "gets it" and letters are clicking with her but this is definitely a great motivation to keep her learning. She feels so smart naming them and learning newer ones. :) Plus, it's a great way to keep her occupied while I work with Aidan. ;)
And with the letter M that means M&M's are a MUST! We had fun graphing!
When Abigail was finished I recorded how many total of each color at the bottom and then had Aidan compare the different amounts and tell me which one had more, less, same, by how many, etc. Great math practice!! I'm tellin' ya it makes me feel good when BOTH kids benefit from
Aidan finished the classic, Stuart Little! We read this together at night before bed and oh, he absolutely enjoyed the adventures that mouse took! In fact, I never read the book growing up and enjoyed it just as much. However, this was his first "open-ended book" where it didn't say if he found Margalo (his bird friend) but instead continued on his journey filled with adventure to find her. So...he wasn't too happy when he didn't find her right away. ha! He must be like me, I like my books to have a nice closure
Every day while the girls nap I make Aidan "rest" and during that time he is to read books and then able to play his Leappad for a fun few minutes. One chapter book he completed, on his own, was My Father's Dragon. He normally reads 1-3 chapters depending on his mood. (at least 1 chapter is required by me) While he dreads starting one (because he thinks he can't read it and it's too long with too many words), he ends up enjoying it. This one he really did! In fact, he bounced out of his room with such excitement and eagerness to tell me all about it! He really enjoyed the adventures of "Dad" while he tried to save the dragon. Such a great book!!
And in the meantime I catch the girls enjoying beads and working together. Just a picture to show school takes place anywhere in the house and I wouldn't change it for anything.
Although my days are hard at times, I treasure these days of seeing their accomplishments and hard work. I'm so thankful the Lord and Josh provides opportunities for this to happen.
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