Spring Training Week

     

     Good afternoon friends! I hope you all enjoyed a lovely spring feeling week as we were able to do here. I took advantage of the warmer sunnier weather by lots of outdoor active play for my guy. Until I upload my photos off my phone I realized I did not have much space for photos of all the fun things we did together.
     For fun, since most sports athletes in different sports are all experiencing some sort of training camps that I would do something similarly themed for us. Exercise is incredibly important for everyone, but especially growing kids. It is good to get them started on a good track. At this age exercising with mom and dad is super fun for kids and it is important we give them good examples of leading fun and active lifestyles for life.
     We also focused on the letter Zz and color purple.

Monday: Intro Uppercase Z/Intro Purple/ Stretching and Warm-up
Books
My xyz Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
Look Again Look Again Sports Picture Puzzles by Matt Bruning
Seeing Purple All Around Us by Sarah L. Scheutte

Songs
Zippity Doo-Dah (from Disney)
Shake My Sillies Out by Raffi
The Purple People Eater

Activities
Intro Uppercase Z and Zz vocab words from picture dictionary

Do a Zumba dance party work out

Intro color purple. Use blue and red paint and let the child mix them up while painting to see them make purple

Intro the importance of keeping our bodies phusically fit and how some people use fitness for not only health, but as jobs too...how sports are hard work but can be fun too.

Intro and practice the concept of stretching and warming up before doing a sport or exercises.

Tuesday: Intro Walking vs. Jogging vs.
 Running 
Books
Give It A Try, Zoe by Sarah Albee
Bread and Jam for Frances by (because the jam in the story is purple)

Songs
Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! We're going to the Moon!
Cha Cha Slide song
Walk, jog, run song
Tune of are you sleepin
Walking walking
Walking walking
Jog jog jog
Jog jog jog
Running running running
Running running running
Now I stop
Now I stop

Activities
Review Z vocab words from my picture dictionary

Take a posterboard and make zig zag track lines for toy cars to follow....tape down zig zag duct tape lines for a child to follow

Play with purple water in the kitchen sink using blue and red food coloring

Go outside and play follow the leader to show the difference between walking, jogging, and running.

Wednesday: Intro Lowercase z, Throwing/Kicking/Shooting  Balls
Books
Zig zag the Sound of ZAlice K. Flanagan
Clifford's Spprts Day by Norman Bridwell
Purple by Sharon Gordan

Songs
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Zebra song
tune of I'm A Little Teapot
I'm a little zebra white and black
big bushy mane all down my back
I like to gallop, run, and play
Out in the African desert all day.

Momma's Taking Us to the Zoo Tomorrow by Raffi

Activities
Intro lowercase Z coloring page. Review Zz vocab words with picture dictionary

Zebra painting activitiy. Take a blank zebra and let child paint black stripes on it.

Pom pom sorting. Sort put all purple pom poms. Make purple zig zag lines with them.

Go outside and see how far your child can throw different sized balls. Find out which size can go the farthest vs shortest distance... experiment to see how well your child can kick different sized balls and measure which one goes farthex and shortest distance. Than compare the ones that were thrown vs. kicked. Practice shooting hoops together...

Thursday: ZOO FIELD TRIP DAY

Friday: Zz Vocab Review Day/High and Long Jump and Obstacle Course Day
Books
Zoe's Sheep by Rose Bursik
You're A Sports Pro! by Karen Bryant-Mole
Zoo by Anthony Brown

Songs
Knees Up Mother Brown by Raffi
We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions by Queen
The Zipper Song
(Mary had a little lamb)
Zipper starts with the letter z
Letter z, letter z
Zipper starts with the letter z
Zzzzz

Activities:
Zz vocab review coloring page

Practice our zipper zipping skills

Play with purple play dough

Measure how high your child can jump as well as how far.
Make up your own obstacle course in your backyard using whatever you can find that is fun, challenging, and most importantly safe.

