Aaah! What a lazy week it has been. There must be something in the air (germs, maybe?). It seems that Peanut, her daddy and I have all taken our turns being sick. So...we decided to take a break from our letter lessons for some much needed time to recover and review!
I found this great teaching tool at Borders last Saturday, a set of alphabet flash cards! It really came in handy this week. The cards have pictures on one side and letters on the other. But the coolest thing of all is that it comes with a dry erase marker so kids can practice tracing their letters.
Little P had a blast with the marker!! She didn't show much interest in tracing (as you can see, ha ha!) but she did attempt to write her OWN letters which I thought was pretty neat :)
So this week turned out to be somewhat productive after all. And most importantly, we're all feeling better now!!
So I was scrolling through my blog and it occured to me that I haven't posted any of my completed projects lately. My hooks have actually been super busy these past few months.
I finally finished up my afghan, which is now on display in my living room :)
I made a little bear for Peanut's birthday and I stitched up a couple of washcloths for the mom's and grandma's on Mother's Day.
I made a few potholders for my Grandma (free pattern found here: http://www.crochettoday.com/crochet-patterns/your-nanas-potholders) ...
and a panda bear loofah for one of my fellow book club girls.
Still...I'm far from finished! With loads more of my girlfriends expecting babies this year (not to mention, me :) and a little sis who's college-bound this fall, I'm going to be up to my elbows in yarn! Not that I mind. I absolutely LOVE to crochet and luckily there is never a shortage of adorable patterns to work on. I can't wait to share the rest of my projects with you :)
This week we are studying the letter "D". I must confess, this has been one of my favorites so far! I got to teach Little P all about dinosaurs!! I don't know about you, but I LOVED dinosaurs as a kid and, in fact, still like them quite a bit as an adult.
I had a ton of fun making this Dinosaur Diorama with Peanut out of a shoebox, some clay and a few random props. P seemed to enjoy letting her new dino friends play in it as well. Like mom, like daughter I guess :)
We also read, Oh, Say Can You Say Di-no-saur by Bonnie Worth. It was both silly and informative. I would definitely recommend it!!
Last weeks letter was the letter "C". Peanut and I had lots of fun with this one! We identified items in our letter bag and colored pictures of chipmunks. We made a collage featuring things that begin with "C" and watched Cookie Monster sing "C is for Cookie" about a gazillion times. It was great :) But now it's time to say "C" ya to last week's letter!! We're moving on to the letter "D"! I've got a lot of fun things planned for next week. Be sure to check it out!!
C is for: car, cougar, clip, cheese, c.d., coaster, computer & cat
My big sis is really great w/ kids and has two adorable ones of her own. In addition to being a s.a.h.m. for them, she also watches other kiddos during the week and does tons of cool stuff with them. She creates lesson plans and thinks up lots of really neat activities and crafts. So she definitely gets credit for inspiring me to do the same with my daughter!! I started out by making up a lesson plan of my very own:
LESSON PLANS
I.LETTERS
A.Monday
1.Letter Bag
a.Ask Peanut to identify objects that start with letter of the week
B.Tuesday
1.Letter-Themed Coloring Pages
a.Ask Peanut to color pages featuring pictures that start with letter of the week
C.Wednesday
1.Letter-Themed Recipes or Food
a.Make meals and snacks that start with letter of the week
D.Thursday
1.Letter-Themed Crafts
a.Make crafts with Peanut that feature letter of the week
E.Friday
1.Letter-Themed Story or Book
a.Read story or book with title featuring letter of the week
2.Review
And then, I implemented it! So far it's been working out great. It really adds structure to the week and Little P is having a ton of fun learning her letters :) Here's what we've accomplished so far:
AMAZING "A,a"
Letter Bag: Plastic "A", toy antelope, Altoids box, Ace of clubs, Abby keychain,"A" letter card
Letter Craft: Alphabet Soup, Supplies: Foam paper (2 sheets in different colors, foam stickers, scissors, glue
BEAUTIFUL "B,b"
Letter Bag: bread, broccoli, banana, ball, bubbles, brush, bow, bracelet, "B" letter cards
As I said, I am really loving this and can't wait to continue these lesson plans! I'll be sure to keep you posted in the weeks to come with all of our letter-themed activities :)
Sunday was such a perfect day; lazy, beautiful, full of family and full of fun :) We ended up going to my mom's which is one of Peanut's absolute favorite places to be! She not only adores Pop Pop and Gam Gam, but she also loves their great big yard and all of their pets. It was the perfect day for visiting, 80 degrees and sunny (for the first time in a very LONG time)! It felt so good to be out playing in the sunshine again.
P spent some quality time with Simon, trying to feed him peanuts that were meant for the squirrels, LOL!! I think he would have tried one if not for the window glass in the way. She offered some to Lucy but she wasn't very interested. Soon Peanut was moving on to other things.
She got ahold of a watering can which she used to sprinkle everything from her shoes to the driveway. She eventually made her way over to the flowers!! She really got a kick out of spending so much time outside, as did the rest of us!!
It was great just kicking back and spending some time together with the fam. Although we see each other a lot we're usually all in a hurry, running around, trying to get things done. It was great to just sit back and enjoy each others company :)
How many different structures can you build with 49 blocks? We're not sure but we're bound to find out soon! Peanut got this wooden set for Christmas and she and her "Da" have been busy building ever since.
While "Da" does most of the design work, P loves to help by handing him blocks and making little stacks of her own. Although, her favorite part is probably placing the people. She really gets a kick out of that! And knocking things down is always great fun for her too!
It's neat seeing all the different designs. This one is one of my faves. This one is supposed to be some type of jail. Two of the people are trapped inside the bars.
This last one here is actually one of mine. I am quite proud of it. I made it while Little P was napping so she didn't place the people for me :( She helped me knock it down when it was time for clean up though :) Oh how I love my destructive little toddler!!
Lastly, here is a random photo of my goofy girl "hiding out" in our kitchen cupboard. Ever since we cleared it out she's been climbing in and out like a little monkey. She is always doing the silliest things. I seriously cannot get enough of her :)
