March

I have been looking forward to this month's row! Caps for Sale! This is one of Anderson's favorite books & there are so many different concepts to work with. The main two we focused on were money and monkeys...not much relation ;-) But both are fun for toddlers!

We did lots of fun crafts but this one was my favorite! We used pictures of Anderson & he got to stack caps, made from different pieces of scrapbook paper, on top of his own head. We both had lots of fun with this one!

I bought a money kit from the dollar store & he loved playing store with the money & his kitchen. For about a week he asked me how much everything cost. I was fixing his "wunch" & he said, "Oh! I pay you $200 for da Mac-n-Cheese." Haha! He now wants to "pay" whenever we go grocery shopping, which means not-so-lovingly toss all of my groceries onto the belt & then push every button on the keypad..eeek! So, introduce the game of "store" at your own risk!

I also found these large, paper coins & bills at the dollar store & we used them a lot to learn to identify the different coins. There were a few quarters, dimes, nickels & pennies so we would sort them out or notice & talk about the different symbols & presidents on them. He definitely can't tell you all about them but we both enjoyed talking about it. That's one thing I'M learning through all of this...he's not going to remember or know all that we talk about & do. I'm trying to view it as introducing lots of different concepts. I could be wrong, but I think that's appropriate for his level of development. Which is great & lots of fun but sometimes it would be nice to see a "result". I can see why giving lots of tests could be a temptation in the far future. You want to know your efforts are producing fruits! 

I never did find a Barrel of Monkeys for us to play with. I need to just order them from Amazon.

I found some fun Caps for Sale related worksheets & activities via a pin on Pinterest. He enjoyed doing them, especially this one!

These were our St. Patrick's Day related window clings:

These were the supplemental books we used. All 3 were awesome! 

Our chapter book was a flop. I got Mercy Watson to the Rescue. It's the first in a series. It's only 60 or 70 pages but has a lot of bright illustrations so we read it in one night. In fact, we read it several times. I hated it. It was stupid & poorly written & just ridiculous. Anderson enjoyed it though. By the time I returned it there wasn't enough time to read another "real" chapter book. 

It was a fun month of learning, playing OUTSIDE! Welcome Spring! And starting baseball! We also celebrated lots of birthdays, including mine. It was a busy month but in a good way. 

Here's a link to my March pinterest board.

Our verse was Psalm 34:8a - Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!

AMEN!

February

This month we are rowing:

These supplemental books are all from our own book collection:

{This one is a favorite. I mean, Curious George & flaps...what Toddle wouldn't love it?}

These are some books we found at the library. I decided to get some poetry books this month instead of trying to do a chapter book.

{This has definitely been his favorite poetry book}

{This is not a book of poetry but an early reader book. So basically, it's super annoying because it's a lot of simple words being repeated but he likes it. It's about a little boy & a dragon & all sorts of red things & since red is Anderson's favorite colors he's deemed it a favorite.}

One of his favorite activities that we've done is Bunny Hopping! I put down some tape for "rabbit trails" & he had to hop along on them. This is a fabulous indoor winter activity that really helps get out some energy but also could be fun outside with some sidewalk chalk.

He does not recognize letters yet so I've been trying to get creative in helping him learn them. We have tracing lap boards but those do not hold his attention for long. The boy is definitely a kinesthetic learner! But I imagine most preschoolers are. He either wants to be moving or playing with play doh or painting. I'm planning to order some letter cutters to use with play doh soon.

One morning I decided to put various pairs of letters along the bunny trails. I redid the trails to make them really long. Whenever we came to a set of cards I would ask him, "Which one is 'C'?" & he would choose. If he got it correct he got to pick up the card. After collecting all the cards (I just laid out 5 or 6 pairs) & hopping along the trail there was a surprise at the end, sweettarts! He immediately wanted to play again but after there was no more candy the 2nd time he was over it. I figured it was good practice while it lasted.

I was going to buy the classic magnetic fishing game as well this month. I knew he would love it & it would be a great activity but at the end of last year I found a Mindware fishing game on sale at Target. I snatched it up since we love Mindware toys. Unfortunately, this game isn't that fun. I'll definitely have to order the classic fishing game that I remember. I loved playing it when we'd visit my grandparents in Huntsville! 

We also did heart & cupcake gel window clings. We memorized 1 John 4:11. Attended our library's V'day-themed tot time. Made & received lots of valentine cards. Had a special Valentine's dinner and shared lots of kisses and hugs. 

This is my favorite craft that we did related to The Runaway Bunny:

So, 2 questions for you: 

1. What are some fun ideas you have to teach a kinesthetic learner? Or what are some go-to resources for ideas based on learning styles?