What fun ways can you think to help make body movement and exercise fun? What about other activities to enjoy for the letter Zz and color purple? Please share in a comment.

Spring Has Finally Sprung!!!

     Hello beautiful people! Hope your week has been wonderful. Before I delve into ours I want to take a moment and say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to a very important guy in our lives. Today is my brother-in-law's birthday. He is also my son's Godfather. He is a hardworking, God-loving, very focused, determined, attentive, and so much more than that, Husband, father, brother, uncle, and Godfather. A great role model for our son and who we love very much. We hope you have a wonderful birthday if you happen to read this entry!!!

My brother-in-law is in the purple shirt

      
     This week started off on St. Patrick's Day with a nasty stomach bug for my kid that ended up with us in the ER by Sunday night. Thankfully, they were able to give him meds to help him stop throwing up so we could get him some saltine crackers in him and avoid more further procedures. My kid absolutely refuses to drink anything except water and his carnation milk shake (which with a stomach bug I was not going to give him). I have learned sensory kids sometimes have a much harder time with stomach bugs and that is what happened in our case. Needless to say our week early was kind of a mess with him recouperating. By the end of the week he is back to his normal active self.
     This week we focused on all things spring as this past Wednesday was the first day of Spring. Boy am I happy to say goodbye to my least favorite season of the year and hello to the beginning of long warmer days. We also focused on the letter Yy and color orange.
     Also, again with the early bit of the week with a recovering child I allowed him to be in his big boy underwear only, for easier cleanup, just in case. I did not really take photos of much of anything. I dropped the ball on that....my bad.


Books We Read
My XYZ Soundbox by Jane Belk Moncure
Snowmen All Year by Caralyn Buehner
Yyby Kelly Doudna
The Yak and The Python and The Frog by Hilaire Belloc
Who's Yawning? by David Bedford and Leonie Worthington
Seeing Orange All Around Us by Sarah L Schuette
Winnie the Pooh and the Dragonfly by
Orange by Nancy Harris
Spring Has Sprung by Kiki Thorpe
Seasons of the Circle by Joseph Bruchac
Clifford's Spring Cleanup by Norman Bridwell
A Book of Seasons by Alice and Martin Provensen
In the Spring by Craig Brown

Songs We Sung
Yesterday by the Beatles
Herman the Worm (playing with a yo yo is in the song)
YMCA
Yakkity yak (Don't Talk Back)
Yes Lord!
Rain Rain Go Away
Mr. Sun by Raffi
Springtime (tune of are you sleeping?)
I see rain clouds
I see bird's nests
Butterflies too!
Flowers too!
Everything is growing
The wind is gently blowing
Spring is here
Spring is here

Spring (tune of london bridge)
Now it's time to fly our kites
Fly our kites
Fly our kites
Now it's time to fly our kites
Hooray for springtime

See the birds build their nests
Build their nests
Build their nests
See the birds build their nests
Hooray for springtime

Watch the rain falling down
Falling down
Falling down
Watch the rain falling down
Hooray for springtime

Watch the worms twist and wiggle
Twist and wiggle
Twistand wiggle
Watch the worms twist and wiggle
Hooray for springtime

Yellow dandilions pop right up
Pop right up
Pop right up
Yellow dandilions pop right up
Hooray for springtime

Watch the lightning snap and crack
Snap and crack
Snap and crack
Watch the lightning snap and crack
Hooray for springtime

Five Pink Pigs
Five pink pigs rolling in the mud
Going squishy squashy
Squishy squashy
It sure felt good
Farmer (child's name) took one pig out
And cleaned it up
Now there are four pink pink pigs
Rolling in the mud
(Repeat till there are no more pigs)

Yy Activities
Intro uppercase Y coloring page
Intro/review of Yy vocab words
Intro lowercase y coloring page
Yy vocab review coloring page
Play with orange yarn
Yelling activity
Yogurt finger painting fun
Backyard fun

Orange Activities
Play with orange yarn
Orange paint collage to show how yellow and red make orange
Play with orange colored water in sink using food colors to make orange
Orange pom pom sorting
Play with orange playdough

Springtime Activities
Intro inyo spring and what happens in nature
Play with sidewalk chalk outside
Practice tornado drill/safety just in case..make it as fun as possible though in hopes of preventing a fear of storms...maybe musical turtles when you pause music make a turtle where you are at...something like that.
Spring sensory table. I used dry beans for dirt, honeycomb cereal for flowers, and plastic insects too.
Go on a nature walk in you neighborhood or on your land if you live out in the country to explore the changes spring brings.

