Sissy is currently 40 months and Baby Guy is 16 months. Last week was dinosaur week for tot school. This theme has been the most fun so far. There is alot of dinosaur stuff out there. Somehow again we didn't do much on our Bible activity, but I plan to catch us up.
The moment I set this tot tray out on Sunday night Sissy was begging to do it. It's just a dinosaur clip art I found online and printed for her to color, we also put glitter on the glue and pom poms. She had a blast putting the glue where ever she wanted. We just need to work on how much.
This was the cutest thing ever, I printed the whole Dinosaur Tot Pack, from 1+1+1=1. She loved the sequencing dinosaurs, there was a size for each member of our family. She called them out in order; Daddy, Mommy, Bubba, Sissy and Baby Guy. It was a adorable.
Then she blew me away when she pulled out this shape puzzle. I thought for sure she wouldn't get this for a while but she knew exactly what to do with it, I was very excited and proud.
This was a picture I snapped one morning. This was before we even got breakfast going, she pulled out her tot tray right after she got dressed. She was ready to color her Dinosaur Train page that I printed from their website. She then pulled this out many more times in the week to continue coloring, write H's and smiley faces all over.
Baby Guy did an awesome job at looking cute while big Sissy colored.
Another thing I did this week was get some dinosaur chicken nuggets and dinosaur oatmeal. The oatmeal didn't look so cool once warmed up, but was still tasty.
Another loved activity this week was the Aqua Doodle mat, this was an awesome find at
the recent Target clearance event. I had wanted one for a while and so glad I waited for the price I paid.
The books this week were Dinosaur Bones, Stomp, Dinosaur Stomp!, & Dinosaurumpus!. Baby Guy and Sissy also completed their first part of the summer reading program and both earned a prize. Sissy picked out a book called The First Day of Winter and I picked out a dinosaur book for Baby Guy called Dinos on the Move. I plan on having many more dinosaur themed days as we go through this Tot School/Preschool journey. Another thing I did this week was record Dinosaur Train for them to watch daily.
This week was a little off, we didn't do much of Tot School because Sissy spent her first week at VBS for 2 1/2 hours every morning. She absolutely loved it. She had so much fun making crafts, listening to new music and meeting new friends.
The theme this week for Tot School was beach theme, it was very loose. We kind of continued from the ocean them the week before. Below Sissy is wearing one of the crafts she made at VBS a bandanna she drew smiley faces all over. Smiley faces are one of her favorite things to draw right now along with H's, W's and now a cross.
This week also consisted of a lot of Veggie Tales. This picture depicts everyday real life in our house.
Baby Guy really is enjoying reading time, I signed both of them up for the library summer reading program and they've already earned one prize each. Here he's holding one of the beach books we read, Sneakers the Seaside Cat.
Sissy really enjoyed a used book I got on Amazon, Gallop.
Even with a busy week we were able to cram in some learning time. I however did slack on the Bible theme, we did read about Creation day 3 at bed time but that was it. I figure we made up for it with VBS. Being able to get all of this done during a busy week gives me more motivation for the upcoming busy fall and winter seasons and years to come.
Last week we had a successful Tot School with an ocean theme. The books that we read this week are Commotion in the Ocean and Water Sings Blue. Sissy is loving her Tot Trays and special activities. She got to use a glue stick for the first time and really enjoyed making her first collage.
She's never lined up the animals from her puzzle like this before.
Learning to pick up after herself.
She actually learned to bead using these small beads, she was really able to see what was happening instead of the with the large wooden beads. She was very determined with this activity.
Baby Guy got in on the action of course with his farm toys.
Besides the ocean books that we read this week, this is the only other ocean theme activity we did. This is the Ocean Animals Tot Book from 1+1+1=1. She was able to name all of the animals, numbers and letter. She even counted the animals in the number book. Here she is drawing a red crab on the front of the book.
For the creation day 2 activity Sissy glued some cotton balls onto a blue piece of paper for the clouds and sky. No picture sorry. Again we listened to Songs for Saplings: 123. We also did many other activities through out the week. As I share more Tot School weeks I want to share more of what we do through out the days.
