Tot School- K is for Kite

We've been moving right along in the alphabet!  This week was a fun week with K is for Kite!  Little Guy is 35 months old.

To make our letter K this week, Little Guy had to do several things.  First, I had printed some kites from the Kite pack at 2 Teaching Mommies.  I cut some kites into strips and Little Guy cut them apart.  Then he painted the K blue (to look like the sky).  This time, I put some paint directly on the K, so he just had to spread it around.  This helped him to get the entire K painted.  Finally, he glued the kites onto the K.  Even though this one activity took 3 days to complete, I am pleased with how it came out!

The next activity was decorating a kite.  I put the black outlines of a kite on clear contact paper.  I also cut apart different colors of tissue paper into small squares.  Little Guy just had to put the tissue paper onto the contact paper.  However, you know how Little Guy doesn't like to paint?  Well, he also doesn't like contact paper (which is a bummer, because I love all the neat projects you can do).  So I don't have any good pictures of this project.  Sorry.

Next up was pouring.  I had a little blue milk pitcher (that came with my dishes) and a plastic cup.  Little Guy's task was to pour the water from the pitcher to the cup.  He LOVED this activity!  I think he did it everyday, and would do it 2 or 3 times each day! 

Another activity from the Kite Pack at 2 Teaching Mommies was Memory.   Little Guy is getting better at this game, and 4 pairs is a little too easy for him.

The next activity was one I made, based on counting cards at 1+1+1=1.  Little Guy can fairly consistently count and use one-to-one correspondence up to 3.  Based on that, I am now trying to help him work on 4.  I made the numeral cards up to 4, then made cards with 1 kite, 2 kites, 3 kites, and 4 kites.  Little Guy had to match the numeral to the correct number of kites.  This wasn't introduced until Wednesday, so I think Little Guy only did it once.  This is an activity we will do again.

The final activity was printables.  I printed sheets from the K set at 1+1+1=1 and 3 Dinosaurs.  He seemed to enjoy the little book from 3 Dinosaurs.

Follow Stacy's board Alphabet- K on Pinterest.

Next week there will not be a new Tot School post.  Grandma and Granddaddy A are visiting so we are taking a week off from Tot School.

See you in 2 weeks!

We linked up to the Tot School Gathering Place at 1+1+1=1!

Tot School- J is for Jungle Animals

Have you ever had a weekend when it seems like you have a ton of stuff to do and not enough time to do it all in?  That was the weekend getting ready for J Tot School.  These activities were all things that were easy for me to put together and I did not have to go online to find ideas.  We focused on J is for Jungle Animals.  Little Guy is 34 months old. 

The first activity was putting small jungle animal erasers on the do-a-dot page for J (printed from School Time Snippets).  Earlier this year, I printed out the do-a-dot printables for all the capital letters.  Then each week I only have to pull out the letter I need.  I already had these mini jungle animals erasers (I pick up this type of mini erasers whenever I see them cheaply- think dollar area at Target).  Little Guy seemed to enjoy this activity, even though we have done variations on it for the last few weeks.

The next activity was a lacing activity.  I had bought this Melissa and Doug set at a consignment sale.  Little Guy's task was to first string the number bead, then put on the corresponding amount of shape beads.  Little Guy is really good at counting up to 3 objects, so now I am going to start working more with the number 4.  This task he only completed once.  There were a lot of beads for him to string, and he tired of it before he finished.

The salt tray is always a big hit!  I try to not pull it out very often so the novelty does not wear off.  I think Little Guy asked to do this one everyday!

I have been trying to do a letter project for the last several projects.  I had picked up foam jungle animal stickers at the dollar store a while ago, so it was an easy project for him to complete.  He simply decorated the J with the stickers.  He worked on it a couple of times.  His finished J was almost completely covered with stickers!

I really liked this next activity.  I took the magnetic letters from A to J (all letters we have introduced) and put them in some playdough.  Little Guy had to dig out the letters and put them on the cookie sheet.  He worked on it a couple of times, but asked me each time why all the letters were not in the playdough. 

The last activity making the letter out of Duplos, from Wildflower Ramblings.  This is another idea that I have printed all the Duplo lettter cards for the entire alphabet, so I only have to get out the letter that I need.  He completed this at the end of the week.  He was not willing to smile for a picture!

Follow Stacy's board Alphabet- J on Pinterest.

Running a 10K

Today I ran a 10K!  

This is the second time that I have run a 10K, the first being 4 years ago.  Oh my, times have changed since then.  Back then, it was pre-baby and pre-stroller when I could run (almost) whenever I wanted.  I remember frequent trips to the gym, working with a trainer, and running by myself.

Now, training is either pushing a stroller (snacks usually involved), during naptime, or after bedtime.  Little Guy is great in the stroller, but about 4 miles is our max with it.  And the gym; haven't seen the inside of one of those since I was pregnant.  Workouts now involve the stroller and Stroller Strides (which I love, and are much more enjoyable than the gym, anyway!).

Although my time was nothing stellar, I did beat my goal of 65 minutes and was only slower than my first time by 1 minute 3 seconds!  I finished in 1 hour, 3 minutes, 47 seconds.

I ran by myself for most of the race.  No headphones, no one to talk to.  And I loved it.  It gave me time to reflect.  I am amazed by this body that can run 6.2 miles. I gave thanks to God for a beautiful day.  I enjoyed the sounds of the river, the birds, the people around me.

The best part of today's race was knowing that Little Guy and Daddy would be waiting at the finish line.  As I came around a corner at about mile 6, there they were, cheering for me.  It took a lot for me to not start crying right there.  They hastily moved to the finish line and were the greatest cheering section in the world!