What activities can you think of to explain spring or teach the letter Yy and color orange that I missed???

Us Wee Leperchauns Love Making Mischief and Shenanigans

   

     This week has been a shamrocking, shennanigan having, rainbow chasing, Leperchaun hunting kind of week. The week before St. Patrick's day is so much fun for this Irish girl (my maiden name is McConnell). Catholic and Irish, this feast day is about as big for me to celebrate as Oktoberfest is for Germans. Ofcourse I had to share the magical fun exploring the different things that people associate with St. Patrick and Ireland with my kiddo.

     Along with St. Patrick's day we focused on my least favorite letter pf the alphabet to teach...the letter Xx. There are hardly any words that begin with the letter Xx, as you all know. I decided to also focus on words that end in Xx. I am just happy my least favorite letter to teach coincided with a really fun themed week.

     With it being St. Patrick's Day ofcourse there was no better color choice to focus on than green, green, oh and more green!

Lastly, we are in full fledged potty training mode. While at home it has been easiest to let my kid run around with a bare bottom so because of that I am choosing not to share in-action photos of these activities, and more of just the projects alone.

Monday: Intro Uppercase X/Intro St. Patrick
Books: My XYZ Soumd Box by Jane Belk Moncure (just the x word pages)
St.Patrick's Day by Gail Gibbons

Songs:
Xylophone Song (tune of If Your Happy and You Know It)
Oh I wish I were a xylophone
Oh I wish I were a xylophone
I'd make X-mas extra fun and be the life of the party
Oh I wish I were a xylophone

The St. Patrick song on youtube

Activities:
Intro Xx vocab words and Uppercase X coloring page

Play with the xylophone

Intro St. Patrick's Day. Who was St. Patrick. Activities that happen on St. Patrick's Day.

Tuesday: Intro Green/Shamrock Fun
Books: Take Time to Relax by Nancy Carlson
Green by Nancy Harris
St.Patrick and the Peddler by Margaret Hodges

Songs:
Xx Song on youtube
St. Patrick's day songs playlist on youtube

Activities:
Review Xx vocab words

Invisible Xx marker activity- take a white piece of paper and write x's on it withwhite crayons and use markers to color over the psge to find the x's.

Green paint fun -watch them enjoy mixing yellow and blue paint together to make green.

Intro Shamrock. Shamrocks are a symbol that is most popular with St. Patrick as he used it to help teach about the Holy Trinity to the pagan people of Ireland. painting activity-use the green paint your child made to paint a shamrock.

Wednesday: Intro Lower case x/Rainbows
Books: Xx by Kelly Doudna
Corduroy by
St.patrick's Day by Brenda Haugen

Songs:
Do You Know the X-Ray Man? (Tune of Do You Know the Muffin Man?)
Do you know the x-ray man? The X-ray man? The X-ray man?
Oh do you know the x-ray man?
He uses a special camera to take photos of bones.

Yes i know the x-ray man, the x-ray man, the x-ray man.
Yes, i know the x-ray man.
He helps doctors know if our bones are
healthy and strong

Youtube st. Patrick's day music playlist

Activities:
Review Xx vocab words. Lowercase x coloring page.

X-ray fun. Use black paper and white paint to make handprints/footprints/arm prints...etc that look like x-ray photos.