Last week we started our first week back at Tot School, unfortunately I didn't get any pictures because it was over before I knew it and just didn't think about it. But the main change to our Tot School plan from the last one is Tot Trays. I've known about these for a long time now and have resisted as long as I can, I didn't want to invest in the trays, set up the space and collect the items for her to use on the trays. But anything worth doing takes work. Once I was finally on board with the trays everything started to fall into place. I had a space in the house to set them up and already had some items for her to start her first week. I still resisted purchasing the adorable craft trays online, I just can't spend $17+ (including shipping) on 6 plastic trays, so the first week I set up the Montessori like activities on the plastic lids that came with the storage boxes I use for Sissy's Quiet Time boxes. I just wanted to get started right away and didn't worry about details. It worked out great; her favorite activity was transferring pom poms around an egg tray with tongs, even though she isn't using her pointer finger and thumb yet. Once I knew this set up was what she needed I headed to the Dollar Store and purchased the little metal cookie sheets with a lip, they are the exact size we needed.
The first week went great, I wasn't strict about when we did Tot School, I just made sure that I made time for it everyday. Hopefully someday in the future things can be even more structured but at least we are doing something now. I'm finding afternoons work better for us.
I made a lesson plan for each week to get us through August 30. Then we'll take a week long break and then dive into pre-preschool as I like to call it, pretty much still Tot School. For the weekly theme I found this summer learning program over at 3 Dinosaurs. It was something simple that I could use to have some sort of plan for the week. I only print off three of the five days worth of paperwork, Sissy still isn't that keen on paperwork. But I give it to her to try anyways and she does but moves quickly through it. She's more interested in the Tot Trays right now.
The theme this week was Space. I keep the theme very loose, it's pretty much just the printables and the books I get from the library. As time goes on I would like to have more themed items and a craft to go along with the theme but we're just starting out and I'm not going to let that stop us. (I'm working on if it isn't perfect I will still do it) The books I chose for last week were, Roaring Rockets and There's No Place Like Space!. I had another one requested but it never came and I can't remember what it was now. I just use these to sit on the floor with Sissy and Baby Guy and have story time. They love that. Along with that I set up 6 Tot Trays with different activities on them. I try to use at least 3 of the recommended learning skills and then the other three can be puzzles, the themed printable notebook or whatever fun activity we have. I keep the same trays out all week right now, she usually likes one activity the most and wants to do it every day, so I let her and then encourage her to try another one daily. If she likes it great, if not oh well.
This weeks three skills that I picked were pouring, transferring and beading. For pouring I took a plastic pitcher that we had, put some dry beans in it from our bean box and set an empty cup next to the pitcher. She loved pouring the beans out and them putting them back in the small hole. The pom pom activity mentioned earlier was for transferring, she still needs alot of practice with the tongs. I'm on the hunt for some large plastic tweezers. And for the beading she used the newly purchased Melissa and Doug Primary Lacing Beads that I found at Marshall's. She kind of likes the set but isn't too fond of beading, another skill that will take time, but they are fun for stacking.
On top of all of that which seems like a lot but really isn't when you are doing it, we are doing Bible time and activity. I try and do this at least three days a week to hope it sinks in more. This week we started with Creation day 1, we read our little Beginners Bible and we sing the verse:
In the beginning (2x)
God created (2x)
The heavens and earth (2x)
Genesis 1:1 (2x)
to the tune of "Are you sleeping?", this is from the curriculum from ABC Jesus Loves Me. Then we do a little craft or activity. The craft for last week was day and night. We took a black piece of construction paper and a white piece. We cut the white paper to make it look like a blast of light and then pasted it on top of the black paper. Very simple and just thrown together but it worked. For the next two days of bible we just go over the story, verse and craft again to reinforce the lesson. I was also lucky enough to find a copy of Songs for Saplings: 123 from the library, I couldn't believe they had this and then felt even more blessed to find it had a song for every day of creation. So we listen to those at some point in the day as well.
So I know that is a super long post and taking pictures should help shorten what I have to say because you will just be able to see what's going on. Sissy definitely feels special during her Tot School time and I feel like I'm being an intentional parent. Win-Win!