Approaching Little Guy and Daddy.

So happy to see my family!

I am not a pretty finisher, but I finished!

This body is amazing.  It grew a new life, it can run 6 miles, and it keeps on going.  But this race is not just about me.  Its about setting an example for my family and staying healthy so I will be here for a long time!

Tot School- I is for Ice Cream and Igloo

Hello!  Last week was a really busy week for us!  We were able to work on Tot School on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of last week, so we finished up our activities on Monday of this week.  It was a pretty fun week, working on I is for Ice Cream and Igloo!  Little Guy is 34 months old.

The first activity was by far the favorite activity for the week, and it came from the Spring PreK/K pack at This Reading Mama.  Its called "Roll a Rhyme."  There are 6 different pictures on each die, and then you roll the 2 dice and see if you got a rhyme.  Little Guy is not able to tell you if the words rhyme, but he loved rolling the dice (usually I rolled one and he rolled the other) and identifying the pictures.  When we did roll a rhyme, we would clap and cheer!  This was a fun and easy activity, and I think Little Guy asked to play it everyday!

The next activity was practicing shapes.  This is a printable for the letter I from 1+1+1=1.  I have never been sure how to use this type of sheet before, with all the shapes.  When I looked at Carisa's post for the letter I, I found inspiration for a way to practice the shapes.  I pre-cut all the shapes, so Little Guy's task was to glue them onto a sheet of paper.  When we worked on this activity, I had Little Guy name each shape as he glued them.  We did half one day, and half another day.

Another activity from 1+1+1=1 was sequencing.  Little Guy needed to put the numbers in order, match the sizes of the igloos, then put the corresponding number of "ice cubes" (sugar cubes) with them.  This is good one-to-one correspondence practice, as well as reinforcing the recognition of numbers.

Once again, I pulled out the pattern blocks, to be met with minimal interest.  I had the letter I and 2 insects (a butterfly and a bee).  The bee pattern is from PreKinders, the I is from Confessions of a Homeschooler, and the butterfly is from our Melissa and Doug set.  The only one Little Guy chose to complete was the bee.

I used two printables from the Romping and Roaring Letter I Pack at 3 Dinosaurs.  I pulled out some round insect stickers for Little Guy to stick to the papers.  To make the stickers easier for him to pull off, I removed all the surrounding sticker, leaving just the stickers he used on the sheet.  On one of the I's he was able to put the stickers wherever, but the other I was a do a dot page, so he had to put one sticker in each circle.

This tray was another favorite this week.  Little Guy had to match the ice cream cone to the scoop, from Busy Little Bugs.  He enjoyed matching the colors several times.  At the end of the week, he glue them onto a large I.

The last activity involved using "ice cubes" (sugar cubes) to match up to the circles on the letter I, from School Time Snippets.  I put out the tweezers for Little Guy to use, but these proved to be tricky for him.  So after he had used the tweezers to put a few sugar cubes on the I, I let him finish by using his fingers.

Even though we didn't finish in one week like planned, it was still a fun learning and working time! 

We linked up to the Tot School Gathering Place at 1+1+1=1!

Dinosaurs at the Zoo- a 2 year old's perspective

This past Christmas, Little Guy received a camera.  He has enjoyed using it, and takes pictures of the most interesting things.  Last weekend, we went to the zoo.  During the spring and summer, we have dinosaurs that come to the zoo.  This is Little Guy's perspective on the dinosaurs.

Not too shabby!  I hope to post his pictures here monthly, showing his perspective on the world!

See you next time!

Tot School- G is for Garden

With nice weather comes a longing to be outside!  We have spent lots of time outside, so it was a great week to learn about G is for Garden.  Little Guy is 34 months old.

In keeping with decorating the letter for the week, this week we decorated a G with Easter grass.  First Little Guy painted the G green.  Once it had dried, I gave him some Easter grass to glue on.  I cut the grass up a little, so there were smaller pieces that I hoped would glue on easier.  He liked using the grass!

The next activity was similar to one we did last week.  I used the dot marker sheet for G from School Time Snippets and some gray glass rocks.  Little Guy had to put one glass rock on each circle.  I think the novelty of having something new to use (we have never used these rocks before) helped to peak his interest.  I think he completed this activity 2 or 3 times during the week.

The next activity was cutting practice.  I printed sheets from the Spring Cut It Out pack at This Reading Mama and the G is for Garden pack at Motherhood on a Dime.  Little Guy cut the pictures apart, then would either glue them back together or we made patterns out of them.  He does not really understand patterns yet, but it is an concept we are working on.

The next activity was from 1+1+1=1.  I gave Little Guy the numbers to sequence, the pictures of goats to size sequence with the numbers, and 3 pipe cleaners with 6 wooden beads.  He can recognize all these numbers now and was able to match the goats with the numbers.  To go with each number, he had to put that many beads on the pipe cleaner.  I am trying to make sure he associates the numeral with the quantity.  Plus, it was an easy way to sneak in some fine motor practice:)

While I offered 2 printables, he only completed one this week.  I had a G page from 1+1+1=1 and a page from the G is for Garden pack at Motherhood on a Dime. 

The last activity was sorting fruit and vegetables, from the G is for Garden pack at Motherhood on a Dime. This was a new idea, as we eat many of these things but had not really talked about fruit and vegetables.  This was definitely a work-together activity.

My plan for the week was that we would also plant some sunflower seeds that would later be transplanted to the garden.  However, we did not get that done.  I feel like Little Guy had some good expereinces last week anyway, and we will get to planting soon!

We linked up to the Tot School Gathering Place at 1+1+1=1!