Play with green colored water in kitchen sink

Intro rainbows and their importance to Irish people. Use markets and heavyweight paper to color all over. If it is sprinlling outside you can go out and watch what happens to the rainbowcolors on the paper.

Thursday:Tracing/Scissor Skills Day/Leperchauns
Books: The Leperchaun's Story by Richard Kennedy
The Color Box by Dayle Ann Dodds
Small Green Snakeby Libba Moore Gray

Songs:
The X Song (tune of John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt)
Max X had an extra small xenops
Who played a xylophone
For words that start with x
The people hit the decks
Words like xenops plays xlophones for Max
Xxxxxxx

Youtube st patrick's day song playlist

Activities:
Review Xx vocab words

Make a colorful light box and then play with water beads on top

Green pom pom sorting. Afterwords make little pom pom snakes. Use st Patrick peg doll and roll play the legend of St. Patrick sending the snakes away from Ireland.

Intro leperchauns. Play hide-and-seek where the hider is a pretend Leperchaun.

Friday:Xx Vocab Review Day/Pot 'O Gold (intro money)
Books: Red Fox Running by Eve Bunting
Little Bear Marches In the St.Patrick's Day Parade by Janice

Songs:
What Does the Fox Say?

Youtube St. Patrick's Day song playlist

Activities:
Review Xx vocab and coloring work page

X marks the spot...make a treasure map of house and work together to follow the x's to a special treat.

Play with green playdough

Intro pot o'gold...sort through some change together and talk about what each different coin is called... work together to try make a dollar amount from each coin group. i would not do too much more than that  just yet unless your child really loves to count and yall have done sone more advanced counting skills... most 3 yr olds are not really there yet as far as counting bt 5's and 10's and what not.

I will say on the actual day of St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) I love doing a leperchaun (scavenger) hunt with pre-k aged kids. If you have older middle schoolers/high schoolers you can ask them to help write out clues and put them where they need to go while you keep the littles pre-occupied. It is a fun one to explore together as a family watching the little one's excitement. Do not forget to wear green so the leperchaun's cannot pinch ya!

What other fun ways do you think younger ones would enjoy for this theme? Please share!

Potty Training: Third Time's A Charm!

     Last week I took a break from posting for several reasons. One, I scheduled our Spring break for last week. No it was not spring, but after nine consrcutive weeks of lesson planning, I needed that break. Two, my parents were here visiting on a short stay with us from Florida. They arrived on Ash Wednesday so I knew the rest of the week would have been shot for focusing. Three, I figured it was time to see how my son would do with potty training since it had been over two months since our last unsuccessful attempt.

     Monday we woke up and with no high expectations (after two failed attempts the bar had been set pretty low...) I let my kid run around bare bottomed. Armed with my urine carpet cleaner and energy drinks and lots of his favorite salty snacks we began the tricky process. He had several accidents on Monday morning, BUT unlike last time, he was content on his potty listening to me read books or sing songs. The last time he would only sit down on his potty if he could watch elmo potty time while trying to go.

     I was thouroughly surprised Monday afternoon when he started to have an accident, because we got him to his potty in time to finish what he started.  My child finally got pee in his potty at almost 3 1/2 yrs. old for his first time. There was hugging, cheering, and doughnuts in celebration of this momentous occasion. That is pretty much all it took for him to finally go potty on his potty chair from start to finish. Yes, we have had some accidents, but the majority of them were when we attempted big boy underwear on him while he went out to play. After several days of those types of accidents he realized we only had so many pairs of shoes for him to change into before we had to keep him inside since it was too cold to let him run around barefoot. Yesterday it was actually HOT for us. He could have run barefoot if we had no more clean shoes, BUT he ended up keeping his big boy underwear dry the entire three hours we were out there. We had him come in to try going every half hour and he acted like a champ.

     Now, my kid still refuses to poop in the potty, and I am cool with that. Pooping can take kids a long time to figure out. I am just excited to see the beginning of the end of diapers for us. Also, pull-ups for nap and outings and overnight are still a must. Maybe in a few more weeks I will attempt a short outing in big boy underwear, but not just yet.