2. What is/are your favorite book(s) of poetry for young children?

January

We have been loosely using the Before Five in a Row preschool curriculum for a year now. I really like it because it is literature based and you can make it as simple or complex as you want. The sky really is the limit with this one. 

I've attempted a rather involved plan before Calvin was born & it was pretty easy to implement seeing as Anderson was the only child. But this year, since I have an infant in the mix, I've decided to keep it simple. The plan is to "row" one book a month. Our row will include 4 crafts, 4 supplemental activities, 4 related picture books & 1 chapter book. And we have all month to get it done. 

January's row is The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

The 5 (yes, I was trying to limit myself to 4 but found lots of good ones so I felt 5 was me practicing self-control...lol...nerd status) books we borrowed from the library are:

His favorite has been Hibernation Station. It is about a train full of animals that hibernate & has really interesting pictures. He has also enjoyed Owl Moon. It's a really beautifully written book. 

Animals in Winter is really great for introducing science concepts & new words. Hibernation & Migration are two we've talked about a lot. Plus there are some winter activity ideas in the back of this book.

I love the pictures in It's Winter but he's not very interested in this book and The Big Snow is too long. We haven't gotten past the second page.

Our chapter book is:

 

One of the first supplemental activities we did was the winter sensory bin. I had this mix saved from last year & he loved it last year so I wasn't sure if he would like it as much this year since he's older but he LOVED it. I just mixed Epsom salt, white tissue paper, silver tinsel & various "snow treasures" (jingle bells, snowman eyes & shiny gift bows). I just let him explore & play in the snow & then we tried to find the various treasures. Also, the Epsom salt is great for "drawing" in so we drew different shapes & letters.

After finding all the snow treasures we put them on the table & separated them. Then I laid out his number flash cards. We counted each set of treasures & I had him find the correct flash card number. This was a fun number recognition activity as he doesn't know them yet.

A simple & cheap activity that he loves are gel window clings. I get ours from the Target dollar section or Dollar Tree. While he was putting these up I asked him some questions about our chapter book that we're reading to see how much he's comprehending & I was really impressed with how much he remembered. I wasn't sure how the chapter book reading would go but I'm so glad I decided to try it. We both enjoy the book!

He has some really fun animal flash cards from my friend, Ilia. He loves, loves, loves looking through them. I laid out all of the winter animals we've been reading about & threw in some other non-winter animal cards & asked him to pick out the animals that live in cold climates or hibernate during winter. Really simple & fun for him.

Another great activity we did was play in the snow! This was a super easy recipe: 3 cups baking soda + 1/2 cup white conditioner. It was moldable, cool to the touch & made my kitchen smell great! 

I gave him some mini cookie cutters to help him create shapes in the snow but his favorite thing to do was make a track with his finger (like Peter's stick track). He also enjoyed piling all the snow in one corner & letting the bear cookie cutter (which he's named Jesse Bear) slide down the mountain like Peter does in the book.

It was also really easy to clean up which is a plus since he quickly made snow balls to throw & the snow did not stay contained in the sensory box for long! Anderson wanted to help me sweep up after & since it was so easy to sweep he actually did a great job. I thought about getting some colored conditioner & making some "colored snow" & letting him practice sweeping with it. We'll see if I'm brave enough to make a mess on purpose! {Spoiler Alert: probably not!}

We also did several winter crafts. Anderson LOVES to do a "cwaft"! You can check out my January pinterest board for the different craft tutorials. 

Also, at the last Tot Time at our local library the story was The Snowy Day & they did a paper plate snowman face. Lots of fun! And in the grab bag that they get there were winter coloring sheets & a cute poem about a snowman & a bunny rabbit. We quickly memorized it & have enjoyed repeating it & "acting" it out. I'm always so amazed at Toddler Memory Skillz!

I have various, general "school" activities on hand for him too that I use if he's bored or if I'm setting up a craft:

Usborne wipe clean dot-to-dot book

Usborne Create Your Own Calendar

Imagination Magnets by Mindware (his favorite thing to do)

Wipe clean letters board ($ section at Target)

Wipe clean numbers board ($ section at Target)

Number flash cards 

Alphabet flash cards

Animal flash cards

Pre-school numbers worksheets ($ section at Target)

Numbers worksheets ($ section at Target)

Usborne sticker books

Melissa & Doug lace & trace animal boards

Puzzles

Crayons & coloring books (love that this can be considered a school activity! Preschool is the best!)

            {Playing with his Imagination Magnets}

        {His Usborne Create Your Own Calendar}

What fun "school" things have you been doing this month? I always enjoy hearing about others' school happenings!