     What did I do differently this time around that I did not do the last time? Other than having him try every half hour for no more than five minutes is about it. Hobestlt, it has been all him. If he was not feeling ready, nothing I would have done would have made him anymore ready.

Patience and acting chill when accidents happen are key. Offereng favorite snacks to help pique your child's interest in just trying it out is a great thing. Some kids do netter with a different thing like a special toy they love, but you normally avoid for whatever reason. Anything you think your kid will react to best is what you should do.

What other potty training tips do you have to share???

Welcome to The Wonderful, Whimsical, Weird and Whacky World of Dr. Seuss

     I woke up to receive to heartbreaking news first thing Monday morning. The kind of news that is completely unexpected and leaves you confused, and in shock, and makes you cry, and kind of go through the motions and a mixture of emotions. It has been a rough week when my heart wants to be somewhere else to be of help. Yet, I know I have been where God has wanted me to be and I tried very hard to be present with my little guy as we adventured through another week of learning.
     What a distraction a Dr. Seuss themed week can be to help me keep focused. As you look through the activities you may quickly notice I skipped Green Eggs and Ham activities, mainly because my son is, allergic to eggs. It is a fun thing to watch kids experience green eggs, but for mine it would be dangerous so no green eggs for us.
    We also focused on the letter Ww and my kid's very favorite color, blue.


Monday:Intro Uppercase W/Fox In Socks and Hop on Pop
Books: My w Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
Fox In Socks by Dr. Seuss
Hop On Pop by Dr. Seuss

Songs:
Working On the Railroad
Willoughby Walloughby by Raffi
Down by the Bay by Raffi

Activities:
Intro Letter Ww and and Ww vocab words from picture dictionary
Uppercase W coloring page

Play with water beads

Fun with rhymes and body movement

Tuesday:Intro Color Blue/The Foot Book
Books:Blue by Nancy Harris
My Wish For Youby Keely Chase (Read to him by his Aunt Crista)
The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss

Songs:
Walk Walk Walk by Raffi
My Wish by Rascal Flatts
Wocket In My Pocket song on youtube
Over the Deep Blue Sea from YouTube

Activities:
Review Ww vocab words from picture dictionary

Make homemade belgium waffles together

Intro Blue and make a blue paint collage with different shades of blue.

Make a family footprint collage with loys of different colored foot prints

Wednesday: Intro Lowercase w/The Cat In the Hat
Books: The Little Blue Truck by
Snow White by Brothers Grimm and the Clever Factory
The Cat In the Hat by Dr. Seuss

Songs:
Herman the worm song
The Cat In the Hat Song
Blue by Eiffel 65

Activities:
Review Ww vocab words from picture dictionary
Lowercase w coloring page

Play with cooked spaghetti noodles mixed with chocolate pudding for "worms"

Play with water in the sink dued blue with food coloring

Make Thing 1 and Thing 2 handprint people

Thursday: Tracing and Cutting Skills Day/ The Tooth Book
Books: Seeibg Blue All Around Us by Sarah L. Schuette
Busy Wheels by Peter Lippman
The Tooth Book by Dr. Seuss

Songs:
Wheels on the Bus
Veggie tales I'm So Blue Song
Oh The Places You'll Go song on youtube

Activities:
Review Ww vocab words with picture dictionary.

Play with hot wheels

Go for a ride in the wagon

Practice tracing and scissor skills work

Blue pom pom sorting

Work on practicing brushing our teeth

Friday: Ww Vocab Review/One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
Books: Sneezy Wheezy Mr. Shark by Kate Thompson
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss

Songs:
Baby Beluga by Raffi
Green Eggs and Ham song on youtube

Activities:
Ww Vocab review and coloring page

Help wash windows togethe

Play with blue playdough

Make fish shape cut outs and pretend to go fishing together. Try to keep the colors of the fish seperated and count together the different numbers of each color group.